Published: June 22, 2007 12:55 am      

C8 Science Panel urged to make reports public

PARKERSBURG — Three scientists working to discover if the chemical known as C8 affects human health won’t have to make their quarterly progress reports public, although a judge says it could be helpful.

Wood County Circuit Judge J.D. Beane said making those reports available through the court would provide valuable information to the public, but he stopped short of ordering it.

Currently, the C8 Science Panel’s quarterly reports are provided to the two parties in a lawsuit that led to the creation of the panel — DuPont Co. and plaintiffs who live within six water districts in the Mid-Ohio Valley.

Lawyers for both parties said in court Thursday that if the scientists discover anything significant before their reports are due, they’re able to make those findings public.

Lawyers for DuPont argued that requiring the panel to file its reports with the court wasn’t specified by the settlement that ended the lawsuit.

“There should be no reason why they should have to file a piece of paper every quarter” if the panel has nothing significant to report, DuPont lawyer Libby Stennes said. “When the science panel has something they want to communicate, they’ll do it.”

Larry Winter, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, said the panel so far has made everything of significance public.

If the panel reaches a finding it wants to communicate immediately, it can submit a report to the plaintiffs and DuPont, and then to the court, Winter said.

The scientists are conducting 10 studies that follow up on a health screening of up to 70,000 Mid-Ohio Valley residents who were part of the class-action lawsuit that claimed C8 releases from DuPont’s Washington Works Plant near Parkersburg contaminated their water supplies.

DuPont agreed to fund the health screening and install carbon filters at six water district filtration plants to screen out the chemical

The question of making the quarterly reports public was raised by Harry Deitzler, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs.

Deitzler said the panel and the lawyers regularly receive requests for information from the public and the media.

Initially, the judge seemed to favor the idea.

“The more the public is aware of any issue, the better off we all are,” Beane said. “This is a big issue. I think it would help everyone.”

After hearing from DuPont and Winter, though, Beane did not order the quarterly science reports to be made public.

Though used since World War II, C8’s long-term effects on humans are unknown. DuPont maintains the chemical is not hazardous to human health. A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency science panel has said C8 is a “likely” carcinogenic.

The three-member science panel is reviewing the health histories and blood samples of those residents who participated in the health screening.

The 10 studies will look at health issues such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and aneurysm, immune function, liver and hormone disorders, and birth outcomes. Last year, the panel said it could take until 2011 to complete its research.