C8. March 8, 2003. DuPont criticizes report from Little Hocking residents. The Parkersburg News & Sentinel (West Virginia).

FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK PESTICIDE PROJECT

Return to Newspaper articles and Documents related to this Class Action

C8 or C-8: PFOA is perfluorooctanoic acid and is sometimes called C8. It is a man-made chemical and does not occur naturally in the environment. The "PFOA" acronym is used to indicate not only perfluorooctanoic acid itself, but also its principal salts.
The PFOA derivative of greatest concern and most wide spread use is the ammonium salt (Ammonium perfluorooctanoate) commonly known as C8, C-8, or APFO and the chemical of concern in the Class Action suit in Ohio.

Ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFO or C8)
CAS No. 3825-26-1. Molecular formula:

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA or C8)
CAS No: 335-67-1. Molecular formula:

The DuPont site where APFO is used as a reaction aid is the Washington Works (Route 892, Washington, West Virginia 26181) located along the Ohio River approximately seven miles southwest of Parkersburg, West Virginia.

The Little Hocking Water Association well field is located in Ohio on the north side of the Ohio River immediately across from the Washington Works facility. Consumers of this drinking water have brought a Class Action suit against the Association and DuPont for the contamination of their drinking water with DuPont's APFO, which residents and media refer to as C8.

PFOA is used as a processing aid in the manufacture of fluoropolymers to produce hundreds of items such as non-stick surfaces on cookware (TEFLON), protective finishes on carpets (SCOTCHGUARD, STAINMASTER), clothing (GORE-TEX), and the weather-resistant barrier sheeting used on homes under the exterior siding (TYVEK).

March 8, 2003

The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
(West Virginia)

DuPont criticizes report from Little Hocking residents

By Staff Writer

DuPont officials Friday criticized reports that Little Hocking area residents living near Washington Works could have higher concentrations of C8 in their blood than plant workers.

DuPont Washington Works Plant Manager Paul Bossert and Director of the DuPont Haskell Laboratory for Health & Environmental Sciences Robert Rickard said recent reports claiming that residents in some Ohio communities may have concentrations of C8 in their blood double that of employees who work with the chemical are unrealistic, misleading and could raise unnecessary concern among community residents.

C8, or ammonium perfluorooctanoate, is an essential process aid used to manufacture fluoropolymer resins at the Washington Works plant. The recent claims are based on a letter sent to Ohio and federal environmental regulators by Rob Bilott, who is leading a class action lawsuit against DuPont claiming that C8 has harmed area residents and the environment.

DuPont disputes the claims and says it believes it will prevail in court.

"There is absolutely no factual data to support the claim that people living in communities near the Washington Works site would have higher levels of C8 in their blood than would DuPont employees actually working with C8," said Bossert. "On the contrary, data from our own employees who live in the community but do not work near C8 confirm that people in the community have levels of C8 in their blood significantly lower than employees who are exposed to C8 in the workplace. The bottom line is that we have factual data that indicate that the highest blood levels are in DuPont employees who work in the C8 area, and we know that there have been no adverse health effects seen in those employees."

Rickard, a board-certified toxicologist who oversees DuPont's toxicology and industrial medicine programs, said the model upon which the claims are based is theoretical and has not been validated scientifically. "The model is clearly inaccurate because its projections are higher than what we know to be true based on more than 20 years of monitoring our employees. I am confident that the projections in the model are a significant over-estimation of potential blood levels in the community."

Research is under way to determine whether a valid model can be built, said Richard. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is being updated on this regularly, said Rickard.

"The idea that DuPont would ever knowingly put the people in the communities in which we operate in harm's way is preposterous and contrary to the culture of DuPont, which puts safety first always," said Bossert.

"We have every confidence that our operation at Washington Works is safe for our employees and neighbors in the community."