Sept. 07--POMEROY -- Another study of the health impact from exposure to a chemical used by DuPont at its Washington Works plant in Wood County, W.Va. shows it may affect kidney health.
West Virginia University's C8 Health Project has released yet another study, Perfluoroalkyl Chemicals and Chronic Kidney Disease in U.S. Adults, and it was published recently in the American Journal of Epidemiology. It is the first study to link exposure to C8 to kidney problems in the general population.
The study examined data for more than 4,500 adults and found associations between higher levels of C8 and chronic kidney disease.
"Our findings are of public health importance because serum PFCs (C8) appear to be positively related to kidney disease even at relatively low background exposure levels in the U.S. general population," researchers concluded.
This new WVU study comes on the heels of the C8 Science Panel's report outlining associations between chemical exposure and kidney cancer deaths in DuPont workers, according to the West Virginia Gazette.
C8 is a chemical used in the manufacture of many DuPont products, including Teflon. Its release into the Ohio River was the subject of a class-action lawsuit filed by customers in the Lubeck, W.Va. water system, which later became a class-action lawsuit including water customers in the Tuppers Plains-Chester, Pomeroy, and Mason County, W.Va. water systems.
Residents participated in a year-long study of the health effects of C8, and water systems affected by the chemical were later fitted with equipment to eliminate the chemical from the water supply, as a part of the settlement of the class-action suit.
Since the C8 Health Project began its research, several studies have been released that might lead health experts to identify a positive link between exposure to the chemical and health problems.
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