Back to Search
Start Over
The C8 Health Project: Design, Methods, and Participants
- Source :
- Environmental Health Perspectives
- Publication Year :
- 2009
- Publisher :
- Environmental Health Perspectives, 2009.
-
Abstract
- Background The C8 Health Project was created, authorized, and funded as part of the settlement agreement reached in the case of Jack W. Leach, et al. v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (no. 01-C-608 W.Va., Wood County Circuit Court, filed 10 April 2002). The settlement stemmed from the perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, or C8) contamination of drinking water in six water districts in two states near the DuPont Washington Works facility near Parkersburg, West Virginia. Objectives This study reports on the methods and results from the C8 Health Project, a population study created to gather data that would allow class members to know their own PFOA levels and permit subsequent epidemiologic investigations. Methods Final study participation was 69,030, enrolled over a 13-month period in 2005-2006. Extensive data were collected, including demographic data, medical diagnoses (both self-report and medical records review), clinical laboratory testing, and determination of serum concentrations of 10 perfluorocarbons (PFCs). Here we describe the processes used to collect, validate, and store these health data. We also describe survey participants and their serum PFC levels. Results The population geometric mean for serum PFOA was 32.91 ng/mL, 500% higher than previously reported for a representative American population. Serum concentrations for perfluorohexane sulfonate and perfluorononanoic acid were elevated 39% and 73% respectively, whereas perfluorooctanesulfonate was present at levels similar to those in the U.S. population. Conclusions This largest known population study of community PFC exposure permits new evaluations of associations between PFOA, in particular, and a range of health parameters. These will contribute to understanding of the biology of PFC exposure. The C8 Health Project also represents an unprecedented effort to gather basic data on an exposed population; its achievements and limitations can inform future legal settlements for populations exposed to environmental contaminants.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
Research design
environmental contamination
Adolescent
Exposed Population
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Population
Water supply
Cohort Studies
Perfluorononanoic acid
chemistry.chemical_compound
Water Supply
Environmental health
Humans
C8
Child
education
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Fluorocarbons
Sex Characteristics
education.field_of_study
business.industry
Research
Medical record
PFOA
Age Factors
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Infant
perfluorocarbons
Middle Aged
chemistry
Research Design
Child, Preschool
Environmental chemistry
toxic tort settlement
Population study
Female
Caprylates
business
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Environmental Monitoring
Cohort study
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15529924, 00916765, and 20052006
- Volume :
- 117
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Environmental Health Perspectives
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....3461bf7637af6fa1768f6391a78cbf12