BOTTLED WATER CONTAINS C-8

(01/13/2006)
Following the battle with DuPont over C-8, residents who lived in southeast Ohio and whose tap water contained C-8, were given bottled water as a solution.

Now, the bottled water contains C-8.

Marietta-based Crystal Spring Water distributed the bottles to more than one-thousand water company customers. DuPont hired Crystal Spring to provide the water while it installs filters to remove the chemical from well water.

C-8 is used by DuPont to make Teflon at a plant in nearby Parkersburg. The company says the chemical poses no threat to humans, but it has been linked to cancer in lab rats.

DuPont is updating its plants as part of a settlement of customers' class-action lawsuit.

Crystal Spring is now giving residents treated water and is installing a filter to remove C-8 from the spring water the company uses.

DuPont also is funding a health screening and study for up to 80,000 Ohio and West Virginia residents.

The company has been fined millions of dollars over C-8, and has agreed to pay millions to resolve the problem, still claiming there is not a significant problem with the dumping of the chemical.