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The latest health survey says tens of thousands of Mid-Ohio Valley residents have elevated levels of the toxic chemical C8 in their blood.
The people who live in communities around the DuPont Washington Bottoms Works have five times more C-8 in their blood than the average American.
C-8 is a chemical used by DuPont in the manufacture of Teflon since the 1950s.
Ken Ward, a reporter for the Charleston Gazette, says one earlier study, however, looked at only 324 residents and another, by DuPont, at a dozen residents. Preliminary data from the C8 Health Project, made public, against the wishes of some of the scientists involved, included about 24,000 residents.
The C8 Health Study has examined blood samples from about 65,000 of the nearly 69,000 residents who signed up for the research project.
The data that is being made public this week showed a median C8 concentration of 28 parts per billion in residents' blood. That compares to a median level in the general U.S. population of about 5 parts per billion found in other studies.
The customers of the Little Hocking Water District in Ohio, believed to be the most polluted by C8, showed a median concentration of 132 parts per billion of the chemical in their blood.
The report showed that one Little Hocking resident had the highest level of those tested, 22,412 parts per billion.
Regulators have not set a federal standard for its safety.
The C8 Health Project is funded by major portions of a $107.6 million settlement paid by DuPont to settle a lawsuit.
That lawsuit alleges the company poisoned residents' drinking water.
Scientists have collected hundreds of pieces of information - from demographics to medical histories - for nearly 70,000 Mid-Ohio valley residents.
The study will be making comparisons of C8 blood tests to demographic and health information, including cancer and other illnesses.
Officials urged residents not to jump to conclusions, although the latest data does provide "interesting information."
DuPont has faced and lost a number of contamination lawsuits around the US, including a recent one at Spelter in Harrison County.
C8 blood data results are available online at C8 Health Project Results
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