3,500 West Virginians Enroll in DuPont Medical Monitoring Plan

DuPont says 3,500 people are enrolled in a medical monitoring program for West Virginia residents who believe exposure from a former zinc-smelting plant increases their risk of illness.

Plaintiffs near the Spelter plant won a class-action lawsuit in 2007. The new 30-year medical monitoring grew out of a settlement that DuPont offered when it dropped its appeal of the verdict. It begins Nov. 1.

Spokesman Dan Turner said that 6,700 people have submitted claim forms, and some have yet to be reviewed by the case administrator.

People were paid $400 to complete the form and help create a database for the program, but Turner says many apparently submitted the forms then declined the monitoring.

Turner says the long-term cost of the pay-as-you-go program for DuPont is unclear.