Report Links DuPont West Virginia Plant Chemical, Residents’ High Cholesterol

A science panel said it has found probable links between high cholesterol in mid-Ohio Valley residents and their exposure to a chemical used by a DuPont plant in West Virginia.

The C8 Science Panel released its final report on studies of data collected from about 70,000 residents. The three-member science panel was formed in 2005 as part of a class-action settlement of a lawsuit that claimed water supplies were contaminated in Ohio and West Virginia.

The company uses C8 at its Washington Works plant near Parkersburg. DuPont plans to stop making and using C8 by 2015.

Previously the panel found probable links between the chemical, also known as or perfluorooctanoic acid, and several other health issues, including thyroid disease, testicular and kidney cancers, pregnancy-induced hypertension and ulcerative colitis.