New Study Triggers Fresh Lawsuit Concerns For Chemours

A new study suggests that industrial waste from plants along the Ohio River resulted in nearby residents with elevated levels of potentially harmful chemicals.

Researchers from the University of Cincinnati examined blood samples taken from 931 residents of the Mid-Ohio Valley — a span ranging from Evansville, Ind., to Huntington, W.Va. — between 1991 and 2013.

The samples showed above-average concentrations of perfluorooctanoic acid, otherwise known as PFOA or C8, compared to the general U.S. population.

"The exposure source was likely from drinking water contaminated by industrial discharges upriver," researchers wrote.

Nearly half of the samples tested showed PFOA at levels in excess of the 95th percentile nationwide, although exposure was significantly limited by water treatment systems that utilized granular activated carbon filtration.

The study, published in the journal Environmental Pollution, was the first to evaluate PFOA concentrations in the 1990s, but researchers noted that discharges near Parkersburg, W.Va., were previously linked to elevated levels in downstream populations.

Parkersburg was formerly home to a DuPont plant that used PFOA for decades to make Teflon non-stick coating.

DuPont and Chemours — its spun-off chemical operations — recently settled thousands of lawsuits filed by nearby residents with health problems linked to PFOA, but the latest analysis prompted speculation that new legal issues could arise from residents hundreds of miles away.

The companies denied wrongdoing as part of the settlement and long maintained that other factors were to blame for residents' health issues.

The UC study also comes amid increased scrutiny of the chemical developed by DuPont to replace PFOA.

Although the replacement chemical known as GenX had a lower toxicology profile than PFOA, researchers warned it could pose similar health risks. Recent reports indicated that traces of GenX were found in the Cape Fear River downstream from a DuPont plant in Fayetteville, N.C.

Chemours said that the findings did not jeopardize drinking water supplies but nonetheless vowed to remove the chemicals. State and federal regulators, meanwhile, are reportedly looking into the matter.