The C8 Science Panel, chosen to determine whether C8 has a probable link to any health effects, will begin sending introductory letters in the next few weeks to those involved in their community and worker follow-up studies. The introductory letters will be followed by interviews in the fall, in which study participants will be asked about their medical history.
Those two follow-up studies will provide evidence about whether C8 is linked to any health effects. Such follow-up studies, which track participants’ medical history over time and relate disease to the history of C8 exposure, will provide some of the strongest evidence about whether C8 is associated with any disease. Approximately 40,000 adults in the community, who signed consents for the Science Panel studies at the time of the C8 Health Project, will be sent the introductory letters. About 6,000 past and present DuPont workers will also receive letters. Each participant will be compensated $40 after completing the first interview. Those will be conducted over an eight-month period beginning this fall. The interview should take about 30 minutes to complete. The same group will be given a second short interview in 2010, which should take about 10 minutes to complete. Participants will receive a $10 gift card after completing the second interview. Both studies will end in 2010.
There is still time to sign up to participate in the Science Panel community study, for participants in eh C8 Health Project (2005-2006) who have not yet done so. Those interested in participating may go to the Science Panel website (www.c8sciencepanel.org) and download the consent form, and mail it in to the address given for the Science Panel.
The Science Panel’s work is independent of the earlier C8 Health Project. The one-year C8 Health Project was set up under the settlement agreement of a class action lawsuit, and collected data on blood levels of C8 in the community, as well as medical and demographic history of community residents. Data collection for that project, under the direction of Brookmar, Inc., was completed by mid-2006. The C8 Science Panel was also created under the settlement agreement. The Panel is made up of three scientific experts in the field of epidemiology, who will analyze the data collected by the C8 Health Project and conduct a series of studies over the next one to four years. The community and worker follow-up studies are two of these studies.
The three panelists were agreed upon by both DuPont and the plaintiffs. Included are Dr. Tony Fletcher, Dr. Kyle Steenland, and Dr. David Savitz. More biographical information may be found at http://www.c8sciencepanel.org
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