Study looks at links to Teflon chemical

Study looks at links to Teflon chemical

	Published : Thu, 01 Mar 2007 18:22 By : Agencies Print this Story

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Consuming high amounts of locally grown produce was among the factors that caused higher levels of a chemical used to make Teflon in the blood of residents living in a southeastern Ohio water district, a researcher said Wednesday.

Residents participating in a study to measure levels of ammonium perfluorooctanoate, also known as PFOA and C8, live in Washington County's Little Hocking Water Association. The area is across the Ohio River from DuPont Inc.'s Washington Works Plant near Parkersburg, W.Va., which uses C8.

The first round of research indicated people who ate more garden vegetables or fruits had elevated levels of C8 in their blood, but other factors, notably the amount of water consumed and the subject's age, had a greater impact, said Dr. Edward Emmett of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, who is conducting the study with a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Studies.

'(Produce) was much less important than those other factors, but we could see it,' he said. 'It's more difficult however to know what it means because there are a number of possible explanations as to why we would have seen that.'

The study reviewed blood samples taken from 378 residents of the water association, which serves about 12,000 people and is about 100 miles southeast of Columbus.

It found residents in the water district averaged 295 parts per billion of C8 in their blood, compared with a national average of 5 parts per billion. Residents who reported eating a lot of food grown in their own gardens had 469 parts per billion.

Emmett said the uptick is interesting and worthy of further study, but given the lack of a link between C8 and health problems, residents shouldn't reconsider planting their gardens this spring.

Researchers would like to conduct a different study focusing on fruits and vegetables but are still in the process of recruiting financial support, Emmett said.

As the result of a class-action lawsuit claiming the DuPont plant contaminated water supplies, DuPont agreed to provide bottled water for residents in six Ohio and West Virginia water districts near the plant until permanent filters were installed to remove C8.

The product is widely used to produce the nonstick substance Teflon and a variety of other products from flooring to clothing.

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency science panel has issued a draft report saying C8 is 'likely' carcinogenic. Emmett said his research has not linked C8 to cancer or any other adverse health affects. DuPont claims the chemical is safe for humans.

'Our position is that, to date, there are no human health affects known to be caused by PFOA, although study of the chemical continues,' DuPont spokesman Dan Turner said.

The first round of testing in Emmett's study finished in 2005. He and his team are working on a comparison round of tests to see if levels of C8 have fallen as well as considering branching out to study how the fruits and vegetables increased C8 in subjects.