C-8 medical monitoring invoices released

PARKERSBURG – A group has made public $9 million in invoices paid by DuPont to a firm that is overseeing the medical monitoring program for C-8 litigation.

But records also show that the C-8 Medical Monitoring Program ran by Michael Rozen's firm, Feinberg Rozen, has paid out just over $50,000 for medical claims. That equals about 0.02 percent of the $235 million in the medical monitoring fund.

“I question why Rozen has been paid so handsomely by DuPont to accomplish so little in the way of providing medical monitoring to the individuals that qualify for it,” said Dr. Paul Brooks, who is an advisory committee member for Keep Your Promises, the group that released the documents.

Keep Your Promises wants DuPont to make public its contract with Feinberg Rozen and that an investigation be launched into its handling of the fund.

“For (Mr. Rozen) to claim that he is independent at this point reminds of the ‘fox guarding the hen house’ scenario,” Brooks said. “It's disingenuous, and the exposed individuals deserve better.”

According to Keep Your Promises, Feinberg Rozen has been accused of similar misrepresentation before.

In February 2011, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ordered Rozen’s partner Kenneth Feinberg to stop representing himself to claimants of the BP Deepwater Horizon Victim Compensation Fund as a neutral party when he was a lawyer and agent representing BP.

Earlier this month, Keep Your Promises launched a website called KeepYourPromisesDuPont.com to hold DuPont accountable for their commitments to the people of the Greater Mid-Ohio Valley.

DuPont’s promises were made in connection to a 2005 settlement agreement to address the corporation’s contamination of communities’ drinking water with the chemical C-8.

“DuPont has been aware of the dangers of C-8 for decades, and they agreed to make amends with the people affected,” Advisory Committee member Joe Kiger said then. “Growing up in Parkersburg I have seen firsthand the impact of C-8 on my family and friends.

"For the sake of everyone impacted by this dangerous chemical, we must hold DuPont to their promises.”

C-8, also known as perfluorooctanoic acid or PFOA, was used by DuPont in the manufacturing of Teflon at the company’s Washington Works plant near Parkersburg. The C-8 Science Panel, an independent panel of epidemiologists appointed to study the chemical and its effects on human health, determined that C-8 has a ‘probable link’ to several diseases, including kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, high cholesterol, and pregnancy-induced hypertension.

Keep Your Promises is seeking to educate Greater Mid-Ohio Valley community members about how to obtain medical monitoring for diseases linked to C-8 exposure, educate community members about the safety of their drinking water, and provide ways for community members to take action to stand up for their rights.