The Brookmar C-8 Health Project

The Brookmar Health Project was created to gather detailed health histories, blood chemistries, and C8 blood levels from the residents of the six water districts that were impacted by C8 contamination of their drinking water. The Health Project is part of the final class action settlement that was approved by the Circuit Court of Wood County on February 28, 2005.

Brookmar, Inc. is an entity that was created by A. Paul Brooks Jr. M.D. and Arthur A. Maher, MHA for purposes of conducting the health project as directed by the court. The C8 health project began testing on July 27, 2005 and delivered its final raw data to the court for filing on May 16, 2008.

Procedure

After initially accepting responsibility to conduct the Health Project, Brookmar quickly and efficiently took steps to initiate the massive task. Six satellite clinics were constructed and a staff of experienced medical personal was employed. With absolutely no precedent to guide them, the Brookmar team exceeded all expectations by securing participation of almost 70,000 affected residents. (At the time of the settlement it was estimated that C8 water contamination impacted somewhere between 60-80,000 people in six water districts. Therefore, a participation rate of 70,000 people is, for all practical purposes, the entire population.)

Purpose

The primary purpose of the health project was to gather data that may be used by the settlement "Science Panel" and other interested institutions, scientists, or professionals, to ascertain any probable link or effect that C8 may have upon human health. The C8 "Science Panel" is separate from the Brookmar C8 health project. Through mutual cooperation, Brookmar C8 health project data and information has been shared with the Science Panel throughout the project. In addition, C8 health project results are continually updated on a data hosting site managed by West Virginia University. C8 participant identities are strictly confidential and protected by court order.

Results

The C8 health project raw data that was filed with the court by Brookmar on May 16, 2008 consists of something in the range of 50 million entries stored on sealed DVD disks. It is the largest human health project (in terms of the number of people, the depth of the data mined from those people, and the verification of the data against real medical records) ever conducted any place in the world. The Brookmar team and the Department of Community Medicine at the West Virginia University School of Medicine have accomplished a feat that will not be duplicated any time or any place in the foreseeable future.

Impact

The scientific community at large has yet to comprehend the magnitude of the Brookmar project and its results. Fortunately, based on the structure implemented Judge J.D. Beane in his order of May 16, 2008, the de-identified raw data from the health project will be available for study by scientists and others long into the foreseeable future. Also, the WVU Department of Community Medicine continues to stratify the data and update its website concerning the population’s C8 levels, diseases, and blood chemistries. As a result, the public and all interested institutions or scientists will be provided with all available information derived from this amazing study.

Relationship of Brookmar C8 Health Project to the "Science Panel"

The Brookmar C8 Health Project was created as a component of the court-approved settlement in the case of Jack W. Leach et al. v. E.I. DuPont De Nemours and Company, (Civil Action No. 01-C-608 in the Circuit Court of Wood County, West Virginia). In that same litigation, a "Science Panel" was created as a totally separate entity. The Science Panel's sole function is to resolve the legal question of whether or not there is a probable link between C8 exposure and any human disease in the Leach lawsuit. The Brookmar Health Project and the Science Panel are totally independent of one another. Nevertheless, they are integrally related because the Science Panel will use the Brookmar Health Project data as a part of its analysis in resolving the probable link question in the Leach litigation. (In addition to gathering data that will be useful to the Science Panel in resolving the probable link issue for the lawsuit, the Brookmar Health Project was also envisioned to provide an unprecedented C8/health database to the broader scientific community.) Since inception, the Brookmar Project has continually shared all de-identified raw data with the Science Panel and later encouraged Brookmar project participants to sign consents and cooperate with follow-up studies contemplated by the Science Panel. In return, the Science Panel has graciously and generously provided helpful input to the Brookmar Project.