OHIO VALLEY — Marietta attorney Ethan Vessels is championing the rights of the individual and educating impacted people about the C8 contamination that infiltrated several Mid-Ohio Valley water supplies as the result of manufacturing processes at DuPont Washington Works near Parkersburg, West Virginia.

“In many cases we are seeing that the worst of the pollution fell on Ohio water systems,” Vessels said.

Vessels is hosting a series of informational town hall meetings for members of the impacted communities who want to understand all the issues facing them and who may have questions about illness or medical monitoring.

C8, also known as perfluorooctanoic acid or PFOA, became the subject of a class action lawsuit against DuPont by Mid Ohio Valley residents whose water became contaminated with the manmade industrial surfactant. Science that came to light via an independent panel as a result of the lawsuit, determined that there was a probable link between C8 exposure and pregnancy-induced hypertension, high cholesterol, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis and kidney and testicular cancer. People in the Mid-Ohio Valley who have been drinking C8 contaminated water may be eligible for free medical monitoring or personal injury claims.

Callie Lyons, investigative journalist and author of ‘Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal: The Hidden Dangers of C8’, will be present at the meetings to provide information and answer questions. Lyons has been following the controversy for the past 11 years.

This month, Vessels and Lyons will meet with community members in Little Hocking and Chester.

At 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19, there will be a town hall meeting at the gymnasium of Little Hocking Elementary School. At 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 26, a town hall meeting will be held at the old Chester Courthouse in Meigs County.

Water districts found to be contaminated with C8 include Belpre, Tuppers Plains, Little Hocking and Pomeroy, Ohio, and Lubeck and Mason County, West Virginia. The criteria for participation in medical monitoring or filing a personal injury claim is not based on an individual’s current place of residence.

Vessels has partnered with the Akron firm Slater & Zurz to represent people victimized by C8 on an individual basis, not as part of a class action lawsuit.

For more information, call 740-374-5346.