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FROM THE EDITOR: We will stick with toxic water investigation Page 1 of 4
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FROM THE EDITOR: We will stick with toxic water
investigation
Having been in this business more than 30 years, I know the
stamina of corporations and governments for waiting us out. Some
even believe ignoring requests for interviews and not answering
important questions will stop the story.
By Pam Sander StarNews Staff
Posted Jun 10, 2017 at 5:07 AM
Updated Jun 11, 2017 at 2:01 PM
Newspapers the size of the StarNews devote most of their resources to daily stories.
Committing to larger projects is tough because that pulls reporters off the daily work.
This year, we've been focusing more resources on several projects, including Camp Lejeune
water contamination; issues in the black community; school re -segregation; and the evolution
of Wilmington's Northside area.
Then we found out a toxic chemical is in our water.
The StarNews' first story about that chemical, GenX, was published online Wednesday.
Researchers have found it in the Cape Fear River and in CFPUA's water system. Brunswick
and Pender water systems that draw from the river have not been tested, but a safe conclusion
is that it's in those systems, too.
The fairly new chemical replaced a key ingredient used to manufacture Teflon. That
compound, known as C8, was extensively linked to cancer and many other ailments. Its
replacement, GenX, is coming from the Chemours chemical plant, along the Cape Fear just
this side of Fayetteville. DuPont spun off Chemours and a host of chemicals and lawsuits in
2015. Both are Fortune 500 companies.
http://www. stamewsonline. com/news/20170610/from-editor-we-will-stick-with-toxic-wate... 6/ 12/2017
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FROM THE EDITOR: We will stick with toxic water investigation Page 2 of 4
t
Having been in this business more than 30 years, I know the stamina of corporations and
governments for waiting us out. Some believe ignoring requests for interviews and not
answering important questions will stop the story.
I've seen that happen, even back when newsrooms employed at least one full-time
investigative journalist with years of experience in digging, determination and passion --
because reporters hit walls and lose interest, and editors want content. Sometimes, they move
on because patience is not a journalist's strong suit.
Some of you have called and emailed me and messaged me on Facebook. An Ogden reader said
it's the most important reporting we've done in many years. "Please do not let this one rest, and
if the West Virginia experience with DuPont is any indication, our very lives may depend
upon it."
Publisher Mike Distelhorst and 1, as well as our parent company, GateHouse Media, are
committed to this project. It will get the resources it needs.
StarNews correspondent and former city editor Vaughn Hagerty, who's exceptionally talented
at online data -finding and data -driven reporting, uncovered the story while researching
another one. Local news editor Gareth McGrath is the lead editor. joining Vaughn in the
reporting are GateHouse regional environmental issues reporter Adam Wagner; and author
and investigative reporter Kevin Maurer. We've also reassigned education reporter Cammie
Bellamy to the effort. And as soon as senior reporter Tim Buckland gets back from vacation, he
will have a role.
Our primary focus will be along two lines of reporting -- regulations/policy and solutions. We
will advance those regularly; we will share with you the questions we ask and the answers we
get -- or don't get. And we will keep digging.
Some of you have emailed and asked on our Facebook page: Can I drink the water?
We've been asking experts the same, and some have said you should not. But because DuPont
and Chemours can hide behind the mask of trade secrets, no one who's talking can definitively
answer the question.
http://www. starnewsonline. cominewsl20l 7O6l Olfrom-editor-we-will-stick-with-toxic-wate... 6/ 12/2017
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FROM THE EDITOR: We will stick with toxic water investigation Page 4 of 4
Pam Sander is executive editor of the StarNews and Carolinas Coastal Group editor for GateHouse
Media. Email her [e-mail].
gatehousemedia.com.
.......................................
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FROM THE EDITOR: We will stick with toxic water investigation Page 3 of �t
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I can tell you only what I am doing: I drink bottled water now. In the mornings, I use it for my
coffee. I order bottled water at restaurants. I am encouraging my husband and grown children
to do the same.
Here's why:
1) When Vaughn asked Chemours 11 different questions of substance during his reporting,
Chemours officials did not respond with research or other evidence to show GenX is not like
the cancerous C8. They did not welcome an interview to reassure us that the water is safe. In
the past week, the multi -billion -dollar company issued one statement -- and wouldn't even
answer the simplest of questions: Are you aware GenX is in the CFPUA water system and that
the utility can't remove it?
2) Existing research (including animal testing done by DuPont/Chemours) shows that GenX
has many of the same biological effects as C8, including liver damage and tumors. Also, GenX
has the same environmental stability that C8 did.
3) When the EPA gave DuPont approval to make it in 2009, the agency specifically said the
chemical giant had to keep it out of the water.
4) In reading numerous news stories previously written about C8, I was jarred by an article
from Earl Rinehart at our GateHouse sister paper in Columbus, Ohio:
In 2006, DuPont reported that a 1963 study of the substances (that make up GenX) showed that adult
rats given 7,500 milligrams died gasping, convulsive deaths within three hours. Those that received
smaller doses survived with slightly enlarged livers. A 2013 DuPont report stated that rats given a much
lower dose of GenX developed tumors in some organs. The report stated that "these tumor findings are
not considered relevant for human risk assessment."
DuPont attorneys made a similar argument during the C8 lawsuit trials that signs of cancer in rats
didn't mean that C8 causes cancer in people.
"What it comes down to is that we're supposed to take their word for it that this chemical (GenX) is safe.
Talk about history repeating itself," said Jeffrey Dugas of Keep Your Promises, a community -based
group that wants DuPont and Chemours to pay for medical care for residents affected by C8.
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