CHESTER — Callie Lyons, investigative journalist and author of “Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal: The Hidden Dangers of C8,” will be participating in meetings to be held on C8 water contamination at the Chester Courthouse on March 26 and at the Little Hocking Elementary School on March 19, both at 7 p.m.

Lyons will be at the meeting being held by the law firm of Vessels and Lyons of Marietta to provide information and answer questions about the C8 controversy which she has followed for the past 11 years.

Water districts found to be contaminated with C8 include Belpre , Tuppers Plains, Little Hocking and Pomeroy, Ohio and Lubeck and Mason County in 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.

The Marietta attorney Ethan Vessels is described as “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, W.Va. He describes the meetings being held as “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 man-made 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.

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

He said the criteria for participation in medical monitoring or filing a personal injury claim is not based on an individual’s current place of residence.