During a thirteen-month period between 2005 and 2006, over 69,000 people across Ohio and West Virginia gave samples of blood and answered surveys as part of the C8 Health Project, a medical monitoring program studying chemical pollutants. Researchers with the C8 Science Panel then analyzed the data from the C8 Health Project. Over the next eight years, the C8 Health Project and C8 Science Panel operated jointly as a scientific institution formed through a court order to determine what ill health effects a chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, can cause to the human body. The C8 Science Panel determined that there is a probable link between PFOA exposure and pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, testicular cancer, high cholesterol, and several other diseases. The work of the C8 Health Project and C8 Science Panel led to a personal-injury settlement against the DuPont chemical company, shaped public policy, and influenced future investigations into the health effects of similar chemicals.