in his 2017 confirmation hearings, dourson was grilled about safe levels of pfoa in drinking water. the attack came amid the filing of 3,500 lawsuits over pfoa exposure. in 2002, dourson and two other tera scientists had participated in a court-ordered ten-person panel to review existing research on pfoa. five members of the panel were government representatives and two from dupont. the panel found no history of illness or premature death in 3m or dupont manufacturing workers since 1947. it did find a heightened liver disease risk in animal models among other lesser risks. the panel recommended a reduction in the allowable amount in drinking water to 150 ppb, a reduction from a dupont-sponsored recommendation of 210 ppb. the concentration of pfoa in the lubeck, west virginia public water supply was at that time 1 ppb.