Before the hearing, the C8 Science Panel issued a statement saying its final report on the effects of the chemical used by DuPont Washington Works to make Teflon would likely be issued by the summer of next year.

But the judge in the court case which resulted in the creation of that panel said its work is taking too long.

"I get a report that you're going to let me know something in July (2012)," said Circuit Judge J.D. Beane. "That's not good...perhaps select other names for a different science panel."

What prompted the judge's comment was testimony by a professor at West Virginia University, which has also been studying the effects of C8.

"Assuming we accept high cholesterol as a disease we treat with real medications, with real side effects and real consequences for patients, there is a probable link," said Dr. Alan Ducatman, Professor of Medicine, West Virginia University.

A science panel member said its work has been deliberate but necessary. He said its trying to determine the state of the people who were found to have diseases possibly caused by the chemical, before they were exposed to it.

"As an example, they may say, 'i've had heart disease'," said Dr. Kyle Steenland, science panel member. "However, it does not tell us when they had heart disease, nor does it tell us the likely PFOA level before they had heart disease, if they say they had heart disease in 1992. We need to know what the level in their serum was before that."

Those findings were determined after nearly 70,000 people were tested between 2005 and 2006. Brookmar, the company doing the testing, issued its data to the science panel in 2008. A co-founder of the company says the restults of those tests could have an impact beyond the C8 issue.

"We found several cancers that weren't known about," said Dr. Paul Brooks. "We probably saved several lives over a period of time."

DuPont's attorney noted that, when the settlement was reached in 2004, there were no expectations of the large amount of data Brookmar obtained in the testing of the participants in the study.