The chemical firm Monsanto adds a new complaint to the long list of which it is already the subject. The city of Los Angeles, in the United States, announced on Monday March 7 that it was suing her for having knowingly polluted its waters for decades with chemicals from the family of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) until 1979.
These chemicals, which are toxic and degrade very little in the environment, were used in paint, inks, papers or even as lubricants and sealants. Exposure to PCBs can cause cancer, damage the liver, thyroid and eyes, and have adverse developmental effects.
Monsanto knew “for decades” regarding the toxicity of PCBs
“It’s time for Monsanto to clean up and pay”, said Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer. “The health and environmental impacts of PCBs – impacts that the city is working hard to reduce throughout Los Angeles – are simply jaw-dropping”he insists.
“We claim that Monsanto knew for decades that PCBs were toxic and would inevitably lead to widespread contamination (…) It is intolerable that Monsanto has continued to produce and sell them and, we argue, to mislead the public About them.”
The city of Los Angeles, which wants to obtain financial reparations from Monsanto for the depollution of water, says that the company had known since the 1950s of the toxicity of PCBs for human beings.
Three companies targeted
The complaint cites three companies spun off from a division of Monsanto in the 1990s: Monsanto Company, now owned by Bayer; Solutia, owned by Eastman Chemical Company, and Pharmacia, acquired by Pfizer. None of the three companies had reacted Monday followingnoon.
Bayer has been undermined since the acquisition of Monsanto by a salvo of procedures, collective and individual, which have been launched concerning the pesticide Round’Up and its active substance, glyphosate.
The German group contests this characterization but the substance is classified “probable carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
Bayer is also facing a complaint from shareholders in Germany, who are claiming no less than 2.2 billion euros in damages, accusing it of not having sufficiently informed them of the financial risks caused by these legal proceedings. .
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