Monsanto must pay hundreds of millions over toxic chemical
Did Monsanto fail to adequately warn of the dangers of PCBs? At least that's how the US Attorney's Office sees it - and now a court too. A jury sentenced the chemical company to pay substantial damages. The latter intends to take legal action.
Monsanto, the US chemical company acquired by Bayer, has been sentenced to pay damages of 857 million dollars (793 million euros) for the use of the toxic chemical PCB at a US school. A jury in the West Coast state of Washington on Monday ordered Monsanto to pay 73 million dollars in compensatory damages and an additional 784 million dollars in punitive damages to seven plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs are former students of the Sky Valley Education Center and parents who volunteered at the school in the city of Monroe. They attribute illnesses to the chemical PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) that allegedly leaked from fluorescent light bulbs at the school. PCBs were previously used in fluorescent lamp capacitors as cooling and insulating fluids. The chemical can cause respiratory problems and possibly contribute to cancer.
Plaintiff attorney Felix Luna said during the trial that Monsanto never adequately warned about the dangers of PCBs and concealed the harmful effects. The jury ruled that the chemical company had acted negligently.
Monsanto wants the verdict overturned
Following the jury's verdict, a Monsanto spokesperson announced an appeal against the verdict. "We do not agree with the verdict." Among other things, blood and air tests had shown that the plaintiffs had not been exposed to increased levels of PCBs. That is why the company is seeking to have the verdict overturned, the spokesperson explained.
Bayer bought Monsanto in 2018 for 63 billion dollars. Since then, the German chemical giant has been struggling in particular with lawsuits and trials over the Monsanto weedkiller Roundup. This contains the chemical glyphosate, which is suspected of having a carcinogenic effect.
There have been tens of thousands of lawsuits in the USA due to cancer allegedly caused by glyphosate. Bayer was partly acquitted and partly ordered to pay damages or paid as part of settlements. Around 113,000 of the 160,000 lawsuits filed have been concluded to date. The Group has formed provisions for this amounting to 16 billion US dollars.
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- Despite Bayer's acquisition of Monsanto in 2018, the US chemical company is still facing legal challenges, such as the recent court ruling in Washington, where Monsanto was ordered to pay over 857 million dollars in damages for failing to adequately warn about the dangers of PCBs and concealing their harmful effects in the chemical industry.
- In response to the verdict, Monsanto, now a subsidiary of Bayer, has announced its intention to appeal, citing blood and air tests showing that the plaintiffs had not been exposed to increased levels of PCBs.
- The chemical industry has been under intense scrutiny in the USA, with Monsanto being one of the main targets due to its production and use of chemicals like PCBs and glyphosate in products like Roundup, which has resulted in numerous lawsuits and settlements totaling billions of dollars, with Monsanto and Bayer being held accountable for failing to uphold justice and warning consumers about potential health risks.
Source: www.ntv.de
