Jury finds for Monsanto in PCB trial

This is complete BS. Everyone knows what damage Monsanto is causing. I honestly believe there was a pay off , for the jury to find for Monsanto.. Too bad we could not be the jury .

Unfortunately the links between certain illnesses have yet to be linked as strongly as the ones linking carcinogens.

I am sure many will live to see that thousands of illnesses and maladies have direct links to the ingestion and handling of these and other yet unlinked chemicals.

Who knows how much damaging genetic modification has happened at the hands of large chemical and pharmaceutical operations with no links discovered to date.

As the world's population grows, the effects of the sheer numbers of both purposeful and accidental releases of harmful chemicals and toxins is sure to worsen.

We should long ago have approached releases with more caution and instead of naming the things whch could NOT be released, we should have mandated site containment of everything until we knew of the potential for harm to the planet and to the plants and organisms that live on it.

It is not too late to shut the barn door but there is definitely a very urgent need to take whatever steps are necessary to immediately abate ongoing threats from prior spills, leaks and discharges.

We still have August.

Tragic that Monsanto can win like this. At least the fight will continue.

so its setteld? monsanto is being run bye the Devil? yup sounds about right... i wonder if the devil is behind tearing down the rain forest and killing of africas culture as well?

This is absolutely revolting. If you haven't seen enough evil done by this one corporation, "The Future Of Food" ('04) will show you just how corrupt & dangerous Monsanto really is concerning the health of our entire ecosystem - especially our own.

Monsanto will go down, it's profiteers will be prosecuted.

I wonder what the odds are that they were bribed...

Because coming to this decision on their own just seems unfathomable...

The Inside Story: Poisoned By PCBS

Q: Did Monsanto ever provide the residents of Anniston with any data concerning the health hazards of PCBs in humans?

A: Uh-uh (indicating no). Why would they?

- William B. Papageorge, Monsanto Manager of Environmental Control, Deposition of March 31, 1998 (view entire document)

From the article:

A jury found for Monsanto late today in a PCBs trial here, deciding there was not enough evidence to show the compound caused diabetes and other diseases in people exposed to it.

Lawyers paced the courtroom hallways and chatted nervously on cell phones all day long, until the jury returned at 5:04 p.m. and gave its decision.

Five plaintiffs sued the chemical company, claiming the polychlorinated biphenyls it produced and leaked into Anniston's environment for 40 years caused their diabetes and osteoarthritis.

Plaintiff James Abernathy was unhappy with the verdict.

"Anybody that couldn't see the evidence we put forth — they's blind," he said.

Fannie Wayne, another plaintiff, said the jury did what it had to do.

"Monsanto got out of this one with flying colors," said plaintiff Clarence Brown.

The plaintiffs sued Pharmacia, the company that after its merger with Monsanto in 2000 inherited liability for contamination at the plant. Lawyers for the company referred to their client as Monsanto, as did many of the witnesses throughout the trial.

Augusta Dowd, a lawyer for Monsanto, said in a written statement that she was pleased her team of lawyers proved that other risk factors like smoking, advanced age and obesity had caused the diseases, and not PCB exposure.

"… There is no credible scientific evidence that PCBs themselves cause any of the illnesses," she said. "The jury understood this. We applaud them for their decision."

Jury foreman David Petersen said jurors didn't think evidence linking PCBs with diabetes was strong enough.

"We saw that there was a possibility that it could, but a possibility that it could doesn't make it definite proof," he said.

Plaintiff's attorney Bob Roden was disappointed with the decision and called it a setback for the 46 other PCB cases pending in Jefferson County Circuit Court. Even so, he said the verdict will not affect whether lawyers move forward with those cases.

"It'll be another day in court, a different jury, some different diseases," he said.

Roden said some of the 3,000 people that make up those 46 cases have cancer. Attorneys say these claimants were left out of two cases settled in 2003. About 21,600 claimants split $600 million in those cases. Another $100 million went to research, a health clinic and community programs.

The next trial is scheduled to start in August.

Monsanto produced PCBs at its west Anniston plant from 1929 to 1971. Millions of pounds of PCBs from the plant settled in the yards of many homes nearby. The chemical also flowed through drainage ditches to Snow Creek and Choccolocco Creek.
________

"Augusta Dowd, a lawyer for Monsanto, said in a written statement that she was pleased her team of lawyers proved that other risk factors like smoking, advanced age and obesity had caused the diseases, and not PCB exposure.

"… There is no credible scientific evidence that PCBs themselves cause any of the illnesses," she said."

___
Wow, what liars.