Community | December 13, 2009 | 24 comments

Monsanto being sued for PCB contamination

source: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091213/NEWS/912130326/1018/OPINION

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JanforGore
Monsanto Co. and Cornell-Dubilier Electronics, Inc., which manufacture pesticides and electrical capacitors, respectively, have been linked to PCB contamination at three privately-owned properties in the Parker Street neighborhood near Keith Middle School, according to court documents the City of New Bedford filed Thursday in Bristol County Superior Court.

As part of an ongoing lawsuit brought by neighborhood residents against the city, city attorneys are suing Monsanto and Cornell-Dubilier, in addition to other persons and entities, for more than $5 million related to site assessment, clean-up costs, consulting fees, the purchase of private property and future remediation costs, according to court documents.

The "smoking gun" that connects the companies to PCB contamination in the neighborhood is photographs of PCB-containing electrical capacitors marked with the Cornell-Dubilier name, said City Solicitor Irene B. Schall.

The yellowish, 3-inch capacitors, which resemble mini bread pans, were found in a test pit the city dug at 102 Greenwood St. after purchasing the property last fall.

The pit was dug "for the purpose of identifying responsible parties," Schall said.

Asked how the city knew where to dig, Schall answered, "We have a good expert." When zinc, lead and PCBs are found together, they may indicate the presence of capacitors, she said.

Monsanto Co. and additional defendants Pharmacia Corporation and Solutia, Inc. are foreign corporations that manufactured PCBs, lead, zinc, oil and other hazardous materials, which were "manufactured, sold, distributed, stored or disposed of in New Bedford," according to the complaint.

PCB manufacturer

Court documents indicate that from 1935 to 1971, Monsanto Co. and its predecessor Monsanto Chemical Company were the exclusive manufacturer of PCBs in the United States.

In the complaint, the city claims that the two Monsanto companies "knew PCBs were hazardous but manufactured and profited from them for more than 40 years with conscious disregard for the rights of others."

Cornell-Dubilier, a foreign corporation with facilities in New Bedford, manufactured capacitors containing PCBs, lead, zinc, oil or other hazardous materials, which were "sold, manufactured, distributed, stored or disposed of in New Bedford," according to the complaint.

In 1940, Cornell-Dubilier opened a manufacturing plant in New Bedford's South End. By 1950, the company had become "the largest maker of AC, high voltage, mica and aluminum electrolytic capacitors," according to the company's Web site.

The manufacture of PCBs, which are linked to cancer and other health problems, was banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979.

Monsanto Co. in St. Louis, Mo. issued the following statement related to the city's complaint: "We have not seen this lawsuit, so we cannot comment specifically on the facts in the case until we have had a chance to review it."

Victor Whitworth, chief financial officer of Cornell-Dubilier, said from his office in Liberty, S.C. that he was "not aware" of the lawsuit and had no comment.
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24 comments // Monsanto being sued for PCB contamination

  • nursediesel
    • 0
      nursediesel  

    • We need to return to nature. All these chemicals that are unnaturally combined and manufactured are harmful to all of us. Return to what grows naturally. Without artifical chemicals.......

    • 2 years ago
  • pukemnukem
  • SlowDownWould
    • 0
      SlowDownWould  

    • Watch Food inc.. These guys at Mansanto are bad dudes. What they do is scary. And we're all eating their products. Every one of us. These guys need to go down.

    • 2 years ago
  • macdontcare
    • 0
      macdontcare  

    • New Bedford may not be the swankiest of towns in the state, but many call it HOME just the same. I've worked there. I also grew up in one of the first Super Fund sites in the country, Woburn, Massachusetts. Any one recall the movie A Civil Action with John Travolta. That's right, good 'ol Woburn. Our cancer rate is the tops, really! I admit to a rush to judgement. You had me at Monsanto.

    • 2 years ago
  • pukemnukem
    • 0
      pukemnukem  

    • Here is an easy answer, everyone stop using capacitors. Quickly now, smash your computer...Save your self from pollution! Rip out all your copper wiring and the fillings from your teeth!!!

    • 2 years ago
  • macdontcare
    • 0
      macdontcare  
    • pukemnukem:

      You make a great point. Few want to speak about the laptop in their lap, or the cell phone held to their head, or the new flat screen adding new bling to the living room. So many of us just want "stuff" with little thought of where it comes from. If you think the toxins in New Bedford are bad, think about where those toxins were mined. Far worse than the leaching fields in your yard.

    • 2 years ago
  • pukemnukem
    • 0
      pukemnukem  
    • pukemnukem:

      Or where tech wastes goes. It is shocking how open it is in Europe that companies will advertise recycling services for old electronics but all they do is ship them to China, Bangladesh, and India to be ripped apart by hand. Lead welds, harmful plastics, heavy metals, all removed by kids (they got those perfect little hands to get those hard to reach parts he...he...)with no safety or environmental concerns.

    • 2 years ago
  • smallgod
  • aquamammal
  • bombastinator
  • goodname
  • artemis6
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
  • bombastinator
    • 0
      bombastinator  

    • awesome article. PCBs are pretty horrific.

      There's an eco thriller/horror novel by Neil Stephenson written in the 90's called "Zodiac" that is a minor classic. In the novel the "heavy" is a secret capacitor dump site. I thoroughly enjoyed it myself. It's a pretty good read.

    • 2 years ago
  • jeffissleeping
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  

    • I can think of a couple of places around here that if you walk barefoot your feet will start to burn. but nobody wants to talk about it be cause it's a old dump site from the fifties and sixties. They built a swimming pool on one location. What a way to deal with the problem. There are other spots that are chemical waste lands from the time before E.P.A. regulations. the people sold scrap metal and just dumped oil from tranformers on the ground. Even today not much grows there. Maybe one day in will be a condo site and they will be in for a big suprise.just what does one do with ground that is flooded with P.C.B.'s?

    • 2 years ago
  • CarolynGillis
  • CarolynGillis
    • 0
      CarolynGillis  

    • We need to keep fighting these companies.
      I successfully fought them and won by refusing to let them bully me into allowing pesticide spraying on our 10 acre condo site.
      They try to bully and humiliate you but don't let them.
      They all hate me on the board and I don't like to be hated but am more concerned about having permanent damage to myself and the environment.
      We are right.
      I kept threatening to call the newspapers and kept writing open emails to them ccing all the govt experts and newspapers..even our local hero Paul Tukey who has a doc called chemical reaction...
      They gave up finally becasue they were sick of dealing with me..lol

    • 2 years ago
  • smallgod
  • unclepete813
    • 0
      unclepete813  

    • im glad some one finally going after the devils den. monsanto is the devils haven. they trying to depopulate us, i hope that company goes up in flames, i wish a meteor hits that evil company. im so serious. i hope an earthquakes crumble them. they been posioning us, im sick of them bastards. peace out 1love for hummanity. blood raw/it is what it is

    • 2 years ago
  • ENDIF
  • JanforGore
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  
    • JanforGore:

      Oh! come on now don't you want to have all the latest cancers and be sick like all the others. come on you know you want to be the first person with a brand new type of cancer that nobody else has. hey maybe they will let you name it even.

    • 2 years ago
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