Lawsuit: Monsanto PCBs Continue To Drain Into Los Angeles Harbors, Lakes Decades After Being Banned By EPA
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Monsanto polluted Los Angeles' waterways for decades with PCB's, even though they knew the cancer-causing chemicals were toxic and would pollute the environment for decades, according to a lawsuit filed by City Attorney Mike Feuer.
The lawsuit filed against Monsanto, and two spinoff businesses – Solutia, now a subsidiary of Eastman Chemical Company, and Pharmacia, a subsidiary of Pfizer – alleges the company knew polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, were toxic but still used them in a wide range of products, including paint, ink, paper, fireproofing products, hydraulic fluids, and industrial equipment from 1935 all the way until just before the chemical was banned in 1979. To this day, Monsanto PCBs are still draining into the L.A. Harbor, Dominguez Channel, Echo Park Lake, Machado Lake, Marina Del Rey, and Santa Monica Bay via the city's stormwater and wastewater systems, the lawsuit alleges.
"It's time for Monsanto to clean up and pay up," Feuer said in a statement. "The health and environmental impacts of PCBs – impacts the city has been working hard to reduce in waters throughout L.A.. – are just jaw dropping."
PCBs are a cancer-causing carcinogen which can in the short term cause skin, eye, and throat irritation; breathing difficulties, nausea and vomiting, loss of weight, and stomach pain. Long-term and chronic health effects include cancer, liver damage, and reproductive problems, as well as neurodevelopmental impairments.
According to the lawsuit, Monsanto admitted internally they were toxic and were certain to cause massive and long-lasting environmental contamination, but in public, insisted they were safe and required no special disposal. PCBs, which were banned by the EPA in 1979 under the Toxic Substances Control Act, do not readily break down and continue to drain into the city's waterways and contaminate local fish.
The lawsuit is seeking recovery of the city's costs to clean up PCB contamination.
Bayer, which owns Monsanto, says they are reviewing the lawsuit, but believes it is without merit.
"Monsanto voluntarily ceased its lawful manufacturing of PCBs more than 40 years ago, and never manufactured, used or disposed of PCBs into Los Angeles' waters, and therefore should not be held liable for the contamination alleged by the city," Bayer's statement said. "Where it has been determined that those cleanups are necessary, federal, and state authorities employ an effective system to identify discharges and allocate clean-up responsibilities. Litigation of the sort brought by the city risks undermining these efforts."