This is not the first complaint the chemical company Monsanto has faced, far from it! On Monday, March 7, Los Angeles, in turn, announced it was suing the Bayer group subsidiary for deliberately polluting the city’s waters over several decades.
Los Angeles is suing three companies, including the German group Bayer, which Monsanto bought in 2018. The chemical company regularly faces legal proceedings as it has to deal with numerous complaints worldwide that question the dangers of its pesticide. , Round’Up and its active ingredient, glyphosate. The other two companies named in the complaint came from a division of Monsanto in the 1990s: Solutia, a member of the Eastman Chemical Company group, and Pharmacia, acquired by Pfizer.
This time, Monsanto is accused of polluting the waterways of Los Angeles, one of the largest cities in the United States, by releasing PCBs (polychlorinated bifenilen) until 1979. Ultra-toxic chemicals that break down very little in the environment, present in paint, ink, paper or even as lubricants and sealants, AFP reports.
According to the complaint, exposure to these substances has serious health consequences. It can cause cancer, damage the liver, thyroid and eyes, and affect development.
† It’s time for Monsanto to clean up and pay‘ said Mike Feuer, the District Attorney for the City of Los Angeles. † The health and environmental impacts of PCBs — effects that the city is trying hard to reduce throughout Los Angeles — are simply breathtaking.† We confirm that Monsanto had known for decades that PCBs were toxic and would inevitably lead to widespread contamination. †
“It is unacceptable that Monsanto has continued to produce and sell them and, we claim, mislead the public about them.he concludes.
Because the company Monsanto has been aware of the dangers of PCBs to health since the 1950s, according to the municipality. It demands justice and demands financial reparations for water purification, AFP emphasizes.