"And the truth is that in 1966 when we found out that PCBs were in the environment, we started an investigation journey and we tried to gather information and we acted responsibly." [Trial Transcript, Owens v. Monsanto CV-96-J-440-E, (N.D. Alabama April 4, 2001), pg. 454, line 6]...
"when Monsanto learned that PCBs could possibly be in the environment, it acted promptly and responsibly and continues to do so." [Trial Transcript, Owens v. Monsanto CV-96-J-440-E, (N.D. Alabama April 4, 2001), pg. 455, line 14]
But as the company's own documents show, Monsanto went to extraordinary efforts to keep the public in the dark about PCBs, and even manipulated scientific studies by urging scientists to change their conclusions to downplay the risks of PCB exposure. Monsanto's conduct, throughout the entire period that the company made PCBs, was less than commendable. Their attempts today to backpedal on the science and shirk responsibility for the global saturation of PCBs is equally discouraging, as are their repeated attempts to "green" their image with flashy, expensive PR campaigns.
Today Monsanto does not deny that everyone is contaminated with PCBs. They argue instead that since they have contaminated the entire planet they are innocent of all liability. In Monsanto's opening statement to the court in the trial of Owens v. Monsanto on April 4, 2001, the company's lawyers acknowledged only one health threat posed by exposure to PCBs: chloracne, a serious skin condition. According to the lead attorney for Monsanto, defending the company against allegations that its PCB pollution poses a health threat to residents living near its Anniston, AL chemical plant,
"The truth is that PCBs are everywhere. They are in meat, they are in everyone in the courtroom, they are everywhere and they have been for a long time, along with a host of other substances. The truth is that the men and women who have worked around PCBs the most over forty, fifty, sixty years, people in our plant, people in the electrical industry, have not experienced any significant health problems which can be associated or tied into or caused by PCBs other than a serious skin condition called chloracne, which is easily treatable." [Trial Transcript, Owens v. Monsanto CV-96-J-440-E, (N.D. Alabama April 4, 2001), pg. 453, line 16]
In making these arguments, Monsanto is ignoring the growing evidence that PCBs are quite capable of causing harm to the human body. Following in their predecessor's footsteps, a spokesperson for Solutia, the company created by Monsanto to assume control over (and liability for) its chemical operations, told Chemical Week in June 2000: "The overwhelming weight of scientific evidence suggests there are no chronic human health effects associated with exposure to PCBs." Government and independent scientists and public health agencies have concluded otherwise. Both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have concluded that PCBs are probably carcinogenic to humans (U.S. EPA 1996; IARC 1978, 1987). The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) also suspects that PCBs accumulating in the human body as a result of fish consumption may be causing "developmental deficits and neurological problems in children." (ATSDR http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/DT/pcb007.html)
Other studies on health effects associated with PCB exposure indicate neurotoxicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, immune system suppression, liver damage, skin irritation, and endocrine disruption (Cogliano 1998; Browner testimony 1998; U.S. EPA 1996; Rice 1995).
Available data on the toxicity and persistence of PCBs prompted the global community of nations to include PCBs in the "Dirty Dozen" chemicals being banned by U.N. convention through the Persistent Organic Pollutant or "POPs" Treaty, signed by President Bush.
As the world came to consensus on the hazards of PCBs, Monsanto made no effort to inform the residents of Anniston of the extent of contamination in their community. A 1975 memo from a Monsanto employee to company officials reveals:
Environmental Working Group Chemical Industry Archives
