Los Angeles City Attorney Michael N. Feuer has announced a lawsuit over alleged pollution of Los Angeles’ waterways with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
In a news release, Feuer’s office noted that the lawsuit hopes to push Monsanto, Solutia Inc. and Pharmacia LLC, to clean up the PCB pollution and also pay the city back for costs it has amassed to address the issue.
Bayer, parent company of Monsanto, responded that it is reviewing the suit and will respond in detail when appropriate, though they said they maintain 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 said in a provided statement. “Where it has been determined that those cleanups are necessary, federal and state authorities employ an effective system to identify dischargers and allocate clean-up responsibilities. Litigation of the sort brought by the city risks undermining these efforts.”
According to the city attorney’s news release, PCBs were produced and sold for more than 40 years by the time they were banned in 1979. The release noted that Monsanto's PCBs were used in paint, ink, fireproofing materials, paper products, industrial equipment and hydraulic fluids.
Feuer’s lawsuit alleges that over the years, Monsanto acknowledged at times that PCBs were toxic, though production and sales continued. The release also claims that the company’s PCBs continue to drain into Los Angeles waterways, posing myriad health risks to the public, including cancer, liver and ocular changes, behavioral and neurodevelopmental changes and low birth weights.
“It is time for Monsanto to clean up and pay up,” Feuer said in the news release issued by his office. “We allege that Monsanto knew decades ago that PCBs are toxic and inevitably would cause widespread contamination.”
PCBs don’t easily break down and continue to contaminate local waterways, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed in California Superior Court in Los Angeles County.