Monsanto was founded in St. Louis Missouri in 1901 and became the largest chemical company of the 20th century. Among its most disastrous products were PCB’s, used as insulating fluids and fire retardants. Production of PCBs were banned in the 1970s, but in the little town of Anniston Alabama, unbeknown to its inhabitants, Monsanto was permitted to dump the chemicals, their deadly effects are still felt.
About 90% of the claimants were African American, and 80% earn less than 200% of the federal poverty level-the case resulted from the manufacture of PCB's in a poor, mostly black neighborhoo. This relates to our class discussion about environmental racism. People, inadvertently forced by their financial circumstances and race, to live in areas that are considered environmentally dangerous. 2001 was when the case was issued: consisted of 18,000 individual claimants (78% of the claimants were classified as adults [born before 1985] and the other 22% were classified as children)
The claimants lived, or previously lived, in Anniston Alabama near a manufacturing plant that formerly produced PCBs. This case was settled in 2003 for $300 million dollars awarded to the defendants. Of the $300 million, $ 275 million was paid into a settlement fund, and the $ 25 million balance funded a claimant medical clinic. Of the 18,000 claimants in the Tolbert case, about 14,000 lived in Alabama, mostly in the Anniston area, but 4,000 lived in forty-four other states and overseas. Two hundred were in prison and one hundred were located in foreign countries. Three hundred were deceased when Tolbert settled. This case was filed against the “Tolbert Defendants” in conjunction with another Alabama case Abernathy v. Monsanto Co. **in BOTH cases the claimants were awarded $300 million dollars. This means Monsanto paid $600 million dollars, for these two cases alone.
Keep in mind that the 300 million dollars are divided among 18,000 people. This comes out to roughly $16,600 per person, but it was not awarded as such. Each claimant was awarded according to their PCB levels in their blood tests but the amounts they were awarded were not really that much in the big picture of things. The only reason the lawyers took the 300 million was because they were worried if they did not accept the settlement, and they lost the case, than they would be left with nothing for their clients. By the time the case was settled, 300 of the people were dead. About 82% of the claimants answering the questionnaire thought they should be paid for living in the impacted area even if they scored negative on the PCB blood test and were not sick, apparently because this factor attempts to measure the time of exposure that a claimant experienced over time in living near the plant. The court agreed, thereby assuring that almost all the claimants received a payment, however small. Instead of receiving all their cash up front, the claimants were awarded money through their medical care at two clinics in Anniston. One for adults, and one for children. Approximately 4,000 adults and 1,000 children used the clinic. The clinic provided about 2,000 prescriptions per month and primary medical and dental care. At this rate, the clinic’s endowment would last about 15 years.
Monsanto's defense of its actions surrounding PCBs can best be summarized this way: the company claims it didn't know that PCBs were harmful to human health or persistent in the environment until the late 1960s, and as soon as the company learned of these threats, it acted quickly and responsibly to address the problem in a cooperative, forthright manner with the government. 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.
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."
Despite Monsanto saying PCB only causes chloracne, studies on health effects associated with PCB exposure indicate neurotoxicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, immune system suppression, liver damage, skin irritation, and endocrine disruption. Monsanto dumped at least 5.5 million pounds of PCBs in landfills located near the plant.
In May of 1969, Monsanto conducted an internal investigation and recognized the PCB pollution problem in Anniston‘s waterways, and yet no one in Anniston was notified. In 1970, 3 Monsanto employees approached Joe Crockett, the Technical Staff Director of the Alabama Water Improvement Commission, to let him know about the PCB pollution in Anniston. Mr. Crockett, in short, said that he appreciated them coming forward with this information and acknowledging fault in the situation, he then insisted that they give no statements or publications which would bring the situation to the public’s attention. And that if anyone asked them about the issue, they would say that the AWIC was studying the matter. When the FDA tested the water after numerous fish had turned up dead, and found out the water had 55 times the legal limit of PCB’s, they notified the AWIC, who then notified Monsanto, but the AWIC (Joe Crockett in particular) was already looking out for Monsanto’s best interest and helped keep the matter quiet.
I found this interesting while doing my research on the chemical industry archives website. There is a link to two of Monsanto’s internal documents on the Anniston case. They were posted to this website for the world to finally see, and they uncover a shocking story of corporate deception and dangerous secrets. BUT, when you click either of the links, the documents have been removed and are no longer available. Gee, I wonder if MonSatan, I mean…Monsanto, had anything to do with that?
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