An agriculture conglomerate and two related companies settled a lawsuit with Los Angeles for $35 million over the sale of man-made chemicals found in local waterways, City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto announced Friday.
The city attorney’s office sued Monsanto Company in 2022 alleging that despite knowing about the dangers of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which are man-made chemicals, to the environment, public health and wildlife, the company continued selling them while claiming they were safe.
The settlement is expected to cover costs related to abatement and monitoring of contaminated waterways and reimburse the city for costs already incurred.
“With this settlement, Monsanto is being held accountable for the damage its dangerous PCBs have inflicted upon Angelenos for decades,” Feldstein Soto said in a statement. “This is a significant step towards cleaner, safer waterways and justice for our city’s residents.”
The lawsuit was originally filed against three companies that Monsanto spun off into acquisitions and consolidations in the 1990s — Monsanto Company, now owned by Bayer; Solutia Inc., now owned by Eastman Chemical Company; and Pharmacia LLC., now owned by Pfizer. Pfizer is no longer liable in the case, per a separation agreement, the company said in an email to City News Service.
In a statement, Monsanto said PCBs are a “legacy product” the company ceased producing in 1977. The settlement contains no admission of liability or wrongdoing by the company.
“The company never manufactured or disposed of PCBs in the Los Angeles area, discontinued its own legal production of PCBs nearly five decades ago, conducted hundreds of studies on PCB safety, provided appropriate warnings to its customers based on the state-of-the science at the time, and has committed to participation in agency processes where it has been determined to be a potentially responsible party,” according to Monsanto’s statement.
Media representatives for Solutia and Pharmacia did not immediately respond to City News Service with comment on the settlement.
The lawsuit states that Monsanto polluted the city’s waterways with PCBs, which it used from 1935 to just before 1979 — when PCBs were banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — in paint, ink, paper products, fireproofing products, hydraulic fluids and industrial equipment. About 99% or more of all PCBs used and sold within the U.S. between 1929 and 1977 were manufactured by Monsanto, according to the city attorney’s office.
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The EPA banned the use of PCBs in electrical and industrial equipment from the 1920s until the late 1970s because they were connected to serious health effects. According to the city attorney’s office, these chemicals do not break down easily once in the environment and have continued to drain into local waterways, such as Ballona Creek, Marina Del Rey, Santa Monica Bay, the Los Angeles Harbor, Machado Lake and Echo Park Lake.
Health effects associated with PCB exposure can impact several organs, lead to reduced birth weight and cancer. Humans are primarily exposed to contaminated food, breathing air, and drinking or swimming.
The $35 million settlement is being paid as compensatory restitution and remediation for the alleged harms, according to the city attorney’s office.