A consortium of over 90 Vermont-based school districts are suing Monsanto, the chemical behemoth, alleging the corporation’s responsibility for contamination of their educational facilities with toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
The extensive lawsuit, submitted to the federal court last Friday, seeks to recoup damages and cover cleanup costs, which could amount to “hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars,” according to the filing cited by The Associated Press.
Vermont led the charge nationwide last year, pioneering legislation that mandated older educational institutions to test their premises for the presence of PCBs.
The toxic chemicals, once popular in construction materials and electrical equipment, were prohibited post-1980.
However, several schools are still grappling with high contamination levels, requiring them to engage in extensive, costly mitigation or, in some instances, demolish the existing structures and construct new ones.
Various construction materials, such as caulking, sealants, adhesives, and glazing compounds used in school infrastructure, are known to harbor PCBs.
Even though Monsanto discontinued the production of these products over 45 years ago, and even asserts that “third party companies, not Monsanto” were likely responsible for supplying the PCB-laden materials used in schools, the districts remain unswayed.
Monsanto, currently under the ownership of Bayer, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, denies any allegations of liability, Associated Press notes.
They maintain that they neither manufactured, used, nor disposed of PCBs in Vermont.
Nevertheless, the company is seeking an emergency hearing and preservation of evidence, proposing to take part in environmental testing, PCB-source identification, and monitoring the cleanup operations.
Despite their ban in 1979 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency due to potential health hazards, including cancer, PCBs remain prevalent in a range of materials including transformers, capacitors, and fluorescent light ballasts.
The Vermont attorney general filed a separate lawsuit against Monsanto last month, citing contamination of the state’s schools and natural resources with the persistent chemicals.
The lawsuit highlighted that PCBs have dangerously accumulated in the sediment, wildlife, and fish, prompting a consumption advisory for all of Lake Champlain and the Hoosic River.
However, Monsanto continues to deny the allegations, terming the lawsuit as baseless.
