Business & Tech
Monsanto Settles $35M Water Contamination Lawsuit With City Of LA
The agricultural giant was accused of selling chemicals known to be dangerous to people and animals and falsely claiming otherwise.
LOS ANGELES, CA — 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 the company continued selling polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) -- man-made chemicals known to pose dangers to the environment, public health, and wildlife -- even though it was aware of these risks and falsely claimed the substances 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.
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"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 Environmental Protection Agency 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, the 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.
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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. The original Monsanto's businesses became three separate businesses in the 1990s and early 2000s, each of which was named in the complaint.
In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Monsanto said the settlement includes "no admission of liability or wrongdoing." The agriculture company added, "We ceased producing PCBs in 1977 and never manufactured or disposed of PCBs in the Los Angeles area."
City News Service
