Embattled agritech giant Monsanto
is facing fresh litigation over harm caused by polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs), a highly toxic chemical that the company manufactured
decades ago.
The city of Oakland, California filed a lawsuit that holds Monsanto
accountable for allegedly contaminating of the city’s storm water as
well as the San Francisco Bay with PCBs.
Although
PCBs have been banned for decades, the toxic compound is still detected
shows in the environment today. This warning sign was displayed near
New York’s Hudson River in 2013. Photo credit: NOAA
Before focusing its operations on agrotechnology and supplying the world with its genetically modified seeds,
Monsanto was the primary manufacturer of PCBs, a chemical that was once
widely used to insulate electronics. Commercial production of PCBs,
however, were banned in 1979 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) over human health and environmental concerns. MORE
No comments:
Post a Comment