The city of Spokane has filed a lawsuit against the giant chemical company Monsanto. City officials filed the suit in U.S. District Court against the chemical giant.
Chemical known as “PCBs” are one of the pollutants in Spokane River. The substance was manufactured by Monsanto from 1935 to 1979, when they were banned under the Toxic substances control act, because of links to many types of cancer.
City Utility spokeswoman Marlene Feist says they believe the company knew of the risk posed before the ban was enacted:
Feist: "Our attorneys, national attorneys in this case , they have access to records that Monsanto knew, decades before Congress banned these PCB’s, that they are detrimental to the environment and public health.”
Feist says it is hoped that if the case is successful, that any award from the company could be put into the estimated 300 million dollars it will cost the city to meet a 2017 deadline to stop various pollutants from reaching the river.
A statement from Monsanto says the corporation is not the same company that was responsible for manufacture of PCB’s in the 20th century. It says the current Monsanto has focused exclusively on agriculture for the last decade.
The original Monsanto was split into 3 entities in the 1990’s. The other two, Solutia and Pharmacia are all named in the lawsuit.
