Monsanto legacy: Another setback for Bayer – sentenced to excessive damages in PCB trial | EUROtoday

A jury within the US state of Washington has sentenced the agricultural and pharmaceutical firm Bayer to pay damages of 100 million {dollars} (round 97 million euros). The jury discovered it confirmed on Tuesday that the 4 plaintiffs had suffered well being harm from fluorescent tubes containing PCBs in a college close to Seattle.

Eleven different lawsuits have been dismissed, a lawyer for the plaintiffs stated. Bayer argued that the plaintiffs did not show that their sicknesses have been brought on by PCBs and that the degrees discovered on the college have been deemed secure by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The college additionally ignored warnings from authorities to switch the lights within the growing older constructing. The poisonous chemical compounds have been manufactured by Monsanto, which was acquired by Bayer in 2018.

The defeat is the newest in a sequence of setbacks for the chemical firm over alleged contamination on the Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington. More than 200 college students, employees and fogeys say they’ve suffered from most cancers, thyroid illness, neurological harm and different well being issues due to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) leaking from the varsity’s lights. In this context, Bayer has already been awarded damages totaling greater than $1.5 billion in earlier proceedings, though a few of these have been lowered or canceled.

PCBs have been as soon as broadly used to insulate electrical units, but additionally in merchandise equivalent to carbon paper, sealants, ground polishes and paints. They have been banned in 1979 after being linked to most cancers and different well being issues. Monsanto manufactured PCBs from 1935 to 1977.

With the takeover of the chemical firm Monsanto, Bayer confronted in depth lawsuits over PCBs and specifically over the suspected carcinogenic weedkiller Roundup.