Monsanto to pay $857M to students, parents in Washington schools over toxic PCBs

Agrochemical company Monsanto was ordered to pay $73 million in compensation and $784 million in punitive damages earlier this week for harming students and parents through its chemicals.

Seven former students and parent volunteers at a Washington state school claimed Monsanto’s polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs (banned in 1979) led to health issues, including brain damage and autoimmune disorders due to exposure to fluorescent lights.

Monsanto plans to appeal the verdict, asserting evidence disproves unsafe PCB exposure.

What is PCB?
PCBs are also known as “forever chemicals” due to their slow degradation rate.

They were used in caulking, light fixtures, and other parts of buildings from the 1950s to 1970s and persist in school structures even today, according to Massachusetts’ Bureau of Climate and Environmental Health.

Environmental engineer Keri C Hornbuckle says about 55,000 schools were constructed using Monsanto’s PCBs.

Monsanto, now owned by German pharmaceutical giant Bayer, faces a barrage of similar lawsuits, including one from Vermont’s Burlington School District.