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Attorney General Aaron M. Frey Announces Lawsuit Against Monsanto for Manufacture and Sale of Dangerous Chemicals
April 12, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Danna Hayes
Danna.hayes@maine.gov
Attorney General Aaron M. Frey Announces Lawsuit Against Monsanto for Manufacture and Sale of Dangerous Chemicals
Suit Alleges Monsanto Knew of Danger of PCBs While Continuing to Sell for Years
AUGUSTA – Maine Attorney General Aaron M. Frey announced a lawsuit against agricultural biochemical company Monsanto. The suit, filed yesterday, alleges the company knew of the harm caused by polychlorinated biphenyls (“PCBs”) but continued to sell PCB products.
PCBs are toxic, dangerous, chemical compounds known to accumulate and persist in humans, wildlife, and the environment. The federal government banned PCBs for most uses in the late 1970s due to these properties. Monsanto knew about PCBs’ toxicity many years before they were banned but continued selling them and even ramped up its sales after widespread harms were documented. PCBs were used in a wide variety of products, including as plasticizers in paint and caulk and as insulating fluids in electrical capacitors and transformers. Monsanto sold PCBs for approximately 40 years before discontinuing sale of the chemicals in approximately 1977.
“We have evidence that Monsanto knew that its PCBs products were causing long-lasting harm and chose to continue to make money off poisoning Maine’s people and environment,” said Attorney General Frey. “I am taking action to demand that Monsanto pay for the harm it knowingly caused our state.”
To support the State’s allegations, the complaint highlights internal memos from Monsanto acknowledging that PCBs were “nearly global environmental contaminants leading to the contamination of human food (particularly fish), the killing of some marine species (shrimp), and the possible extinction of several species of fish-eating birds.” A subsequent internal memo described the company’s decision to continue selling PCBs notwithstanding the mass contamination they caused, because “there is too much customer/market need and selfishly too much Monsanto profit” to stop.
The State will be seeking damages for injuries and contamination including the costs to clean up, monitor, and mitigate the 400 miles of Maine rivers and streams and 1.8 million ocean acres that are currently identified as impaired by PCBs.
The case has been filed in Cumberland County Superior Court.
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