Editing Monsanto (section)

==== PCBs ====
In the late 1960s, the Monsanto plant in [[Sauget, Illinois]], was the nation's largest producer of [[polychlorinated biphenyl]] (PCB) compounds, which remained in the water along Dead Creek there. An EPA official referred to Sauget as "one of the most polluted communities in the region" and "a soup of different chemicals".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06276/727066-28.stm |title=Tiny Sauget, Illinois, likes business misfits |publisher=Post-gazette.com |date=October 3, 2006 |first=William |last=Spain}}</ref>

In [[Anniston, Alabama]], plaintiffs in a 2002 lawsuit provided documentation showing that the local Monsanto factory knowingly discharged both [[Mercury (element)|mercury]] and PCB-laden waste into local creeks for over 40 years.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Monsanto Hid Decades Of Pollution|url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0101-02.htm|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|first=Michael|last=Grunwald|date=January 1, 2002|access-date=May 26, 2013|archive-date=November 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108111529/https://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0101-02.htm}}</ref> In 1969 Monsanto dumped 45 tons of PCBs into Snow Creek, a feeder for [[Choccolocco Creek]], which supplies much of the area's drinking water, and buried millions of pounds of PCB in open-pit landfills located on hillsides above the plant and surrounding neighborhoods.<ref>{{Cite news|title= PCB Pollution Suits Have Day in Court in Alabama |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04EED7143AF934A15752C0A9649C8B63|work=The New York Times| first=Kevin | last=Sack | date=January 27, 2002}}</ref> In August 2003, [[Solutia]] and Monsanto agreed to pay plaintiffs $700 million to settle claims by over 20,000 Anniston residents.<ref>{{cite news |author=The Associated Press |title=$700 Million Settlement in Alabama PCB Lawsuit |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/21/business/700-million-settlement-in-alabama-pcb-lawsuit.html |work=The New York Times |date=August 21, 2003}}</ref>

In June 2020, Bayer proposed paying $650 million to settle local PCB lawsuits, and $170 million to the attorneys-general of New Mexico, Washington and the District of Columbia.<ref name=bayerpays /> Monsanto was acknowledged at the time of the settlement to have ceased making PCBs in 1977, though State Impact of Pennsylvania reported that this did not stop PCBs from contaminating people many years later.<ref name=bayerpays /> State Impact of Pennsylvania stated "In 1979, the EPA banned the use of PCBs, but they still exist in some products produced before 1979. They persist in the environment because they bind to sediments and soils. High exposure to PCBs can cause birth defects, developmental delays, and liver changes." On November 25, 2020, however U.S. District Judge [[Fernando M. Olguin]] rejected the proposed $650 million settlement from Bayer and allowed Monsanto-related lawsuits involving PCB to proceed.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.semissourian.com/story/2853810.html|title=Bayer's $650 Million PCB Pollution Settlement Rejected by Judge|first1=Joel|last1=Rosenblatt|first2=Mark|last2=Chediak|publisher=Claims Journal|date=December 1, 2020|access-date=December 15, 2020}}{{dead link|date=October 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

In January 2025, Monsanto was ordered to pay $100 million to four people who say they were sickened by PCBs at a school in [[Monroe, Washington#Education|Monroe, Washington]].<ref>{{cite news | last1=Pierson | first1=Brendan | last2=Knauth | first2=Dietrich | title=Jury orders Bayer to pay $100 million over PCBs in Washington school | date=January 14, 2025 | url=https://www.reuters.com/legal/bayer-must-pay-100-million-latest-trial-over-pcbs-washington-school-jury-finds-2025-01-14/ | work=reuters.com }}</ref>