Less than two weeks before a major toxic chemical trial against Monsanto Co., a veteran Putnam County judge on Friday stepped down from the case after being diagnosed with a progressive neurological disease.
In the case, current and former Nitro residents allege that Monsanto polluted the entire town with dangerous amounts of dioxin.
For more than 50 years, the former Monsanto plant in Nitro churned out herbicides, rubber products and other chemicals. The plant's production of the powerful Vietnam-era herbicide Agent Orange created dioxin as a toxic chemical byproduct.
Charleston lawyer Stuart Calwell alleges in a class-action case, filed in 2004, that Monsanto unsafely burned dioxin wastes and spread contaminated soot and dust across the town, polluting homes with unsafe levels of the chemical.
Dioxin has been linked to cancer, birth defects, learning disabilities, endometriosis, infertility and suppressed immune functions. The chemical builds up in tissue over time, meaning that even a small exposure can accumulate to dangerous levels.
The lawsuit seeks medical monitoring for at least 5,000 -- and perhaps as many as 80,000 - current and former Nitro residents.
The Source
No comments:
Post a Comment