Monsanto to pay $857 million in damages in PCB contamination case 

In a major legal blow, a Washington state jury has ruled thatMonsanto must pay $857 million to seven former students and parent volunteers of the Sky Valley Education Centre in Monroe, Washington.

The plaintiffs claimed that exposure to chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from light fixtures made by Monsanto caused neurological, endocrine system, and other health concerns.

The jury found Monsanto liable for selling unsafe PCBs without adequate warnings, awarding $73 million in compensatory damages and $784 million in punitive damages.

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Monsanto, now a part of Bayer, plans to challenge the verdict, calling the award "constitutionally excessive." The company asserts that it will seek to have the decision overturned or the damages reduced.

The U.S. Supreme Court typically recommends capping punitive damages at nine times compensatory damages, citing due process rights.

This verdict is the latest in a series of legal setbacks for Monsanto, which is already facing $870 million in verdicts related to alleged PCB exposure at the Sky Valley centre from other cases.

The company is currently appealing those previous decisions. Monsanto claims that tests conducted on blood, air, and other factors indicate that employees were not exposed to unsafe levels of PCBs at the school.

PCBs were widely used for insulating electrical equipment and in common products until the U.S. government banned them in 1979 due to links to cancer. Monsanto ceased PCB production in 1977.

The lawsuits against the company allege that exposure to PCBs at the Sky Valley centre led to various health problems, including cancer and thyroid conditions. Monsanto contends that the school was repeatedly warned since the 1990s about the need to retrofit its light fixtures, assertions that were allegedly ignored.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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