GADSDEN, Ala., Feb. 22 (UPI) -- A Gadsden jury found against Monsanto-spinoff Solutia Inc. on Friday for polluting Anniston, Ala., with PCBs for more than 20 years, but damages for the 17 plaintiffs won't be set until after hearings later this year.
The jury deliberated for four hours Thursday and returned at 9 a.m. EST Friday before reaching the verdict shortly before noon.
The trial had begun Jan. 7 as a class action suit with 3,500 plaintiffs, but all but 16 people and one business, were eliminated by Circuit Judge Joel Laird during jury selection.
He ruled that the case only applied to those who claimed current illness or property damage and not to those who feared illness in the future.
PCBs are short for polychlorinated biphenyls. PCBs were used in the electrical industry as a coolant or lubricant that does not ignite at high temperatures. It was seen as a safety precaution for workers.
PCBs have been associated with acne-like skin conditions in adults and neuro-behavioral and immune problems in children. They are known to cause cancer in animals.
Deformed fish began showing up in rivers near Anniston in the early 1990s. Attorneys for the plaintiffs produced evidence the company knew in the late 1960s that the industrial coolants were dangerous.
Monsanto closed its PCB plant in Anniston in 1971 and halted production altogether in 1979 when it closed its Sauget, Ill., plant. A nationwide ban on the substance, on which Monsanto had a monopoly, was called that same year.
Monsanto spun off its chemicals operation into Solutia in 1997 and merged with Pharmacia Corp., also named in the suit, in 2000.
PCBs are a problem elsewhere. The Environmental Protection Agency last year ordered General Electric to clean PCBs out of the Hudson River at a cost of $460 million.
They travel through the air and in water they cling to organic particles and bottom sediments. They accumulate in fish where they reach levels that may be many times higher than in water.
Gadsden and Anniston are about 20 miles apart.
