Global Courant
CABOT, Vt. — Dozens of Vermont school districts have sued chemical giant Monsanto over toxic pollution in educational buildings from now-banned industrial chemicals known as PCBs.
Last year, Vermont became the first state in the country to require older schools to test their indoor air for polychlorinated biphenyls, which were used in building materials and electrical equipment before 1980.
More than 90 school districts filed the complaint in federal court on Friday. They are trying to recover costs and damages because, under Vermont law, schools with sufficient contamination levels must reduce exposure. Removing the PCBs will be expensive, and certain districts may have to demolish buildings and replace them with new ones — which could cost them “hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars” in total, the lawsuit said.
The PCBs are present in the school buildings from sealants and glazing agents, sealants, adhesives and other building materials.
Monsanto said the case is baseless and that “third party companies, not Monsanto” produced the PCB-laden materials likely used in the schools.
“Monsanto has never manufactured, used or disposed of PCBs in Vermont and has not manufactured these products in more than 45 years,” the company said in a statement late Monday. Monsanto is now owned by Bayer, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology company.
The company is also seeking an emergency hearing and evidence preservation. Monsanto wants the districts to have it participate in environmental testing and PCB source identification, and document and observe the remediation work.
PCBs were used in building materials and electrical equipment such as transformers, capacitors and ballasts for fluorescent lighting. According to the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned their production and certain uses in 1979 over fears that they could cause cancer and other diseases.
A 2019 Associated Press investigation found that millions of fluorescent light ballasts containing PCBs are likely still in US schools and day care centers – four decades after the chemicals were banned.
The chemicals can be released into the air and students and staff can be exposed by breathing in the dust or fumes they contain; getting dust on their hands and then consuming it while eating or drinking; and having skin contact with materials containing the chemicals, the department said.
PCB contamination forced an entire Vermont high school to move into a closed department store in downtown Burlington, where students have been attending classes since March 2021 as the old school is demolished. The store connected to a now-closed mall underwent a $3.5 million renovation supported by the state.
Two years ago, three Washington state teachers who sued Monsanto for exposure to PCBs in fluorescent lights were awarded $185 million. The teachers, who worked at the Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington, said they suffered brain damage from exposure to PCBs in the school’s fluorescent lighting.
The Vermont Attorney General also sued Monsanto last month over PCB contamination in Vermont’s schools and natural resources. The chemicals are very persistent and continue to circulate in Vermont waters and other natural resources, accumulating to dangerous levels in sediment, wildlife and fish, according to the lawsuit. Vermont has a fish consumption advisory for all of Lake Champlain and the Hoosic River because of the contamination, the lawsuit says.
Monsanto also said the lawsuit had no merit for the same reasons it cited in the school districts case.
