Monsanto Hid PCB Pollution for Decades

On the west side of Anniston, the poor side of Anniston,
the people ate dirt. They called it "Alabama clay" and cooked it for extra
flavor. They also grew berries in their gardens, raised hogs in their back
yards, caught bass in the murky streams where their children swam and
played and were baptized. They didn't know their dirt and yards and bass
and kids -- along with the acrid air they breathed -- were all contaminated
with chemicals. They didn't know they lived in one of the most polluted patches
of America.

Now they know. They also know that for nearly 40 years, while producing the
now-banned industrial coolants known as PCBs at a local factory, Monsanto
Co. routinely discharged toxic waste into a west Anniston creek and dumped
millions of pounds of PCBs into oozing open-pit landfills. And thousands of
pages of Monsanto documents -- many emblazoned with warnings such as
"CONFIDENTIAL: Read and Destroy" -- show that for decades, the corporate
giant concealed what it did and what it knew.

In 1966, Monsanto managers discovered that fish submerged in that creek
turned belly-up within 10 seconds, spurting blood and shedding skin as if
dunked into boiling water. They told no one. In 1969, they found fish in
another creek with 7,500 times the legal PCB levels. They decided "there is
little object in going to expensive extremes in limiting discharges." In
1975, a company study found that PCBs caused tumors in rats. They ordered
its conclusion changed from "slightly tumorigenic" to "does not appear to
be carcinogenic."

Monsanto enjoyed a lucrative four-decade monopoly on PCB production in the
United States, and battled to protect that monopoly long after PCBs were
confirmed as a global pollutant. "We can't afford to lose one dollar of
business," one internal memo concluded.
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This story dated 2002 tells of something that happened decades ago that Monsanto knew and did nothing about. Will the same thing happen regarding GM foods? Will the effects of them on our health and on the sustainability of our planet start to show themselves in the next decade? Inadequate human testing of GM soy and corn has led to America being one of the only countries allowing it in food. As many of my entries and other entries on this have shown, Monsanto cannot be trusted with the health and safety of Americans. They thought nothing of dumping lethal compounds into the waterways and land of our country. I doubt they then care about the potential toxins they dump into our bodies by not allowing proper disclosure on food labels by using their political muscle to stifle Democracy.

BOYCOTT Monsanto until they do, and until the govt. agencies entrusted with the health and safety of the American people do their job.