Document DdjLMYx5o3BdO7XX5zdRd81ro

PCBs - a chemical used widely for decades as safety fluids to insulate and cool heavy-duty electrical equipment - were made in Anniston from 1929 to 1971 at the plant owned by the former Monsanto (now known as Pharmacia). Because of effective fire resistance, PCBs saved lives and property, and they were required to be used in buildings by government building codes for more than four decades. But the same trait that made PCBs so attractive to the electrical industry - the fact that they do not react readily with other substances - also resulted in their persistence in the environment. The former Monsanto voluntarily stopped making PCBs in Anniston eight years before the U.S. EPA banned them in 1979. The Anniston, Alabama, manufacturing facility was part of the specialty chemical businesses that became part of Solutia Inc. when Solutia was spun off from the former Monsanto in 1997. Solutia is currently involved in the PCB clean up efforts in the Anniston area. In connection with September 2000 transfer to the current Monsanto of the operations, assets and liabilities of Pharmacia's agricultural products business, we agreed to indemnify Pharmacia for any liabilities that Solutia assumed from Pharmacia in connection with its 1997 spin-off to the extent that Solutia fails to pay, perform or discharge those liabilities. We stand by our commitment. Solutia filed for bankruptcy in December, 2003 and ceased performing certain aspects of its environmental work in Anniston. Per the indemnity agreement with Pharmacia, Monsanto has been ensuring that the remediation program in Anniston continues and that the requirements of the 2003 consent decree continue to be met. Substantial progress has been made in the remediation program. The scientific evidence does not support any causal link between exposure to PCBs and cancer or other serious human illnesses. The overwhelming weight of the reliable scientific evidence does not establish that exposure to PCBs, except at very high levels, causes any adverse human health conditions. At very high levels, exposure to PCBs may cause a serious skin condition, called chloracne, and the temporary elevation of some serum enzyme levels, which return to normal after exposure ends. EX P-3551 Page 1 of 1 SVEC OLDMONS0574476