Document qapMVRw79RwQXYVg09Qnqn9n

A'JDEftSDN, S. C. MAIL o. SEP23I9TO Monsanto included in $1 ii> MK iirn i: <,hi:kn Staff Writer (HtKKNVH.LE - The M&Mnto Corp . believed lo be Hie country's only manufacturer of the cancer-causing in dustrial rhrimcal polychlorinated biplienyls <P0Bs> wa.s brought into the It billion Hs* ethm suit against Sangamo ElecMf OtAy lake Hartwell businesses and property owners yesterday It was the second time in as many days that Monsanto had Iwtii named as codefendent tn a class-action suit involving MCH pollution. In a IMO-millinn lawsuit Hied in AllantH Tuesday. (lie company was charged with selling the chemical lo the General Electric Co , which then released the PCMs into a tributary of Orargla> Ccos.i Itiver. poisoning (he fisii there and ultinuiicly forcing the water way to be closed lo commercial fishing The Anderson law firm of Anderson, Kenyon and Epps yesterday filed an amendment to the earlier complaint it had filed in federal district court Kept, lo, which had alleged that the Sangamo Klertric Co. of Pickens had "either willfully. wantonly, negligently, recklessly and-or intentionally allowed PPHs > to enter Lake Hartwell in violation of the laws ... of the United Stales, its agencies, and the laws of South Carolina " Sangamo has been identified by the Environmental Protection Agency EPA > ns the source of the PCB ontammation found in the waters and fish of the Lake Hartwell tributary where the Pickens plant discharges its treated wastewater. A warning has been issued against outing fish caught in the South Carolina side of the lake, and KPA has ordered Sangamo to curb its PCB discharge U> a nondetectahlc level" by the end of this month. The amended suit on behalf of all U.Kc property and business owners who it alleges, have suffered "irreparable financial losses due to the pollution of the lake - incorporates the original charges against Sangamo and further charge* that Monsanto, which sells Pt'Bs ;> Sangamo, "knew, ot should have known, that the chemical substance was used in the manufacturing process conducted by Sangamo." The Si-billion action againsi (he two corporations alleges that Sangamo did use the chemical substance in its manufacturing process and did thereby pollute Lake Hartwell " PCBs. i' charges are an ulltahazardous product which is extremely, dulttft vironmrnt of wIMP population "The defendent was aware or slmuh this situation, and 1 known that the., highest degree u( for use of the st: property warn e potential ha/ords The class act tot Monsanto is 'xir:v hazards resulting it discharge of the ch Monsanto public tails e Dan Bishop the compnnv has history oi respon manufacture and The comp.un he sn PCB pollution suit irnlai to the etiife and the human Monsanto Company. I have lccn aware of ;ncw. or should have >ln"iM exercise the re in the distribution bstanee and should cm ihereof of the i also alleges that ly liable" for health om the handling and mlrnlx relations represenaid this morning that a "long and proud dbilily" toward its islributlon of PCBs. <aid, "goes to great lengths to advise our customers about the potential dangers and the safe disposal" ot the compound. Monsanto officials had not been in formed of the South Carolina class-action suit this morning but Bishop said that based on the report of the suit's allegations given him by a Daily Mail reporter. "II would seem we have taken every precaution humanly possible," towards insuring the safe handling of the industrial chemical. "We don't feel that any suit alleging culpability on our part has any grounds," he said. Bishop added that the company had sold PCBs to both General Electric and Sangamo Electric, and had "moat assuredly" informed them of the en vironmental and human health hazards associated with the use and discharge of the compound Monsanto, which sells PCBs under the trade name of Aloclor, voluntarily restricted the sale of the chemicals in 1971. when they were first recognized as a potential hazard to human health and the environment. Although the sale of the compound was limited to companies who would use PCBs only in closed electrical systema where they could not easily escape into the environment, Monsanto produced an average of 40 pounds of PCBs per year through 1975. The chemicals have been in industrial use for at least 45 years, but (heir impact environmental was not recognized until the late 1960s. MONS 036784