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By Stephen Fox
1-18-17

Robert Kennedy Jr. - "If Monsanto gets its way, the American people will pay a high price for corporate greed."

Randall Wilkins wrote in a Natural News story published today by the Health Ranger, Mike Adams:

Just the name itself inspires terrifying images of organically mutated super vegetables with a potential for causing sickness and even death. It has been a hotbed of discussion and debates for at least the past decade, despite continued federal government support from various agencies. It seemed as though the giant was unstoppable, at least on a national level, until recently. Unfortunately, it isn't the company's genetically modified farming that is drawing legal backlash, although the foundation could be laid for larger future accountability.

Monsanto's current legal problems revolve around PCB's (polychlorinated biphenyls), which lawsuits allege that the company knew were toxic and dangerous as far back as 1937!

Portland, Oregon is City #7 to sue Monsanto over contaminated waterways, after recently passing a resolution directing city attorney Tracy Reeve to take the biotech company to federal court over its dumping of PCB's over the past 40 years. After spending more than $1 billion cleaning up PCB pollution in the Willamette River, Portland now seeks a judgment from Federal Court against Monsanto for the company to pay for the damages from its decades of contamination.

PCBs were used widely in industrial applications like paint and rubber products as "plasticizers" and insulation for heat transfer and electrical uses, like transformers, and have been causally linked to cancer, damaged immune systems no long able to resist viruses, plus developmental damages to children. The manufacture of PCBs has been banned since 1979, but it was produced in enormous amounts by Monsanto for 40 years before that banning.

Since 1937 until the 1970's, this toxic group of chemicals, PCB's, was used to insulate electronics, as well as in paint, transformers, caulk, and other items. Monsanto was the sole manufacturer of the chemical compound, producing 500,000 tons of PCBs, now spread widely all through our environment, and in the air, rivers, and landfills. The lawsuit posits that Monsanto knew in 1937 that its product (used in paint, transformers, caulk and many other items) was disastrously harmful to humans and wildlife, yet did nothing except reap the profits.

The port has not yet named a specific amount of money in their the lawsuit, but rather formulates their request as unspecified compensatory and punitive damages ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars for the cost of "past, present and future" cleanup costs. City of Portland officials documented PCBs on Swan Island Lagoon, in the heart of the Superfund site, as recently as 2012, according to the lawsuit.

In a statement, Portland's lawyer Reeve stated:

"Portland's elected officials are committed to holding Monsanto accountable for its apparent decision to favor profits over ecological and human health. Monsanto profited from selling PCBs for decades and needs to take responsibility for cleaning up after the mess it created."

Monsanto's lame defense thus far is that it stopped producing PCBs when they were discovered the government to be toxic and banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979. However, Portland'slawsuit includes documents that prove that the company knew "as far back as 1969 that PCBs led to contamination of fish, oysters and birds" and that "global contamination" posed a risk to human health. Portland's lawsuit contends that the company actually knew as far back as 1937 that its product was hazardous to human health.

Monsanto denies having prior knowledge of PCB health risks. The St. Louis-based corporation responded to Portland's lawsuit and denied all wrongdoing. Scott Partridge, the company's vice president of global strategy, Scott Partridge wrote:

"PCBs have not been produced in the U.S. for four decades, and the Port is now pursuing an experimental case on grounds never recognized in Oregon history." 

Curtis Robinhold, the Port's deputy executive director vehemently disagreed:

"Any decision to conceal facts about human health should have consequences. Monsanto reaped huge profits from the manufacture and sale of PCBs, and it is entirely appropriate for those faced with the cost of cleaning up this contamination to hold them accountable."

Removing PCB contamination in the Willamette River and Columbia River, Portland allocates tens of millions out of their citizen tax base, and its Superfund cleanup project has focused on PCB's as well, along with six cities on the West Coast who have filed suit (Oakland, San Jose, San Diego, Spokane, Berkeley and Seattle), plus Washington state filed suit in December 2016..

Their suits unfortunately could come to nothing as a result of Federal statutes that shield corporations from such damages by judgments. Further, in Federal Court, Monsanto is presently asking for immunity from PCB suits. In December 2016, Republicans tried to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act re-authorization bill with a clause that would render Monsanto non-liable for any PCB injuries. The status of that effort needs further exploration, and if it is dead now, it won't be dead much longer.

Monsanto said the lawsuit targets a past product that was "lawful and useful" for decades.

John Fiske, an attorney with Dallas-based Baron & Budd, which is representing all 10 entities, said his clients believe "the cause is absolutely righteous. Cities, taxes, ratepayers have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up Monsanto's PCBs," he said in a very interview. He stated that the lawsuit is independent of the federal cleanup plan, but the Port expects to pay somewhere between "tens and hundreds of millions" to re-mediate, remove, manage and reduce pollutants along most of the length of the Willamette River.

Monsanto's representative counters by maintaining that the port's lawsuit "threatens to delay and derail" the Superfund cleanup. Last fall, Monsanto's shareholders approved Bayer's $66 billion offerto buy the company. That deal must be approved by federal regulators. With such lawsuits brewing, is Bayer wise to consider such a problematic acquisition? Or is it more the case that because of the lawsuits, that Monsanto is being dumped at fire sale prices?

PCB's resist chemical break down, and remain in the environment for decades and perhaps even longer, for example in fluorescent light fixtures, cable insulation, floor coverings and glues for tile and linoleum, only a short list of the many uses for PCB's in 2017.

Monsanto of course will fight back and has already begun to do so. They have placed former corporate counsel in positions like United States Attorney General (John Ashcroft) and Supreme Court Justices (Clarence Thomas, the Judge whose vote put George Bush in office after that hanging chad controversy in Florida). Others links to high US Government positions include former Secretary of Agriculture Anne Veneman who was on the Board of Directors of Monsanto; Donald Rumsfeld, who was on the Board of Directors of G.D. Searle even after it was purchased by Monsanto; former US Secretary of Health Tommy Thompson in his campaign for Wisconsin's Governor's Chair; and the Congressman who became Chairman of the House Agricultural Committee a few years back, Larry Combest.

You can bet your bottom dollar that Monsanto will use all of its connections (or "call in all of its markers," as Donald Rumsfeld put it when he spoke to Searle stockholders about forcing the FDA to approve aspartame).

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These are some of the so-called "organic food firms" affiliated with Monsanto: Brand Names: Arrowhead Mills, Bearitos, Breadshop, Celestial Seasonings, Earth's Best Baby Food, Garden of Eatin, Health Valley, Imagine Foods, Terra Chips, Westbrae, Millina's, Mountain Sun, Shari Ann's, Walnut Acres Owned By: Hain Food Group Principle Stockholders: Bank of America, Entergy Nuclear, ExxonMobil, H.J. Heinz, Lockheed Martin, Merck, Monsanto, Pfizer, Philip Morris, Walmart, Waste Mangement Inc. Significantly Owned By: Citigroup

Brand Names: Cascadian Farms, Muir Glen Owned By: Small Planet Foods Principle Stockholders: General Mills Significantly Owned By: Alcoa, Chevron, Disney, Dupont, ExxonMobil, General Electric, McDonalds, Monsanto, Nike, Pepsico, Pfizer, Philip Morris, Starbucks, Target, Texas Instruments

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For superb ongoing coverage of the Monsanto Mafia:

http://www.monsantomafia.com/

Here are some of the headlines from that excellent site, just to give you a sense of their coverage:

Taiwan has banned GMOs in school lunches; when will America protects its children and do the same?

Obama's new policy registration may very well have ended all non-GMO agriculture in the US

Does the EPA have all of Monsanto's hidden science regarding glyphosate and GMOs?

Forbes.com hit piece on Natural News backfires: Health Ranger confirmed as world's most powerful foe of corporate science fraud

Rats' intestines destroyed just 90 days after being fed Monsanto GMO corn

In conclusion, Monsanto clearly was aware in 1969 that PCBs had been contaminating fish, oysters and birds over the prior decade. Portland is making a newer legal step in alleging the obvious truth of Monsanto's full knowledge of these health concerns back in 1937. Portland's central legal premise is that Monsanto made billions of dollars in profits while completely aware and therefore must be held responsible entirely for the contaminant cleanup.

If they win, this would constitute a major victory against a company that has thus far bought its way out of any regulatory difficulty, and which has in turn created huge difficulties for those who oppose them, like humble Canadian farmers or dairies in Vermont that used labels on their milk cartons that their product contained no Genetically Modified Organisms.

From the cutting-edge news website in Sweden, Red Ice Creations:

Regarding GMO's: In order for the FDA to determine if Monsanto's growth hormones were safe or not, Monsanto was required to submit a scientific report on that topic. Margaret Miller, one of Monsanto's researchers put the report together. Shortly before the report submission, Miller left Monsanto and was hired by the FDA. Her first job for the FDA was to determine whether or not to approve the report she wrote for Monsanto. In short, Monsanto approved its own report. Assisting Miller was another former Monsanto researcher, Susan Sechen. Deciding whether or not rBGH-derived milk (recombinant bovine growth hormone) should be labeled fell under the jurisdiction of another FDA official, Michael Taylor, who previously worked as a lawyer for Monsanto.

Red Ice Creations back in 2006 published my United Nations Resolution to create a New Undersecretary General for Nutrition and Consumer Protection, and it is still there. To read the resolution:

http://www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/2006/03mar/UNnutritionsecretary.html

This entire situation reminds me of the joint efforts by several of the Attorney General of the states to make the tobacco companies pay back or recoup for the states the hundreds of billions of dollars that had been spent to treat the victims of tobacco with diseases like lung cancer and emphysema.

The tobacco companies fought this strenuously but lost, with judgments against them for $235 billion to be paid to the states.

This is is what these 7 cities are doing: trying to recoup the cost of cleaning up a deadly environmental pollutant. It all seems rather "open-and-shut," on firm legal grounds for the cities, until you consider the legal and judicial clout that Monsanto will use to fight back. Just how far their reach goes in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of our government remains to be seen, and the answers should be emerging soon in early 2017, but given the deep pockets of Monsanto, don't expect any final resolution for years, if not decades.

When asked to comment for this article, Dr. Betty Martini, Founder of Mission Possible International replied:

"I remember when I lectured in England, Monsanto was afraid to debate me. They said, "She is just here to put us out of business." I was lecturing on aspartame, at the invitation of the Green Party and the Press.

When they told me Monsanto said that, I replied, "Sometimes they do tell the truth." They knew I had all of the incriminating records, and they knew they didn't stand a chance. When I said that, everybody laughed. They sent in their propaganda which I immediately took apart. From aspartame to RBGH and Frankensteinan food it is indeed a horror story, from start to finish. Anyone who poisons the public should be sued."

Martini has been fighting Monsanto, Searle, and Ajinomoto since 1992 entirely on her own financing, with no support from any outside source. She is author of the recent January 6 OEN article "Eat, Drink, and be Buried: Aspartame is a Carcinogen; California May Soon Declare It as Such- National Health Federation" republished from the cover article of the current magazine for the National Health Federation.

To read that article, please click here

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To protect yourself and your family, here is an excellent and thorough analysis of the medical effects of PCB's from Clearwater.org:

Polychlorinated biphenyls are a group of 209 different chemicals which share a common structure but vary in the number of attached chlorine atoms. An estimated 1.3 million pounds of different types of PCBs were dumped into the Hudson River by General Electric from 1946 until 1977, when they were banned. The international treaty on Persistent Organic Pollutants, drafted by 122 nations in Johannesburg in December 2000, targeted PCBs as one of the 'dirty dozen - chemicals to be phased out worldwide.The International Agency for Research on Cancer and the Environmental Protection Agency classify PCBs as a probable human carcinogen. The National Toxicology Program has concluded that PCBs are reasonably likely to cause cancer in humans. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has determined that PCBs are a potential occupational carcinogen.

Studies of PCBs in humans have found increased rates of melanomas, liver cancer, gall bladder cancer, biliary tract cancer, gastrointestinal tract cancer, and brain cancer, and may be linked to breast cancer. PCBs are known to cause a variety of types of cancer in rats, mice, and other study animals. Acute toxic effects.

Why are PCBs called a 'probable - carcinogen?

EPA -s regulations on cancer-causing chemicals use the term 'probable - when a chemical is known to cause cancer in animals and where there is evidence that suggests that it causes cancer in humans but which is not conclusive. Because you can -t feed chemicals to humans to see how they respond, it is much more difficult to demonstrate carcinogenicity in humans than in animals.

Instead, studies are undertaken of groups who have been exposed to a chemical, and if they suffer from more cancers than would be expected at normal levels, this may indicate that the chemical was a carcinogen. However, there are many difficulties doing these studies: small numbers of people known to be exposed to a chemical; the fact that people suffer from many cancers without any chemical exposure; the fact that in some cases these people were exposed to a number of other chemicals; and the need to demonstrate high cancer rates that cannot be random in order to draw conclusions.

People exposed directly to high levels of PCBs, either via the skin, by consumption, or in the air, have experienced irritation of the nose and lungs, skin irritations such as severe acne (chloracne) and rashes, and eye problems.

Thus the term 'probable - reflects the limited nature of the studies, and it is rare that a carcinogen is so effective that it can be called a 'known - human carcinogen.

The fact that PCBs are called a 'probable - carcinogen should not be taken as a sign that they are benign.

People exposed directly to high levels of PCBs, either via the skin, by consumption, or in the air, have experienced irritation of the nose and lungs, skin irritations such as severe acne (chloracne) and rashes, and eye problems.

Women exposed to PCBs before or during pregnancy can give birth to children with significant neurological and motor control problems, including lowered IQ and poor short-term memory.

PCBs cause developmental effects.

A group of children in Michigan whose mothers had been exposed to PCBs were found to have decreased birth weight and head size, lowered performance on standardized memory, psychomotor and behavioral tests, and lowered IQ. These effects lasted through at least 7 years.

A group of women occupationally exposed to PCBs in upstate New York had shorter pregnancies and gave birth to children with lower birth weight. Another study, of the chidren of women who ate contaminated Lake Ontario fish, found significant performance impairments on a standardized behavioral assessment test.

Exposure of one form of PCB to rats resulted in retarded growth, delayed puberty, decreased sperm counts, and genital malformations. In other studies, exposure of PCBs to rats in utero led to behavioral and psychomotor effects that lasted into adulthood.

PCBs disrupt hormone function.

PCBs with only a few chlorine atoms can mimic the body -s natural hormones, especially estrogen. Women who consumed PCB-contaminated fish from Lake Ontario were found to have shortened menstrual cycles. PCBs are also thought to play a role in reduced sperm counts, altered sex organs, premature puberty, and changed sex ratios of children. More highly-chlorinated PCBs (with more chlorine atoms) act like dioxins in altering the metabolism of sex steroids in the body, changing the normal levels of estrogens and testosterone. PCBs tend to change in the body and in the environment from more highly-chlorinated to lower-chlorinated forms, increasing their estrogenic effects.

Immune system and thyroid effects.

In a study of adolescents Mohawk males in New York State, PCBs were shown to upset the balance of thyroid hormones, which may affect growth as well as intellectual and behavioral development.

Like dioxin, PCBs bind to receptors that control immune system function, disturbing the amounts of some immune system elements like lymphocytes and T cells.

In a study of Dutch children, PCB levels were tied to an increased prevalence of ear infections and chickenpox and with lowered immune system function, and thus greater susceptibility to disease.

Eating fish is the major route of exposure to PCBs.

The most common route of exposure to PCBs is from eating contaminated fish. The EPA estimates an increased cancer risk as high as 1 in 2500 for people eating certain species of fish from the Hudson River&em; thousand times higher than the EPA -s goal for protection.

Air near a contaminated site may also be polluted by PCBs. By one estimate, residents of the Hudson Valley may inhale as many PCBs as they would get by eating one contaminated fish per year. Although small amounts of PCBs can enter the body from swimming in highly contaminated water, this is unlikely to be significant except in the most extreme cases.

Municipalities that use the Hudson River as a drinking water source carefully monitor the water for PCBs, and there are no detectable levels in the water supplies.

PCBs accumulate in the body and in the ecosystem.

Once PCBs enter a person -s (or animal -s) body, they tend to be absorbed into fat tissue and remain there.

Unlike water-soluble chemicals, they are not excreted, so the body accumulates PCBs over years. This means that PCBs also accumulate via the food chain: a small fish may absorb PCBs in water or by eating plankton, and these PCBs are stored in its body fat. When a larger fish eats the small fish, it also eats and absorbs all the PCBs that have built up in the small fish. In this way, larger fish and animals can build up a highly concentrated store of PCBs. Some types of PCBs may degrade into nontoxic form while they are stored in the body, but this process can take many years.

In the same way, PCBs accumulate in women and pass on to their infants through breast milk. This accumulation means that nursing infants may ingest PCB levels much higher than the levels in fish and other foods consumed by their mothers.

PCBs have been found all over the world, including significant amounts in the Arctic and Antarctic, far from any sources. In fact, several studies have found very high levels of PCBs in the blood and breast milk of Inuit women. It is thought that PCBs spread through the air, after evaporating from contaminated water and sediments, as well as through the water.