RESPONSE TO: MONSANTO ORDERED TO PAY $93 MILLION FOR POISONING RESIDENTS WITH AGENT ORANGE
Rocky Montana
Amanda Froelich
Earlier this month the State Supreme Court of West Virginia dealt a huge blow to the biotech company Monsanto, ordering it to pay $93 million to the small town of Nitro, West Virginia for poisoning local citizens with Agent Orange chemicals.
Approved last year, the details were only recently worked out a few weeks ago as to how the funds would be dispersed.
As mandated in the settlement:
$9 million will be spent to clean dioxin contaminated dust from 4500 homes.
$21 million will be spent to test to see if people have been poisoned with dioxin.
[Come on now, $21 million for TESTING of the people of Nitro, WV. for dioxin contamination?!? How much do you think it REALLY costs to test a person for dioxin contamination? So, where do you think the $21 minus $1 million will go to?--back to Monsanto, perhaps, to pay for their lawyer bills and for their trouble? Call me skeptical and suspicious but, to my recollection, what we never seem to hear about is accountability in these cases; the tracking of expenditures of these multi-million dollar judgment awards, by independent accountants of integrity.]
Citizens will be monitored for such poisoning for 30 years, not just a few months.
[I certainly hope someone is going to test well water and water supply of the town as well as the streams, ponds and lakes in and around this town, and that money is set aside for any and all abatement of contaminated drinking and ground water.]
An additional $63 million is to be allotted if additional tests for dioxin contamination testing is necessary.
[Do you think this $63 million might just be for show? Is it more likely that Monsanto will be required to pay this sum, or that this sum will be set aside to pay for the defense of future lawsuits against Monsanto, etc.? I believe, this is NOT a $93 million judgment award, but will end up closer to a $33 million, minus $20 million, equaling a $13 million judgment award, of which NONE of the money appears to be awarded to the people living in Nitro, WV. for any and all contamination sickness caused by Monsanto's Agent Orange factory over its 59 year operation, and subsequently since its shutdown in 2004. I hope I will be proven wrong, but am not holding my breath.]
Anyone who lived in the Nitro area between Jan. 1, 1948, and Sept. 3, 2010 will be tested for dioxin. Although they must show proof they lived in the area, they will be eligible for testing even if they no longer live in Nitro.
Former or present employees of Monsanto are not eligible for any of these benefits.
An office will be set up to organize testing for Nitro citizens. The registration of participants is to be overlooked by Charleston attorney Thomas Flaherty, who was appointed by the court.
Residents have a right to file individual suits against Monsanto if medical tests show they suffered physical harm due to dioxin exposure.
Such goes to show that little towns CAN deal big blows to giant corporations
As reported by Natural Society, Monsanto was producing the toxic herbicide Agent Orange in Nitro, and dioxin is a chemical byproduct of the substance. Known to cause serious health conditions, residents were not too pleased when they received word they were in close proximity with the toxin.
The factory which produced Agent Orange was opened in the West Virginian town in 1948 and remained operational until 2004 – even after it was found to be fatal to millions when used in Vietnam and other Asian countries.
Said Arnold Schecter and Jon Constable, “There is no doubt that during and after the war, many Vietnamese absorbed this very toxic material [dioxin]. It is our belief from toxicological research and epidemiological studies from many countries that this dioxin probably resulted in significant health effects in Vietnam.
The politics of dioxin has been bitterly debated since the Vietnam War, but … we know that there is a health issue there and hopefully people will get their houses cleaned and the risk will come to an end and those exposed in the past will have the benefit of keeping an eye on their health.”
[Better late than never I guess, however, how many people have died in the town of Nitro, WV. dioxin contamination since the opening of Monsanto's plant? Will this lawsuit judgment include this investigation and financial awards to be paid-out to relatives of the deceased, caused by dioxin contamination since 1945?]
Attorney Stuart Calwell told The Charleston Gazette that “It’s been a real long haul.” Caldwell represented Nitro area residents in a class action suit that prompted the biotech giant, Monsanto, to make the settlement.
In order to receive the benefits outlined in the settlement, residents of Nitro still need to fill out a register. And due to the serious importance of this landmark case, residents in the area are urged to participate as fully as possible to set a precedent for other class action suits that farmers and consumers of GMO foods around the world might ignite against Monsanto in the future.
If enough people join together to raise awareness and support for efforts against Monsanto, inevitably the corporate giant will pay for its deeds.
[Yes, overwhelming opposition by the people and governments against Monsanto's GMO products HAS succeded in banning Monsanto's GMO products from many countries. But will Monsanto voluntarily grow a moral conscience and change its despicable business plan of greed for profit? Can a leopard change its spots? I suspect we will find out, if not already known, that Monsanto has outsources all of its controversial GMO and dangerous other product manufacturing to one or more unsuspecting and impoverished countries whose government officials can be bought to look the other way, and, therefore, will continue its immoral behavior unimpeded.]
http://www.fourwinds10.net/siterun_data/health/harmful_products/news.php?q=1433944923