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COVERING UP PCP POISONING IN ANNISTON ALABAMA

SOLUTIA POLUTIA

Solutia is a positive and happy name for a company, one that wouldn't immediately bring to mind fish that turn belly up and spurt blood with 10 seconds of submersion in a contaminated creek. Or even dead kids. That's because Monsanto Chemical Company renamed the Anniston, Alabama plant in 1997, when the PCPs were hitting the fan.

solutia in anniston, alabama

Beginning in 1927, Monsanto manufactured PCB's (poly-chlorinated biphenyls) in Anniston, Alabama. Production stopped in 1971 and in 1976 the chemical was banned. Over the years in between, Monsanto discharged toxic waste into a west Anniston creek and dumped millions of pounds of PCBs into open-pit landfills. Mostly black people in that part of town.

solutia in anniston, alabama

In 1993, largemouth bass in the Choccolocco Creek were discovered with blistered scales. Tests confirmed that these fish had extremely high levels of PCBs. Nevertheless, the makers of Roundup herbicide and the inventors of bovine growth hormone, systematically covered up the extent of the problem.
The indisbutable evidence is in the public record for related court trials such as Owens vs. Monsanto. The Owens case settled in 2001 for $43 million, but Monsanto has never admitted wrongdoing. The amount awarded was pathetic, but it was clear to the plaintiffs that Monsanto/Solutia would keep the matter in court long after the money would be useful to anyone living.

In subsequent attempts to distance itself from the toxic skeletons in its closet, the "new" Monsanto Company claims that it's not the same Monsanto Company that polluted the community of Anniston, Alabama and other communities. While its current parent company, Pfizer-Pharmacia (nice folks in their own right), prepares to spin off Monsanto into an independent company, the ghosts of Monsanto's past .

History and details on Monsanto's stonewalling.

More Monsanto dirt at SourceWatch.org.

Read about Monsanto and Milk

Return to the Chemical map.