(The Center Square) – Opening statements took place Thursday in King County Superior Court in a case involving Bayer-owned Monsanto and, or PCB, exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCB, at Sky Valley Education Center in the Monroe School District.
According to Nick Rowley, co-founder of Trial Lawyers for Justice, “Monsanto falsified science by switching out dead rats with live rats and publishing fraudulent research that was used for decades to hide the truth about the danger PCBs posed.”
In opening statements, Courtney Rowley, an attorney from Trial Lawyers for Justice for the 15 plaintiffs, who are former staff members and students from Sky Valley, told the jury Monsanto put profits ahead of people, despite knowing synthetic chemicals it produced were extremely toxic and damaging to the human brain and systems of the body.
“The evidence will show that Monsanto chooses not to do long-term chronic toxicity testing so they don’t have to determine how much ordinary people are being exposed to PCBs,” Rowley said.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, PCBs were commercially manufactured from 1929 until the Toxic Substances Control Act banned production in 1979.
In a courtroom video courtesy of Courtroom View Network, Rowley put up photos of the alleged victims, including a student, initials R.G., at Sky Valley Education Center for several years.
She explained how PCB toxins mimic estrogen and the alleged effect on the girl.
“It caused her to begin puberty at age six,” Rowley said. “She started menstruating at age six as PCBs cause early puberty in children.”
Monsanto was trying to sell one of its PCB products to the U.S. Navy in 1956, she noted, saying the Navy pressed the company to be sure the products were safe before signing a contract.
Rowley told the jury when Monsanto indicated it had done no testing, the Navy opted to do its own testing.
“The Navy used rabbits for the PCB testing,” she said. “Not a single rabbit survived. Every rabbit exposed died.”
Rowley told the jury Monsanto buried the study “by lobbying and using its power and influence to make sure that the Navy didn’t publish anything connecting those dead rabbits with PCBs.”
Following an opening statement from the plaintiff’s attorney that lasted more than three hours, the defense had an opportunity to make its case.
Kimberly Branscome, attorney for Monsanto, told the jury panel the company did everything it could to warn customers and the government as soon as it learned PCBs could pose health issues.
“November of 1969, PCBs had been discovered in the environment, and there was a question about these persistent chemicals that were not naturally degrading in the environment,” she said.
Branscome noted that Monsanto formed a PCB committee at that time to examine what should be done and what actions the company should take.
Branscom also told the jury that at the same time, they were learning of potential harm from PCBs and other harmful toxins, suggesting that PCBs were not solely to blame since many products contain a variety of potentially toxic components.
The defense also suggested that the lifespan of fluorescent lights containing PCBs installed before being banned in 1979 was only 10 to 15 years, such that lights at Sky Valley would long since have been replaced with non-PCB light fixtures.
Only opening statements were heard on day one of the trial, and jury members were told to expect up to two months of testimony before deliberations.
The trial is the ninth involving former students, teachers, and parents at the Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington. They sued Monsanto over exposure to PCBs in the school's fluorescent light ballasts and caulk, which allegedly caused serious neurological injuries. Monsanto has paid billions in verdicts and settlements in multiple states.
Earlier this year a Washington Court of Appeals reversed the first PCB verdict, a $185 million award in 2021.
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