Monsanto Paying Almost $100 Million for Poisoning America
Let’s take a trip back in time for a minute.
It’s 1948, in the town of Nitro, West Virginia. Monsanto sets up a
mega factory to mass produce the herbicide, Agent Orange – yes, the same
Agent Orange that be will used as a weapon in the upcoming Vietnam War.
The chemical itself has fatal effects upon exposure, and is capable
of making environments completely uninhabitable as a result of
contamination.
Okay, let’s skip forward a few decades
“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.”
– Arnold Schecter and John Constable
After its use in the war, reports show as many as 3 million
Vietnamese citizens who have or are still dealing with the effects of
the herbicide. In the mix are thousands of genetic mutations, still-born
babies, birth defects, and thousands upon thousands of deaths of adults
and children.
As if that isn’t bad enough, parts of Vietnam are still contaminated
by the effects of the herbicide. This makes parts of the country
completely uninhabitable.
So, what does this have to do with the town of Nitro?
It turns out that exposure to Agent Orange (even in a factory) is
enough to poison an entire town. Monsanto is now paying $93 million to
make up for the damage that they have caused to the small West Virginia
town.
The $93 million settlement was approved in 2013, but it wasn’t until
recently that the fine details were worked out as to how the money will
be spent. This is what they came up with:
- $21 million to check for dioxin poisoning in the townspeople (over
the course of the next 30 years, to monitor health changes over time) - $9 million to be spent cleaning dioxin tainted dust from almost 5000 homes
- $63 million if needed to further the testing for contamination in the people and town
The benefits and testing are being made available to anyone who lived
in the town from 1948 to September of 2010. The primary issue is that
nobody really knows when risks were higher for infection than others.
On top of all this, residents of Nitro also have the right to file
individual law suits against the biotech company if they feel their
lives have been negatively impacted by dioxin exposure. It wouldn’t
really be surprising if some people do come forth, because one quick
look at the effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam will tell you that it is
100% possible.
