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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Carey Gillam

US mother accuses GE and Bayer of causing son’s cancer

Monsanto, purchased by Bayer in 2018, manufactured PCBs from the 1930s to the late 1970s for use in coolants and lubricators in electrical equipment.
Monsanto, purchased by Bayer in 2018, manufactured PCBs from the 1930s to the late 1970s for use in coolants and lubricators in electrical equipment. Photograph: Ina Fassbender/AFP/Getty Images

A Massachusetts mother has filed a lawsuit blaming widespread PCB pollution by General Electric (GE), Monsanto and its German owner Bayer, and several other companies for causing her nine-year-old son to develop leukemia and suffer repeated debilitating medical treatments.

Crystal Czerno alleges, among other things, that GE knowingly contaminated her son Carter’s elementary school playground with PCB waste while downplaying the harm it could cause. The school is located in the town of Pittsfield, just north of a GE facility that made electrical transformers containing PCBs for more than 40 years. PCB-laden soil from the GE site was spread over the school grounds.

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