Nation's Largest Private Water Utility Joins Lawsuit Against Herbicide Maker

[ensho]

http://huffpostfund.org/blog/2010/03/24/nation%E2%80%99s-largest-private-water-utility-joins-lawsuit-against-herbicide-maker#ixzz0j8Ysg4em


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As the Investigative Fund reported two weeks ago, the class action lawsuit was originally filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois by 16 cities in Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and Iowa. The communities are alleging that Swiss corporation Syngenta AG and its Delaware counterpart Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. made billions of dollars selling atrazine while local taxpayers were left “the ever-growing bill for filtering the toxic product from the public’s drinking water.”

American Water Company joined the lawsuit in five of those states yesterday, representing 28 additional Midwestern communities.

A spokesman for American Water, Terry Mackin, said in a written statement that the company’s state subsidiaries are joining the case to recover past and future “costs of treating their raw water supplies for atrazine which they all have done in meeting or exceeding the federal and state drinking water standards.”

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We reported in a series of articles last fall that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to notify the public that the weed-killer had been found at levels above the federal safety limit in drinking water in at least four states. The EPA recently announced that it would be undertaking a re-evaluation of the chemical’s potential to cause harm to humans and animals.
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good

[daggahead]

1. Now if we could also get a suit against ...

Monsanto for endangering the world's crops and food supply.

[Dappleganger]

2. Wish I could recc this more!

Atrazine is EVIL. We have St. Augustine grass (per HOA requirements, unfortunately) and all the neighbors use it for weed control. That stuff is all over the shelves in the stores and pushed by all the lawn care companies.

Except us, we don't and won't use it. Our lawn may have a few more weeds but goddammit we are trying. We get dirty looks for it but I don't care. We know it's seeping into our yard from both neighbors and they don't want to even listen about stopping its useage.

[ensho]

3. good for you, keep up the fight

nt

[KittyWampus]

4. thanks Ensho, this may get lost today.

[loudsue]

5. Kickin' for visibility n/t

:kick:

[DCKit]

6. Not just good, freaking FABULOUS!

They (corp.s, in general) will only begin acting responsibly when there's a huge price to pay for acting badly.