Pittsfield — A sixth lawsuit alleging that General Electric Company (GE), in conjunction with manufacturer Monsanto Company, knowingly and intentionally caused cancer in persons exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was filed in Berkshire County’s Superior Court on August 24.
Filed by the husband of longtime Allendale Elementary School teacher Nina McDermott on behalf of her estate, the complaint states that McDermott died in February 2022 after multiple bouts of cancer she developed while working at the school. Her obituary stated that she was a “beloved third grade teacher for 25 years at Allendale Elementary School,” as well as an avid gardener, watercolor painter, and fan of cruise travel. The Pittsfield native graduated from Lenox High School, and her family included Steven McDermott, her spouse of 39 years, and a daughter.
The filing states, “Mrs. McDermott’s cancers and death were caused by her extensive exposure to hazardous waste including PCBs, emanating from the GE plant, Hill 78, and Building 71, toxic waste areas that abutted Allandale Elementary School [sic].” According to the complaint, Nina McDermott was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer in 2010 and subsequently underwent a complete mastectomy with chemotherapy and radiation. Six years later, she was diagnosed with kidney cancer, which metastasized.
Along with GE and Monsanto, other defendants were named in the filing related to these entities, including successor companies: GE Plastics (AKA Plastics Technologies Inc.), Solutia Inc., Pharmacia LLC, Bayer AG, Sabic Innovative Plastics US LLC, Sabic Innovative Plastics Technologies Inc., Sabic Innovative Plastics Global Technologies LP, and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC). These defendants have until mid-December to respond to the lawsuit.
The McDermott case follows five lawsuits naming identical defendants that were filed in the Superior Court by independent sole practitioners Thomas Bosworth and John Stewart. Hill 78, referred to as a hazardous waste storage site for the now-banned toxic PCBs, was located 40 feet uphill from the Allendale school. The complaint states that Pittsfield purchased GE’s PCB-laden soil from the plant to use as landfill for the school when the structure was built. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the fill material placed on the school property came from Hill 78.
“People are becoming much more aware—not just Mr. McDermott but everybody—becoming much more aware of the seriousness of the situation and the severity of harm that PCBs actually cause,” Bosworth said in a telephone interview with The Berkshire Edge. “And, when you couple that awareness with the persistent, intentional, and deliberate efforts over decades by representatives of GE to spew misinformation at the public and at Berkshire County about PCBs, it’s really been a shame because even though the saga with GE has gone on for so long, GE has done a heck of a job at diluting the severity of the issue, misinforming people, and misdirecting people.”
Bosworth and Stewart point out various studies that show unacceptable PCB levels have remained and continue to plague the area’s soil and air, as well as documentation they allege not only put Allendale children “at a potential health risk” but correlate cancer diagnoses with PCB contamination.
Two of the actions were brought by Allendale-area mothers seeking damages on behalf of their young children who attended the Allendale school, with one currently battling leukemia and the other child fighting brain cancer. A third case was brought by a Lenox business owner who survived her bout with breast cancer but alleges the illness was caused by her attending the school in the late 1970s and early 1980s while living several hundred feet from the GE plant. The fourth action involved a mother of two children who allegedly spent a lot of time at the Allendale school and on its playground. As with the other cases, that mother and her family lived in close proximity to the school and the GE facility. Diagnosed with breast cancer that has since metastasized, the pleadings provide that she is now undergoing numerous treatments to fight the illness.
Those lawsuits were filed on August 18.
“I think the [Allendale Elementary School] should have been closed a very long time ago,” Bosworth said. “The monstrosity of toxic waste that sits right next to that playground should have been removed and completely remediated decades ago. And it hasn’t been.”
A fifth action filed on August 21 involves a longtime Pittsfield family who lived about 1,500 feet from the GE plant, with the company’s trucks frequently carrying hazardous PCB waste past their Benedict Road home. The filing alleges that one member has been diagnosed with metastasized pancreatic cancer that stems from GE and Monsanto’s actions, with additional catastrophic results for her family including the death of her sister and her brother’s Parkinson’s disease—all linked to PCB exposure.
Bosworth said he is contacted daily by individuals inquiring about potential links between their illnesses—mostly cancer—and PCB exposure. “I just think we’re at the tip of the iceberg, frankly,” he said.
Through its spokesperson, Monsanto emailed the following comment to the McDermott filing:
“While we have great sympathy for the plaintiffs in this case, Monsanto is not responsible for the alleged injuries for many reasons including that it did not manufacture or dispose of PCBs near the Allendale Elementary School or in the greater Pittsfield area, and had no responsibility for or control over the electrical equipment plant in Pittsfield operated by another defendant in these cases. Moreover, the weight of the scientific evidence does not support an association between exposure to PCBs and the types of injuries alleged in this case, even among highly exposed former PCB workers. Monsanto will respond to this complaint in due course and maintains that its past electrical customers are obligated to defend and indemnify Monsanto based on the indemnity contract the companies agreed to in 1972.”
Attempts to contact GE and Pittsfield School District regarding Allendale Elementary School were not returned by press time.
