Judge Approves Monsanto Settlement

{Winfield, West Virginia}...Friday, Putnam County Circuit Judge Derek Swope granted a preliminary approval of a settlement in the Monsanto case in which at least 5,000 current and former Nitro residents filed a lawsuit seeking medical monitoring, alleging a former Monsanto plant unsafely dispersed dioxin, exposing residential properties and streams to unsafe levels of the toxic chemical.  A program that will offer free cleaning of homes affected by the Monsanto chemicals will be given $9 million. Preliminary funds of $21 million will pay for medical testing, and if certain conditions are met, $63 million in additional funds will go for 30 years worth of medical screenings at a local hospital. Monsanto agreed to pay court-approved legal fees and litigation costs incurred by counsel for the past seven years. Swope scheduled a fairness hearing for June 18th to determine if any plaintiffs object to the proposed settlement. The former Monsanto plant's production of warfare chemical Agent Orange created dioxin as a toxic chemical byproduct. The plant operated between 1929 and 2004 in Nitro.