Battle against Poe Hall intensifies: Alumni file suit against Monsanto, consulting firm 

A group of North Carolina State University alumni, former employees and family members of now- deceased students have filed a lawsuit against Monsanto. The lawsuit claims the toxic PCB chemicals found inside the campus's Poe Hall caused the plaintiffs to develop breast cancer. 

The plaintiffs allege Monsanto knowingly manufactured and sold toxic PCB chemicals for use in building materials, despite decades of evidence that the chemicals could cause serious harm.

They claim those PCBs were used in the construction of Poe Hall at NC State, contaminating the building’s air, dust and HVAC system and exposing generations of students and staff. The lawsuit says that exposure led to breast cancer and other serious illnesses, and the plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, along with a jury trial. 

Monsanto, which is now owned by Bayer, produced PCB chemicals in the mid 20th century.

The chemicals were valued because of their durability, and they were used in the construction of many high-traffic municipal and educational buildings between the 1920s and late 1970s. PCBs were banned by the EPA in 1979, eight years after Poe Hall was built. They are now a well-known carcinogen, according to the World Health Organization.  

Monsanto delivered this statement in response to the suit:

While the Company will vigorously defend the litigation, we have great sympathy for anyone diagnosed with a serious illness. The Company believes these claims lack merit and will respond in court in due course. The relevant and reliable science does not support a causal connection between low-level exposure to PCBs and the illnesses alleged in the complaint, and air testing conducted by NC State closest to the time when the building was operational found all of the air samples collected were below EPA’s health-protective guidelines for evaluating PCBs in indoor air. Furthermore, NC State was and remains responsible for the construction and maintenance of Poe Hall. The University knew about the presence of PCBs in the building more than 30 years ago, as evidenced by PCB removal projects it undertook in 1991 and 2010 related to transformer oil and light ballasts which was reinforced by later testing by a university consultant as alleged in the complaint. NC State also should have been aware of EPA’s PCB-related notices regarding best maintenance practices that similarly date back about 30 years. Monsanto discontinued its production of bulk industrial PCBs nearly five decades ago, conducted hundreds of studies on PCB safety, and provided appropriate warnings to its customers based on the state-of-the science at the time. To recover a substantial portion of its PCB-related litigation costs, Monsanto filed a complaint in Missouri to enforce its rights under 1972 indemnity contracts with its six largest former PCB customers who incorporated PCBs in their electrical equipment products. Under these contracts with electrical equipment manufacturers, these sophisticated companies agreed to defend and indemnify Monsanto for PCB-related litigation costs. PCB claims related to electrical equipment produced by these sophisticated companies make up a substantial portion of the pending claims and judgments in the PCB litigation, but there are other PCB-containing products that legal actions allege are the source of injuries or impairments as well.”Monsanto statement

Testing conducted inside Poe Hall between 2023 and 2024 found levels of PCBs far exceeded what is considered safe for human exposure. PCBs were found inside the building’s caulking, electrical equipment, dust, air and other various places.  

The lawsuit also accuses Matrix Health & Safety Consultants of negligence, alleging the firm failed to recommend critical indoor air testing in Poe Hall in 2018, allowing dangerous PCB exposure to continue undetected for years. 

The group of about a dozen plaintiffs has already filed a similar lawsuit against NC State claiming the university failed to protect them from the chemicals and deliberately avoided in-depth testing for decades despite multiple complaints from staff and administrators.  

In response to that legal filing, NC State told WRAL News: “NC State will continue to pursue accountability against Monsanto for damages from the PCBs it manufactured and furnished to construct Poe Hall." 

Connecticut and Vermont have filed lawsuits against Monsanto over PCB contaminants found in public buildings.  

Since Poe Hall was closed in November 2023, more than 200 people have reported to WRAL News that they developed cancer after working or studying in the building. According to the original data collected exclusively by WRAL News, the rate of diagnosis of breast cancer in Poe Hall was three times the local county rate, in 2022. 

PCBs get stored in fat cells in the body and are not easily expended. Prolonged exposure to PCBs can cause a myriad of health issues in the body beyond cancer including other diseases and mental defects.  

Attorneys representing people who were in Poe Hall and later became sick say they have more than 600 clients and plan on filing more lawsuits against both the university and Monsanto. 

This is the second lawsuit filed against Monsanto in regard to Poe Hall.

Last fall, NC State filed its own lawsuit against Monsanto, alleging the company knowingly marketed and concealed the risks of PCBs.

“Monsanto advised customers to integrate its PCB mixtures into construction materials,” the lawsuit stated. “Despite knowing that this would directly introduce PCBs into surrounding air and other building materials, and onto nearby interior surfaces. Monsanto issued no public warnings or instructions addressing these issues or the associated health risks with its PCB products and, in public communications, denied or concealed the existence of those hazards.”

In response, Monsanto said: “The company believes these claims lack merit and will respond in court in due course,” the statement reads. “Monsanto discontinued its production of bulk industrial PCBs nearly five decades ago, conducted hundreds of studies on PCB safety, and provided appropriate warnings to its sophisticated industrial customers based on the state-of-the-science at the time.

Furthermore, any PCB-containing building products used in Poe Hall or other buildings on campus were manufactured, sold and installed by sophisticated third-parties, and maintained by the University.”