[CPEO-BIF] Baltimore Aircoil (Merced, California) lawsuit

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

Pharma giant Merck faces trial over Merced plant
Residents say water, air were contaminated.

By John Ellis
Fresno Bee (CA)
February 3, 2011
A company once owned by pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. exposed  
residents near its now-shuttered Merced plant to cancer-causing  
chemicals, then covered up the contamination for years and downplayed  
its severity, a lawyer said Thursday.

Fresno attorney Mick Marderosian made the allegations in opening  
statements in U.S. District Court in Fresno.

Marderosian is part of a legal team representing more than 2,000  
residents of Merced's Beachwood subdivision, who claim the air they  
breathed and the water they drank were contaminated by the cancer- 
causing chemical hexavalent chromium -- which gained attention after  
the movie "Erin Brockovich."

The result, many of the residents say, has been a high number of  
deaths and sicknesses for those who were exposed.

In his own opening statement, an attorney representing Merck -- as  
well as Amsted Industries of Chicago and Baltimore Aircoil Co. --  
acknowledged the plant site was contaminated by arsenic and  
hexavalent chromium. The plant used industrial chemicals to pressure- 
treat wood that was used to make cooling tower frames.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/02/03/2259355/merck-faces-trial-over- 
merced.html#storylink=misearch


--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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