Chicago Sues Monsanto, Univar for Contaminating City’s Water (1)

Chicago is suing Bayer AG’s Monsanto and Univar Solutions Inc. for polluting the city’s water, air and soil with chemicals the companies knew were harmful to humans.

The complaint, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, seeks financial compensation for expenses related to cleaning up contamination with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. The city argues the companies “misled the public” and released these chemicals despite knowing they were dangerous to humans and the environment.

The lawsuit follows a similar cases by other cities and states including Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon and Delaware. The pollution has also caused valuable private ...