Amendment to Complaint Filed against Pfizer by Shelby, Roden & Cartee; World's Largest Pharmaceutical Company, Assumes Anniston, Alabama ``PCB'' Liability.

Business Editors

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 8, 2003

The recent merger of Pfizer, Inc. with Pharmacia Corporation, makes the world's largest pharmaceutical company liable for billions of dollars in toxic tort damages arising from the toxic exposure of humans to the most contaminated site in America, according to David Shelby, managing partner, Shelby, Roden & Cartee. An amended complaint was submitted to federal court by Shelby, Roden & Cartee naming Pfizer as a defendant in Tolbert v. Monsanto, et. al, CV 01-1407-S, which includes 17,000 plaintiffs.

On April 16, 2003, Pfizer, Inc. and Pharmacia Corporation combined operations, creating the new Pfizer, Inc., a company with the third largest market capitalization in the world. The combination expanded Pfizer's global pharmaceutical leadership, broadened its product base, bolstered its research and developmental capabilities, enlarged its portfolio of leading consumer healthcare brands and inherited liability for PCB toxic exposure, according to David Shelby.

How did this Happen?

Compiled from the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee Special Hearing on Anniston, Alabama, held April 19, 2002 DOCID: f:81528.wais

In 1901, the Monsanto Corporation was formed in St. Louis, Missouri. Monsanto opened a chemical plant in Anniston, Alabama, where polychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs, were invented in 1929. PCBs were one of the most pervasive and profitable industrial chemicals of the 20th century. They were used as insulators in electric transformers and mixed into a variety of products from paint to newsprint. Monsanto began manufacturing PCBs in Anniston, Alabama in the 1930s and continued until the mid 1970s.

The PCB business proved to be highly profitable. However, PCBs are highly toxic and hazardous to humans and the environment. As early as the 1930s, Monsanto was sure that PCBs caused skin and liver disorders. In the 1940s, scientists found that PCBs were linked to serious liver disorders in workers in wire and cable mills where PCBs were handled. Monsanto concluded, in 1969, that PCBs were a global environmental contaminant that would lead to contamination of human food, the killing of marine species, and the possible extinction of several species of fish eating birds.

Hazardous Dumping

Compiled from the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee Special Hearing on Anniston, Alabama, held April 19, 2002 DOCID: f:81528.wais

During the more than 40 years that PCBs were produced at the Anniston plant, Monsanto routinely dumped excess PCBs and acid containing PCBs into the plant's sewer system, which discharged directly into open ditches and creeks that carried PCBs to surrounding rivers and lakes. Today, PCB contamination is found in waterways up to 40 miles from the Anniston plant. The substances were also routinely dumped into crude, unlined landfills located on the Monsanto property. The company's irresponsible activity took place for many decades without any corrective action being taken and resulting in the continued contamination of the surrounding land and waterways covering miles.

Because of their toxicity and hazardous nature, PCBs were banned by the federal government in 1979. Unfortunately, the citizens of Anniston, Alabama are still living with the legacy.

In a CBS broadcast of 60 Minutes, entitled "Toxic Town" on November 10, 2002, Anniston was described in the following way: "Imagine a place so saturated with toxic, cancer-causing chemicals that it's in the dirt people walk on, in the air that they breathe, even in the blood that pumps through their veins. The 24,000 people in Anniston, Alabama, don't have to imagine this; many of them are living it."

Status of PCB Lawsuits

Currently two lawsuits representing approximately 20,000 Anniston residents are in active litigation. A state court jury in Abernathy v. Monsanto, et al., Etowah County, Alabama Circuit Court, CV 01-832, is currently considering some of the plaintiffs' claims in that case. The jury has already determined that Monsanto and its successor corporations are liable for negligence, nuisance, wantonness, suppression of the truth and outrage. The tort of outrage is defined under Alabama law as "behavior so outrageous in character and extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency so as to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in civilized society." The Abernathy jury is currently determining the damages owed to each of hundreds of plaintiffs in the case. To date, 68 individual verdicts have been rendered for a total of $17,509,376.00 in compensatory damages. The jury will assess punitive damages at the end of the damages phase.

A second case, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Tolbert v. Monsanto, et al., CV 01-C-1407-S, includes 17,000 plaintiffs. Chief District Judge U.W. Clemon has set the case for trial on October 14, 2003 in Birmingham, Alabama. An amended complaint has been submitted to the court naming Pfizer, Inc. as a defendant because of its assumption of the PCB liability as a result of the recent merger.

The United States Supreme Court ruled this year that punitive damages can be awarded in an amount up to 9 times the amount of the compensatory damages. The average compensatory award in the Abernathy case thus far is $257,490.00. Applying that average to the claims of the remaining 20,000 plaintiffs produces damages in excess of $5,149,800,000.00 (five billion). When the 9:1 punitive ratio is applied, Pfizer's potential exposure rises to $ 46,348,200,000.00 (forty-six billion).

Questions as to Pfizer executives' knowledge of the assumption of the PCB-exposure litigation prior to the merger are now being explored according to David Shelby.

Chronology of Pfizer's PCB Liability

1901        Monsanto is formed in St. Louis, Missouri.

1929        PCBs are invented in Anniston, Alabama.

1930s-40s   Monsanto becomes aware of potential hazards related to
            PCB exposure.

1930s-70s   PCBs are produced, sold, buried and dumped by Monsanto in
            Anniston, Alabama.

1960s       Monsanto begins to actively conceal PCB hazards.

1979        United States government bans production of PCBs.

1980s       Monsanto continues concealment and suppression of the
            truth about PCB hazards.

1996        Several lawsuits are filed in state and federal court in
            Alabama as a result of Monsanto's pollution in Anniston.

Sept. 1997  Monsanto Company spins off its chemical operations by
            Solutia, Inc.

Mar. 2000   Monsanto Company merges with Pharmacia and Upjohn, forming
            Pharmacia. "Old" Monsanto ceases to exist and Pharmacia
            assumes PCB liability.

Oct. 2000   Pharmacia creates "new" Monsanto Company as an
            agricultural subsidiary. "New" Monsanto and Solutia agree
            to indemnify Pharmacia for its PCB liability.

Early 2001  The U.S. EPA informs Solutia and Pharmacia it will conduct
            a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) under
            the Superfund process with Solutia and Pharmacia as
            Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs).

Apr. 2003   Pfizer, Inc. and Pharmacia merge. Pfizer assumes all
            debts, liabilities and duties of Pharmacia, including the
            PCB pollution and Superfund site in Anniston, Alabama.