Thursday 3 June 2010

Wyeth, Exported Waste And Infertile Pigs

Here’s a tale that may make you squeal. The drugmaker has pleaded guilty in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to four counts of illegally exporting waste water from its plant in Newbridge, Ireland, where contraceptive pills were made (see here), to Holland, where the water wound up in animal feed and Dutch farmers had to destroy some 50,000 pigs.
Wyeth, which is now owned by Pfizer, actually confessed to four of 18 charges. These related to the illegal “trans-frontier” shipment of waste; illegal mixing of waste; and two breaches of the drugmaker’s EPA waste licence requiring approval for contractors, RTE Business reports. There was no comment from the Wyeth Medica unit. Sentencing is scheduled for next month.
At issue is the extent to which Wyeth supervised the disposal of its waste water, if at all. The case originated in 2002 when some Dutch pig farmers noticed their sows were infertile, RTE writes, adding that many farms were subsequently closed after infertile pigs on one farm were fed a syrup containing the hormone MPA, which is used as a human contraceptive. A probe later found Wyeth produced hormone-laced waste water in the process of sugar-coating its pills.
From there, the water was sent an environmental company in Dublin for disposal, and it was sold to a Belgian that passed it on as treacle to Dutch feed companies. The Dutch Feed Industry trade group claimed in 2003 that the disaster was ‘one of the worst in memory’ and cost the industry about $145 million (at today’s rates). Cara Environmental Technology, which processed the waste for Wyeth, is due in criminal court next week, but not admitting anything.
Ed Silverman @'Pharmalot'

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