By Paul Kiernan
RIO DE JANEIRO--A Brazilian judge has fined the local subsidiary
of U.S. pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly Co. 1 billion reais ($451.2
million) after blood tests on its former factory workers revealed
heavy metals poisoning, federal labor prosecutors said Friday.
The company was also ordered to pay for medical treatment of all
employees, former employees and contractors who worked for more
than six months at Lilly's plant in Cosmopolis, Sao Paulo state.
Judge Antonia Rita Bonardo required the firm to cover medical
treatment of the workers' children as well.
Eli Lilly's Brazilian unit said it would appeal the ruling.
The firm said the Cosmopolis plant, which it operated from 1977
to 2003, was located in an area where agrochemicals were also
produced. When it discovered an increase in the concentration of
"by-products of the productive process" near its factory, Eli Lilly
"voluntarily" notified local regulators.
The firm also denied that the alleged contaminants were ever
used at its manufacturing operations.
"In this case there is absolutely no basis for the court's
decision that employees were harmed based on extensive scientific
and medical assessments conducted by third-party health experts, as
well as Lilly," said Michael Harrington, the company's senior vice
president and general counsel.
Labor prosecutors said that of 80 former Eli Lilly workers who
submitted blood tests, only three didn't show signs of
contamination.
"I have heavy metals like lead, arsenic, aluminum, titanium and
mercury in my bloodstream," said Elias Soares Vieira, an
ex-employee, in the labor prosecutors' press statement. "Because of
that, I developed kidney cancer and had to have my right kidney
removed, lost function of my left one and suffered liver
damage."
Write to Paul Kiernan at paul.kiernan@wsj.com
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