Suit says IBM dumped chemicals in New York state at Endicott Plant
Neighbors of a former IBM plant in New York state sued the company Thursday (Jan. 3), saying it released chemicals into the air, ground and water for nearly 80 years that caused birth defects and cancer. They seek unspecified damages, according to the suit filed in Broome County Superior Court. IBM began at Endicott, where it built everything from typewriters to mainframe computers. Once formally designated as “Plant No. 1,” Endicott spawned a number of important products over the years, including the IBM 650 RAMAC, the IBM 709 electronic data processing machine, the IBM 1401 data processing system and some of the System/370 processors. It sold the plant in 2002. Here is a picture of the campus in 1960 when IBM covered 2.5 million square feet of space in 27 buildings in over 39 acres.
Some 90 residents of the upstate New York towns of Endicott and Union say that from 1924 to 2002, IBM dumped chemicals including trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene near the Endicott plant where the computer giant was born. The lawsuit is the first of several planned against IBM by nearly 1,000 people who say they have been harmed by the chemicals, lawyers for the plaintiffs said.
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