US pharmaceutical giant Wyeth has set aside almost €69 million to cover the potential cost of legal actions against its Irish unit over the contamination of pig feed in Belgium and the Netherlands in 2002.
The group is disputing the claims but said in recently filed accounts that its subsidiary, Wyeth Medica Ireland, had procured two bank guarantees for a total of €68.8 million in respect of the legal actions against it.
Wyeth and the Dublin waste disposal company Cara Environmental Technology are being sued for €115 million by Dutch liquid maker Schuurmans & Van Ginneken and for €8 million by Productschappen Vee, the Dutch meat board.
Cara Environmental Technology is also disputing the claims. Unlike Wyeth, its latest accounts indicate that it has made no provision in respect of the actions in the Irish and Dutch courts.
The claims centre on a contamination incident in July 2002, which led to the slaughter of 7,000 animals and the temporary closure of more than 3,000 pig farms in the Netherlands.
The incident was discovered when some pigs became sterile and it later transpired that recycled sugar water contaminated with traces of the human growth hormone MPA found its way into pig feed.
An official investigation established that the sugar water had been used in the coating of contraceptive pills made by Wyeth Medica Ireland at its plant in Newbridge, Co Kildare.
The waste water, which was incorrectly classified as non-hazardous for recycling, was released for disposal to Cara Environmental Technology. The legal actions against the two companies have yet to be heard in open court.
Accounts filed in the Companies Office for Wyeth Medica Ireland's immediate parent, AHP Holdings, said that it is vigorously defending the claims.
"Although the amount of the contingent liability with respect to litigation cannot be estimated with reasonable assurance, the company is of the opinion that the resulting liability, if any, would not have a material adverse effect on the consolidated financial position or operations of the company."
Wyeth is best known as the employer of more than 1,000 workers at a €1.6 billion biotechnology plant in Grange Castle in Clondalkin, west Dublin.
The new AHP Holdings accounts show that it invested €356.2 million in this plant in 2004 and €725 million in 2003. This follows capital expenditure of €502 million in 2002. The Wyeth plant is next to the site of a 150-acre technology campus designated this week by IDA Ireland as the location for a big computer chip plant.
