Workers Say
Pesticides Made Them
Sterile
By NOAKI SCHWARTZ, The
Associated Press
The pesticide was
designed to kill worms
infesting the roots of
banana trees on Latin
American plantations.
But at least 5,000
agricultural workers
from Nicaragua, Costa
Rica, Guatemala,
Honduras and Panama have
filed five lawsuits in
this country claiming
they were left sterile
after being exposed in
the 1970s to the
pesticide known as DBCP.
Jury selection for the
first of the lawsuits is
scheduled to begin
Tuesday in Los Angeles
County Superior Court.
"This is the first time
any case for a banana
worker has come before a
U.S. court," said Duane
Miller, one of the
attorneys representing
more than 30 Nicaraguan
plaintiffs who worked on
plantations from 1964 to
1990.
The cases raise the
issue of whether
multinational companies
should be held
accountable in the
country where they are
based or the countries
where they employ
workers, legal experts
said.
A verdict in favor of
the workers could open
the door for others to
file similar claims in
the U.S., where juries
are known for awarding
bigger judgments.
"The administration of
justice in developing
countries in comparison
to the administration of
justice in the U.S. _
there's a big gap," said
Alejandro Garro, a
Columbia University law
professor.
"The significance of it
is we're talking about a
global economy where big
business does business
all over the world and
where we don't have a
uniform type of
justice," he said
The upcoming lawsuit was
filed in 2004 and
accuses Dole Fresh Fruit
Co. and Standard Fruit
Co., now a part of Dole,
of negligence and
fraudulent concealment
while using the
pesticide.
Dow Chemical Co. and
Amvac Chemical Corp.,
manufacturers of the
pesticide, "actively
suppressed information
about DBCP's
reproductive toxicity,"
according to the
lawsuit.
Attorney Erin Burke, who
represents
Westlake-based Dole, and
Kelly Kozuma, a
spokeswoman for Newport
Beach-based Amvac,
declined to comment.
Scot Wheeler, a
spokesman for Midland,
Mich.-based Dow, said in
an e-mail that the
lawsuits were without
merit, and that "there
are no generally
accepted studies in the
scientific community of
which we are aware which
establishes an effect on
sterility in banana farm
workers" exposed
periodically to the
chemical.
"Workers bringing these
claims rotated jobs
often or changed jobs
altogether with enough
frequency that long-term
exposure would have been
fairly unusual and it is
not likely that there is
any injury whatsoever
related to DBCP,"
Wheeler wrote.
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Web
site says the chemical
was used as a fumigant
on more than 40
different crops in the
U.S. until it was
largely phased out by
1979.
Long-term exposure to
the pesticide causes
male reproductive
problems, including
decreased sperm count,
according to the site,
which lists DBCP as a
"probable human
carcinogen."
In April, all five
lawsuits were placed
under the jurisdiction
of Superior Court Judge
Victoria Chaney. The
legal actions involve
claims on behalf of
workers from Nicaragua,
Honduras, Panama,
Guatemala and Costa
Rica. Other growers and
manufacturers are named
as defendants.
The lawsuit filed by
Miller claims Dow and
Amvac knew about DBCP's
toxicity as early as the
1950s, and that
scientists employed by
Dow had noted atrophied
testes in laboratory
animals exposed to the
pesticide.
"Defendants, however,
continued to market,
sell and use pesticide
products containing DBCP
outside of the United
States, including
Nicaragua," the lawsuit
said.
The lawsuit claims the
pesticide was sprayed
under tree canopies and
fell in droplets onto
workers and seeped into
the water supply.
Plantation workers were
allowed to ingest and
bathe in contaminated
water when they lived in
company-supplied housing
on Nicaraguan banana
plantations, the lawsuit
said.
Dole neither warned the
workers of the dangers
of exposure nor tried to
protect them by issuing
gloves, safety glasses
or masks, the lawsuit
claims.
Joe Fisher, an attorney
representing workers in
several of the other
pending lawsuits,
believes the case will
get widespread
attention.
"I think everyone has
their eye on it to see
how a jury treats it,"
he said.
If the case has "a good
result I think there's a
chance it could benefit
all the banana workers,"
he said. |
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