Pesticide trial begins against Dole, Dow

[Judi Lynn]

Source: L.A. Times

Pesticide trial begins against Dole, Dow
The food company used a product by the chemical maker that made Nicaraguan workers sterile, lawyer says. The firms deny it.
By T. Christian Miller, Times Staff Writer
July 20, 2007

Nearly three decades of legal struggle came to a head in a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday, as a trial began in a case pitting impoverished Latino field hands against two of America's largest corporations.

Dole Food Co. knowingly exposed Nicaraguan banana workers three decades ago to a pesticide made by Dow Chemical Co. that caused permanent sterility, an attorney for the men said in opening arguments in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

"The workers were not told that may affect their fertility," Duane Miller, a Sacramento attorney, told jurors. "They weren't told until the '90s — and they weren't told by Dow or Dole."

Attorneys for Dow, which is based in Midland, Mich., and Dole, which is based in Westlake Village, argued that the companies used the chemical responsibly and that the workers had not been exposed to enough to cause harm.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-pest20jul20,1,4070466.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california

[Judi Lynn]

1. Leader of Nicaraguan banana workers criticizes U.S.-led law team

Leader of Nicaraguan banana workers criticizes U.S.-led law team
By FILADELFO ALEMAN Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 07/11/2007 12:26:46 PM PDT

MANAGUA, Nicaragua—The team of U.S.-led attorneys who brought the Dole Fresh Fruit Co. to trial in Los Angeles for allegedly exposing Nicaraguan banana workers to a harmful pesticide was criticized Wednesday by a Nicaraguan man who was gathering signatures in hopes of derailing the legal team.

Victorino Espinales said the lawyers currently selecting a jury in Los Angeles County Superior Court won't be able to win the case. He encouraged workers to negotiate directly with the defendants.

"It's certain they will lose the case because similar previous cases in these courts failed," he said.
(snip)

Espinales and some 3,000 other former banana workers set up the camp in front of Nicaragua's Congress more than a month ago to demand government help that hasn't arrived.

Jose Alberto Zapata Montes, 51, was among those in the capital. "I want someone to take pity on us, before we all die," he said.
(snip/)

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_6349777?nclick_check=1

[Hekate]

2. KnR for the heartbreak of being a disposable pair of hands...

If only the punishment were adequate to fit this crime against humanity, those who knew would have themselves and their own children sterilized.

Heartbreaking. Nothing can bring back these people's futures.

Hekate

[NotGivingUp]

3. Those pesticides are doing a LOT more than just affecting their fertility. nt

[goforit]

4. Hmmm... the new world order. Destroy insects and "depopulate" humanity.

How convenient of Dow and Monsanto.