Pesticide Use
Export agriculture in Central America has long been a booming business for U.S. corporations. Yet pesticides employed at fruit and cotton plantations and other export crops throughout the last 40 years contributed to health problems for entire generations. In March 2004, workers in the banana industry brought a lawsuit to the Los Angeles Superior Court against Dole, Dow, Occidental, and Shell, among other corporations, claiming that exposure to DBCP made them sterile. DBCP, or dibromochloropropane, is used as a soil fumigant and was banned in the United States in 1979. Yet U.S. chemical companies continued to use it overseas it until the mid-1980s.
Health problems reported include atrophy of the testes; skin and breast cancer; liver, pancreas, and kidney problems; nervous disorders; and miscarriages. About 22,000 former workers and family members were estimated to be affected. By the end of 2005, over 1,000 former banana workers had reportedly died from pesticide-related diseases. At the end of 2006, court orders against several multinational companies in Nicaragua (headquartered in the United States) were still awaiting implementation or were the subject of repeated appeals by the multinational companies.
Health problems reported include atrophy of the testes; skin and breast cancer; liver, pancreas, and kidney problems; nervous disorders; and miscarriages. About 22,000 former workers and family members were estimated to be affected. By the end of 2005, over 1,000 former banana workers had reportedly died from pesticide-related diseases. At the end of 2006, court orders against several multinational companies in Nicaragua (headquartered in the United States) were still awaiting implementation or were the subject of repeated appeals by the multinational companies.