A Southern California pesticide firm agreed to a $300,000 settlement with 13 Nicaraguan workers who claimed that they were sterilized while working on banana plantations in the 1970s. The settlement absolves Amvac Chemical Company from any wrongdoing though the plaintiffs were pleased after “fighting this fight for so long.” Court records showed that the pesticide- DBCP- had been banned for most uses in the U.S. by 1977 although it was made and sold in Nicaragua for only two years.
Earlier this month, a Los Angeles Times investigation showed that chemical companies like Amvac purchase the rights to older, more harmful pesticides in order to keep them in the global market.
Links- Los Angeles Times, Xinhua, SignOnSanDiego.com
Image- Newsday (2004 photo of a barrel of DBCP found in Nicaragua)
finally
ReplyDeleteabout time
we will see what the future holds and how these large corps respond to the heinous crimes they have committed