Bananas may be the cause of sterility in at least 5,000 agricultural workers from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama. According to five lawsuits filed in the U.S. banana pickers claim they were left sterile after being exposed in the 1970s to the pesticide known as DBCP. Long-term exposure to the pesticide causes male reproductive problems, including decreased sperm count and it is probable human carcinogen. This is the first time such a case has come before a U.S. court. Some of the multinational corporations named in the lawsuit include Dole and Dow.

The lawsuit claims that the companies 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 but that the company continued to market, sell and use pesticide products containing DBCP outside of the United States. 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 claims that Dole made no attempts to warn the workers about the dangers.

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.

I’m not surprised by the claims of the lawsuit. Historically multinational corporations have sent products deemed unsafe for use in the U.S. to third world nations, especially Latin American nations. Then people wonder why Hugo Chavez and others don’t want U.S. companies in their country.

Via / ABC News