A new lawsuit, filed on 14 April in a Los Angeles federal court, claims that chemical manufacturers and fruit companies knowingly used and distributed the pesticide 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane (DBCP) after it was banned by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1979.

The case is being brought by over 600 Honduran banana workers, who claim that DBCP has resulted in widespread cases of sterility, testicular atrophy, miscarriages and other serious health complaints.

Several chemical companies manufactured DBCP (known also by its commercial name Nemagon), including Dow and Shell, for use on food crops. Dole, Chiquita and Del Monte are among fruit growers to have applied the pesticide on banana farms in Latin America during the 1970s.

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