US: Court dismisses banana workers case against Dole

A Los Angeles superior court has dismissed the lawsuit against Dole filed by Filipino banana plantation workers, who claimed to have been injured as a result of exposure to the agricultural chemical DBCP.

The lawsuit, Macasa v. Dole, was filed last year with the 2,935 Filipino plaintiffs "claiming to be banana workers who had been injured from alleged exposure more than 30 years ago to the agricultural chemical DBCP."

The Philippine Supreme Court had already dismissed an identical lawsuit, filed 13 years prior to this one.

"The (LA) Superior Court dismissed a case that should never have been brought in the first place. There is simply no reliable scientific basis for alleged injuries from the agricultural field application of DBCP, and the fraudulent claims in Macasa were no different than other similar cases," C. Michael Carter, Dole's executive vice president and general Counsel, said in a statement.

Dole has maintained there is no credible scientific evidence that Dole's use of DBCP on banana farms caused any of the injuries, including sterility, as claimed in the lawsuits.

Source: abs-cbnnews.com