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September 26, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Plantation Workers in West Africa Sterile from Pesticide Banned by EPA;
Long Beach Firm Sues Chemical Companies & Plantation Owner for Crimes Against Humanity

The Metzger Law Group is suing Shell Chemical Company, Dow Chemical Company, Amvac Corporation, and Dole Food Company on behalf of 668 West African plantation workers, claiming that the pesticide "DBCP" caused them to become sterile. DBCP was banned by the EPA 27 years ago because it causes physical deformities, sterility, cancer and birth defects.

The defendant chemical companies and plantation owners broke international law and committed crimes against humanity by using a banned pesticide on plantations in the Ivory Coast. Many of these people were exposed when they were children, laboring on the plantations. They were never told about the hazards of DBCP nor given protective equipment. Now, half of the workers tested are sterile and many suffer from other physical injuries, as well.

The Suit is brought under the Alien Tort Claims Act, a federal statute which allows foreigners to seek redress for wrongs committed abroad in U.S. federal courts. The violations of international law are based on the Convention against Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity.

The complaint will be filed on September 27, 2006, at the Los Angeles Federal District Courthouse, located at 312 N. Spring Street, with Press Conference to follow, at 10:30 a.m., on the Spring Street side of the courthouse.

Dole and the chemical companies have faced similar charges in the past regarding their sale of DBCP to plantations in developing countries. The cases brought by foreign plantation workers all came decades after the EPA banned the chemical in the United States in 1979, when American production workers exposed to the pesticide became sterile.

Regarding the sterility of plantation workers, one of Shell's employees has been quoted as saying: "From what I hear, they could use a little birth control down there."

For additional information, please contact:
Raphael Metzger
Metzger Law Group
tel: (562) 437-4499
fax: (562) 436-1561

Q & A

What is Amvac Chemical Company?

What is Dole Food Company?

What is Shell Oil Company? What is Dow Chemical Company?

Who are these Plaintiffs?

Supporting Documents

Download a PDF version of the Complaint

Image Slideshows

View Slideshow of West African Villagers

View Maps of Kakoukro and Ono

Supporting Links

Maps of villages, population, weather data: Kakoukro

Maps of villages, population, weather data: Ono

Ivory Coast: Agricultural and industrial development

Wikipedia - Ivory Coast

BBC News Country Profile: Ivory Coast

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Country Page - Cote D'Ivoire

CIA World Factbook - Cote d'Ivoire

Library of Congress Country Study - Ivory Coast data as of November 1988

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