If Nicaragua passes CAFTA, the treaty would bar workers from suing companies for the harmful pesticides used, according to the World Socialist Web Site's August 16 roundup of workers' struggles in the Americas.  Litigation against Standard Fruit Co., Dole Food Co., Occidental Chemical Corp. and Shell Oil Co. for a known-harmful pesticide used on banana plantations in the 1970s and 1980s is currently proceeding in Nicaraguan courts.

Thirteen Nicaraguan banana workers participated in a four-day hunger strike last week in Managua at the Red Cross blood bank. The protesters demanded that the country’s Congress reaffirm legislation that allows workers to sue producers of a pesticide—Nemagon—that was used for years in the country’s banana fields.

The law will be abrogated under the terms of the Central American Free Trade Association (CAFTA) treaty that was recently approved by the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras and the United States. Nicaragua and Costa Rica have yet to vote on it. If enacted, the treaty would bar Nicaraguan workers from suing over the use of the pesticide.

Nemagon was used in northeastern Nicaragua during the 1970s and 1980s despite abundant evidence that it was hazardous to human health. Twenty-six thousand workers were affected, 17,000 of whom participate in an organization fighting for compensation. Among the ailments attributed to the pesticide are skin cancer, growth deficiencies, sterility and blindness. Some 938 deaths have been blamed on Nemagon.