Pesticides in Costa Rica – Dole to pay compensation

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  • #200508
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    This is a topic that has cropped up on a few occasions…

    I did research this a few years ago and discovered that Costa Rica does use an large amount of pesticides but, what was rarely specified in the the articles was “who” was using all those pesticides?

    The biggest culprits by far are the American multinationals who grow fruit here…

    The articles states that:

    The company will compensate more than 5,000 banana plantation workers affected by the use of pesticides.

    The agreement, which will benefit 3,153 Nicaraguans, 700 Costa Ricans and 1000 Hondurans, was reached after several months of negotiations.

    One of the lawyers involved in the process told AFP that the “compensation, which will take effect over the next two or three months, will allow these workers to change their lives.”

    Between 1973 and 1980, Dole used the agrochemicals Fumazone and Nemagon in banana plantations in Central America, chemicals which have been linked to serious health problems such as infertility, cancer and birth defects…

    You can see the full SPANISH article at:

    [ http://feeds.univision.com/feeds/article/2011-08-11/dole-food-indemnizara-a-mas?refPath=/noticias/ultimas-noticias/ ]

    #200509
    maravilla
    Member

    oh, yes, the multis are busy poisoning the planet in the name of profits. at least they aren’t still using the Bordeaux mixture which used to turn the bananeros green. we wrote extensive articles about banana companies in our last issue of Neotropica — http://www.neotropica.info — there are some good historical articles in there about United Fruit and the poisons they used to use and which the new companies still use. and people wonder why i only eat organic. don’t go visit a banana plantation — you will never neat another one afterward that isn”t organic.

    #200510
    kimball
    Member

    Do you think that if a Costa Rican owned those plantations that they would not use the same pesticides that were available to them ?

    #200511
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    Well they didn’t and they don’t… And we shouldn’t underestimate the influence and power of the big fruit companies in Central America…

    For example, United Fruit was the single largest landowner in Guatemala and had a MAJOR role in the 1954 coup in Guatemala.

    Minor Keith (originally from Brooklyn, NY) in Costa Rica married the daughter of a former president, Cristina Castro and he earned the title of the “uncrowned king of Central America”.

    Scott

    #200512
    maravilla
    Member

    United Fruit Company had more than a MAJOR role — they orchestrated the whole damn thing, including a wag the dog type of phony war. UFC was in bed with the Dulles brothers and there was no way they were going to let Arbenz give precious land to the peasants, so they orchestrated a coup. it’s a really interesting history in this part of the world.

    We made up the funniest poster for the UFC banana fandango.

    You can see the Banana Follies poster here.

    #200513
    maravilla
    Member

    thanks, scott. i laugh every time i see that poster.

    #200514
    mikeL
    Member

    Costa Rica uses more pesticides per capita than any other country on the planet. More than all of the other Central American countries combined.

    [quote=”Scott”]This is a topic that has cropped up on a few occasions…

    I did research this a few years ago and discovered that Costa Rica does use an large amount of pesticides but, what was rarely specified in the the articles was “who” was using all those pesticides?

    The biggest culprits by far are the American multinationals who grow fruit here…

    The articles states that:

    The company will compensate more than 5,000 banana plantation workers affected by the use of pesticides.

    The agreement, which will benefit 3,153 Nicaraguans, 700 Costa Ricans and 1000 Hondurans, was reached after several months of negotiations.

    One of the lawyers involved in the process told AFP that the “compensation, which will take effect over the next two or three months, will allow these workers to change their lives.”

    Between 1973 and 1980, Dole used the agrochemicals Fumazone and Nemagon in banana plantations in Central America, chemicals which have been linked to serious health problems such as infertility, cancer and birth defects…

    You can see the full SPANISH article at:

    [ http://feeds.univision.com/feeds/article/2011-08-11/dole-food-indemnizara-a-mas?refPath=/noticias/ultimas-noticias/ ][/quote]

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