"A Los Angeles jury ruled in favor of a group of fruit growers in the first of five trials pitting thousands of Central Americans against the fruit giant Dole and pesticide manufacturer Dow Chemical. Although the jury did not find that all the defendants had been sufficiently injured by the companies to warrant compensation, in the case of 6 workers the jury felt that Dole and Dow had caused them grievous harm. Specifically, the workers were exposed by Dole to the pesticide Nemagon (DCPB), which among other toxic side effects can cause sterility. While Dole was found to bear the majority of the blame for exposing the workers, Dow, the manufacturer of the chemical, was found to have concealed and “actively suppressed” information regarding the pesticide’s reproductive toxicity. The workers won a total award of $3.3 million dollars, and the companies still face legal challenges from more than 5,000 other workers who claim that they were sterilized by exposure to Nemagon."

Quoting CoopAmerica http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/company.cfm?id=217

"In 2002 Dow Chemical filed suit in an Indian Court against 200 survivors of the Bhopal disaster who peacefully demonstrated outside a Dow plant in Bombay. Dow is seeking $10,000 for “lost work,” even though only one employee came out to speak to the protestors during the 2 hour protest. Bhopal was struggling with widespread poverty even before the disaster, and the $10,000 sought by Dow, although only a fraction of its daily revenue, would amount to more than 10 years income for the women."

Quoting CoopAmerica http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/company.cfm?id=217