Court approves settlement for NC farmworkers' deformed son

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Published on Thursday, April 17, 2008

Court approves

settlement for NC farmworkers' deformed son

TAMPA, Fla.

The Associated Press

A Florida

court has approved a settlement between Ag-Mart Produce Inc. and a farmworker

couple whose baby was born without limbs after the mother worked in the

company's North Carolina

tomato fields while pregnant.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Charlene Honeywell

approved a confidential settlement Wednesday that was reached last month by

attorneys for the couple and the company. The couple's attorney said the

settlement is " very significant " and will provide a lifetime of care

for their son.

The couple also worked in Florida on tomato fields

owned by Ag-Mart, which grows " UglyRipe " heirloom tomatoes and Santa

Sweets grape tomatoes.

Ag-Mart did not admit any wrongdoing as

part of the settlement, but the company has stopped using a number of

pesticides alleged to have caused birth defects. The company's attorney

declined comment after Wednesday's hearing.

Francisca Herrera and Abraham Candelario

said they worked for Ag-Mart in 2004, before and after the birth of their son,

.

They and other workers have testified the

company sprayed pesticides while they worked in the tomato fields. The couple

also said that on other occasions managers didn't wait sufficient time after

spraying before sending workers back into the fields.

In a deposition, Herrera testified she was

sprayed two to three times a week with pesticides that turned her clothes green

and caused her headaches, sore throats and rashes. She said managers laughed

when workers complained about the pesticides and that she was told she couldn't

live in Ag-Mart housing if she didn't keep working, according to a recent court

motion.

Herrera and Candelario came from Mexico to work

at Ag-Mart fields.

In his deposition, Ag-Mart President

Long said he knew the company used pesticides that had been shown to

cause birth defects on animals during clinical trials, but he did not know

whether Herrera and other pregnant workers were directly exposed to the

pesticides.

Copyright

2008 - The Fayetteville

(NC) Observer

Ruiz

Director, Health

Systems

National

Association of Community Health Centers, Inc.

7200 Wisconsin Avenue Suite 210

Bethesda, MD

20814

(301)

347-0442

(301)

347-0459 FAX

(202)

365-0154 Cell Phone

jruiz@...

www.nachc.com

" Youth is the gift of nature but age is a work of

art. "

-

Garson Kanin

Join us at NACHC's National

Farmworker Health Conference and Leadership Summit,

May 6-8, 2008, in San , Puerto

Rico. For more information, visit us at www.

NACHC.com.

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