MIAMI (AP) - Ag-Mart Produce Inc. has settled a lawsuit with a farmworker
couple whose baby was born without limbs after the mother worked in the
company's tomato fields during her pregnancy, the couple's lawyer said Monday.
Attorney Andy Yaffa said the two sides reached a confidential agreement
Friday night that will take care of his clients' son Carlos, now 4. The deal
must still be approved by a Tampa judge.
Harry Costello, an outside spokesman who represents Ag-Mart, said the
company had not decided whether to comment on the agreement. A message left with
an attorney for Ag-Mart was not immediately returned Monday.
Francisca Herrera and Abraham Candelario allege they worked for the Plant
City-based Ag-Mart in 2004 before and after their son Carlos was born. They and
other workers testified the company sprayed pesticides while they were working
in the fields.
The couple also said that on other occasions the managers did not wait
sufficient time after spraying before sending workers back into the fields.
Herrera and Candelario came from Mexico to work at Ag-Mart fields in both
Florida and North Carolina. Herrera testified in a deposition 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 the 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.
Ag-Mart, which grows both "UglyRipe" heirloom tomatoes and Santa Sweets
grape tomatoes, is a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based Procacci Brothers.
In his deposition, Ag-Mart President Donald Long told Yaffa 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, including methyl bromide.
"It doesn't say on the label do not allow pregnant women to work in this,
even though it has the warning that it might cause problems," Long added.
Since 2005, Ag-Mart has stopped using a number of the pesticides alleged to
have caused Carlos' condition.
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