JOHANNESBURG—Dow Chemical Co., the largest U.S. chemical maker, faces a $71 million lawsuit over claims it polluted land and water in South Africa with toxic chemicals, said Ed Fagan, a lawyer bringing the claims.
The lawsuit, a copy of which Dow will receive today, says the company sprayed herbicide chemicals along the banks of the Limpopo River, which marks South Africa's border with Zimbabwe, under contract to the apartheid government, Fagan said.
"It's the equivalent of scorching the earth," Fagan said in an interview in Johannesburg. "In that area, everything is dead."
Fagan, a U.S. attorney who was involved in suits that won $6.25 billion judgments for victims of the Nazis during World War II, said the suit will be filed against Midland-based Dow on Thursday in New York. Lawsuits will be brought against other companies that had dealings in South Africa in coming weeks, Fagan said.
Dow spokeswoman Leslie Hatfield declined to comment.
The Dow claims are being brought on behalf of local inhabitants and farmers who say they're unable to grow crops in the affected area. The chemicals are similar to so-called Agent Orange used by U.S. forces in Vietnam, Fagan said.
Dow and Monsanto Co. face renewed claims over Agent Orange by U.S. military veterans who developed cancer after a 1984 settlement in which it agreed to pay $180 million.
The settlement was designed to resolve all claims on behalf of the 2.5 million veterans who served in Vietnam from 1961 to 1972. It provided cash payments to people who showed symptoms of illness and set up a veterans' assistance and education fund. Payments ended Jan. 1, 1995. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that veteran Daniel Stephenson may sue.
source: http://www.detnews.com/2003/business/0309/23/business-279338.htm 23sep03
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