Village Park
group sues over
plantation pesticides

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

A law firm representing about 100 families in Central and Leeward Oahu has filed suit against chemical companies and pineapple plantations, charging negligence in the use of pesticides.

Tam and Sanford, working with mainland environmental attorneys Masry and Vititoe, filed the suit yesterday in Circuit Court alleging that the pesticides are the cause of higher rates of illnesses in Village Park, Wahiawa, Kunia, West Loch and Waipahu.

Dole Food Co., Castle & Cooke Corp., Libby McNeill Libby and Oahu Sugar Co. are accused of negligently using chemical pesticides including ethylene dibromide, dimbromo chloropropane and trichloropropane.

The Dow Chemical Co. and Shell Oil Co. are accused of improperly manufacturing and labeling the products.

The companies, the lawsuit said, "should reasonably have known that the fumigant poisons were so toxic and hazardous that they should not have been manufactured, produced, distributed and sold for commercial usage."

More than 600 of 2,000 families returned health surveys mailed by the attorneys during the summer. The results, released last month, showed higher than normal incidences of a number of illnesses.

The study was criticized by Board of Water Supply and Department of Health officials. Health Director Bruce Anderson called the survey "a fishing expedition."

The Board of Water Supply, which insists drinking water in the area is safe, has separately filed a lawsuit against the chemical manufacturers and plantations, seeking to recover the cost of building carbon filters to clean the water.