In England, The Observer newspaper reported groups of birth defects of newborns with eye abnormalities in 1993. The largest group consisted of nine children in a 40-mile radius born in North Lincoinshire, an intensively fanned area, over 12 years.

Anophthalmia, being born without eyes, is a severe condition of micro-ophthalmia, a condition marked by smaller eyes. Both are rare birth defects. They occur in humans at a rate of 3 to 4 per 10,000 live births, according to Dupont.

The Observer speculated about exposure to benomyl, Benlate's key ingredient, and other possible environmental and genetic causes.

In Wilmington, Del., DuPont officials say they have sympathy for anyone who is ill or whose children have birth defects. But they are aghast that some would attempt to blame the problems on their product.

"Generally, the basis for these unsubstantiated claims is experimentation performed to identify doses at which effects will occur,' Dupont said in a statement entitled, "Anophthalmia and Benomyl."

Jerry Blondell, an Environmental Protection Agency health officer, said the agency was aware of what he described as "spotty" reports of anophthalmia. Officially, the agency says it has received information about 12 cases in the United States.

Blondell noted that various forms of fungicides with benomyl as the active ingredient have been used in the United States for more than 20 years. He saw no evidence that has caused human health problems when used according to label instructions.

But the agency doesn't totally discount the possibility of a link between Benlate and birth defects.

"Because of the many possible causes of these effects and the apparent lack of a Clear pattern to the incidents, the agency can not at this time make a determination as to whether benomyl caused any of these tragic incidents," the EPA said in a statement.

Several large New Zealand cities banned Benlate after three children with birth defects were born to women who said they were exposed to the plant spray, according to the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides (NCAMP), an advocacy group that often calls for stricter controls on farm chemicals.

In Australia, farmers demanded that Parliament ban the sale of Benlate in the Adelaide region of the country after at least 10 growers claimed Benlate losses of $20 million.

A member of the Australian parliament, Mike Elliott, urged the government in October to investigate crop damage and human health problems.

Animal experiments suggest a possible link between benomyl and anophthalmia, according to the August 1993 British Medical Journal. It noted that some 43 percent of the offspring of pregnant rats that were fed benomyl developed malformations, including micro-ophthalmia.

The rats were fed 1,000 times the estimated dose of benomyl that farm workers would be expected to be exposed to, the journal stated.

In one Florida personal injury claim, a mother, Donna Castillo, contended she was exposed to Benlate on 'almost a daily basis" during walks past a Dade County strawberry field.

The family sued Dupont and other companies, alleging that it caused her son, John, to be born without eyes in 1990.

The case is set for trial in April.

In Australia, the Benlate debate followed widespread publicity about the birth defects in children born to three women employed by the Christchurch, New Zealand, parks department. One child was born with a cleft palate and no eyes The women were pregnant when they used horticultural sprays containing benomyl, officials said.

Australian farmer A. Ivan May wrote the Florida Department of Agriculture about a year ago raising other health questions.

"Human health has now become a fairly interesting situation, as three from our state have had to have their gall bladders removed, several suffer bleeding if they walk into an old growing area, white spots on eyes, bowel cancer and a general feeling of unwelliness. All amongst 15 people," his letter said.

In London, where news reports about babies with no eyes ran under headlines such as "Life and Death in the Village of the Damned," official scrutiny found no link between Benlate and eye birth defects.

"For crop damage that happened in the States," said Mark Davis, a spokesman for The Pesticides Trust, based in England. "That didn't happen here to the same extent, but Benlate was reviewed by the Ministry of Agriculture."

The U.K. Ministry of Agriculture Consumer Panel concluded at an April 21, 1993, meeting "there is no evidence to link eye defects in infants to use of or exposure to benomyl~'

Potential environmental causes of the eye birth defects include toxins and drugs. Other suspected causes: congenital rubella, influenza, chickenpox and other viral infections, according to the Cases of anophthalmia or micro-ophthalmia have been reported in association with prenatal exposure to ethambutol, a compound used to treat tuberculosis; thalidomide, a sedative; and Vitamin A, according to a 1993 medical journal.

Isolating potential impacts to farmworkers is made all the more difficult because laborers often are exposed to various chemicals, according to a 1990 study. The principal investigator for that study was the International Agency for Research of Cancer, Lyon, France.

The study of flower workers in Colombia noted a moderate increase in the prevalence of premature births. There was a similar increase in congenital malformations among children born to women workers

In the study, benomyl was one of the 10 most common fungicides used. But the study said "no conclusions can be drawn... concerning congenital malformations."

Eye abnormalities also are getting increased scrutiny in Pennsylvania.

Five families in the Philadelphia area with children with no eyes prompted the formation of a worldwide registry of anophthalmia, officials say.

"We're in this for the long term," said geneticist Adele Schneider at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. "This will be a 20-year project, because there are a lot of things that we don't know."

Medical researchers are also looking for a genetic cause of the defect, where the abnormality was passed from one generation to another, as well as checking into environmental causes such as viruses or toxins.

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