Benlate jury awards $4 million to family of eyeless child
By John Pacend /Associated Press Writer
MIAMI -- Ajury ordered awarded $4 million in damages Friday to couple who alleged their son was born without eyes because his mother was exposed to DuPont Co.'s fungicide Benlate while she was pregnant.
Donna Castillo alleged in the lawsuit that she was drenched with benlate in 1989 while she was just six weeks pregnant by a tractor spraying tomato fields that bordered her Miami-area residential neighborhood.
"This will not bring the sight back to my son, that is something we have to live with the rest of our lives," Juan Castillo, an accountant, said after the decision by the Dade County jury. The son, John, is now six.
DuPont's Stacey J. Mobley derided the decision, calling it "a blow to science and to our jury system." The company argued there was no proof that benlate caused birth defects. It also said it doubted Donna Castillo was exposed to the fungicide.
"There is no credible scientific evidence linking the use of Benlate to human health effects," Mobley said. "Time and again, scientific authorities and governmental agencies worldwide have independently come to this conclusion."
But during the four-week trial, attorneys for the Castillos said DuPont had conducted studies in 1980 and 1982 that indicated a link between the active ingredient in Benlate and similar birth defects among rat pups.
The company has been accused in other lawsuits of hiding test results on the effects of benlate.
The decision sets a bad precedent for DUpont. Many families from farming communities in England and Scotland are waiting to file a class-action lawsuit against the chemical company, believing their children have been born with eye defects because of Benlate.
'We've been keeping an eye on the trial and this will have a big impact and probably accelerate our case," said David Logan, an attorney from Fife, Scotland who represents about 25 families.
Friday's decision was just the most recent of DuPont's trouble with the fungicide.
Last year, a Florida hearing officer dismissed allegations by the Department of Agriculture that Benlate DF, blamed for a $1 billion in crop damage, had been contaminated by a potential weedkiller.
Earlier, the company was fined $1 million for withholding evidence during a 1993 trial in Georgia.
The Castillos hope to use The money to send their son to a high-quality school and allow for necessary procedures to fill the empty eye sockets with prosthetics.
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