Posts Tagged ‘dibromochloropropane’

Shell and Dow were aware for more than 20 years that DBCP caused sterility in animals and the shrinking of testicles… A Shell official had instructed that speculation about possible harmful conditions to man should be omitted from registration of the product with the United States Department of Agriculture.

By John Donovan

On 11 February, we published an article about current litigation underway in the USA courts against Shell Oil Company and Dow Chemicals relating to the extremely hazardous chemical pesticide, dibromochloropropane (“DBCP”).

We have carried out some research into the background history of Shell’s association with DBCP, which stretches back almost 60 years.

In August 1977, an Associated Press syndicated article described DBCP as “A pest-controlling chemical suspected of causing sterility in men and cancer in animals…” It said that The Washington Post had revealed that Shell and Dow were aware for more than 20 years that DBCP caused sterility in animals and the shrinking of testicles. Laboratory tests were carried out in 1952 and the findings reported to Shell in 1954. read more

Nicaraguan banana plantation workers are “hoping a U.S. court will get them a $468 million default judgment against Dow Chemical Co., Dole Food Co. Inc. and Shell Chemical Co. that was awarded to them by a court in Managua.

The Facts, Front Page article, Wed May 28, 2003 Clute, Texas

By Michael Baker

Nicaraguan banana plantation workers are “hoping a U.S. court will get them a $468 million default judgment against Dow Chemical Co., Dole Food Co. Inc. and Shell Chemical Co. that was awarded to them by a court in Managua.

The 586 banana workers allege they were injured by a pesticide, dibtomochloropropane, made by Dow and Shell and used on Dole’s banana plants in the 1960s and ’70s. The chemical was used to control microscopic worms that attacked the root systems of banana trees, Dow spokesman Scot Wheeler said. read more

…in 1952 Shell Chemical took over. Among the substances produced were aldrin and dieldrin, both thought to cause cancer.

Robert C. Unruh, Associated Press  25 May 1986

For generations, a devil’s brew of waste nerve agents and chemicals has been percolating at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, where rolling plains in the shadow of downtown Denver’s skyscrapers belie the trouble underground.

The arsenal’s grasslands, dotted with old farm buildings, once were an isolated production site for government nerve gas and commercial pesticides and herbicides.

But as the Denver metropolitan area grew to the northeast, houses sprouted just yards from the arsenal’s barbed boundary fence. People began feeling uneasy about their neighbor, which at 17,000 acres is about one-fourth as big as the city. read more

The federal government wants permanent rules to reduce worker exposure to DBCP, a pesticide found to cause sterility in males and stomach cancer in laboratory animals. Dow Chemical Co. and Shell Oil Co., suspended production and recalled all DBCP products.

The Bee: Danville Va., Wed Nov 2, 1977 page 5-A

WASHINGTON (AP) – The federal government wants permanent rules to reduce worker exposure to DBCP, a pesticide found to cause sterility in males and stomach cancer in laboratory animals.

A temporary standard allows 10 parts per billion.

The proposal would ban eye and skin contact with the chemical, which is also known as dibromochloropropaoc. The chemical, a yellow liquid, was widely used in crops to kill nematode worms, which eat root tips.

The Environmental Protection Agency banned its use on food crops in September. The two principal manufacturers, Dow Chemical Co. and Shell Oil Co., suspended production and recalled all DBCP products. read more

Studies conducted at Shell Chemical Co. and Dow Chemical Co. plants of workers exposed to the chemical dibromochloropropane, or DBCP, indicate numerous cases of low fertility and several instances of sterility.

The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich. Friday October 21, 1977 page 12

Wall Street Journal

Ottaway News Service

CINCINNATI- Studies conducted at Shell Chemical Co. and Dow Chemical Co. plants of workers exposed to the chemical dibromochloropropane, or DBCP, indicate numerous cases of low fertility and several instances of sterility.

These studies were undertaken this summer In conjunction with the discovery of low fertility among pesticide formulators at an Occidental Petroleum Corp. unit’s Lathrop, California, plant.  Dow Chemical supplied the unit, Occidental Chemical Co., with DBCP to make Occidental’s soil-fumigant products. Shell, an affiliate Royal Dutch Shell Group, also makes DBCP. read more

Shell’s medical director, Dr. R. E. Joyner, said that the tests should not be interpreted as meaning the workers were sterile.

30 Aug 1977

DETROIT (AP) – Shell Chemical Co. says some of its workers exposed to the pesticide DBCP show low levels of sperm. Shell is the second manufacturer and third chemical company to report the phenomenon.

Like the other manufacturer, Dow Chemical Co., Shell said it was urging distributors to return stocks of DBCP and “further that they assist in the return of product in the hands of dealers and growers.”

An announcement from Houston, which Shell said was made Friday but which was received here only today, said 16 of 21 employes tested showed sperm counts “lower than would normally be expected.” read more

The Washington Post reported today that Dow and Shell were aware more than 20 years ago that DBCP caused sterility in animals.

23 August 1977

MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) – A pest-controlling chemical suspected of causing sterility in men and cancer in animals is “too hot to sit on” and a national alert on the hazards of the chemical may be issued soon, a federal official says.

Federal officials said after the disclosure Monday of a National Cancer Institute study of DBCP—dibromochloropropane —that they will await further test before issuing an alert.

Animals injected with DBCP in the study got cancer, said Dr. Channing Meyer, chief of the medical section for hazard evaluation at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). read more