In the early 1990s, Costa Rican fernery workers began to notice a problem with some of the leatherleaf fronds they picked. Usually hardy, the triangular-shaped green plants — used as accents in floral arrangements — were stunted, discolored, leafless and twisted in abnormal directions. Some growers regularly sprayed the plants with Benlate, a fungicide manufactured by DuPont. All the crops came from a Benlate-treated parent source in Florida.
By the mid-90s, companies began to sue the Wilmington, De.-based business for knowingly distributing a harmful toxin. In 2001, 27 Costa Rican growers joined the herd. In March 2006, Super Helechos, S.A., et al., Euro Flores, S.A., et al., v. E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co., Inc., case no. 01-06932 CA (23), went to trial in the 11th circuit court in Miami-Dade County, judge Amy Steele Donner presiding.
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