The incident was denounced by activists of the Civic Committee of Cañas after finding out that the workers affected by the agrochemical had to go to the local clinic, while two workers were hospitalized in a critical condition in Monseñor Sanabria de Puntarenas Hospital, according to the Red Cross. It was also reported that the poisoning was caused by the strong winds, which took the agrochemical – which had been applied on the plantations a few hours before- to where the workers were. The 65 workers suffered immediately from nausea, fainting, and discomfort.

This is not new. In June, 60 workers of another genetically modified cotton plantation –owned by Delta & Pine Land – had to receive medical attention as well due to high levels of herbicide in their bodies.

D & PL Costa Rica is a subsidiary company of Delta & Pine Land, the largest GM cotton company in the US and developer of the “Terminator” technology, named this way by the environmentalist and peasant movement since it creates sterile seeds to increase the dependence of producers on transnational companies. The company was acquired by US agribusiness giant Monsanto in 2006, at 1.5 billion dollars.

Neither D&LP Costa Rica, nor the Phytosanitary State Service or the Agriculture and Livestock Ministry have made reference to this accident, despite the fact that the news were made public in several Costa Rican media.