On September 2006 a group of farmworkers from Ivory Coast  (under the name of "Abagninin") sued Shell Chemical, Dow Chemical, AMVAC Chemical and Dole Food Company alleging that the DBCP (1,2-Dibromo-3-chloropropane) caused them to become sterile. The DBCP  was a nematicide to kill little worms.  Farmworkers were affected by inhalation and skin absorption during fumigation.  Despite knowing the negative health effects of DBCP, AMVAC continued manufacturing, selling, and using DBCP on the plantations. Workers allege that AMVAC knew of DBCP’s toxicity and that "after the EPA banned DBCP in 1979, Shell and Dow both ceased production. AMVAC began producing as much as 2,500 gallons of DBCP per day. AMVAC even bought Dow´s remaining DBCP stock after the ban".   The lawsuit was carried out in federal court in Los Angeles by Metzger Law Group and alleges that the chemical companies broke international law and committed crimes against humanity by using the pesticide after knowing the relation between the chemical and sterility and other health damages. The lawsuit was filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act (from 1789) a federal law that allows foreigners to seek redress in U.S. federal courts for wrongs committed abroad. Ivory Coast workers accused the companies of "genocide" and "crimes against humanity".  According to the lawyer, Raphael Metzger -from California- "many of the workers were exposed when they were children, laboring in the plantations" and that "They were never told about the hazards of DBCP, nor given protective equipment", he continues:  "It's a violation of international law to undertake acts which you know will prevent births," and accused the companies of "marketing this poison to the Third World for population control."  However, in 2008 the Californian Court dismiss the case because neither "genocide" nor "crimes against humanity" have been proven.  According to the Court, Genocide requires specific intent to destroy a particular group of victims. The case was disregarded and farmworkers remain up to now without compensation nor recognition of their damage.  DBCP around the world: Lawsuits has been carried out also in national and international courts in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, The Philippines, Ecuador, Honduras and USA (California). Most of them remain unresolved or disregarded.