Lawyers for Dole countered, telling a Los Angeles Superior Court jury the firm acted responsibly in continuing to use the pesticide, even after Dow Chemical Co. stopped making it in 1977 because of concerns about its damage to reproductive health.

The lawyers' arguments came as the jury began deliberating punitive damages against Dole and Dow.

Jurors Monday found Dole, of Westlake Village, Calif., and Dow, of Midland, Mich., liable for $3 million in damages to six Nicaraguan banana workers who were made sterile by exposure to the chemical DBCP, a soil fumigant widely used in Central America to destroy pests that attacked the roots of banana trees, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The jury, which also found six other workers had not been harmed, must now decide if it considers punitive damages warranted. If it says yes, jurors will then rule how much to assess the companies.

Four thousand other Central Americans have lawsuits pending in Los Angeles courts and tens of thousands of workers have filed lawsuits worldwide, the Times said.

Verdicts have been returned against Dole in Nicaraguan courts, but lawyers for the plaintiffs say they have not been able to collect on the judgments.