Banana plantation workers have filed lawsuits over pesticides they claim have made them sterile. Over 5,000 workers in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama have filed five lawsuits against U.S. operators of the plantations. The workers were exposed to the chemical known as DBCP in the 1970s.

The first of the trials is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

According to the Associated Press, the cases raise the issue of whether multinational companies should be held accountable in the country where they are based or the countries where they employ workers. Workers are suing in the United States due to the gap between civil justice in the U.S. and in developing countries.

The lawsuit names Dole Fresh Fruit Co. and Standard Fruit Co. (now part of Dole) as defendants. The plaintiffs allege Dow Chemical Co. and Amvac Chemical Co., manufacturers of DBCP, “actively suppressed information about DBCP’s reproductive toxicity.” The lawsuit claims Dow and Amvac know about DBCP’s toxicity as early as the 1950s, but continue, even today, to market the pesticide outside of the United States.