The Asamblea Legislativa voted Tuesday to compensate former banana workers who were injured by their contact with the pesticide Nemagon.

The pesticide, generically dibromocloropropane, can cause sterility and other health problems. It was manufactured by a host of multinational corporations in order to kill a small worm that keeps banana plants from bearing fruit. The worm also damages growing bananas.

The Instituto Nacional de Seguros will be in charge of compensating the workers and family members who may have suffered psychological, physical or other damage. They will have to take medical examinations and men have to show that they are sterile.

The Nemagon case has been a long-standing one in Costa Rica. Periodically former banana workers would demonstrate or engage in hunger strikes.

Dow Chemical and Shell Chemical, two of the major producers of Nemagon, exported up to 24 million pounds a year from the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. The chemical was banned in the United States in 1977. Costa Rican agricultural enterprises continued to import the material until the middle of the 1980s, said a legislative source.

In addition to Costa Rica, other countries with banana plantations have groups of workers affected by the chemical.

Compensation to Costa Rican workers will be based on their injuries and how long they worked in the banana plantations. On average, each worker will get about 600,000, said a legislative source. That’s about $1,150.

In addition, the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social is being urged to consider providing a pension for injured workers.

Some of the workers were employed at the Estación Experimental Los Diamantes of the Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería in Guápiles.