Ag-Mart workers say they weren't sprayed with pesticide

RALEIGH -- The N.C. Pesticide Board heard testimony today from three Ag-Mart workers who said they were never sprayed with pesticides on the company's farms in North Carolina.

The board is conducting a hearing this week to determine whether Ag-Mart, a Florida-based tomato company, violated worker safety laws by forcing workers to labor in freshly sprayed fields. The company is accused of about 200 such violations.

Francisca Herrera, who labored in the fields while pregnant in 2004 and later bore a baby with no arms and legs, testified in September that she was repeatedly sprayed with pesticides.

Two of the women who testified today via videotape worked alongside Herrera. One of them, Sostenes Salazar, was also pregnant at the time, bore a child who was reported to have a jaw deformity.

Her child appeared in the video with her, and she said he was healthy. She also said she had never been sprayed or forced to pick tomatoes in fields that were still wet with pesticides.

The third worker was a pesticide sprayer. He said he was instructed never to spray near workers.

All the workers who testified today either still work for Ag-Mart or have family members who do.