Surveyor sues pesticide maker over Florida medfly spraying

TAMPA -- A land surveyor suing a pesticide manufacturer claims he became sick, suffered seizures and went into a coma after he was sprayed with the medfly pesticide malathion.

Stanley J. Lupa III filed suit in U.S. District Court Friday against the Danish manufacturers of malathion, Auriga Industries A/S and Cheminova A/S, and their U.S. subsidiary, Cheminova Inc. of Wayne, N.J.

These companies supplied Florida with the pesticide used to eradicate the Mediterranean fruit fly in 1997 and 1998. Medflies lay eggs that grow into maggots in a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

The last major outbreaks of the Mediterranean fruit fly occurred in Hillsborough County in 1997 and Lake County in 1998.

Lupa, a former body builder, said he was surveying land in Tampa on June 14, 1997, when he was sprayed from a plane during the aerial assault on the destructive pest.

Lupa, 34, said he became sick within 48 hours, went into seizures and a coma, and is still on medication to control seizures.

A telephone message seeking comment left Saturday at the company's New Jersey offices was not immediately returned.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright