BASF and Shell have been ordered to pay BRL1 billion (£300 million) to compensate employees for damage to their health

German chemical major BASF and oil super major Shell have been ordered by a Brazilian court to pay BRL1 billion (£300 million) to compensate employees for damage to their health, according to news agency Reuters. The case relates to a pesticides plant in Paulinia, Brazil, which BASF says in its 2011 annual report was ‘significantly contaminated by the production of crop protection products’.

BASF bought the site in 2000 from American Cyanamid, which had bought it from Shell in 1995. In March 2011, BASF took Shell to court claiming that Shell was ‘responsible for the full amount of damages’ arising from the contamination.