LOS ANGELES Hundreds of movie extras who acted in ****"planet of the apes"****** have sued the film's producers for allegedly exposing them to cancer-causing powder during the shooting of a dust storm scene.

Court documents showed Thursday that the bit-part actors had filed a class action suit against Fox entertainment group inc. for alleged wrongs including fraud and deceit, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The suit, which demands unspecified compensation and punitive damages, was filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday by Jeffrey Clark, representing other extras in Tim Burton's remake of the 1968 Simian classic.

The actors, who played apes and humans, claim they were exposed to around 80,000 pounds (36,000 kilograms) of "Fuller's earth" powder that they say contains a lung irritant and known carcinogen called crystalline silica.

"There are hundreds of class plaintiffs who were subjected to heavy toxic dust with overexposure to cold weather and many developed respiratory problems consisting of coughs, sinus and respiratory infections," The suit said.

The extras, some dressed as people and others as apes, were to run down a hill as the powder was blown into the air by wind machines to recreate a dust storm on a planet inhabited by monkeys, the suit alleged.

The scene was filmed over 10 to 12 days in a desert outside Los Angeles during which time the actors were exposed to the dust for six to eight hours a day without the face masks which were recommended by the powder's makers, it said.

"The dust was so hazardous that it stuck to each class plaintiffs face and hairpieces," The suit said, adding that the studio had removed labels from the bags of powder that warned of its possible cancer risk, AFP reported.

"Hair that started as black or gray were soon turned to a walnut brown within minutes. Many of the hairpieces started to disintegrate after short period of time in the dust," it said.