A chemical manufacturer is facing legal action over alleged links between its pesticide and Parkinson’s Disease. Syngenta, the manufacturer, claims there is no evidence of a Parkinson’s link to the toxic pesticide called Paraquat. However, the BBC has seen legal documents where Syngenta admits it only looked at death certificates, rather than medical records, of workers at its site in Widnes. The company’s chief medical officer acknowledged that it did not check whether any living former workers had Parkinson’s Disease. Charity Parkinson’s UK is now calling for more research into the link between pesticides and Parkinson’s.
Paraquat, the pesticide in question, has not been authorised for use in the UK since 2007, but it is still manufactured at Syngenta’s plant in Huddersfield and exported to countries such as Japan, Australia, and the US. Thousands of farmers in the US are currently taking legal action against Syngenta. One of the plaintiffs, an 80-year-old former farmer, used the pesticide for over two decades and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2002. He believes Syngenta should be banned from making Paraquat and wants it taken off the shelves.
Syngenta conducted a study of workers involved in the manufacture of Paraquat at its former site in Widnes. The study rejected any link between the pesticide and Parkinson’s Disease by only looking at causes of death recorded on death certificates. However, experts argue that Parkinson’s Disease is underreported on death certificates and that a study of living workers’ health and medical records would have been more useful. The research conducted by Syngenta was also rejected by three different academic journals. Despite this, Syngenta claims that no scientist or doctor has ever concluded in a peer-reviewed scientific analysis that Paraquat causes Parkinson’s.
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