Paraquat Pesticide Maker Used “Weak” Data on Parkinson’s
A chemical manufacturer facing legal action over alleged links between its pesticide and Parkinson’s Disease ignored key health records in studies.
February 12, 2024 | Source: BBC | by Malcolm Prior
Syngenta insists there is no evidence of a Parkinson’s link to the toxic Paraquat, which is made in the UK.
But the BBC has seen legal documents in which it admits it only looked at death certificates, rather than the medical records, of workers at its Widnes site.
Syngenta is fighting legal action by thousands of farmers in the US.
In court documents, the company’s chief medical officer acknowledged it did not look at whether any living former workers had Parkinson’s Disease. Instead it only looked at causes of death, even though experts say the condition was underreported on death certificates at the time.
Charity Parkinson’s UK is now calling for “more robust and independent research” into any link between pesticides, including Paraquat, and Parkinson’s.
The pesticide has not been authorised for use in the UK since 2007 but it is still made at Syngenta’s plant in Huddersfield and exported to countries such as Japan, Australia and the US.