“Recent thorough reviews performed by the most advanced and science-based regulatory authorities, including the United States and Australia, continue to support the view that paraquat is safe,” Syngenta said in a statement to the Guardian.ĭuring the years Chevron USA’s predecessor sold paraquat, “it regularly reviewed and considered scientific studies regarding the safety of its products, including paraquat,” Chevron USA said in a statement to the Guardian, adding that none of the studies reviewed “showed a causal link between paraquat and Parkinson’s disease”.Ĭhevron USA said the company “does not believe that had any role in causing the plaintiffs’ illnesses and will vigorously defend against the allegations in the lawsuits”.Īs part of a court-ordered disclosure in the litigation, the companies provided plaintiffs’ lawyers with decades of internal records, including hand-written and typed memos, internal presentations and emails to and from scientists, lawyers and company officials around the world. Syngenta has based much of its paraquat research and manufacturing in the UK. Both companies deny any liability and maintain that scientific evidence does not support a causal link between paraquat and Parkinson’s disease.Īn aerial view of the Syngenta chemical plant in Huddersfield. Along with Syngenta, they are also suing Chevron USA, the successor to a company that distributed paraquat in the US until 1986. Thousands of people who allege they developed Parkinson’s because of long-term chronic effects of paraquat exposure are now suing Syngenta. That prediction of legal consequences has come to pass. One company scientist called the situation “a quite terrible problem” for which “some plan could be made”. Company officials wanted to make sure the efforts could not be traced back to Syngenta, the documents show.Īnd the documents show that insiders feared they could face legal liability for long-term, chronic effects of paraquat as long ago as 1975. The agency is the chief US regulator for paraquat and other pesticides. In one defensive tactic, the documents indicate that the company worked behind the scenes to try to keep a highly regarded scientist from sitting on an advisory panel for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
And though the documents reviewed do not show that Syngenta’s scientists and executives accepted and believed that paraquat can cause Parkinson’s, they do show a corporate focus on strategies to protect product sales, refute external scientific research and influence regulators.
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