Syngenta maintains that there is no proof linking the hazardous UK-made product Paraquat to Parkinson’s disease.
However, the BBC has obtained legal documents stating that it solely examined death certificates, not the medical information, of employees at its Widnes location.
Syngenta is defending against lawsuits brought by several thousand US farmers.
The chief medical officer of the corporation admitted in court records that it neglected to investigate the possibility of Parkinson’s disease in any surviving former employees. Rather, it just examined the causes of death, despite the fact that specialists claim the illness was not fully disclosed on death certificates at the time.
Parkinson’s UK, a charity, is now demanding “more robust and independent research” on any connection that may exist between Parkinson’s and pesticides, such as Paraquat.
The insecticide is still produced at Syngenta’s plant in Huddersfield and shipped to nations like Japan, Australia, and the US despite not being allowed for use in the UK since 2007.
A Parkinson’s disease sufferer, Larry Wyles, age 80, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, is one of the plaintiffs in the US lawsuit.
In addition to using the pesticide as a boy on his father’s farm, Mr. Wyles used it on his own farm for over 20 years.
“Back in those days we did not have very good machinery and I remember having to clean out the nozzles on the sprayer,” he stated to the “The Paraquat would get all over my clothes and on my hand when I would blow the nozzles.” Neither my father nor I realized at the time what it was doing to us.”
