In 2011 plaintiffs in Kansas were dropped from a federal class action lawsuit that named Syngenta liable for a genetically modified (GM) corn seed scam but in 2017 a jury ultimately awarded affected farmers nearly $218 million in compensation. South Dakota's GOP congressional delegation stumbles all over itself to protect donors like Syngenta from their accountability for the state's impaired waters.
Monsanto, the company that owned a strain of Franken-maize, the only genetically modified product approved for cultivation in the European Union, tried to acquire rival Syngenta in 2015 but was absorbed itself by Bayer — another chemical company that buys Republican politicians and pollutes the waters of the United States.
Boomers will recall that in 1977 the Mexican government was spraying paraquat on cannabis crops. Today, paraquat is marketed as Gramoxone, a Syngenta product linked to Parkinson's disease after multiple studies determined agricultural workers exposed to the poison face much higher likelihood of nerve damage. In 2021 Earthjustice sued the EPA challenging its reapproval of paraquat and in 2024 California passed legislation that required the Department of Pesticide Regulation to reevaluate its use after some 350,000 pounds were applied in that state during 2023 alone.
Paraquat is also a hormone disruptor that inhibits the production of testosterone and can cause gender dysphoria and birth defects in developing fœtuses.
The company, Syngenta, says that paraquat, which it produces under the name Gramoxone, "is safe for its intended and labelled use." Clayton Tucholke, who used Gramoxone for years on his farm in LaBolt, South Dakota, and has since been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, says otherwise. ['Burns me to a crisp': Farmers allege link between popular herbicide paraquat and Parkinson's disease]A cynical observer might suspect that China is retaliating after being ripped off by the State of South Dakota in the Bendagate scandal.
EPA could issue a final report Friday after considering 90 new scientific studies submitted by the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Whatever the ruling lawsuits will continue as plaintiffs argue Syngenta has an obligation to disclose harms from paraquat but hides them from consumers then pays off politicians like Marty Jackley.
Learn more about the paraquat/Parkinson's link in the journal Nature.
Expert witnesses can make a case or break it. That tension has become increasingly apparent in litigation involving over 7,000 people who claim exposure to Syngenta’s herbicide paraquat caused them to develop Parkinson’s, writes columnist @JgreeneJenna https://t.co/O8u9qM7xdx pic.twitter.com/xpxsWCSpOX
— Reuters Legal (@ReutersLegal) December 6, 2024
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"Kennedy said he had talked to Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who had indicated his brothers-in-law, who are farmers, have Parkinsons' disease. Kennedy then added, 'And that is the kind of cluster we're seeing across farm country of cancers, autoimmune diseases, obesity, etc.'" Kennedy Warns About Ag Chemicals, Says Regenerative Practices Are Needed
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