Paraquat is one of the most widely used weed killing chemicals in the world, competing with herbicides such as glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup brand, for use in agriculture. But mounting research has linked the pesticide to the incurable brain ailment known as Parkinson’s disease.
Thousands of people with Parkinson’s are now suing Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta AG and Chevron USA. A predecessor company to Syngenta introduced paraquat to the market in the 1960s, and Syngenta remains the key maker of the pesticide. Chevron is the successor to a company that distributed paraquat in the US until 1986.
The plaintiffs claim long-term, chronic exposure to paraquat caused their illnesses, and allege the companies hid their knowledge of the risks that paraquat could cause Parkinson’s.
As part of court-ordered disclosures 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 and company officials around the world.
The New Lede was the first media outlet to obtain the internal corporate files and to reveal their contents in multiple stories co-published with The Guardian.
See our first story: Secret “Paraquat Papers” reveal corporate tactics to protect weed killer linked to Parkinson’s disease
Additional stories in the series include:
Syngenta’s “SWAT” team- Internal files reveal secret strategies to influence science
A human toll- paraquat users blame Syngenta for Parkinson’s disease
Amid calls for ban on weed killer linked to Parkinson’s, a battle over science
Syngenta closer to settling thousands of US paraquat lawsuits
You can find multiple other stories on this topic here.
See the ABC News segment based on our reporting: Syngenta paraquat secrets featured on ABC News
And see this Al Jazeera Fault Lines segment, also featuring TNL reporting.
The New Lede is sharing many of the key internal documents here.
| Title | Categories | Link |
|---|