A chemical manufacturer, Syngenta, currently facing legal action over suspected connections between its pesticide and Parkinson's Disease, allegedly overlooked

crucial health records in its studies.

Syngenta maintains that there's no substantiated evidence linking Parkinson's Disease to its toxic pesticide, Paraquat, manufactured in the UK. However, according to legal documents obtained by the BBC, the company acknowledged disregarding medical records and solely relying on death certificates of workers at its Widnes site.

Despite being in legal dispute with thousands of farmers in the US, Syngenta's chief medical officer admitted that the company didn't investigate whether former workers, who were still alive, had Parkinson's Disease. Instead, they only examined causes of death, despite experts suggesting Parkinson's cases were underreported on death certificates during that period.

Parkinson's UK charity is now advocating for more rigorous and impartial research into potential links between pesticides, including Paraquat, and Parkinson's Disease.

Although Paraquat hasn't been authorized for use in the UK since 2007, it's still produced at Syngenta's Huddersfield plant and exported to countries like Japan, Australia, and the US.

Larry Wyles, an eighty-year-old former farmer from Pennsylvania, who is one of the plaintiffs in the US legal proceedings, used Paraquat on his farm for over two decades. He also handled it as a child on his father's farm. Diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2002, Wyles emphasized the devastating impact the illness has had on his life.

Syngenta's study, conducted on workers involved in Paraquat's manufacturing at its Widnes site, has rejected any association with the disease, based solely on death certificate data. However, critics argue that this approach is inadequate, as Parkinson's Disease is often underreported in death certificates.

The documents from the US litigation reveal that the research faced rejection by three academic journals for not considering the health of living workers. Despite knowing about the underreporting of Parkinson's cases in death certificates, Syngenta proceeded with the study without examining the health records of living workers.

Syngenta defended its approach, stating that conducting a morbidity study wasn't feasible due to the cohort's size and access limitations to comprehensive medical records. They emphasized that their publications were among over 1,200 safety studies conducted in the past 60 years, both internally and externally.

However, critics, including leading expert Professor Bas Bloem, question the value of Syngenta's study, labeling it as methodologically flawed and lacking substantial evidence.

Independent medical experts suggest that relying solely on death certificates to determine Parkinson's risk is weak methodology and call for more comprehensive research, including studying the health of living workers and their medical records.

Despite the ongoing controversy, Syngenta asserts its commitment to scientific rigor and safety, emphasizing that Paraquat is safe when used as directed. Photo by © Syngenta Group / CC-BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia commons.