The Fort Worth Press - Herbicide under US scrutiny over potential Parkinson's link

USD -
AED 3.67298
AFN 72.04561
ALL 90.426454
AMD 393.432155
ANG 1.790208
AOA 915.999514
ARS 1073.539026
AUD 1.662925
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.697767
BAM 1.784082
BBD 2.031653
BDT 122.253136
BGN 1.783472
BHD 0.376858
BIF 2990.649943
BMD 1
BND 1.345222
BOB 6.952794
BRL 5.8688
BSD 1.006157
BTN 85.842645
BWP 14.014139
BYN 3.292862
BYR 19600
BZD 2.021163
CAD 1.42256
CDF 2873.000253
CHF 0.852102
CLF 0.0249
CLP 955.539989
CNY 7.28155
CNH 7.319425
COP 4181.71
CRC 509.007982
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 100.583808
CZK 22.978968
DJF 179.18358
DKK 6.779725
DOP 63.5439
DZD 133.362103
EGP 51.122457
ERN 15
ETB 132.622212
EUR 0.908545
FJD 2.33545
FKP 0.774458
GBP 0.774045
GEL 2.749879
GGP 0.774458
GHS 15.595895
GIP 0.774458
GMD 71.511953
GNF 8707.867731
GTQ 7.765564
GYD 210.508552
HKD 7.76747
HNL 25.744128
HRK 6.846702
HTG 131.657925
HUF 370.294993
IDR 17107.05
ILS 3.786485
IMP 0.774458
INR 85.67875
IQD 1318.129989
IRR 42100.000231
ISK 131.650446
JEP 0.774458
JMD 158.686431
JOD 0.708901
JPY 145.790981
KES 129.302255
KGS 86.768798
KHR 4028.278221
KMF 450.497808
KPW 900
KRW 1464.820499
KWD 0.30762
KYD 0.838495
KZT 510.166477
LAK 21794.298746
LBP 90155.803877
LKR 298.335234
LRD 201.240593
LSL 19.187412
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.866591
MAD 9.582851
MDL 17.779704
MGA 4665.906499
MKD 55.945995
MMK 2099.820881
MNT 3508.612
MOP 8.055188
MRU 40.127708
MUR 45.169802
MVR 15.398803
MWK 1744.766249
MXN 20.65045
MYR 4.465959
MZN 63.909895
NAD 19.187412
NGN 1544.690307
NIO 37.026226
NOK 10.831075
NPR 137.348233
NZD 1.797835
OMR 0.384971
PAB 1.006249
PEN 3.697332
PGK 4.15325
PHP 57.403
PKR 282.466317
PLN 3.88355
PYG 8066.59065
QAR 3.667868
RON 4.521101
RSD 106.437007
RUB 84.490919
RWF 1450.034208
SAR 3.753164
SBD 8.316332
SCR 14.349108
SDG 600.552097
SEK 10.05059
SGD 1.346445
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.749585
SLL 20969.501083
SOS 575.051311
SRD 36.646502
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.804561
SYP 13001.844432
SZL 19.194527
THB 34.5575
TJS 10.95252
TMT 3.5
TND 3.081231
TOP 2.342098
TRY 38.009301
TTD 6.815964
TWD 33.163798
TZS 2691.722
UAH 41.414641
UGX 3677.993158
UYU 42.563284
UZS 13000.684151
VES 70.161515
VND 25800
VUV 122.117563
WST 2.799576
XAF 598.364424
XAG 0.033482
XAU 0.00033
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.744173
XOF 598.364424
XPF 108.789054
YER 245.649928
ZAR 19.33705
ZMK 9001.195602
ZMW 27.896921
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    69.0200

    69.02

    +100%

  • SCS

    -0.0600

    10.68

    -0.56%

  • CMSD

    0.1600

    22.83

    +0.7%

  • NGG

    -3.4600

    65.93

    -5.25%

  • VOD

    -0.8700

    8.5

    -10.24%

  • GSK

    -2.4800

    36.53

    -6.79%

  • BCC

    0.8100

    95.44

    +0.85%

  • RYCEF

    -1.5500

    8.25

    -18.79%

  • CMSC

    0.0300

    22.29

    +0.13%

  • RELX

    -3.2800

    48.16

    -6.81%

  • RIO

    -3.7600

    54.67

    -6.88%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    22.71

    +0.22%

  • JRI

    -0.8600

    11.96

    -7.19%

  • AZN

    -5.4600

    68.46

    -7.98%

  • BTI

    -2.0600

    39.86

    -5.17%

  • BP

    -2.9600

    28.38

    -10.43%

Herbicide under US scrutiny over potential Parkinson's link
Herbicide under US scrutiny over potential Parkinson's link / Photo: © David Jilbert/AFP

Herbicide under US scrutiny over potential Parkinson's link

First came the slow hand movements, then the tremor, and now the looming fear of what lies ahead.

Text size:

David Jilbert's devastating diagnosis of Parkinson's disease three years ago changed his life irrevocably -- and it's a condition the 65-year-old farmer believes he wouldn't have if it weren't for paraquat, a herbicide he once relied on to control weeds in his vineyard in the midwestern US state of Ohio.

"Now it's not just about me, I'm part of this community -- let's get something going," Jilbert said during a recent hearing in the US Congress on the issue.

Banned in more than 70 countries -- including Britain, where it is manufactured; Switzerland, home to the Syngenta company that owns the brand; and China, where the state-run conglomerate that owns Syngenta is based -- paraquat remains available in the United States.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has long maintained that the herbicide is safe for use under strict regulations -- something Parkinson's advocates are hoping to change.

The agency is set to issue a final report on the issue by January 17, 2025, a date mandated by a court in response to 90 new scientific studies submitted by the Michael J. Fox Foundation and other groups.

- Industry denies causation -

"We have great sympathy for those suffering from the debilitating effects of Parkinson's disease," a spokesperson for Syngenta said in a statement to AFP.

"However, it is important to note that the scientific evidence simply does not support a causal link between paraquat and Parkinson's disease, and that paraquat is safe when used as directed."

Multiple credible studies have found that agricultural workers who handle paraquat -- or live near areas where it is applied -- face a higher incidence of Parkinson's disease, which can eventually turn even the simplest movements into daunting challenges.

Animal research further underscores paraquat's toxic effects on nerve cells, although proving direct causation for individuals remains difficult.

"I find it extraordinarily frustrating that the chemical companies have hidden behind the concept of being able to show causation, and they've used that as an excuse, because we haven't been able to come out and definitively say that," Australia-based neurologist David Blacker said in interview with Pesticide Action UK, an advocacy group.

"That's where the precautionary principle comes in," he added. "If there is a doubt, especially if there are alternatives, it then becomes, in my mind, ethically and even morally unsound to continue to pursue."

- 'It's scary' -

Jilbert, a longtime environmental engineer and environmental safety inspector, dreamed of becoming a farmer after retirement.

In 2011, he purchased his land and, over the following years, began using paraquat -- often sold as Gramoxone -- to manage his weeds. By the end of the decade, he noticed his hands moving slowly and his gait turning into a shuffle.

When his Parkinson's diagnosis finally came, he was horrified and wondered if he'd been condemned to a "death sentence." His condition is more manageable for now, thanks to medications, but he says he feels disappointed in his own government for not looking out for him.

"You think if you use the stuff in the way the label tells me to use it, then I'm not going to get sick," he said.

Like Jilbert, 85-year-old Charlene Tenbrink -- who owns a 250-acre farm in Dixon, California -- also trusted that the chemicals available to farmers were safe when handled properly.

She sprayed paraquat on her prune trees in the 1990s and was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2020.

Tenbrink, Jilbert and thousands of others are now suing Syngenta in federal and California state courts.

Sarah Doles, a lawyer and co-lead for that federal litigation, compared it to the cases against Big Tobacco. She contends Syngenta had a legal duty to disclose harms its own teams knew about paraquat from research going back decades, but hid from consumers.

"It's a legal duty of what they knew and then failed to do -- they concealed the information," she told AFP.

Regardless of which direction the EPA rules, these legal cases will continue.

Tenbrink says it's vital to get the product off the market, and admits she's terrified for her own future.

"This is a terrible disease and we know there's no cure, we know it's going to get worse. It's scary," she says.

W.Matthews--TFWP