{"id":227922,"date":"2023-01-23T12:00:17","date_gmt":"2023-01-23T12:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=227922"},"modified":"2025-01-10T15:06:28","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T15:06:28","slug":"jaw-dropping-evidence-syngenta-knew-its-paraquat-weedkiller-could-cause-parkinsons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/01\/jaw-dropping-evidence-syngenta-knew-its-paraquat-weedkiller-could-cause-parkinsons\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Jaw-Dropping\u2019 Evidence Syngenta Knew Its Paraquat Weedkiller Could Cause Parkinson\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Internal documents show Swiss chemical giant Syngenta and Chevron USA for decades covered up research showing long-term exposure to the weedkiller Paraquat could cause Parkinson\u2019s disease, investigative journalist Carey Gillam shows.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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19 Jan 2023 – <\/em>Swiss chemical giant Syngenta and Chevron USA for decades covered up research<\/a> showing long-term exposure to the weedkiller paraquat could cause the incurable brain ailment known as Parkinson\u2019s disease<\/a>, internal documents reveal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s jaw-dropping information because at the same time, the companies were saying publicly the opposite \u2014 that this chemical did not get into the brain,\u201d investigative journalist Carey Gillam<\/a> told Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chairman and chief litigation counsel for Children\u2019s Health Defense<\/a>, during an episode of \u201cRFK Jr. The Defender Podcast<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gillam, author of \u201cThe Monsanto Papers<\/a>: Deadly Secrets, Corporate Corruption, and One Man\u2019s Search for Justice,\u201d has more than 30 years of experience reporting on corporate America and food and agricultural policies<\/p>\n

Introduced in the 1960s, paraquat<\/a> is a highly toxic herbicide that was banned in the EU<\/a> in 2007 but is still widely used today by U.S. farmers.<\/p>\n

Syngenta manufactures paraquat, Chevron USA distributes it in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Since \u201calmost day one,\u201d Gillam said, the companies knew the chemical crossed the blood-brain barrier and entered the brain, and that it could have chronic effects on the central nervous system.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you see in the 1970s, how the evidence is continuing to mount and how the companies are discussing internally \u2014 their scientists<\/a> and others are discussing amongst themselves \u2014 how worrisome it is that all of this evidence of an impact on the brain, a chronic long-term impact on the brain from Parkinson\u2019s, is starting to get stronger and stronger,\u201d Gillam said.<\/p>\n

Despite \u201cabundant evidence,\u201d the companies adamantly claimed publicly that the chemical did not cross the blood-brain barrier and continued to sell it.<\/p>\n

The use of paraquat has expanded \u201cpretty dramatically\u201d over the last 20 years, partly because glyphosate<\/a> \u2014 the active ingredient in Monsanto\u2019s weedkiller Roundup \u2014 has become less effective, so more farmers are using paraquat again to control weeds, Gillam said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the prevalence of Parkinson\u2019s<\/a> has more than doubled from 1990 to 2015, and is expected to continue to expand rapidly, she noted.<\/p>\n

Nearly 90,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s<\/a> every year, according to the most recent count, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2017 ranked it among the top 15 causes of death in the U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a terrible and tragic disease,\u201d Gillam said.<\/p>\n

Farmers who professionally apply paraquat \u2014 more than regular consumers \u2014 are the most vulnerable to the long-term health risks, Gillam said.<\/p>\n

A familiar playbook<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kennedy and Gillam discussed the \u201cplaybook\u201d of obfuscation tactics used by the chemical companies<\/a> in the 1970s to \u201cmislead the public and mislead regulators\u201d about the evidence of paraquat\u2019s effects on the brain.<\/p>\n

Gillam said company toxicologists who knew in 1975 about the chemical\u2019s possible chronic effects internally discussed how a \u201cplan\u201d could be made to conduct a study that would counter all the information that was coming out.<\/p>\n

Kennedy said he had seen similar tactics by other chemical companies, including Monsanto. They \u201chire a class of scientists \u2014 we call them biostitutes \u2014 who will gin up or ghostwrite the studies and then pay legitimate scientists to sign them to give the imprimatur of legitimacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the case of Monsanto, Kennedy added, the scientific studies that ostensibly exonerated glyphosate were \u201cginned up by corrupted regulators<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same playbook, said Gillam:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see them put up a website that puts out information that is contradictory to what they\u2019re saying internally to each other.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou see them talk about, \u2018We need to enlist academics around the world. We can provide some funding for them. We can collaborate with them and they can carry out our positive message that our product doesn\u2019t cause Parkinson\u2019s disease.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really yet just another example of how frail our regulatory system is and how it misses these real dangers to human health,\u201d<\/em> Gillam said, \u201cwhen they rely so heavily on companies to communicate the science to them.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Watch the full podcast here:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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