According to charges brought in a newly filed product liability complaint, a woman's Parkinson's disease diagnosis was caused by years of handling, mixing, and spraying Paraquat weed killer.
The lady filed the case last week in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, seeking damages from Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC for neglecting to warn about the hazards linked with the widely used pesticide.
Imperial Chemical Industries, PLC (ICI), a historical firm of Syngenta, created paraquat in the 1950s, and the weed killer was initially commercialized under the brand name Gramoxone in the 1960s. Syngenta, on the other hand, sold paraquat formulations under a number of names and promoted the weed killer without informing people about the long-term adverse effects of exposure.
Despite the fact that it has been widely used for decades and is already heavily restricted in the United States due to the risk of Paraquat toxicity if even a small amount of the weed killer is ingested, there is now a growing number of Paraquat lawsuits being pursued by former users diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, indicating that studies have found exposure to be linked to a two- to five-fold increased risk among individuals regularly handling, mixing, and spraying Paraquat.
According to the plaintiff's case, she was exposed to Paraquat from roughly 2011 to 2019 when she worked with the pesticide regularly. She states that droplets were breathed, eaten, or fell on her skin during mixing, handling, and spraying.
Plaintiff began suffering neurological problems after persistent and continuous Paraquat exposure, according to the lawsuit, and doctors later diagnosed Plaintiff with Parkinson's disease. Plaintiff developed Parkinson's disease when paraquat entered her circulation and destroyed her nerve system.
The lawsuit will shortly be combined with other Paraquat Parkinson's complaints against Syngenta, which are being heard by a U.S. district judge in the Southern District of Illinois as part of multidistrict litigation (MDL).
Given the similar factual and legal issues raised by hundreds of plaintiffs suffering from Parkinson's disease as a result of Paraquat, the judge has established a "bellwether" trial programme in which a group of six representative cases are being prepared to go before juries next year to help the parties gauge the relative strengths and weaknesses of their claims and promote potential Paraquat settlement discussions that will avoid the need for each individual case to be remanded for trial.
