Lawsuits Every Week Link Paraquat And Parkinson's Disease

Thousands who live near farms that spray paraquat may have Paraquat Parkinson's disease and will file lawsuits in 2022 and beyond

Wednesday, January 5, 2022 - Back to the Future star Michael J. Fox is America's most famous Parkinson's disease sufferer and advocate for banning paraquat from being used in the United States. "The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) believes that all Americans should be protected from potential exposure to paraquat and that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should ban this dangerous chemical. " An article on the website a few months ago reviewed the efforts his organization is making to persuade the US congress to bypass the traditional government chemical-regulating agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and pass legislation that would eliminate the use of the deadly defoliant throughout the United States. Paraquat is so toxic that only one small sip of less than a teaspoon will cause instant human death. The lethality of the herbicide has led the EPA to require that anyone buying, handling, or spraying paraquat must first be trained in its properties and pass a licensing test. The EPA also has forced Syngenta, the maker of paraquat, to dye the herbicide bright blue and add an odor to it so that it can not be mistaken for anything else. Hundreds of young people around the world had accidentally drunk paraquat and died, thinking it was a soft drink. The EPA, while taking the death risk of paraquat seriously, failed over the summer to ban the chemical agent and renewed its license for the next 15 years, infuriating activist groups like the MJFF and others.

The EPA claims that it has studied all of the available credible science on paraquat dangers and has failed to find a definitive link between coming into contact with paraquat and developing Parkinson's disease. Nonetheless, thousands of farmers, farmworkers, and those who live, work and play in communities nearby farms that spray paraquat have filed Paraquat Parkinson's Disease lawsuits blaming inhaling paraquat caused their deadly neurological condition. The article on MichaelJFox.org tells of a typical paraquat Parkinson's plaintiff. Maui, Hawaii farmer Edwin Zane joined the long list of farmworkers that have Parkinson's when he was diagnosed in 2014 after using the herbicide regularly for more than 22 years. Like other plaintiffs that live, work, and play around farms that spray paraquat, the unmistakable odor of the poison hangs constantly in the air. "Pesticides and other chemicals get into the soil. They get into the water," said Edwin. "Because I lived surrounded by farms, I've had a front-row seat to the dangers of pesticide use." More than 30 countries including those in the European Union, China, and ironically Switzerland where paraquat's maker hails, have banned using the defoliant. That has not stopped farmers in the United States from increasing the use of the defoliant in response to demand from weeds growing resistant to Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. American farmers have also grown used to using paraquat to dry out a crop just before harvest, killing the plant and making it drier, lighter, and less expensive to pick.

Lawyers for Paraquat Lawsuits

Attorneys handling Paraquat Lawsuits for leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and multiple myeloma offer free, no-obligation case review for individuals and families who believe they may have grounds to file a paraquat Parkinson's lawsuit. Working on a contingency basis, these attorneys are committed to never charging legal fees unless they win compensation in your paraquat Parkinson's lawsuit. The product liability litigators handling Roundup claims at the Onder Law Firm have a strong track record of success in representing families harmed by dangerous drugs and consumer products.