Paraquat Parkinsons Plaintiffs May Look For Hard Fact To Prove a Link Between the defoliant and Parkinson's Disease

There is a mountain of circumstantial evidence linking paraquat to developing Parkinson's disease

Thursday, February 3, 2022 - Thousands of Parkinson's disease lawsuits accuse paraquat, a well-known and much-feared weed killer, of causing Parkinson's disease when the user comes into contact with it repeatedly over time. Paraquat lawyers represent thousands of people that have registered their intent to file lawsuits. Parkinson's disease advocates groups and legal foundations like the Michael J Fox Foundation have contracted for dozens of scientific studies to ascertain the effects of using agricultural pesticides and herbicides. More than 33 countries like China, Switzerland, and the European Union have banned using paraquat on their territory. China and Switzerland are significant because Syngenta, the maker of paraquat, was domiciled in Switzerland originally and is now owned by the Chinese. Paraquat use was banned on all golf courses in the United States because millions of people play golf, work in golf course maintenance, and live in condominiums or housing communities interlaced and surrounding the golf course. Golf course workers are among the paraquat Parkinson's disease lawsuits filed recently.

Paraquat is known to be deadly to humans. One sip can cause instant death. Countries cite suicide and deaths by accidentally ingesting it as the main reason for banning the substance. They infer that if one can die from drinking the weed killer, one probably can develop cancer or neurological disease from ingesting it through the skin or by breathing it. People also die by accidentally ingesting paraquat, so the company had added an emetic to it to induce immediate vomiting.

It is generally accepted in medical circles that the cause of Parkinson's disease is the destruction of the neurotransmitter cells that produce dopamine, a chemical that allows brain cells to communicate with one another. ParkinsonsNewsToday writes that at least one study finds that breathing the chemical causes it to go directly to the brain. "Prolonged, low-level inhalation of the common weed-killer paraquat, implicated in the risk of Parkinson's disease, caused male mice to lose at least some of their sense of smell, a study reports. This work also supported previous studies showing chemicals that are inhaled enter the brain via the olfactory nerve. As such, it may help in establishing more accurate risk assessments when setting herbicide limits to protect the public."

The majority of paraquat Parkinson's disease lawsuits are by farmworkers that have been on the ground when paraquat was sprayed and came into direct skin contact with it and also inhaled it. Others work, live, and play in communities that border farms that spray paraquat and claim that inhaling it repeatedly caused their Parkinson's disease. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently forced Syngenta, the maker of paraquat, to add a strong, unmistakable odor to paraquat to prevent accidental ingesting. The upshot of doing so is that the smell of paraquat is strong evidence that it has drifted onto nearby communities. One plaintiff testified that the nauseating odor of paraquat is constantly in the air, indicating that it was being breathed in low-doses constantly.

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.