Swamped by lawsuits targeting its weedkiller paraquat, Syngenta reaches mass settlement but reaffirms global regulatory consensus that the chemical is safe-as-used

Besieged by thousands of lawsuits alleging that its paraquat weedkiller causes Parkinson’s disease, its manufacturer, Syngenta, has entered into an agreement aimed at settling large swaths of those claims. [O]ne of the lead plaintiff lawyers, Khaldoun Baghdadi, said the terms of the settlement should be completed within 30 days.

The move to settle comes amid … a growing numbers of Parkinson’s patients blam[ing] the company for not warning them of paraquat risks. Numerous scientific studies have linked Parkinson’s to exposure to paraquat, a weedkiller commonly used in agriculture, though Syngenta has said the weight of scientific evidence shows its pesticide does not cause the disease. …  [T]he company said that no “peer-reviewed scientific publication has established a causal connection between paraquat and Parkinson’s disease”.

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As of mid-April, there were more than 5,800 active lawsuits pending in what is known as multidistrict litigation (MDL) being overseen by a federal court in Illinois. There were more than 450 other cases filed in California, and many more scattered in state courts around the country.

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