Parkinson’s patients join case against pesticide company

DES MOINES — Thousands of Americans, many of them Iowans, are involved in a legal battle against companies that sell the herbicide Paraquat, alleging that the product is linked to Parkinson’s disease.

"There is a direct link between exposure to Paraquat and acquiring Parkinson’s disease or Kidney Failure,“ said Jeff Link, a Des Moines-based attorney representing around 100 people in the mass tort action. ”We believe that the company owes a responsibility and compensation to people that are suffering from Parkinson’s and kidney disease just because they used the product as they were supposed to.“

Link said the first trial of several bellwether cases was expected to begin this fall. If the plaintiffs win, Link said people who handled Paraquat and later developed Parkinson’s would be entitled to compensation.

Company defendants in the case include Syngenta — which currently sells the product in the U.S. — and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, which was a major supplier in the U.S. in the ‘60s.

Columbus Junction Resident Paul Morgan, who has Parkinson’s, used to spray contact herbicides, likely including Paraquat, for several consecutive weeks every year while he worked for a gas company. He said he blamed that exposure for his condition, and got Jeff Link in touch with his PD support group to spread the word.

“We sprayed weeds on the gas company well sites … just one drop of it on a plant, it’d kill that plant.” he said. “When you got that stuff on a long-sleeve work shirt, it would soak through, and boy it’d make your skin itch and burn.”

The science behind the case is complicated. Numerous studies have found that Paraquat exposure puts “oxidative stress” on lab animals, and while other studies have associated such stress with Parkinson’s symptoms, few have decisively drawn a causal link from A to C.

Jeff Link said there was plenty of evidence, citing a National Institutes of Health study from around 2011, which found that Paraquat users were 2.5 times more likely to develop PD than non-Paraquat users.

“We’re confident that there is a link between Paraquat and Parkinson’s disease and we’re confident that a jury is going to compensate our clients fairly,” he said. “We will use epidemiologists and other experts to talk about their experience and their work on this issue. It’s going to be a very intense process to prove that connection.”

That study, however, comes with limitations, as with any reputable science.

“Because most participants were exposed to many pesticides, we cannot confidently exclude effects of agents other than those studied or rule out the possibility that our results are attributable to combined exposures,” it said. “We could not use laboratory measures of pesticides or their metabolites to estimate exposure … (and) we included prevalent cases already diagnosed but still living at enrollment in the AHS; therefore, survivor bias is possible.”

In any case, the Des Moines attorney said he didn’t expect it to be an easy case.

“Syngenta’s not going to roll over and go, ‘yeah, hit us with a big jury verdict,’” he said. “They’re going to have their own scientists, they’re going to say there’s no causal connection, they’re going to fight it with everything they’ve got … they’re making billions of dollars each year, so they’re going to hire the best lawyers and find scientists that share their point of view.”

The company has vowed to do just that, holding that its product carries no such risk.

“Syngenta has great sympathy for the health issues faced by the Plaintiffs and others suffering from the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s disease,” a Syngenta spokesperson said in an email. “We care deeply about the health and well-being of farmers and are dedicated to providing them with safe and effective products. There is no credible evidence that Paraquat, which has been widely used for more than 55 years, causes Parkinson’s disease … The facts simply do not support the Plaintiffs’ allegations, and we intend to defend this product and our legal position vigorously in court.”

Another statement on the company’s website argues that the herbicide has undergone rigorous safety testing. While the product is banned for use in at least a dozen countries and the European Union, there are still notable exceptions.

“Paraquat has been the subject of more than 1,200 safety studies submitted to, and reviewed by, regulatory authorities around the world,” the statement said. “Recent thorough reviews performed by the most advanced and science-based regulatory authorities including the United States and Australia continue to support the view that paraquat is safe. In particular, the recent 2020 U.S. Agricultural Health Study, which is the most comprehensive study of pesticide use and Parkinson’s disease to date … shows no increased risk.”

That study, however, is also inconclusive. Scientists reported no independent relationship between the pesticide and Parkinson’s disease (PD,) but did find that it raised the chances for those with other risk factors.

“Animal and earlier human studies offer persuasive evidence for a potential link with PD, despite continuing debate,” the study said. “Some subgroups, including those with specific genetic makeup, head injury, and certain dietary intake have been found particularly vulnerable to PD following paraquat exposure.”

Some Iowa groups say keeping the product on the market is important. The Iowa Corn Growers Association which represents around 7,500 farmers across the state, has made statements opposing a ban on the product, which is often used to easily clear a field before planting.

“Used correctly, paraquat is a safe and effective tool for farmers to control weeds,” Association President Jim Greif said in a quote featured on the company’s feedback page. “Its importance for weed control has never been greater. By providing effective, low cost weed control, paraquat allows farmers to reduce tillage and implement other conservation practices to reduce soil erosion and improve water quality, all while providing an effective mode of action in the fight against herbicide resistant weeds.”

Link disagrees with that viewpoint as well.

“I’m connected to our agricultural roots and economy, and I really think that these big agribusiness companies are taking advantage of the few farmers that we have left,” he said. “There are brilliant scientists in this world, I think there’s another way to kill weeds that doesn’t cause Parkinson’s disease. And it might be a little more expensive for them to do that research and get that work done, but it has such a devastating impact on peoples’ lives that it’s worth it for them to do it.”

While nationwide usage of Paraquat is up, Washington County ISU Extension Field Agronomist Rebecca Vittetoe said local use was trending downward.

“A lot of ag retailers that would do custom applications for farmers, they won’t even handle it,” she said. “They just don’t want to have to worry about it. It’s one that I don’t see used a lot, I hardly get any questions about it … I even start mentioning Paraquat as a potential option, and they’re like, ‘Nope, not going to do it.’ Even with herbicide shortages, it’s one that if people don’t have to handle, they’re not going to handle.”

Vittetoe said many found the product too dangerous for reasons unrelated to Parkinson’s, both as a contact irritant and a fatal toxin: a lethal dose of ingested paraquat is under 20 mg per pound of body weight.

“It’s one of the more potent or dangerous pesticides that people can use,” she said. “There’s other options out there, so people have turned to those other options because it is one that we have to be very careful when we’re handling it and using it … this is one that’s got the crossbones and skull on the label.”

Data from the United States Geological Survey paints a slightly different picture. Maps showing the product’s documented use suggest Southeast Iowa used at least 3 lbs. of Paraquat per square mile of farmland throughout most of the ‘90s, with a brief resurgence in 2004 and ‘05. Data from 2018, the most recent year data was collected, show somewhere between 0.5 and 2.99 lbs. per square mile in the region.

Other estimates that attempt to account for unreported use of the heavily controlled product suggest higher prominence, showing statewide use often exceeding 3 lbs. per square mile in almost every year since 2001.

Whatever the current popularity of Paraquat, it’s little comfort to those who say they’ve already been affected.

"I was pissed … Chevron did like they did with us overseas with Agent Orange, they didn’t tell you, they kept saying everything was OK,“ Paul Morgan said. ”If they knew years and years ago that this stuff could cause cancer or Parkinson’s or whatever, but they still put it on the market, I’m probably about as good a capitalist as any, but I don’t agree with hiding the truth from people. A lot of people have died.“

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com