For decades, Swiss chemical giant Syngenta has manufactured and marketed a widely used weed killing chemical called paraquat, and for much of that time the company has been dealing with external concerns that long-term exposure to the chemical may cause the dreaded, incurable brain ailment known as Parkinson’s disease.
Syngenta has repeatedly told customers and regulators that scientific research does not prove a connection between its weed killer and the disease, insisting that the chemical does not readily cross the blood-brain barrier, and does not affect brain cells in ways that cause Parkinson’s.
But a cache of internal corporate documents dating back to the 1950s obtained by The New Lede in a reporting collaboration with the Guardian suggests that the public narrative put forward by Syngenta and the corporate entities that preceded it has at times contradicted the company’s own research and knowledge.
And though the documents reviewed do not show that Syngenta’s scientists and executives believed that paraquat can cause Parkinson’s, they do show a corporate focus on strategies to protect product sales, refute external scientific research and influence […]
The last time I went to Lowe’s, I saw right inside the door, A display of Syngenta’s weedkiller (people killer) right in the front of the store so no one could miss it. They conspire with the company to make it desirable. I have gone to great lengths to confer with the owner about this problem, but he would not even talk with me about it.
One of the major problems we face in this society is the blatant double standard we have regarding the administration of Justice. Should an individual biological person engage in this behavior they would be prosecuted for conspiracy to facilitate murder. When a corporate engages in the same activities no one is held responsible.