So, you’ve been exposed to the herbicide paraquat, and now your health is suffering and you think the paraquat may have injured you. The question is: do you have a valid lawsuit?
You may have a valid lawsuit if, after being exposed to paraquat, you have the symptoms of, or have been diagnosed with, Parkinson’s disease. Lawsuits are currently being filed across the country regarding Parkinson’s disease diagnoses which are alleged to be the result of paraquat exposure. A lawsuit alleges paraquat “is dangerous to human health and unfit to be marketed and sold in commerce, particularly without proper warnings and directions as to the dangers associated with its use.”
The lawsuits allege the following:
What is Parkinson’s disease?
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive brain disease which mostly affects the motor system, which controls our movement. It, unfortunately, has no cure and no way to stop or reverse its progression, and treatments for it tend to lose efficacy over time and can cause unwanted side effects.
The primary motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are:
The disease’s primary symptoms can result in secondary symptoms, such as:
Parkinson’s disease, according to lawsuits, can be caused when dopaminergic neurons die in a region of the brain known as the substantia nigra pars compacta. Dopaminergic neurons produce dopamine, which is critical for the brain’s motor function control, and these neurons are not replaced when they die. The motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, according to lawsuits, result when too many of these neurons die.
Dopaminergic neurons, according to lawsuits, are extremely susceptible to being killed by oxidative stress.
Paraquat and dopaminergic neurons
Paraquat, according to lawsuits, can kill dopaminergic neurons by inducing oxidative stress, leading to the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. In fact, lawsuits allege paraquat is “designed to injure and kill plants by creating oxidative stress.” In other words, the oxidative stress that paraquat induces in cells is intentional.
Paraquat, according to lawsuits, is a “strong oxidant and readily undergoes ‘redox cycling’ in the presence of molecular oxygen, which is plentiful in living cells.”
This redox cycling can create oxidative stress, according to lawsuits, and it can also create superoxide radicals which can initiate chain reactions which create yet more, different reactive oxygen species which can damage lipids, proteins and nucleic acids.
Lawsuits allege that the redox cycling of paraquat “can repeat indefinitely in the conditions typically present in living cells,” meaning that once it gets in your brain, it can continue to kill dopaminergic neurons for the rest of your life. “A single molecule of paraquat can trigger the production of countless molecules of destructive superoxide radical,” according to the complaint.
To make things worse, paraquat has been formulated with surfactants which increase its ability to stay in contact with plants. However, according to lawsuits, these surfactants also increase its ability to stay in contact with and penetrate people.
Paraquat and Parkinson’s disease
Scientists actually use paraquat to induce the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in animals so they can study the symptoms. To be clear, scientists do not give paraquat to animals to investigate whether it will cause Parkinson’s symptoms. They know it will cause Parkinson’s symptoms; that’s why they give the animals paraquat, so they can study the symptoms.
“Hundreds” of animal studies, according to lawsuits, have found that paraquat kills dopaminergic neurons via oxidative stress, resulting in the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
“Hundreds” of in vitro studies, according to lawsuits, have found that paraquat causes oxidative stress which kills dopaminergic neurons.
Numerous epidemiological studies have associated paraquat with Parkinson’s disease, according to lawsuits.
Paraquat’s redox cycling properties have been known since the 1930s and its toxicity has been known since the 1960s, according to lawsuits.
Paraquat is already banned in numerous countries, including Switzerland, China and the European Union.
Lawsuits allege that, in 2003, the communications manager for Syngenta, a paraquat manufacturer, wrote in her notebook that Syngenta “should not phase out [atrazine] until we know about” paraquat because of studies showing paraquat might be associated with Parkinson’s disease.
Why paraquat companies can be sued
Paraquat companies can be sued over Parkinson’s disease diagnoses based on many legal concepts, including:
Negligence: Negligence is not being reasonably careful to prevent harm. Acting and failing to act can both be negligent, as one should do what reasonably careful people would do and one should not do what reasonably careful people would not do.
A reasonably careful company would adequately test their products to determine if they can cause Parkinson’s disease. A reasonably careful company would warn the public if they knew or should have known their product could cause Parkinson’s disease. A reasonably careful company would instruct the public how to protect themselves from Parkinson’s disease while using their product, such as by using personal protective equipment like masks and gloves.
Strict liability: Companies can be held strictly liable for damages caused by their products in many jurisdictions when the products are defectively designed, or when inadequate warnings are provided with the products. Negligence is not required to be established for strict liability to apply.
Lawsuits allege paraquat is defective by design since it can cause Parkinson’s disease when used as intended or in a reasonably foreseeable way. Lawsuits allege companies knew or should have known it can cause Parkinson’s disease, but provided inadequate warnings to the public about this risk.
