PHILADELPHIA – Five individuals who filed a lawsuit for Parkinson’s disease they suffered allegedly as a result of exposure to an herbicide called Paraquat have dropped their case without prejudice, just a week-and-a-half after filing it.
Barbara Allen-Haring of Pennsylvania, David Steele of Washington, Joseph Wochner of Illinois, Barbara Burns of Florida and Lauriano Barajas of Washington initially filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on Jan. 20 versus Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC and Chevron USA, Inc. of Dauphin and FMC Corporation (all c/o CT Corporation System and Corporation Service Company) of Philadelphia.
(The case was then removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Jan. 21)
The plaintiffs say they either lived or worked on farmland in various states spanning the past five decades, where they were regularly exposed to an herbicide called Paraquat.
This exposure occurred, the suit says, through “(1) absorption or penetration of the skin, mucous membranes, and other epithelial tissues (including tissues of the mouth, nose and nasal passages, trachea, and conducting airways, particularly where cuts, abrasions, rashes, sores, or other tissue damage were present); (2) through the olfactory bulb; (3) through respiration into the lungs; and (4) through ingestion into the digestive tract of small droplets swallowed after entering the mouth, nose, or conducting airways.”
Paraquat kills green plant tissue on contact and when ingested, is also highly toxic to mammals, including humans. The herbicide is capable of causing severe lung damage, respiratory distress syndrome and death.
Additionally, the plaintiffs say the Parkinson’s disease they developed is also a result of Paraquat exposure.
“Paraquat is one of only a handful of toxins that scientists use to produce animal models of Parkinson’s disease, i.e., use in a laboratory to artificially produce the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in animals. Animal studies involving various routes of exposure have found that Paraquat creates oxidative stress that results in the degeneration and death of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, other pathophysiology consistent with that seen in human Parkinson’s disease, and motor deficits and behavioral changes consistent with those commonly seen in human Parkinson’s disease,” the suit states.
“Hundreds of in vitro studies (experiments in a test tube, culture dish, or other controlled experimental environment) have found that Paraquat creates oxidative stress that results in the degeneration and death of dopaminergic neurons (and many other types of animal cells). Epidemiological studies have found that exposure to Paraquat significantly increases the risk of contracting Parkinson’s disease. A number of studies have found that the risk of Parkinson’s disease is more than double in populations with occupational exposure to Paraquat compared to populations without such exposure. These convergent lines of evidence (toxicology, animal experiments, and epidemiology) demonstrate that Paraquat exposure generally can cause Parkinson’s disease.”
According to the plaintiffs, the defendants marketed, sold, and distributed Paraquat products and or/surfactants and other pesticides for use in combination with Paraquat in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
For counts of strict products liability (design defect), strict products liability (failure to warn), negligence, breach of implied warranty of merchantability and punitive damages, the plaintiffs were seeking judgment against the defendants, medical and related expenses, loss of earnings and/or earning capacity, exemplary or punitive damages, treble damages, mental and physical suffering, costs of suit, disgorgement of profits, default judgment as a sanction for the bad faith destruction of evidence, if any, such other and further relief as this Court may deem just and proper, pre-judgment interest and a trial by jury.
The plaintiffs were represented by Tayjes M. Shah of The Miller Firm in Orange, Va. and Aimee H. Wagstaff of the Wagstaff Law Firm in Denver.
The defendants were represented by Kimberly A. Jones of Jones Day in Pittsburgh, plus Barry H. Boise, Christopher Michael Brolley and Nina M. Gussack of Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders, in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:22-cv-00275
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 220101644
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com