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With Trial Approaching, Syngenta Settles Paraquat Lawsuit Brought by Parkinson’s Patient
Less than a month ahead of what would have been the first U.S. trial over allegations that a popular weedkiller causes Parkinson’s disease, pesticide maker Syngenta has settled the case. With a looming Aug. 4 trial date in Philadelphia, the case of Douglas Nemeth v. Syngenta had been closely watched as the two sides battled over evidence to be presented. The trial previously was delayed multiple times.
Nemeth, who worked as a farmer/agricultural worker for more than 20 years, is battling the debilitating and incurable brain disease after years of exposure to paraquat weedkillers made by Syngenta. He alleges that Syngenta should have warned users of the risks of Parkinson’s disease from chronic, long-term use of paraquat.
The judge in the case noted the settlement in a docket entry on Monday, after making several rulings denying motions by Syngenta to exclude certain witnesses who planned to testify for Nemeth.
Cleaning House: California Bill Targets PFAS in Cleaners and Cookware
Environmental Working Group reported:
A sweeping new bill the California Legislature is considering would protect public health by banning cookware and cleaning products that contain the toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS.
Senate Bill 682 builds on the state’s efforts to reduce peoples’ exposure to harmful chemicals. If enacted, it would prohibit the distribution, sale or offering for sale of products that contain intentionally added PFAS. The ban would go into effect in 2028.
Cookware and cleaning supplies often contain these substances, which can leech into food and the environment and are linked to cancer and other serious health problems.
SB 682, authored by California State Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), targets a wide range of items people use every day, including cookware, cleaning products, dental floss, some juvenile products, plastic food packaging and ski wax.
If California enacts SB 682, it would join other states, such as Connecticut, Colorado and Minnesota, that have banned the use of PFAS in cookware, cleaners and other products.
‘I Didn’t Know I Was Sitting in a Pool of Poison’
There was a time on hot summer days when Jackie Monette would carry a lounge chair down to the river that burbles below her house, set it up in the rushing waters and relax. But she doesn’t do that anymore.
In 2016, high levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — PFAS — were discovered in Monette’s drinking water well at her home in the upstate New York town of Petersburgh, along with the wells of many of her neighbors. Petersburgh’s municipal water supply was also tainted, as was the Little Hoosic River, where Monette liked to cool off.
“I didn’t know I was sitting in a pool of poison,” says Monette, a 68-year-old retired elementary school art teacher who taught at a local school district. The source of the pollution was Taconic Plastics, a manufacturer of PTFE (Teflon) and silicone-coated industrial products such as fabrics, tapes and belts. Historically, the company used PFOA — a type of PFAS — in its manufacturing process.
Cancer Risk Doubles for Iowa, NC Pesticide Applicators Who Used Carbaryl, Study Finds
Pesticide applicators in North Carolina and Iowa who sprayed the insecticide carbaryl often during their career have a higher risk of getting stomach, esophageal, tongue and prostate cancers, according to new research led by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
The research is the first to link the pesticide to stomach cancer, but it builds on many previous studies that have found carbaryl — often marketed under the brand Sevin — increases risk for multiple other cancers. The chemical is used to kill aphids and other insects on various farm crops, as well as insects such as ants, fleas and ticks in turf and home gardens. “This is the largest and most comprehensive prospective evaluation of carbaryl and cancer risk to date,” the authors wrote.
The researchers used data from the U.S. government-funded Agricultural Health Study about pesticide use by farmers and other licensed pesticide applicators in Iowa and North Carolina. The data includes self-reported pesticide use from 1993 to 1997 and from 1999 to 2005.
Tons of Invisible Plastic Pieces Lurk in Ocean Water
What do human brains, placentas and dolphin breath have in common? Signs of plastic pollution in the form of tiny particles known as microplastics. The ocean is also polluted with plastic, and the issue may be even more extensive than previously thought.
A study published Wednesday in the journal Nature estimates the volume of nanoplastics, which are even smaller than microplastics and invisible to the naked eye, to be at least 27 million metric tons in North Atlantic seas — more than the weight of all wild land mammals.
“I’ve analyzed plastic in Swedish lakes, in urban and very remote air, but this was different,” said Dusan Materic, head of a microplastics and nanoplastics research group at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Germany and one of the lead authors of the analysis. “It’s a missing part of the plastics story that we are answering here.”
Nanoplastics are microscopic fragments smaller than one micrometer — roughly the size of small bacteria.
Air Pollution Worse Near EV Chargers, Study Finds
Electric vehicle drivers may breathe polluted air when they get a quick fill-up at a high-power charging station, according to a new study. The counterintuitive finding — that charging stations meant to replace fossil fuels can themselves “pose localized air quality risks” — needs further study and may prompt changes to charging-station design, the study authors concluded.
What causes the pollution is likely not the charging station itself, but the toxic dust kicked up by the nearby power cabinet as it tries to cool itself off. That dust comes from friction of tires on asphalt and from auto brakes, the study said. The research was carried out by public-health and engineering scientists from the University of California at Los Angeles in early 2024. The results were published this month in the journal Environment International.
Researchers put air sensors at 50 fast-charging stations in 47 cities across Los Angeles County. Los Angeles has perennially dirty air and high levels of EV adoption, and has more of these charging plazas than any county in America.
