A class action, brought on behalf of all Quebecers who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease after being repeatedly exposed to the herbicide Gramoxone, may go ahead.
A judge has just authorized it, which means that the action can now go through all the stages leading to a trial. As the class action is a special way to bring an action, it is subject to this preliminary stage of authorization during which the judge examines whether his criteria are met. He deemed it to be.
While we have recently heard a lot about glyphosate, a herbicide marketed by the Monsanto company under the RoundUp brand, we are talking here about herbicides with paraquat as the active ingredient, the most common formulation of which is Gramoxone. Some of these products have been on sale in the country since 1963.
In this action, the plaintiffs claim that the subject herbicides contain this dangerous ingredient which increases the risk of developing a neurodegenerative disease. Paraquat is banned in several countries, they allege.
They further accuse Syngenta of having been aware of this “safety defect” in its products and of having failed to give users sufficient information as to the risks and dangers that herbicides entail, or else as to how to prevent it.
They claim compensatory and punitive damages.
Syngenta is challenging the action on the grounds that science does not show a causal link between its products and the health problems experienced by users.
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