Related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VtUGoGZtI8

ChubbyEmu video for "A Farmer Mistakenly Drank His Own Herbicide. This Is What Happened To His Brain."

So the U.S. is still using 11-17 lbs/yr despite warnings and bans really since 1986, a re-authorization in 2021 by the EPA, and known elevated risk near use sites, which corporations have fought against claiming "no definitive proof". So if the U.S. allows its use "as directed", who can be legally accountable for all this?

My father is a data point in this. He was a farmer all his life and ultimately it was Parkinson's that did him in. While we took some precautions, I have no doubt that the herbicides we used should have been handled more carefully.

I looked up this pesticide. It is banned in EU. Not exactly surprising.

"With evidence of its harms stacking up, it’s already been banned in dozens of countries all over the world, including the United Kingdom and China, where it’s made. Yet last year, its manufacturer Syngenta, a subsidiary of a company owned by the Chinese government, continued selling paraquat in the United States and other nations that haven’t banned it."

Here in Germany, farmers are regularly complaining about all the bureaucracy and "unnecessary" safety requirements in regards to pesticides and over-fertilization . But they also complain when nothing grows anymore because they killed the top soil with too much fertilizer, poisoned the groundwater and then die of Parkinson because, who would have thought, all those regulations and safety requirements had a point after all. I don't know how to help those people, I really don't.

How can consumers avoid/reduce risk of ingesting this from the produce we buy at the store?

>Chevron, which never manufactured paraquat and hasn’t sold it since 1986 ... should not be liable

I think Chevron may have a point, no one knew back then and they stopped selling it ~40 years ago. But ---

To me, if the US had a real Health Care System, people would not have to file lawsuits to get the care they need.

But in the US, this is how things work. The care these people need is unaffordable by everyone in the US except for the very rich. So they will be waiting probably 10 to 20 years for relief as the lawsuit works it way through the courts and appeals.

A related, recent story: "Scientists Thought Parkinson’s Was in Our Genes. It Might Be in the Water"

Highlighting the role of environmental pollution in causing Parkinson’s.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46216422

https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-thought-parkinsons-wa...

https://archive.is/ZvjZH