Lawsuit Against Paraquat

Plaintiffs who were exposed to paraquat and were then diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease are now filing paraquat lawsuits. If you or a loved one has Parkinson’s disease and suspect it is caused by paraquat exposure, please contact TorHoerman Law today to talk with a paraquat Parkinson’s disease injury lawyer or use our chatbot below for a free, instant online case review.

If you or a loved one was exposed to paraquat and then diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, you might be eligible to join the paraquat case. Contact TorHoerman Law today for a private, no-obligation consultation to discuss your legal options.

Do you want to know right away whether you qualify for the Paraquat Parkinson’s disease lawsuit? For a free instant online case review, please use the chatbot below.

What exactly is paraquat?

The chemical agent paraquat dichloride (paraquat) is most widely used as a herbicide. Although it was developed more than 130 years ago, its use as a herbicide did not become widespread until the mid-twentieth century. The herbicide agent paraquat is now used on over 100 different forms of crops.

Is Paraquat Harmful?

According to the American Council on Science and Health, the relative toxicity of paraquat to glyphosate, another widely used herbicide that is considered to be toxic, ranges from 33 to 250. The average person’s lethal dose is about 2.5 grams, and it is much more harmful when inhaled.

Parkinson’s Disease and Paraquat

Paraquat exposure has been linked to an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, according to studies.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) conducted a report – the Farming and Movement Evaluation (FAME) – in February 2011 to investigate concerns that exposure to the common herbicide paraquat could be related to an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.

Following the publication of the report, Syngenta, a Swiss herbicide maker, said on its website that data from the study showed that farmers who use Paraquat are less likely than the general population to develop Parkinson’s disease.

A FAME study discovered that paraquat increases the risk of Parkinson’s disease.

FAME drew information from the Agricultural Health Study, a broader project that followed over 80,000 producers, agricultural workers, and their spouses. FAME researchers found 115 people who had Parkinson’s disease and studied 110 of them who were willing to provide information on the herbicide they often used.

Syngenta contested the results, claiming that since only 115 people developed Parkinson’s disease out of more than 80,000 North Carolinians and Iowans in the Agricultural Health Study, a causal connection between paraquat and an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s could not be confirmed.

Dr. Caroline M. Tanner, the lead author of the FAME report and the director of the Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education, and Clinical Centers at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, clarified that Syngenta’s statement was without merit. Tanner contended that FAME did not have a thorough evaluation of the incident Parkinson’s disease for all 80,000 people. Rather, the study selected a group of people who did have Parkinson’s disease and compared them to a control group.

In fact, FAME relied on self-reporting from Agricultural Health Study participants. “There were probably quite a few people with Parkinson’s disease who did not participate in our research,” Dr. Freya Kamel, a scientist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, and co-author of the FAME study, said.

Syngenta said that it “went to great lengths to try to access the data” from the FAME report so that the company could “gain as full an understanding of the study as possible in the pursuit of scientific rigor.” Syngenta’s study was deemed inappropriate by Kamel.

The FAME study evidence linking paraquat to Parkinson’s was “about as convincing as these things can be,” according to Kamel.

Paraquat is now illegal all over the world.

Paraquat is prohibited in 32 countries worldwide. Notably, despite the fact that the herbicide is manufactured in Switzerland by Syngenta, its use has been prohibited in the country since 1989.

Despite the fact that paraquat has been on the banned substances list in England and in the European Union since 2013, one of Syngenta’s main paraquat manufacturing facilities is located in Northern England, with the majority of the yield going to the United States.

Paraquat is also produced in China. Despite its reputation as an industrial nation with weak environmental regulations, China declared in 2012 that it will begin to phase out paraquat in order to “protect people’s lives.”

In the United States, there has been an increase in the use of paraquat.

However, in recent years, Paraquat has become a common alternative to Monsanto’s Roundup in the United States. Roundup has long been the herbicide of choice for American farmers, but as weeds and pests become more resistant to it and lawsuits alleging risks and accidents emerge, farmers are turning to alternative herbicides and pesticides to handle their crops.

In light of the Roundup controversy, paraquat has emerged as the preferred herbicide alternative, especially for soybean fields, where the number of pounds used has increased fourfold in the last decade.

EPA Paraquat Regulatory Filing

In a regulatory filing in March 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared that it will investigate further the potential health risks associated with paraquat. The filing is part of an EPA-sponsored program that re-evaluates all pesticides every 15 years.

The agency said in the announcement, “There is a wide body of epidemiology evidence on paraquat dichloride use and Parkinson’s disease.” The EPA intends to determine whether to list Paraquat as a prohibited substance or continue to allow the chemical to be sprayed on US cropland, but a final decision is not anticipated until at least next year.

FAME findings are supported by new research.

A report published in Nature Chemical Biology in December 2016 reassures researchers who believe paraquat causes Parkinson’s disease. A CRISPR screen, which looked for potential agents that increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease in people who had been exposed to paraquat, discovered a pathway needed for paraquat-induced cell death in humans. Using an innovative gene-editing technique, the researchers discovered that after being exposed to paraquat, genes that may contribute to Parkinson’s disease were detected. Furthermore, the study discovered that araquat destroys cells through a mechanism known as oxidative stress.

A lawsuit has been filed against paraquat.

A paraquat case has been filed in St. Clair County, Illinois. The case, filed on October 6, 2017, is on behalf of farmers and agricultural workers who were exposed to paraquat and developed Parkinson’s disease as a result. Syngenta and Growmark were the initial defendants in the araquat case.

Plaintiffs in the Paraquat case argue that Syngenta and Growmark have been manufacturing, distributing, and selling Paraquat as Gramoxone or under other names since 1964.

Plaintiffs listed Chevron Chemical as a defendant in an amended lawsuit, alleging that Chevron operated in concert with Syngenta and Growmark.

Are you able to take part in the Paraquat Lawsuit?

If you were previously exposed to Paraquat — or a related herbicide, Rotenone — and developed Parkinson’s disease or symptoms of continuing Parkinson’s disease, you might be eligible to join in the Paraquat litigation.

Contact Paraquat Claims Center for:

• Free Consultations
• 24/7 Paraquat Claim Helpline
• (844) 718-0783

Not in recent memory have  many Americans carried out  almost every  element of our lives— working,  education, resting, playing, eating—  in your home.  Investing so much time  in your home has  indicated we  have actually  needed to rethink the way we  utilize  specific spaces, from  establishing workspaces inside and out to popping up virtual happy hours from our  living-room  couches.

While  much of these quick-fix design  options are likely (and  ideally) Couch Potato Sofa with Chaise short-lived, there‘s no doubt all of this time  in your home will change what we need from our homes— and thus how we want them  created— for the foreseeable future. One  house  style concept that  might prove less  preferable  moving forward: the open floor plan.

 Utilized to  explain homes in which  2 or more traditional-use rooms (like the  kitchen area, living room, and dining room) are  integrated to form a much larger space by  getting rid of walls that would have divided them, open floor plans  have actually been the most popular  property architectural  pattern for  brand-new construction and  restoration projects in the  nation  given that the 1990s. Their rise in popularity  in time tracks in strikingly parallel fashion to the rise of the HGTV television network, which has made  destroying interior walls something of a  viewer sport for  property owners and  aiming homeowners  considering that it launched in 1994.

Widespread adoption of the open  layout  throughout the country reflects a significant  modification in the way we live  compared to prior to the World Wars, particularly the shift to more casual  way of lives for families with children, and the  lowered dependence on domestic  personnel.

“ The  greatest  distinction between old houses and  brand-new ones is the  modification where the kitchen is the center of  your home and almost all daytime  area revolves around the  cooking area,“ says James F. Carter, a Birmingham-based  designer. In homes built prior to World War II,  kitchen areas were positioned at the back of  your house  available by a center hallway or a back entrance for deliveries and staff.

Open  layout where the  kitchen area acts as a kind of command central for home certainly offer conveniences to  contemporary families.  Less walls facilitates better traffic flow and more natural light throughout a home, and can make it  simpler for parents to  keep track of children.  Additionally, open  layout offer a  particular  quantity of flexibility, making it possible to reconfigure  furnishings arrangements as needs  alter.

But the open floor plan presents some  major design  downsides,  too, such as a lack of  personal privacy,  bad  noise control, and a  chaotic  look (despite regular tidying). And, as with  almost every imperfect  element of our domestic lives, these  weak points  have actually been exposed and  worsened  throughout the quarantine like never  in the past.

“ Now more than ever having a  space to  leave to— the proverbial ‘room of one‘s own—  has actually taken on new meaning and  higher significance,“  states  New york city designer Charlotte Moss. “To be able to close a door, be  devoid of noise,  another person‘s conference call or video chat, just to be in your own  area— your own head, if you will— this is a  requirement. We all need physical separation to  remain balanced.“

 Designer Andrew Oyen of  New york city‘s Ferguson & Shamamian reiterated the renewed  worth of  unique rooms during the quarantine, noting  specified spaces can  assist  offer structure and  range to endless time at home. “ Spaces  are very important  since they customize your oversized sofa produce a space for and  commemorate  particular activities,“ Oyen  states. “Now that we‘re so contained, having unique spaces to experience particular functions enables  range to the routine.“

To  discover how design can help  fix our  magnifying  requirement for  personal privacy and  range at home, we  talked to  leading designers and architects across the country. Below, eight  forecasts for the future of American  property  style.

The Return of the Dining Room— But Make It Multi-Purpose
The dining room— a discrete  area for eating a meal and sharing meals with others— is a  fairly recent  advancement in the history of  property design. While there is evidence that ancient Greek and Roman civilizations had  different  areas for dining, the act of  consuming  has actually  occurred in  big “ excellent halls“ throughout much of human history.

Although a handful of the most  rich 18th century Americans had dining rooms in their homes— George Washington‘s Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson‘s Monticello, to  call two colorful examples— it wasn’t  till the 19th century that a dedicated room for dining was commonplace in American  houses. (And it‘s no coincidence that the silver cutlery industry  progressed at that time as well,  ending up  unknown silver pieces  valued as collector‘s items today.).

By the middle of the twentieth century, dining  spaces were where  lots of Americans invested most into the decoration of their home, furnishing them with chandeliers, large tables, and sideboards filled with their finest crystal, china, and silver.  However the room—  a minimum of as we knew it  throughout the twentieth century— has all but  vanished in homes  throughout the  nation that boast open floor plans.

Those who do still  have actually  devoted dining rooms may have a  upper hand on navigating  house life during the quarantine as the  area  has actually proven itself an excellent  area to  establish a  short-term  office. And Moss is  anticipating their return.

“  Perhaps dining  spaces will be  utilized more in homes—  would not that be a  excellent outcome? Family meals at a table together  instead of kitchen counters, coffee tables and laps. A  space with a real bona fide  function,“ says Moss. “Personally, at the  table, I don’t want to see the destruction in the  kitchen area. How can you be relaxed and  delight in a nicely set table and a delicious meal if you are  taking a look at debris? Not me, I do not function well with visual  sound.“.

Classical  Concepts for Modern  Style.

Toronto-based designer Colette van den Thillart agrees, underscoring the  significance of using a home‘s best room every day— even if that  indicates assigning it more than one use. “I  state let‘s use the finest  spaces every day, and for my family this meant making the dining room a library, a  idea that  has actually certainly  pertained to  fulfillment in these times as it  has actually become a make shift library/art studio/office, and  in some cases dining room!“.

“ It‘s  likewise a room that  returns,“  includes van den Thillart about her Toronto  dining-room. “Those books are talismans of  journeys, friends,  motivations, imagination, and design  resourcefulness. In a time of  seclusion its  extremely comforting to be surrounded by the ‘world‘, my world, the world I curated over  several years and  numerous places in a way that means something to me … in words and  photos.“.

New York and New Orleans-based designer Thomas Jayne best mid century modern chairdefends the  idea of a single-purpose room,  mentioning  author Edith Wharton (and her book The Decoration of Houses) as his decoration North Star.


The  Design of  Homes.

“ Wharton was so  thinking about rooms, which was counter trend even  at that time. She  composed that it was  okay to have single  function rooms, that that‘s not so decadent as it sounds,“ Jayne  states. As such, Jayne “always advise clients to have a  dining-room as a distinct space close to the  cooking area,“ he writes in his Classical Principles for Modern Design (Monacelli Press; 2018).

For those who don’t have  area for a  devoted dining room, New Orleans-based designer  Costs Brockschmidt of Brockschmidt & Coleman suggests  providing other  spaces with tables that can be used for dining.

“ In my  home in Sicily there is no designated dining room,  however there is a table on each  flooring that can be opened and  moved depending on the season and  event,“ says Brockschmidt. “This makes it  enjoyable for us to dine in different settings, and having  great places to eat away from the  cooking area makes meal  preparation and cooking more  enjoyable, too.“.

Re-zoning Living Rooms With Parlor-Style Furniture Plans.
The return of distinct rooms is not to suggest that  big, open spaces won’t have a place in the future of home design. As any  enthusiast of old  houses will tell you, the parlor— a room  typically at the front of  your home where hosts received guests—  might offer  motivation for  modern-day  living-room as more people spend more time living and  amusing  in the house.  However these  areas, which are  usually rather  big, can be challenging to  provide for those without deep design and  decor knowledge.


gidiere seating area alabama.
Gidiere‘s living room is divided into seating zones, which  enables her  household of four to  hang around there together during the quarantine without feeling like they are sitting on top of each other.
Brian Woodcock.
Birmingham-based interior designer Caroline Gidiere  research studies these turn of the twentieth century  home that were typically zoned into  smaller sized conversation areas to help inform how to make the most of  modern-day parlor-style living rooms.

“ The furniture plan in my  living-room is one that France Elkins  frequently  utilized back in the thirties, when  individuals  truly  utilized their living rooms,“ she  states. “It‘s  developed to  accommodate  little groupings of  2 or three, and to  use each an opportunity for private conversation— no  requirement to speak up or yell  throughout.


colette van den thillart library table.
This octagonal library table in van den Thilllart‘s  living-room also doubles as a work space when  required.
Max Kim-Bee.
The  living-room at van den Thillart‘s Toronto  house is  likewise set up. “While it‘s not  totally ‘ personal,‘ the room certainly  enables zones,“ says the designer. “Then, depending on who is  dealing with what we swap  spaces and zones so we are all  taking a trip  your home a bit and getting a change of  surroundings.“.

At the home he shares with designer Dan Fink in Bellport, New York, designer Thomas O’Brien uses a folding screen to create a partial  department  in between seating  locations.

“ The half-screen,  together with  various carpets,  enables us to  develop this intimate seating area in front of the fireplace, which is where we  invest most of our time in this room,“ says O’Brien. “It also  nestles the desk on the other side,  producing a little  personal privacy for that area as well.“.

New York-based designer Markham Roberts  likewise sees potential for more partial divisions in large  areas. “For a  customer I just installed in an apartment with a  huge open  space, we used  2 double-sided bookcases to create a  smaller sized  comfortable den  different from the  bigger  location,“ says Roberts. “ Because the bookcases are  just  5 feet high, they don’t cut the den off from the  remainder of the room, but they make an  efficient screen to  offer the smaller  area a feeling of coziness.“.

More Portable and Convertible  Furnishings.
For  big, parlor-style living rooms and smaller  research studies alike, designers are  consentaneous in  anticipating that portable furnishings, like occasional and  beverages tables, and convertible pieces, such as folding  video game tables and secretary desks, will become  a growing number of  important.

“ Pieces that are mean to be portable will become  significantly valuable,“ designer Courtney Coleman, of Brockschmidt & Coleman,  anticipates. During the quarantine, Coleman has been “ operating at an antique games table that usually  remains folded against a wall and  just gets pulled out for card  video games and impromptu  suppers,“ much in the fashion of  design icon Lee Radziwill, who would often set up a card table by the fireplace in her all white living room.

“ Likewise, a  really  small piece of furniture that has  ended up being very  essential is a little Moorish  design table that gets  moved from  veranda to courtyard for lunches  and after that drinks in the  night,“ adds Coleman.

The demand for secretary desks, or other pieces with a close-able, hinged desktop surface, are  most likely to increase in demand as well. “If there‘s not a  devoted work room with a door, it‘s nice to have a closeable desk with a cabinet and some empty drawers  close by,“ says Brockschmidt. “An antique secretary is beautiful and  practical if a  laptop computer or computer  display can fit within.“.

Tucked-In Kitchens That  Link To Living  Spaces.
So how can we break the  cooking area off from the living room, to  prevent that over-used and yet under-utilized “ terrific room“ phenomenon?  Designers across the  nation are  wanting to traditional design devices like lower ceilings and cased openings for  services.

“ In my own house,  area was at a premium so I did  desire a “one-room answer“ to dining and living—  however I  likewise  wished to have my  kitchen area close by, of course,“  states Birmingham, AL-based architect Jeffrey Dungan.

“ To solve the run-on-sentence of design where it  simply  ends up being a bowling alley or has a warehouse feel, I tucked the kitchen into a lower ceiling and separated it with a  really broad and thickened arch. This  produced a  area that feels  extremely open,  aesthetically,  however  likewise  provided a separation of the kitchen‘s activity from the  amusing  location.“.

Ferguson & Shamamian‘s Oyen agreed, noting that architectural  information like beams and molding can “imply a separation without really creating one, which keeps rooms from feeling endless or  improperly proportioned.“.

 Particularly for kitchens, he proposes defining a little separation with architectural  gadgets like double-sided glass cabinets and large cased openings to “create a separation  in between an otherwise ‘connected‘ kitchen and a  fantastic room or  living room,“  states Oyen.

“ Large pocket doors also  offer  versatility,“ adds Brockschmidt. “We are working on a  task where the kitchen opens to the  dining-room. We‘re adding grand pocket doors so that the  cooking area  aesthetically expands into the elegant dining room  every day, but can be  quickly and elegantly  shut off for more formal  amusing.“.

More Bay Windows, Alcoves & Nooks.
The  energy of  developing subtle architectural separation  by means of  altering ceiling heights and bay window bump-outs extends beyond the  cooking area.

“  Altering ceiling heights in an open space can help to break up  big rooms. For example, a lower ceiling height in one area can create an alcove that  right away  recommends a place for a  various activity than the that of the  surrounding, larger space,“  states Oyen.


“  Specific niches and alcoves, which are both part of a space and  different at the same time,  typically create  locations like libraries or  research studies for specific activities while remaining  linked to the rooms they serve.“.

Gidiere extolls the virtue of a bay window, particularly for how it  offers a moment of respite or pause within a  center of activity, like a kitchen or family room,  in the house.

“ A bay window is  appealing  since it  offers you  3 things at once: gorgeous light, a  remarkable view, and  additional space,“ says Gidiere. “When you  combine with a banquette, which is created with  convenience in mind, the space truly  welcomes us to slow down and to  remain a while. We need places for quite  break throughout our  houses to feed those  minutes in our  hectic lives.“.

“ And, by  getting rid of the need for a 3‘ perimeter on all  4 sides  usually required for a dining table, you can literally squeeze in a  devoted dining space where it otherwise would have been unthinkable.“.

 Smaller Sized Master Bedrooms, With  Nearby, Specific-Use Spaces.
Nowhere is the alcove a  better  gadget than in a the master bedroom, which designers are  anticipating will become smaller as more Americans seek to partition off valuable square  video footage for other, more specific  usages.

“  Big  spaces are all too often just  huge and undistinguished,  especially  bedrooms,“ says Brockschmidt. “There are many  bedroom that  appear empty without a seating area, but that space often ends up not being used. That square footage might be  much better as a  different connected dressing room, sitting  space, or study alcove.

Plus, more  spaces  indicate more colors,“  includes Brockschmidt. “I love when a house has a blue room and a green room and a yellow  space  which‘s how they are referred to. In these times when we are spending so much time  in the house, it‘s nice to experience some  range.

More Upholstered  Spaces For  Comfort.
Those adjacent alcoves,  along with other  little  spaces like home offices, make  terrific  chances for upholstered walls, which not only beckon with coziness  however also  supply a degree of  sound buffering.

“ Tenting“ a  space— covering all surfaces of a space with fabric— is “cocooning at its best,“ says interior designer Alessandra Branca. “They  conjure up the illusion of more  fascinating architecture  just by  developing the look of a pitched ceiling, and  offer a  lovely opportunity for escape.“.

Garden  Gain Access To— And Views—  All over.
Another way to  develop a sense of escape  in the house is  by means of connection to the outdoors, which Brockschmidt concedes  has actually  never ever been  more vital.

“ The importance of a connection to the outdoors— even a  little one— in these stay-at-home days can not be  undervalued,“ says Brockschmidt. “Even a Juliet  terrace is an  chance to experience the outdoors from head-to-toe in an otherwise interior  area.“.

Coleman, his  organization partner, agrees. “I‘ve been  thinking of how David Easton always considered architecture, landscape, and  embellishing as inseparable. When he  created a  space, he was as  concentrated on the views from the windows as he was on the furniture or wall finishes. He  ensured that the landscape was an extension of the interior  which it  added to the setting.“.


For those who have space for  lawns or gardens,  several access points to  smaller sized, more  specified “outdoor  spaces“ with variety of experiences  might become  more suitable to a single  big  backyard.

“ We have seven different access  indicate the gardens around our house, and five, or  perhaps six, different garden areas,“ notes Gidiere. “These garden  spaces more than double the space of our 4,500 square foot  home during temperate weather, and that  actually keeps us from feeling trapped under one roof.“.