Response from Chevron Chemical Company

(19 March 2021)

Chevron Chemical Company, which ceased operations more than 30 years ago, distributed Paraquat from 1966-1986.  Chevron Chemical Company pioneered many product-stewardship programs that permitted customers to safely use its products, including Paraquat.  These efforts included the first private poison-control hotline, the first child-resistant cap, applicator and farmer training programs, Paraquat poisoning-emergency treatment kits and physician guides, and product labeling that exceeded regulatory requirements.  During that time, ICI, the manufacturer of Paraquat, elected to include an emetic in Paraquat as an additional safety measure to further reduce the risk of accidental or intentional ingestion.  Chevron Chemical Company submitted all required animal and human clinical data regarding Paraquat to the United States EPA, which approved the emetic-containing formulation.  At the time, EPA publicly commented that it was “apparent that everything that could be done had been done” by Chevron Chemical Company to advise the public “of the severity of the misuse of Paraquat.”     

Response from Syngenta

(22 March 2021)

Jon Heylings’s allegations

At the heart of this matter is a fundamental disagreement between Jon Heylings, Greenpeace and a media-savvy American trial lawyer on one side and modern scientific and regulatory opinion on the other side. While it may sound appealing on first encounter, Heylings’s argument that increasing the level of emetic improves the safety of the product is overly simplistic; the reality is complex and modern medical and scientific opinion does not support Heylings’s viewpoint.

We have in good faith engaged extensively with Heylings over the last three years, and our scientists have invested hundreds of hours examining his concerns, corresponding and discussing them with him. He has brought his point of view to regulators and agencies like the US Environmental Protection Agency and the FAO/ WHO, who have not changed their recommendation about the emetic after being contacted by him.

Medical opinion has evolved in the thirty years since Heylings first worked on this product. Today, eminent medical experts advise against high emetic levels based on concerns that they can increase toxicity. In addition, emetic-induced vomiting of paraquat can cause additional damage. Several studies indicate little correlation between higher added emetic levels and improved outcomes in deliberate ingestion cases. Heylings is now turning to the media because his views have not been accepted by Syngenta or the regulatory bodies he approached and are not supported by modern medical science as well.

We would like to point out that at no time during his 30-year span of employment and contracting tenure with Syngenta did Jon Heylings raise these issues with the EPA or any other regulatory body. It was only after the contract his company had with Syngenta ended that he began his collaboration with a U.S. plaintiff’s lawyer and Greenpeace. He has since contacted the EPA and FAO and they have not changed their position.

You should also know that he removed company documents without permission. These documents have not been made available to Syngenta. 

We will make our response to Heylings public so that the world can see we deeply engaged in the scientific issues with him and that we have always put product safety first.

We are just one of the 377 companies worldwide that have registered paraquat for sale. 

We’d like to point out that Syngenta has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in developing and commercializing safer paraquat formulations.

We reject any suggestion that in developing this product Syngenta and its predecessor companies had any motive other than to find the most appropriate level of emetic in paraquat to best address the risk from accidental and deliberate ingestion.

For more than 55 years, Syngenta paraquat products have been approved by many regulatory agencies as safe and effective, including several important OECD agricultural economies such as New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Japan and the United States, where they have helped millions of farmers provide food.

Paraquat and how it is packaged

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