Syngenta accused of ignoring human rights through sale of toxic herbicide
Dec
14
Written by:
14/12/2011 18:47
To coincide with Human Rights Day last Saturday Berne Declaration highlighted the campaign against Syngenta's sale of the harmful herbicide Paraquat
Syngenta is the leading distributor of the chemical which it markets in over 100 countries, usually under the brand name ‘Gramoxone’. The herbicide is regularly used on banana, coffee, palm oil, rubber, fruit and pineapple plantations. Growers large and small use it copiously on their maize and rice fields.
Many workers and farmers exposed to paraquat on a regular basis have serious health problems, and deaths caused by the high toxicity of the herbicide, which has no antidote, are not infrequent.
The non-govermental organisation (NGO) accuses Syngenta of ignoring human rights by selling its Paraquat herbicide in developing countries. This claim is backed up by both the Permanent People’s Tribunal held in India and a legal opinion, carried out at the request of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and the Berne Declaration which details if and how Syngenta violates the human rights to health and life with the sale of Paraquat.
The basis for the controversial judgement was the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, adopted unanimously in June 2011 by the Human Rights Council in Geneva which examined the practices of agrochemical corporations.
The campaign “Stop Paraquat”, conducted by the Berne Declaration along with other NGOs, trade unions, and scientists around the world, calls to end the production and ban the use of the highly toxic and harmful herbicide.
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