In landmark move, Yavatmal pesticide contact poisoning victims file case in Bern against agrochemical company Syngenta

In 2017, over 60 farmers died, and hundreds were affected reportedly by the increased use of pesticides sprayed without any protective gear, on the cotton crop in Yavatmal and other districts of Maharashtra. In a first, a group of farmers from Yavatmal, Maharashtra, who suffered from contact pesticide poisoning in 2017, have filed a complaint along with their families, against the Switzerland-based agrochemical multinational company Syngenta in two separate instances. The specific instance complaint seeks remedy for violating OECD Guidelines Chapters II, IV and VII by Syngenta AG, and Syngenta India Ltd. for selling its pesticide Polo to the Yavatmal farmers who subsequently suffered severe negative health impacts from pesticide poisoning. In a separate matter, also on 17 September, a survivor of poisoning and two women whose husbands died due to contact poisoning, filed lawsuits against Syngenta in a civil court in Bern, demanding monetary compensation for loss of lives and suffering, according to Dr Narasimha Reddy, advisor to PAN India and the.