Pesticide manufacturer Syngenta is alleging potential collaboration between a New York neurologist, plaintiffs’ lawyers and journalists regarding a scientific paper that associates the company’s weedkiller, paraquat, with Alzheimer’s disease.
The suspect in question is Dr. Earl Ray Dorsey, a professor at the University of Rochester, who in an article published in 2023, linked paraquat to the degenerative brain disease.
In a motion submitted on August 10 to enforce a subpoena issued three months earlier for papers related to Dorsey’s article, Syngenta accuses plaintiffs’ lawyers of possibly involving themselves in, or endorsing, Dorsey’s research. In the following paraquat multidistrict litigation, plaintiffs’ lawyers have, according to the motion, “repeatedly” utilized Dorsey’s research “through their briefing and expert reports.”
In defense this week, Dorsey’s lawyers have responded by asserting that their client “was never instructed, coached, or encouraged to prepare his article.”