"Pesticide Poisoning Complaint against Swiss Firm Accepted by International Body", 17 Dec 2020 

Switzerland-based agrochemical company Syngenta is at the center of a new complaint related to pesticide poisoning of farmers in Yavatmal, India.

A complaint over the alleged poisoning of Indian farmers from Syngenta’s pesticide Polo in 2017 has been accepted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s national contact point. The acceptance allows for the aggrieved parties to begin negotiations...

In September, three victims of pesticide poisoning, allegedly from Polo, filed a lawsuit against Syngenta in a civil court in Basel, Switzerland...

A spokesperson for Syngenta said in an email [...] that there is “absolutely no evidence” to suggest Polo was responsible for the incidents...

“Polo has been successfully and safely used by Indian farmers across the country for many years,” the spokesperson said in a written response. “Syngenta has submitted its response to the complaint of various nongovernmental organizations to the National Contact Point for compliance with the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises.” ...

Syngenta, in a Nov. 18 statement to the National Contact Point, rejected the claims of any infringement of the guidelines and allegations of Polo being responsible for the 2017 poisonings.  The company said it was explicitly praised by Indian authorities for the “rapid, voluntary assistance it had provided around the alleged cases in India in fall 2017.” ...

In a press statement, the organizations said that Syngenta “categorically denied” any responsibility for the health and financial consequences of the events...

Syngenta said it looks forward to a constructive dialogue on fundamental issues of crop protection in the context of producing food for the world...