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Dave Jilbert always wanted to be a farmer. He went to agricultural school, moved to a homestead, started a winery and eventually purchased 16 acres of farmland in the central Ohio valley. He grew grapes for about five years, until he felt himself slowing down. It wasn’t long before the tremors started. Jilbert, at the age of 61, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2021. “I’m not a doctor,” he said, “but all I know is I used paraquat and I got Parkinson’s.” There’s no definitive cause of Parkinson’s, a brain disease with no cure that gets worse over time, but researchers have found a majority of cases are environmental. Now Jilbert is suing. He argues that spraying a toxic pesticide called paraquat is to blame. And now he’s trying to get it banned. “I’m trying to keep people from doing what I did,” said Jilbert, now 66. “I don’t want people to be damaged like me.” With evidence of its harms stacking up, paraquat has already been banned in dozens of countries all over the world, including the United Kingdom and China, where it’s made. Yet last year, its manufacturer Syngenta, a subsidiary of a company owned by the Chinese government, continued selling paraquat in the United States and other nations that haven’t banned it. Paraquat is highly toxic, but one of the biggest concerns are the mounting allegations that low-level that exposure over a long period of time could be linked to Parkinson’s disease. Thousands of U.S. farmers have made this claim in court, but the cases are still pending.  Ramsey Archibald | rarchibald@al.com‘It’s degenerative’ When Jilbert started growing grapes, he did his research on weed control. He needed to contain suckers, shoots that quickly sprout at the base of the vine, strangling the fruit. It would either take weeks to clip the suckers by hand, or Jilbert could spend a couple of days spraying Gramoxone, a paraquat product manufactured by Syngenta. “It was a great herbicide,” he said. From 2014 through 2018, Jilbert loaded Gramoxone into a 50-gallon sprayer on the back of his tractor and wound through the vineyard, misting the seed bed of the vines. He needed a license to buy it from a farming co-op. But at the time, the only precautions involved wearing rubber gloves, a heavy shirt and goggles. Now, the regulators require respirators, enclosed cabs, among other safety measures. By 2020, Jilbert felt his hands stiffen as he changed the oil on his tractor. He chalked it up to getting older. When the tremors started, a doctor diagnosed Jilbert with Parkinson’s, telling him the brain disease is degenerative. Parkinson’s occurs when the brain cells that make dopamine, a chemical that controls movement, stop working or die. It’s the fastest growing neurodegenerative disease in the world with Parkinson’s Foundation research showing U.S. cases have risen by 50%. Ray Dorsey, a neurologist, says Parkinson’s disease is “largely preventable” with research showing that 87% of those with the disease do not have any genetic risk factors, or in other words, the cause “lies not within us but outside of us.” “If we clean up our environment, we get rid of Parkinson’s disease,” he said. Ohio farmer fights to ban pesticide after Parkinson's diagnosisBefore taking medication, Jilbert couldn’t fasten buttons, tuck in his shirt or tie his shoes. The next step was getting a DaTscan of his brain for a research trial. During that trial, a doctor explained that a healthy brain scan will light up with two bright commas. A brain scan with Parkinson’s will illuminate two periods. Jilbert walked out and looked at his scan results: two periods. “It’s degenerative,” he said. “That’s what keeps ringing back in my mind.” Almost five years in, Jilbert now takes 11 pills a day. His movements have improved, but his head bobs. He has off days and on days. “I’ve got a farm. I’ve got 26 acres. I’ve got the homestead,” Jilbert said. “It looks beautiful. The roads are straight and weeds in check. I followed all the labels. And then I get Parkinson’s.” Mass litigation After learning more about paraquat, Jilbert joined the mass action lawsuit against Syngenta and Chevron USA in 2021. He’s one of thousands of people who claim the chemical manufacturers knew about the dangers of paraquat but sold it anyway. The manufacturers “should have known that paraquat was a highly toxic substance that can cause severe neurological injuries,” the lawsuit argues, and should have taken steps “to ensure that people would not be harmed” by paraquat use. Jilbert’s suit argues he was exposed when mixing, loading and spraying paraquat on his vineyard. During that time, the lawsuit says he breathed in small droplets of the pesticide. “Once absorbed, the paraquat entered his bloodstream, attacked his nervous system and was a substantial factor in causing him to suffer Parkinson’s disease,” the suit claims. Jilbert did not comment on the lawsuit while it’s pending. Dave Jilbert bought a vineyard to grow grapes for his winery, Jilbert Winery, in Valley City, Ohio. After about five years, he felt himself starting to slow down. By 2021, Jilbert was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He has since retired from farming and winemaking, but he's now suing the manufacturer of a pesticide called Gramoxone, a paraquat product.  David Petkiewicz | cleveland.comA settlement agreement was reached earlier this year, which would resolve thousands of cases in Illinois, but the negotiations are still being worked out. Without a settlement, it could go to trial in 2026. Syngenta says settling does not imply paraquat causes Parkinson’s disease, but litigation can be costly and distracting. “We stand by the safety of paraquat,” a statement said. Syngenta has also rejected the claims, saying “despite decades of investigation and more than 1,200 epidemiological and laboratory studies of paraquat, no scientist or doctor has ever concluded in a peer-reviewed scientific analysis that paraquat causes Parkinson’s disease.” Chevron, which has never manufactured paraquat and has not sold it since 1986, also disputes the claims. Growing effort to ban In recent decades, more than 70 countries have banned paraquat because of its risks to human health. But it’s still allowed, and widely used, in the United States after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency re-registered paraquat for another 15 years because it did not find a clear link between paraquat and Parkinson’s disease. “I’m not a doctor, but all I know is I used paraquat and I got Parkinson’s.”Dave Jilbert, an Ohio farmer Several advocacy groups sued the EPA over this decision. Jilbert, since getting diagnosed with Parkinson’s, has joined a growing movement to get paraquat banned. He’s been to Washington D.C. twice to lobby lawmakers. “I didn’t ask for this, so that’s what makes me mad,” he said. “I wanted to tell my story and maybe I can keep it off the market. Do my part to stop the nonsense.” A coalition of Democratic U.S. lawmakers, expressing “grave concern,” also urged the EPA last year to ban paraquat. And legislation has been floated in California and Pennsylvania that would prohibit it on a state level. In the meantime, Jilbert retired from making wine this summer. His future with Parkinson’s feels uncertain. But he knows he wants to spend his remaining time with his wife of 37 years. “I’m reinventing my future philosophy for what’s to come,” he said. “Because I don’t know what’s going to come.”

Dave Jilbert was diagnosed with Parkinson's after he used a paraquat product at his Ohio vineyard. He's now suing the pesticide manufacturer and trying to get paraquat banned.