After two recent stories that focused largely on Syngenta were published by The New York Times, Syngenta Chief Executive Erik Fyrwald submitted a letter to the editor, respectfully challenging assertions made in the articles and offering the company’s perspective.
In case you missed it, here are some highlights from the letter as well as links to the original articles:
In “A Weed Killer Made in Britain, for Export Only” (“Uncertain Harvest” series, front page, Dec. 21), Frywald points out the article tries to link the herbicide paraquat with Parkinson’s disease. Frywald writes that Syngenta’s studies, based on the most widely used experimental mouse model, show paraquat does not cause Parkinson’s-like pathology.
Frywald also defends Syngenta’s researchers, noting that “Scientists Loved and Loathed by an Agrochemical Colossus” (“Uncertain Harvest” series, front page, Jan. 2) doesn’t reflect the hard work and commitment of 28,000 Syngenta employees and their many partners in NGOs, academia, research institutes, and governments. He also writes that the article “impuns the integrity of those partners, as well as the quality of their science.”
You can read Fyrwald’s entire letter to the editor, as published by The New York Times on Jan. 7 and on the newspaper’s web site on Jan. 6.
