Poison Pusher: Michael Pragnell, CEO of Syngenta

Syngenta, a Swiss multinational, makes and promotes many harmful chemicals, including paraquat, a notorious herbicide that has inflicted widespread harm on farmworkers around the world. Chief Executive Michael Pragnell has also been head of Responsible Industry for Sound Environment, an international industry-sponsored group that spends millions to promote pesticide and herbicide poisons as “safe.” Under Pragnell’s leadership, many of Syngenta’s destructive products have continued to hurt people and put the world’s food supply at risk.

According to “Who Benefits from GM Crops?” a 2006 Friends of the Earth International report, “Pragnell proudly shows off Syngenta’s close ties to governments, and apparently sees nothing wrong with the industry writing laws to regulate itself on GMOs.” In December 2006, a state governor in Brazil seized a Syngenta GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) research facility, charging that the company’s testing of experimental genetically engineered seed on corn and soy crops was illegal.

Along with Monsanto and other agro-chemical corporations, Syngenta produces not only pesticides (second largest globally) but also genetically engineered seed. It is the world’s third-largest commercial seed company. It has been pressing African countries to adopt GE crops before adequate testing and safety regulations can be put in place. In 2000, Syngenta was accused of illegally growing contaminated GE maize in New Zealand and shipping it around the world. Similar allegations have been made regarding Syngenta’s introduction of its GE “golden rice” in Asia.

According to GMO Watch, “In March 2006, South American farmers wrote to Michael Pragnell pleading with him to abandon Patent 6,700,039, which could directly threaten the 3,000 potato varieties native to Peru…. If potatoes modified with the ‘terminator gene’ were to cross with other cultivated varieties, Syngenta could effectively take control of the Peruvian food supply through the sales of proprietary chemicals required to ‘switch on’ the potato germination process.” Terminator technology prevents planting proprietary GE varieties in subsequent years, trapping farmers into buying the patented seed or starts from Syngenta every year.

In December 2006, Syngenta was forced to pay restitution to employees who developed bladder cancer while working at its factory in Monthey, Switzerland. Three of Syngenta’s five U.S. industrial facilities rank among the worst 30% of comparable facilities in total toxic releases.

Syngenta hired biologist Dr. Tyrone Hayes to evaluate the enivironmental impact of atrazine, its heavily marketed pesticide. When Hayes reported strong evidence that atrazine could be responsible for endocrine disruption in frogs in the upper Midwest, Syngenta reportedly attempted to silence Hayes. When that failed, they then tried to discredit him (see the story in our Fall 2006 issue, reprinted from Harper’s). Hayes replicated his research and has continued speaking out on the dangers of atrazine.

Syngenta, along with Novartis and Astra Zeneca (two companies the conglomerate recently acquired) has a long history of contributing millions to Congressmembers, with 70% going to Republicans. Recipients include Senator Sam Brownback and Representative Paul Gillmor, who have promoted legislation to weaken public health and environmental accountability of U.S. chemical corporations. Brownback and Gillmor also have led attacks on international treaties and EU laws on chemical regulation. In 2006, Syngenta reported spending $4.2 million to lobby the EPA, FDA, USDA, Congress, and the White House.