PANNA: Syngenta Corporate Fact Sheet

Overview
Syngenta is currently the largest agrochemical company in the world.¹ Syngenta and the companies that merged to form it (see Profile) are responsible for illegal chemical dumping, disastrous chemical spills and explosions, testing pesticides on people, and harassing and misleading farmers. This record clearly conflicts with World Bank guidelines for private sector partnerships, which require that companies have good reputations and have goals that are compatible with the World Bank’s mission of poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

Breaking the law
Toms River Dumping
For over 20 years, a Ciba Geigy production plant on Toms River, New Jersey, dumped four million gallons a day of carcinogenic/ teratogenic chemical waste into the Atlantic Ocean, 2,500 feet offshore from a popular beach. In 1992, Ciba agreed to stop the dumping and to pay US$61.35 million in fines/cleanup costs for illegal dumping of toxic waste on or near the site.²

Illegal toxic shipments
Ciba-Geigy admitted to the “mistake” of shipping 405,000 liters of DDT to Tanzania between 1988 and 1990, a violation of the FAO Code of Conduct on the Distribution of Pesticides and a violation of the company’s own policy guidelines.³

U.S. EPA fines Syngenta-owned seed company
Northup King, a seed company owned by Syngenta, agreed to pay US$165,200 for illegally importing genetically engineered corn from Chile into the U.S. and illegally producing the Bt pesticide in eight unregistered facilities.⁴

Harming health and the environment
Rhine disaster
This industrial accident has been described as “one of the world’s most serious chemical disasters.” During a 1986 fire at a Sandoz chemical plant, near Basel, Switzerland, up to 30 tons of at least 35 different chemicals (pesticides, dyes and heavy metals) including insecticides and tons of mercury washed into the Rhine.^5,6 The spill devastated the river’s ecosystem, killing more than 500,000 fish and eliminating several species. The river was considered ‘biologically dead’ for 300 km downstream. ⁷ Sandoz moved all production to Brazil by 1989 after another near-spill on the Rhine.⁸

Company Profile Syngenta, a Switzerland-based multinational corporation, was formed in November 2000 by the merger of Novartis Agribusiness (Switzerland) and Zeneca Agrochemicals (United Kingdom). Novartis was formed in 1996 by the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz; at the time, it was the largest corporate merger in history. 1 Zeneca was formed after a split from Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in 1993. Syngenta employs more than 20,000 people worldwide and is divided into two divisions: crop protection (pesticides) and seeds.2 Syngenta has an extensive global network of national pesticide companies that is in large part responsible for its success in selling pesticides. Notes 1 Novartis Web site, http://www.novartis.com. 2 Syngenta Web site, http://www.syngenta.com.

Testing pesticides on humans
A preliminary U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) analysis in 2000 found that a child could inhale up to 250 times the amount of pesticides such as diazinon considered “safe” after a basic “crack and crevice” treatment by an exterminator. ⁹ Novartis claimed that “the risk for children is grossly overestimated,” and proceeded with tests on human subjects to back their claims. Since at least 1998, Novartis has been testing direct oral doses of diazinon on human volunteers in the U.S. and Britain.¹⁰

In 1975, Ciba-Geigy spray tested the highly hazardous (World Health Organization Class Ib) nerve toxin monocrotophos on 40 people in India. In 1976, Ciba-Geigy tested the carcinogen chlordimeform on six Egyptian children.¹¹

Explosion at pesticide plant, Pakistan
In 1994, an explosion and fire at Ciba-Geigy’s chemical plant in Karachi, Pakistan, burned for over three hours before it was brought under control. The company stated that it lost 85 tons of pesticides in the fire, some of which drifted in a several-kilometer radius and sent firefighters and plant workers to the hospital.¹²

Superfund sites
Government designated “Superfund” sites are uncontrolled or abandoned sites where hazardous waste is located in the United States. As of January 2002, Syngenta subsidiaries are responsible for at least 18 Superfund sites, three of which are “extremely hazardous,” according to the EPA.¹³

Pesticides Syngenta owns more than 120 pesticide active ingredients and has over 20 top selling brands of pesticides. Some of its top pesticides include: • Gramaxone (active ingredient paraquat)—Swallowing as little as one teaspoonful of paraquat can be fatal. Paraquat is extremely hazardous to mammals by all routes of exposure.1 • AAtrex/Gesaprim (atrazine)—Atrazine is a known endocrine disruptor, which interferes with hormone function, and is also a possible human carcinogen.2 • Bravo (chlorothalonil)—Chlorothalonil is listed by EPA as a probable human carcinogen.3 • Topik (clodinafop)—According to EPA, clodinafop is a probable human carcinogen.4 Notes 1 PAN International, Dirty Dozen Pesticide Fact Sheets, 1990. 2 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Pesticide Programs List of Chemicals Evaluated for Carcinogenic Potential, August 30, 2000. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid.

Undermining small farmers
Terminator technology
Peasant and small farmer organizations and coalitions around the world have come out against Gene Use Restriction Technology (GURT, also known as Terminator or Traitor technology). GURTs include modifications that allow control of crop fertility, flower-timing, sprout-timing, aging and crop susceptibility to disease (unless treated with chemicals). As of October 2000, Syngneta owned 25 patents for GURTs, out of 60 issued by the U.S. Patent Office.¹⁴ Syngenta owns at least seven patents that deal specifically with genetic sterilization (or Terminator) technology.¹⁵

Harrassing farmers
ICI was among a group of 17 multinationals that tried to suppress evidence that their herbicides were causing widespread damage in South Africa. A group of farmers had filed a suit against the 17 companies to stop the manufacture and sale of one class of herbicides in the country. The Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit on the grounds that it should have been directed against herbicide users and not manufacturers or distributors. The court ruled that the farmers pay US$290,000 to the companies for legal expenses. The companies offered to waive the fees if the farmers agreed to openly support the products (in an ad campaign) and to never campaign against the corporations again.¹⁶

False advertising
In its 1997 marketing campaigns, Zeneca quoted a study that documented lambda-cyhalothrin, a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide, as having a minimal effect on natural enemies of pests. However, an independent study in Vietnam sponsored by the Danish government obtained similar results only in fields already severely damaged by insecticide use. In undisturbed fields, lambda-cyhalothrin had a severe negative impact on all groups of beneficial insects.¹⁷

In 1993, ICI ran a vigorous ad campaign in Malaysia about the “environmental friendliness” of paraquat, an herbicide now produced by Syngenta. ICI claimed that paraquat is absorbed, held and “deactivated” by clay, contrary to data from U.S. EPA, and that it improves soil fertility, although it in fact kills nitrogen- fixing soil microbes. The ads also stated that paraquat does not harm aquatic life, however World Health Organization data show increased mortality in various fish and frog populations. ¹⁸ The chemical depletes oxygen levels by killing algae and other aquatic plants. The ad campaign was discontinued as a result of public pressure.¹⁹

March 2002