Bereaved daughter joins call to ban production of outlawed toxic weedkiller

As a child, Julie Plumley remembers seeing her father spraying weedkiller at his farm in Dorset, with his arms bare and no mask on his face.

- Jon Ungoed-Thomas

She would work at his feet pulling out weeds as he sprayed the land from a container strapped on his back, with the breeze blowing the acutely toxic spray through air. John Stockley was later diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and always believed the weed-killer - called paraquat may have been involved. He died in 2017.

Syngenta, the Chinese-owned paraquat manufacturer, has moved in a recent court filing to settle claims in the US over allegations that farmers developed Parkinson's disease and kidney disorders after exposure to paraquat. The firm has said that despite the move to settle there is no merit to the allegations.

Paraquat was banned for use in the UK in 2007, but Syngenta is still permitted to make weedkiller at its plant in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, for export. Campaigners are calling an immediate ban on its UK production.

Plumley, who lives near Sherborne, Dorset, founded the charity Countrymen UK to provide support to people like her father. She said she had seen several cases of farmers and workers who have developed Parkinson's after using paraquat.