Malcolm Prior is a member of the Environment and Rural Affairs Team.
Some British farmers are calling for a ban on the production of toxic weedkiller Paraquat, saying studies suggest it could be a factor in Parkinson's Disease. Hundreds of US farm workers are pursuing a legal case against its manufacturer, accusing it of failing to warn them of the risk.
Pollard was once a farm manager who could jump into his tractor cab. His limbs are rigid and his body contorts. He can no longer control his movements due to Parkinson's Disease.
He spent decades spraying his land and didn't use protective equipment.
Sue says that paraquat was a really good thing to use.
She thought it was a coincidence that the only people she knew with Parkinson's were farm workers.
She asks why it hasn't been regulated and stopped.
377 companies have registered to sell Paraquat, which was first manufactured in the UK in the 1960s.
Millions of farmers have used it to kill weeds. Thousands of poisoning deaths have been caused by it.
Syngenta says claims of a link between Paraquat and Parkinson's are not supported by scientific evidence.
Julie Plumley founded Countrymen UK after her father John was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
The farm sells beef and lamb. Julie explains that the farmers come to the yard because they want to get on with living.
Parkinson's Disease is the world's fastest-growing neurological condition. The brain area affected is called the substantia nigra.
It leads to tremors in the limbs. Rural areas have higher rates of the disease.
If you had too many dock leaves or thistles, the council could take money away from you. All the farmers used paraquat.
He would carry a backpack filled with the chemical and spend hours hand-spraying the fields.
John developed the disease in his 40s and always believed there was a connection to the chemicals. His suspicion grew when Ken Barnes was diagnosed around the same time, he was also in his 40s and had been using Paraquat for years.
Ken is now at Julie's farm. He has a twinkle in his eye, but his clarity of speech has gone.
She wants it stopped in the UK and export stopped.
Since 2007, paraquat has not been approved for use in the EU. The brand name Gramoxone is still made at Syngenta's plant in the UK, despite the country leaving the EU. It is exported to a number of countries, including the US, Japan and Australia.
Nearly 900 farmers and field workers in the US have joined forces to file a lawsuit against Syngenta, claiming that the manufacturer hid the health risks associated with Paraquat.
The remaining multidistrict litigation case is due to come to court later this year.
The company has already paid $187 billion into a settlement fund, according to the most recent financial statement. The company believes that all of the claims are without merit and that the payment is to keep the claims from going any further.
Prof Heylings worked for Syngenta for more than 20 years. He gave evidence as an expert witness in the US legal action after retiring.
He said farmers who used it without protective equipment should be worried.
Does it cause Parkinson's when it gets into the brain? That is one of the key issues around the exposure. Who is responsible if this chemical causes Parkinson's?
There is no scientific consensus on whether or not there is an association between Paraquat and Parkinson's.
Parkinson's UK said studies show that exposure is a small increased risk.
A study in the US found that Paraquat contributed to Parkinson's progression. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the US Department of Health, found that people who used Paraquat developed Parkinson's two-and-a-half times more often than non- users.
There are scientists who think Syngenta is putting profits ahead of public health.
Prof Heylings has a Syngenta regulatory strategy document that was written in 2003 The author acknowledges a growing number of studies that show a correlation between incidence of Parkinson's Disease and the use of pesticides.
Syngenta is trying to influence researchers who are working on Paraquat and also influence the direction of the research because the last thing Syngenta wants is a big blow up on Parkinson's. The strategy was to downplay the risk of Parkinson's because of the potential neurotoxicity of Paraquat.
Jon Heylings is not qualified to comment on Parkinson's Disease. He is not aware that Syngenta conducted research on the issue after he left the company. We spent tens of millions of dollars investigating Paraquat and Parkinson's disease, but this figure doesn't include the monetary value of internal expert time.
Syngenta said it had invested hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure its safety.
More than 1,200 safety studies have been submitted to and reviewed by regulatory authorities around the world. Recent thorough reviews performed by the most advanced and science-based regulatory authorities, including the United States and Australia, continue to support the view that Paraquat is safe.
You can watch the full story on Countryfile on 3 April and afterwards on the iPlayer.
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