Paraquat is easily the most controversial herbicide in the world. Paraquat is not approved for use in Switzerland. But in a number of developing countries plantation workers and small farmers regularly spray paraquat to kill weeds. As a result, tens of thousands of people are poisoned every year and become ill. Thousands die painful accidental deaths or commit suicide. There is no antidote to paraquat poisoning.

The Swiss agrochemical corporation Syngenta is the world's foremost producer of paraquat. (Syngenta sells it under the trade name Gramoxone). Syngenta sells hundreds of millions of US Dollars worth of paraquat every year. By knowingly marketing their herbicide in countries where experts agree it cannot be safely used, the company is responsible for countless cases of serious or deadly poisoning caused by paraquat.

Berne Declaration (BD) is an independent organization engaged in a campaign together with many other NGOs and unions to ban the use and production of paraquat across the world. To highlight the urgency of our campaign we call on civil society to publicly condemn Syngenta's inhuman business policies.