Buffalo, New York: Chlorpyrifos Parkinson’s Disease Lawsuits

Jed Dietrich, Esq., Recognized as a Best Lawyer and American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys 10 Best Attorney, is Committed to Protecting the Rights of Families Across Buffalo. If You or a Loved One Has Been Diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease After a Suspected Chlorpyrifos Exposure, Our Experienced Team of Attorneys Could Help You Collect the Evidence You Need to Obtain a Fair Settlement.

Chlorpyrifos is a common insecticide with a wide variety of uses.

Before 2000, chlorpyrifos was sometimes sprayed on lawns to help exterminate residential pests, like termites and ants. This type of residential use was eventually banned by the federal government over concerns that repeated exposures could prove toxic. However, despite tighter regulation, chlorpyrifos never went away; it remains common in agriculture and is still used to treat both soil and wood.

Chlorpyrifos exposure has long carried a host of well-known risks, up to and including that of long-term brain damage. Now, a growing body of evidence suggests that this common pesticide could have links to Parkinson’s disease, too. In December 2025, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles found that “long-term residential exposure to CPF [is] associated with more than a 2.5-fold increased risk of developing PD,” a life-altering condition with no known cure.

If you or a loved one believe that your Parkinson’s disease diagnosis was caused by a past chlorpyrifos exposure, you could be entitled to significant compensation. As a recognized U.S. News & World Report Best Law Firm, we have spent decades helping Buffalo and Niagara Falls families assert their rights to a fair recovery. We could help you, too, but you have to act fast. Call Jed Dietrich, Esq., today at 716-839-3939 to speak to a chlorpyrifos injury lawyer in Buffalo and schedule your 100% free, no-obligation consultation as soon as possible.

Chlorpyrifos is a type of broad-spectrum organophosphate insecticide that can act as a nerve agent. It works by attacking insects’ nervous systems, blocking a critical enzyme that controls communication between nerve cells. When this enzyme is blocked, the nervous system cannot send signals, causing it to malfunction. With insects, exposure to chlorpyrifos can quickly cause paralysis, seizures, and, eventually, death.

However, while chlorpyrifos was designed to kill pests, it does not discriminate.

For people, simply breathing the air in an area in which chlorpyrifos was recently sprayed can produce a variety of immediate symptoms, including:

1. Headaches;
2. Blurred vision;
3. Watery eyes;
4. Excessive salivation (drooling);
5. Dizziness;
6. Confusion;
7. Muscle weakness;
8. Nausea;
9. Diarrhea; and
10. Sudden changes in heart rate.

Higher concentrations of chlorpyrifos can cause even more serious symptoms, ranging from excessive sweating to severe muscle tremors and even seizures. Some people who are exposed to unusually high concentrations of pesticide can go into a coma or die without treatment.

Researchers now believe that chlorpyrifos could be connected with Parkinson’s disease, too. The UCLA team, for instance, determined that “long-term exposure to CPF is associated with an up to 174% increased risk of developing PD.” Laboratory-controlled experiments on mice also found that chlorpyrifos triggered Parkinson’s-related symptoms like “motor dysfunction, DA neuron loss … and neuroinflammation.”

“Taken together,” researchers wrote, “these findings strongly support a causal association between CPF exposure and [Parkinson’s disease].”

Parkinson’s disease is a movement disorder that cannot be cured and worsens over time.

In its early stages, Parkinson’s disease is not always noticeable. The most common initial symptoms involve tremors, usually in a single hand but sometimes in a foot or the jaw, too. It can also cause feelings of stiffness, slow movement, and difficulty balancing, which, in the elderly, increases the risk of serious falls.

As Parkinson’s disease evolves, its symptoms become more serious. You might notice:

1. Difficulty performing “automatic movements” like blinking, breathing, and swinging your arms;
2. Changes in speech that can cause slurring and which make your tone sound flat or monotone;
3. Difficulty writing, or writing that has become unusually cramped and crowded; and
4. A wide range of non-motor symptoms, including depression, anxiety, and trouble falling or staying asleep.

Parkinson’s disease has no known cure, but medication and treatment are often effective in slowing its progression.

People can be exposed to chlorpyrifos by eating contaminated products, breathing in fumes, or getting insecticide on their skin or in their eyes. Most exposures can be traced back to:

1. Eating fruits, vegetables, or grains that have been treated with pesticides;
2. Drinking water that was contaminated by chlorpyrifos;
3. Breathing air in or around a home, farm field, or other area in which pesticides were recently sprayed;
4. Physically touching recently-treated soil, crops, or surfaces; and
5. Secondary exposure, which can occur when agricultural workers wear pesticide-contaminated clothing at home, potentially affecting other family members.

Chlorpyrifos exposure does not cause conditions like Parkinson’s disease overnight.

“Importantly,” researchers say, “[chlorpyrifos] exposure that occurred 10-20 years prior to disease onset was more strongly associated with [Parkinson’s disease] than the 10-year period before PD onset.”

In other words, most people who develop Parkinson’s disease as the direct result of chlorpyrifos exposure, whether at home or in the workplace, would not know immediately whether they have been hurt. It can take decades for symptoms to begin showing up, but once they do, they never go away.

Although you cannot take back a life-altering diagnosis, you do not have to bear the burden alone.

Lawyers and health regulators now believe that pesticide manufacturers knew, or should have known, that products like chlorpyrifos could cause conditions up to and including Parkinson’s disease. But instead of warning the public, many companies chose to protect their profits and stay silent.

Since our founding in 2005, the Dietrich Law Firm P.C. has helped our clients across Upstate New York secure more than $300 million in damages money that they have used to eliminate medical debt, seek the best possible care, and reclaim their financial independence. If you think you could have a chlorpyrifos Parkinson’s disease claim, call Jed Dietrich, Esq., today at 716-839-3939 to speak to a pesticide injury lawyer and schedule your 100% free, no-obligation consultation as soon as possible.

Call the Dietrich Law Firm P.C. immediately at 716-839-3939 so that our aggressive, tenacious, and hardworking personal injury lawyers can fight to obtain the best result for your personal injury claim in Buffalo, New York. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and there is never a fee until we WIN for you!