Syngenta is the Swiss-based agrichemical large behind the weedkiller Gramoxone, a paraquat-based product. In early March, Syngenta introduced that it could stop producing Gramoxone at its Huddersfield, United Kingdom facility by the tip of June.
That is excellent news as a result of paraquat has been linked to various well being implications, together with an elevated danger of Parkinson’s illness and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Greater than 70 international locations have banned agricultural use of the chemical, nevertheless it continues to stay authorized in america.
That is the final manufacturing facility worldwide the place the Swiss-based firm is presently making this product. This announcement marks a step ahead within the continued push to ban paraquat as soon as and for all.
Why Specialists Are Skeptical About Syngenta’s Announcement
Regardless of this hopeful information, specialists warning towards celebrating too quickly. “Gramoxone is the most well-liked paraquat model product within the US, however they’re solely 40-50% of paraquat gross sales,” says Environmental Working Group Legislative Director Geoff Horsfield. Certainly, Syngenta cites “vital competitors” as one of many chief causes for halting manufacturing1 — and even this, in accordance with Horsfield, might solely be a brief halt.
“Syngenta makes no touch upon their Gramoxone model,” says Horsfield of the corporate’s latest announcement. “They don’t commit to finish the Gramoxone model. They don’t decide to not promoting paraquat.”
In line with Horsfield, Syngenta (which was acquired by Chinese language state-owned chemical conglomerate ChemChina in 2017) may relaunch manufacturing of Gramoxone at any time. “Syngenta [ChemChina] has a pesticide manufacturing facility in China,” he says, “which means it’s potential that they might shift manufacturing there.”
He stresses the significance of a nationwide paraquat ban to make sure that the chemical is absent from American fields as soon as and for all. “The one manner to make sure we will defend communities and farmers from paraquat is for governments to ban paraquat,” he says.
Legality of Paraquat Across the World
Paraquat was first synthesized in 1882 and has been used as an herbicide since 1962, after the 1955 discovery of its weedkilling properties on the laboratories of Imperial Chemical Industries in Berkshire, England. Gramoxone has been produced within the UK ever since, albeit solely for export since 2007. It was on this yr that the European Union (to which Britain nonetheless belonged on the time) lastly outlawed its use, after Sweden took the European Fee to court docket for ignoring proof of paraquat’s neurotoxicity. (The herbicide has been outlawed in Switzerland, Syngenta’s headquarters, since 1989.)
Which means for practically 20 years, Nice Britain produced an herbicide so deadly it refused to spray it by itself fields. Sluggish Meals explored this ironic double-standard in depth, highlighting the regulatory hole that has allowed EU international locations to provide and export tens of hundreds of tons of harmful pesticides to low- or middle-income international locations, the place misuse of paraquat particularly has led to over 1,000 deaths2.
In 2018, in accordance with a joint investigation from Public Eye and Unearthed, British authorities accepted the export of greater than 28,000 tons of paraquat-based merchandise3. And in the identical yr, EU member international locations accepted the export of 81,615 tons of pesticides containing substances banned to be used in Europe. Syngenta was proven to be the most important exporter “by far,” exporting practically thrice as a lot as Corteva, its closest competitor. At the moment, regardless of a 2020 promise to make sure that “hazardous chemical compounds banned within the EU should not produced for export,” the observe continues.
Use of Paraquat within the U.S.
Whereas three-quarters of the international locations that import pesticides banned in Europe are low- or middle-income international locations, america is a notable exception relating to paraquat. The U.S. has but to ban this harmful chemical — paraquat has been used right here since 1964, totally on soybeans, cotton, corn, grapes, pistachios, and peanuts. From there, it makes its manner into not solely crops however a spread of on a regular basis family meals and merchandise, like Cheerios.
Whereas Syngenta’s announcement might hold Gramoxone off of American fields (for now), Horsfield cites different potential sources like Axill, Helena Agri Enterprises, Jacobo LLC, Supply Dynamics, and RedEagle Worldwide. And that’s not even scratching the floor of different dangerous pesticides like dicamba and the broadly controversial glyphosate (present in Monsanto’s Roundup).
“It’s troublesome to totally map out the place corporations might produce paraquat as a result of it’s all proprietary data,” he says. He additionally notes, nonetheless, that “dozens of different manufacturers within the US and elsewhere nonetheless use paraquat — and most of these manufacturing services are based mostly in China or Taiwan.” Very similar to Nice Britain, regardless of these exports — China banned using paraquat in its personal agriculture in 2017; Taiwan banned it in 2018.
Twelve states are presently weighing payments to restrict using paraquat or prohibit it totally, with some laws focusing particularly on the world close to public colleges. In early January, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin posted on social media that the company would “freshly reassess the security” of the chemical.
Paraquat and Parkinson’s Illness
Paraquat is linked to various well being dangers, probably the most well-documented of which is an elevated danger of Parkinson’s Illness. A 2019 meta-analysis of 13 research discovered that paraquat publicity may improve the chance of growing Parkinson’s by 64%4, and a 2024 research within the Worldwide Journal of Epidemiology discovered that individuals residing or working inside 500 meters of paraquat utility may greater than double their probabilities of growing the illness5.
Syngenta is presently dealing with greater than 8,000 lawsuits introduced by folks within the States who allege that they developed Parkinson’s Illness as a direct results of these merchandise. The corporate maintains that paraquat doesn’t trigger Parkinson’s illness, calling the proof “fragmentary” and “inconclusive.” However in accordance with the EWG, Syngenta has lengthy understood the well being dangers of paraquat. They write that the corporate “spent a long time hiding this information from the general public and the EPA6.” And in 2022, The New Lede obtained and revealed damning proof: the so-called “Paraquat Papers,” which revealed a company coverup scheme from throughout the firm relationship again to the Fifties7.
“Although the paperwork reviewed don’t present that Syngenta’s scientists and executives believed that paraquat may cause Parkinson’s, they do present a company give attention to methods to guard product gross sales, refute exterior scientific analysis, and affect regulators,” reported The New Lede on the time.
Different Well being Dangers of Paraquat
Parkinson’s isn’t the one well being hazard linked to the herbicide. Research have additionally linked the chemical to elevated danger of thyroid illness8, impaired kidney perform9, and cancers of the cervix, penis, lungs, blood, and pores and skin10. And in 2025, EPA launched a memorandum noting that the chemical’s potential for volatility is extra unsure than beforehand thought-about, which means greater dangers for bystanders11. They could even have lasting results on growing brains by way of publicity in pregnant ladies.
In conclusion, whereas Syngenta’s announcement is actually excellent news for the well being of Individuals, it’s removed from the tip of the battle.
Sources:
- https://www.syngenta.com/media/syngenta-cease-paraquat-production-uk-2026
- https://www.slowfood.com/blog-and-news/banned-at-home-sold-abroad-the-eus-pesticide-hypocrisy/
- https://www.publiceye.ch/en/matters/pesticides/banned-in-europe
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30474499/
- https://tutorial.oup.com/ije/article/53/1/dyae004/7597790
- https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2026/03/syngenta-stopping-global-paraquat-production-doesnt-end-need
- https://www.thenewlede.org/2022/10/secret-paraquat-papers-reveal-corporate-tactics-to-protect-weed-killer-linked-to-parkinsons-disease/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39449422/
- https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/3278
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3058830/
- https://www.epa.gov/ingredients-used-pesticide-products/paraquat-dichloride
