June 10, 2026 | Supply: Natural Customers Affiliation | by Alexis Baden-Mayer
Paraquat is the deadliest chemical in U.S. agriculture. The Environmental Safety Company considers this herbicide too poisonous to make use of on golf programs, however permits it to be sprayed on our meals.
The EPA’s paraquat warning is, “One sip can kill.” It has collected many verified cases of dying after the unintended ingestion of tiny quantities.
Paraquat is so poisonous that it’s banned in not less than 74 nations, however continues to be one of the vital widely-used pesticides in the USA.
Paraquat causes Parkinson’s, the world’s fastest-growing neurodegenerative illness.
In accordance with the Parkinson’s Basis, which helps banning paraquat, within the U.S. annually, greater than 1.1 million individuals are affected by Parkinson’s, 90,000 individuals are newly identified, and this incurable illness racks up almost $82.2 billion in healthcare prices.
Paraquat additionally contributes to most cancers, the second commonest explanation for dying amongst youngsters ages 1-14 (after accidents). Paraquat is related to childhood acute myeloid leukemia. In adults, it’s linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and thyroid most cancers.
Paraquat can be a consider start defects.
China considers the human well being harms of paraquat to be too nice to permit its use.
After a slew of lawsuits, the Sinochem(Chinese language)-owned paraquat patent-holder Syngenta introduced that it might cease manufacturing by the top of June 2026. Syngenta will probably be closing its solely paraquat plant, situated in England. And, it can now not transfer paraquat via its manufacturing facility in St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, Louisiana, the place the herbicide is repackaged for distribution all through the U.S.
Let’s hope Syngenta retains its promise. It has been lobbying alongside Bayer for a legislative repair to its authorized issues and its former supervisor of federal authorities relations, Kelsey Barnes, is presently serving as senior advisor to U.S. Division of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
Even when Syngenta follows via on its plans to drop paraquat, that received’t save us from it. The highest U.S. producer, Sipcam Agro in Waynesboro, Wayne County, Mississippi, has no plans to stop.
Paraquat is extensively used within the U.S., primarily in California the place the highest two sprayers are J.G. Boswell, the nation’s largest cotton producer, and the Great Firm, the world’s largest almond and pistachio grower.
Nationwide, about 35 % of enormous business farms use paraquat to dry up crops like soybeans, corn, and cotton for harvest or to clear fields of weeds earlier than planting. Glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide continues to be the most well-liked weedkiller, however the issue of Roundup-resistant weeds has induced farmers to make use of paraquat as well as, tripling its use between 2006 and 2017.
The well being impacts of paraquat are extreme in areas the place it’s produced or sprayed.
Based mostly on pesticide use knowledge and precise circumstances of Parkinson’s in California, individuals who dwell and work close to paraquat spraying have a 91 % larger danger of creating the incurable neurodegenerative illness.
The quantity of paraquat emitted by Wayne County’s Sipcam Agro plant approaches what J. G. Boswell sprays over greater than 50,000 acres of cotton in California. Unsurprisingly, Wayne County has excessive charges of Parkinson’s deaths—within the prime 7 % of U.S. counties. In Mississippi, deaths from Parkinson’s are 12.2 per 100,000 folks. Nationwide, the typical is 11.5. In Wayne County, it’s 21.5.
Ending paraquat use may save lives with out lowering agricultural productiveness.
In Might 2026, Vermont turned the primary U.S. state to move a regulation to ban paraquat. The ban will take impact in 2030. The brand new regulation requires annual reporting for paraquat customers and offers for a state-funded research on alternate options. It additionally creates a restricted exception for cases the place “no different much less dangerous pesticide could be efficient in addressing an environmental or agricultural emergency.”
13 states launched payments to ban or limit the paraquat in 2026, together with Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
