{"id":94119,"date":"2026-08-15T00:10:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T00:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/this-pesticide-may-be-too-dangerous-to-use-farmers-say-they-need-it\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T00:10:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T00:10:56","slug":"this-pesticide-may-be-too-dangerous-to-use-farmers-say-they-need-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/this-pesticide-may-be-too-dangerous-to-use-farmers-say-they-need-it\/","title":{"rendered":"This Pesticide May Be Too Dangerous to Use. Farmers Say They Need It."},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">California\u2019s pesticide regulator announced on Monday the state would phase out the herbicide paraquat, which studies increasingly associate with Parkinson\u2019s disease and other health problems.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">The action by the country\u2019s largest agricultural state highlights the growing concerns over the chemical\u2019s health effects, even as American farmers say it is an essential tool and continue to spray millions of pounds of it on crops each year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-povzk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.syngenta.com\/media\/syngenta-cease-paraquat-production-uk-2026\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">In March<\/a>, following lawsuits from thousands of people who blame paraquat for their illnesses, the agrochemical company Syngenta announced it would stop producing the chemical, leaving generic manufacturers to fill the void.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">A company spokesperson said that the claims made in the lawsuits were meritless.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-povzk\" href=\"https:\/\/governor.vermont.gov\/press-release\/action-taken-governor-phil-scott-legislation-may-26-2026\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">In May<\/a>, Vermont became the first state to ban paraquat, and in June, two congresswomen from opposite ideological camps \u2014 Representative Chellie Pingree, Democrat of Maine, and Representative Anna Paulina Luna, Republican of Florida \u2014 introduced a bill to prohibit it nationwide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">For now, federal regulators have declined to act. Environmental advocates say this reflects how unwieldy the country\u2019s pesticide laws are, and how difficult it is to eliminate a chemical that some farmers say they can\u2019t do without.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">Commercialized in the 1960s, paraquat quickly became one of the world\u2019s most popular weedkillers. It works by snatching electrons from other molecules and releasing free radicals to kill nearby cells. Within hours of applying it to weeds, farmers see them wilt and brown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">Chris Goodman, whose family has been farming in Tift County, Ga., since the 1850s, said he uses hundreds of gallons of paraquat each year, mainly to kill pigweed that springs up before he can sow cotton and peanuts. Without it, he said, he would need to till his fields between harvests and would lose more of the topsoil.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">He takes the precaution of wearing gloves, but was not concerned about health risks. \u201cI\u2019ve been spraying paraquat since I was 10,\u201d he said, \u201cand I don\u2019t have Parkinson\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">In contrast, Stephanie Johnson can\u2019t say for certain whether her husband, Rick, was exposed to paraquat during years as a Wisconsin dairy inspector, but she lost him to Parkinson\u2019s disease in 2023, three months before she got the same diagnosis herself. She has since advocated to outlaw the pesticide. \u201cI don\u2019t understand why we have not banned it in this country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">For decades, paraquat was not thought to cross the blood-brain barrier in humans exposed to it. But <a class=\"css-povzk\" href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/12641729\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">studies in the early 2000s<\/a> began to show that not only could the chemical access the brain, but also once there, it affected dopamine-producing neurons targeted by Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">Dr. Donato Di Monte, an author of some of the studies, said paraquat also promoted the accumulation of a protein associated with Parkinson\u2019s. \u201cWe don\u2019t have the killer with the gun in his hand,\u201d he said, \u201cbut we do have a lot of clues that, put together, make us rather concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">Dr. Caroline Tanner, a professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, went further. Fifteen years ago, she led <a class=\"css-povzk\" href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC3114824\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a study<\/a> that sent teams of neurologists onto farms across Iowa and North Carolina to examine aging pesticide applicators; those who had used paraquat were about two and a half times as likely to have the disease. \u201cParaquat is definitely associated with an increased risk for developing Parkinson\u2019s,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">Researchers with Imperial Chemical Industries and Chevron Chemical, Syngenta\u2019s predecessor companies, themselves noted paraquat\u2019s adverse effects on brain tissue as early as the 1970s, according to corporate records disclosed as part of litigation and <a class=\"css-povzk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenewlede.org\/2022\/10\/secret-paraquat-papers-reveal-corporate-tactics-to-protect-weed-killer-linked-to-parkinsons-disease\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">obtained in 2022 by The New Lede<\/a>, a news website that is a project of the Environmental Working Group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-povzk\" href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC9928820\/#MOESM1\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">About 70 countries<\/a> have banned the substance, including the European Union, Brazil and China. Some did so because the pesticide became <a class=\"css-povzk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/06\/10\/health\/paraquat-pesticides-suicide-suriname.html\" title=\"\">a leading means of suicide<\/a> among agricultural workers and their families, because of its extreme lethality. In India, where <a class=\"css-povzk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/industry\/agriculture\/govt-issues-draft-rules-to-ban-paraquat-dichloride-over-health-concerns-126071401040_1.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a paraquat ban is under consideration<\/a> but the substance is still available, scientists estimate it is implicated in 10,000 to 20,000 suicide deaths per year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">American farmers spray millions of pounds of it on crops each year, though experts could not say precisely how much. When The New York Times requested public records on paraquat manufacturers and importers, the Environmental Protection Agency withheld how much paraquat each imported or produced. <a class=\"css-povzk\" href=\"https:\/\/water.usgs.gov\/nawqa\/pnsp\/usage\/maps\/show_map.php?year=2018&amp;map=PARAQUAT&amp;hilo=L&amp;disp=Paraquat\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Published government data<\/a> show its use more than doubled from 2008 to 2018, partly because weeds were developing resistance to other pesticides.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">In 2021, the E.P.A. concluded that the evidence was insufficient to establish that paraquat causes Parkinson\u2019s disease. Rather than banning the pesticide, the agency limited access to certified users and required special safety equipment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">But in 2024, Syngenta submitted a study to the agency showing paraquat turns to vapor <a class=\"css-povzk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.regulations.gov\/document\/EPA-HQ-OPP-2011-0855-0554\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">more than 4,000 times as readily<\/a> as previously thought, and could spread much further through the air. In the Biden administration\u2019s final days, the agency withdrew its earlier conclusion and <a class=\"css-povzk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/pesticides\/epa-updates-review-potential-paraquat-volatilization-and-plans-request-additional-data\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">asked the company to run years of further field studies<\/a>, which are ongoing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">Syngenta maintains that paraquat is \u201cessentially nonvolatile under field conditions,\u201d a company spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">The federal law governing pesticide regulation \u2014 the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act \u2014 generally requires regulators to weigh a chemical\u2019s risks against its benefits to agriculture, which makes outright bans difficult. And when the E.P.A. does act, the courts can intervene: When the agency restricted another pesticide, chlorpyrifos, from use on food crops, a federal appeals court threw out the decision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">\u201cOur pesticide laws are broken, and our pesticide regulator is culturally biased in favor of defending the status quo,\u201d said Scott Faber, a senior vice president at the Environmental Working Group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">Jim Jones, who oversaw the E.P.A.\u2019s pesticides program from 2011 to 2017, said the agency\u2019s view during his tenure was that imposing strict safety requirements for paraquat was enough to prevent exposure. But as the science shifted and accidental exposures continued, he came to regret that view, he said. He recently joined seven other former E.P.A. officials in <a class=\"css-povzk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenewlede.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Paraquat-Letter20.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a letter<\/a> calling for a ban.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">\u201cI think paraquat should be removed from the market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">Litigation is also changing the financial outlook for manufacturers. In 2021, Syngenta reportedly paid $187.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought in Illinois state court by about 300 people who had developed Parkinson\u2019s after exposure to the chemical, despite having no family history of the disease.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">This year, the company <a class=\"css-povzk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenewlede.org\/2026\/01\/syngenta-settles-bellwether-trial\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">settled another lawsuit<\/a> brought in Philadelphia by a retired landscaper who blamed paraquat for his Parkinson\u2019s. And a federal court in Southern Illinois overseeing more than 6,600 claims approved a fund to administer a proposed global settlement \u2014 but the terms remain sealed and as of June, many plaintiffs had opted out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">The Supreme Court narrowed the avenues to seek redress when it <a class=\"css-povzk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/06\/25\/us\/politics\/supreme-court-weedkiller-roundup-bayer.html\" title=\"\">sided with the manufacturer of the weedkiller Roundup<\/a> to overturn a jury verdict for a Missouri man who alleged the product had caused his cancer. The justices ruled he could not sue the manufacturer in state court for failing to warn customers about the product\u2019s risks because it carried the warning label the federal government approved. If the E.P.A. eventually concludes paraquat is not associated with Parkinson\u2019s disease, it will foreclose state lawsuits of this type against the manufacturer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">Critics of paraquat have pushed states to ban its use. California\u2019s phaseout sprang from legislative action in 2024, when lawmakers passed a law requiring the state pesticide regulator to re-evaluate paraquat. The <a class=\"css-povzk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cdpr.ca.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/paraquat_preliminary_human_health_report.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">department\u2019s preliminary findings<\/a>, released later that year, flagged possible links to thyroid effects and birth defects \u2014 though not, notably, to Parkinson\u2019s disease. It then asked the manufacturers to generate new safety data to keep their products registered, and they chose not to do so.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">Representative Pingree, who has been an organic farmer in her Maine district for decades and cosponsored a federal bill to permanently cancel the pesticide\u2019s registration, said that the converging interests of environmentalists and Make America Healthy Again activists was creating opportunities. \u201cThere is a Republican-Democratic coalition that we should tap into to try to get more restrictions on some of the toxic chemicals,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">Paraquat manufacturers and buyers are not slowing down. The Chinese company Nanjing Red Sun, which is registered to sell three paraquat-based pesticides in the United States, said it imports about 5,000 tons annually.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-12m5bll evys1bk0\">In Georgia, Mr. Goodman had relied on Syngenta\u2019s products, but now that the company has discontinued paraquat, he said he\u2019d probably seek out a generic manufacturer. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing to replace it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/08\/13\/science\/paraquat-pesticide-parkinsons-california.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>California\u2019s pesticide regulator announced on Monday the state would phase out the herbicide paraquat, which studies increasingly associate with Parkinson\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[620,283,1131,1692,5883,219,193,7523],"class_list":["post-94119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-2","tag-agriculture-and-farming","tag-california","tag-environmental-protection-agency","tag-parkinsons-disease","tag-pesticides","tag-regulation-and-deregulation-of-industry","tag-suits-and-litigation-civil","tag-syngenta-ag"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>This Pesticide May Be Too Dangerous to Use. Farmers Say They Need It. - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/this-pesticide-may-be-too-dangerous-to-use-farmers-say-they-need-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Pesticide May Be Too Dangerous to Use. 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