Paraquat is the deadliest chemical in U.S. agriculture. The Environmental Protection Agency considers this herbicide too toxic to use on golf courses, but allows it to be sprayed on our food.

The EPA’s paraquat warning is, “One sip can kill.” It has collected many verified instances of death after the accidental ingestion of tiny amounts.

Paraquat is so toxic that it is banned in at least 74 countries, but is still one of the most widely-used pesticides in the United States.

Paraquat causes Parkinson’s, the world’s fastest-growing neurodegenerative disease. 

According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, which supports banning paraquat, in the U.S. each year, more than 1.1 million people are suffering from Parkinson’s, 90,000 people are newly diagnosed, and this incurable disease racks up nearly $82.2 billion in healthcare costs.

Paraquat also contributes to cancer, the second most common cause of death among children ages 1-14 (after accidents). Paraquat is associated with childhood acute myeloid leukemia. In adults, it’s linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and thyroid cancer.

Paraquat is also a factor in birth defects.

China considers the human health harms of paraquat to be too great to allow its use.

After a slew of lawsuits, the Sinochem(Chinese)-owned paraquat patent-holder Syngenta announced that it would stop production by the end of June 2026. Syngenta will be closing its only paraquat plant, located in England. And, it will no longer move paraquat through its factory in St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, Louisiana, where the herbicide is repackaged for distribution throughout the U.S.

Let’s hope Syngenta keeps its promise. It has been lobbying alongside Bayer for a legislative fix to its legal problems and its former manager of federal government relations, Kelsey Barnes, is currently serving as senior advisor to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

Even if Syngenta follows through on its plans to drop paraquat, that won’t save us from it. The top U.S. producer, Sipcam Agro in Waynesboro, Wayne County, Mississippi, has no plans to quit.

Paraquat is widely used in the U.S., primarily in California where the top two sprayers are J.G. Boswell, the nation’s largest cotton producer, and the Wonderful Company, the world’s largest almond and pistachio grower.

Nationwide, about 35 percent of large commercial farms use paraquat to dry up crops like soybeans, corn, and cotton for harvest or to clear fields of weeds before planting. Glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide is still the most popular weedkiller, but the problem of Roundup-resistant weeds has caused farmers to use paraquat in addition, tripling its use between 2006 and 2017. 

The health impacts of paraquat are severe in locations where it is produced or sprayed.

Based on pesticide use data and actual cases of Parkinson’s in California, people who live and work near paraquat spraying have a 91 percent higher risk of developing the incurable neurodegenerative disease.

The amount of paraquat emitted by Wayne County’s Sipcam Agro plant approaches what J. G. Boswell sprays over more than 50,000 acres of cotton in California. Unsurprisingly, Wayne County has high rates of Parkinson’s deaths—in the top 7 percent of U.S. counties. In Mississippi, deaths from Parkinson’s are 12.2 per 100,000 people. Nationwide, the average is 11.5. In Wayne County, it’s 21.5.  

Ending paraquat use could save lives without reducing agricultural productivity.

In May 2026, Vermont became the first U.S. state to pass a law to ban paraquat. The ban will take effect in 2030. The new law requires annual reporting for paraquat users and provides for a state-funded study on alternatives. It also creates a limited exception for instances where “no other less harmful pesticide would be effective in addressing an environmental or agricultural emergency.” 

Thirteen states introduced bills to ban or restrict the paraquat in 2026, including Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Your State Legislators to Ban Paraquat!