Paraquat

Paraquat dichloride is a chemical agent that is widely used in commercial farming today—in the United States, its usage has increased more than 200% in the last 10 years, despite the fact that it has been banned in multiple countries. As a herbicide, Paraquat functions as a weed killer to kill any plants, grass species, or weeds it’s applied to.

Paraquat has also been increasingly used in recent years as farmers and workers have turned to herbicidal alternatives to treat their crops. While Monsanto’s Roundup, for example, has been one of the most popular herbicidal agents, weed and pest resistance over time have led to workers switching to Paraquat. In 2016 alone, the United States sprayed 7 million pounds of Paraquat across 15 million acres of land.

Paraquat is lethally toxic to humans and non-human species, which is why the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Mitigation Decision in 2017 to limit who can mix and apply the herbicide. Now, individuals must be certified in order to apply Paraquat. Unfortunately, Paraquat has already negatively impacted countless individuals across the country and has been linked to the development of early-onset Parkinson’s disease—a risk factor that Syngenta, the maker of Paraquat, failed to disclose to the EPA.