Tag: herbicides

Revealed: the undisclosed safety data emerging as weedkiller maker faces Parkinson’s lawsuits in US

Sweden started ringing the alarm bell more than 20 years ago, calling for a ban on the weedkilling chemical paraquat in 2004. One by one, dozens of other countries did the same as evidence of paraquat risks to human health mounted. Even the Chinese government, which owns the longtime paraquat maker Syngenta, halted domestic use of the pesticide a decade ago after conducting its own studies on paraquat safety and finding troubling results.

In the US, two states – Vermont and California – have recently also banned paraquat, citing risks that include an association between paraquat and Parkinson’s disease shown in years of scientific research. And California regulators announced in August that paraquat makers voluntarily agreed to stop selling the chemical after the state identified health concerns in connection with its use in new research. Several federal lawmakers have pushed for a nationwide ban.

Yet amid the global cloud of concern, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to greenlight paraquat use on millions of acres, and has downplayed scientific findings linking paraquat to Parkinson’s, an incurable brain disease. The agency said in June it would hold a round table over the summer to re-examine the “safety challenges” associated with paraquat. But no such event has yet been held or scheduled.

Now, clues to how and why the US remains one of the world’s last large markets for widespread paraquat use are coming to light through troves of internal Syngenta records recently revealed through litigation.

The records show that as paraquat markets around the world started crumbling over concerns for public health, Syngenta, a Swiss-headquartered multinational, fought to keep a tight hold on the US market, where use of paraquat nearly tripled between 2000 and 2018, a time period when dozens of other countries were banning paraquat.

Internal corporate records, depositions and other records show that before and during this time frame, Syngenta did not share certain internal data and other information with the EPA regarding paraquat health effects and risks despite federal legal requirements for companies to report information about “unreasonable adverse effects” of their products.

Among the data not shared by Syngenta were analyses of how quickly the chemical could permeate untreated clothing; how fast it could absorb into an applicator’s skin and bloodstream. The company also did not share some information about how mixing paraquat with surfactants increases the chemical’s absorption. Surfactants are additives commonly used by farm workers to help herbicides overcome the waxy, water-repellent surface of their leaves. Certain information demonstrating dire risks to the brain from exposure was also not shared with the EPA.

In contrast, the company focused on developing and promoting science showing paraquat safety that it could share with regulators, including one published in 2016 that company insiders noted would be “invaluable in supporting our work”.

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Paraquat poison: The toxic herbicide still killing Americans while EPA looks the other way

In this quiet southeast corner of the state, home to roughly 20,000 people surrounded by forest and farmland, a deadly secret hangs in the air. The Sipcam Agro plant here processes the toxic herbicide paraquat, making it the largest single emitter of the chemical in the entire United States. And the residents are paying the price with their lives.

Wayne County’s Parkinson’s disease death rate ranks in the top 7% of all U.S. counties reporting such deaths between 2018 and 2024. This is no coincidence. The evidence linking paraquat to Parkinson’s — the world’s fastest-growing incurable neurodegenerative disease — has accumulated for decades, yet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency continues to allow this poison on American soil.

A history of corporate deception

The story of paraquat reads like a criminal conspiracy. Syngenta and its corporate predecessors knew about the dangers as early as the 1950s, when Imperial Chemical Industries researchers found that paraquat caused central nervous system damage in lab animals. Internal documents now emerging in court show company executives worried about long-term liability as early as the 1980s.

Chevron, which once partnered with Syngenta to sell paraquat, left the business in 1986. While the company claims market forces drove this decision, internal memos reveal top executives were terrified of the legal consequences. Canadian researchers had already found an “extraordinarily high correlation” between Parkinson’s disease and paraquat use.

The EPA’s capture by industry

The EPA’s track record with toxic chemicals speaks for itself. After previously seeking public comment on banning paraquat in 2019 and recommending restrictions on aerial applications, the agency reversed course in 2021, re-registering the poison for 15 more years. The decision was based largely on evidence provided by the Agricultural Handler Exposure Task Force — an industry advocacy group founded by none other than Syngenta.

This is the same pattern we’ve seen with glyphosate, PFAS and countless other hazardous chemicals. The revolving door between industry and regulatory agencies ensures that profits come before public health. Kelsey Barnes, now a senior adviser to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, was previously a manager of federal government relations for Syngenta.

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Vermont Applauded for Banning Parkinson’s-Linked Neurotoxic Herbicide Paraquat

In a move cheered by advocates for public health and the environment, Vermont on Tuesday became the first US state to ban paraquat, a neurotoxic herbicide banned in over 70 countries but protected by the Trump administration despite being linked to Parkinson’s disease.

Democratic Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signed H. 739, which bans the sale and use of paraquat, after the legislation was passed by the state Legislature with strong bipartisan support. The ban—which contains a provision allowing for limited use of the chemical on fruit orchards through the end of 2030—is set to take effect on November 1.

As Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) campaigner Liam Sacino recently noted, the US Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] acknowledges that “even a small amount” of paraquat “can be fatal, and there is no known antidote.”

“The agency has also decided that due to health risks, it should never be used around home gardens, schools, recreational parks, golf courses, or playgrounds,” Sacino added. “Regardless of these conclusions, the EPA still allows paraquat to be sprayed on farms, posing a potentially increased risk to those who work on the farms and live nearby.”

The EPA paradoxically calls paraquat “an important tool for the control of weeds in many agricultural and non-agricultural settings,” a stance promoted by the chemical industry, some of whose highly toxic products the pesticide-friendly Trump administration has designated as vital to US national security.

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Widely Used ‘Chemical Cocktails’ Tied to Gut Damage, Inflammation

Herbicide mixtures widely used on industrial farms may damage the gut, disrupt healthy bacteria and trigger inflammation at exposure levels regulators currently consider safe, according to a new peer-reviewed study.

The research, published in April in Archives of Toxicology, examined glyphosate — the active ingredient in Roundup weedkiller — alongside two other common herbicides, dicamba and 2,4-D. Rats exposed to the chemical combinations developed intestinal inflammation, tissue damage, oxidative stress and signs of “leaky gut.”

The findings raise concerns about how the safety of agrochemicals is typically evaluated — because regulators generally assess chemicals one at a time rather than in the combinations people and wildlife are actually exposed to in the environment.

“This study comprises the most comprehensive investigation of the impact of glyphosate on gut structure and function,” the authors wrote. The study is also the first to examine the combined effects of glyphosate with dicamba and 2,4-D at “regulatory relevant” doses deemed to be safe, the authors said.

“The findings show that the levels of these herbicides, when ingested as a mixture, have adverse effects and are not safe at all – and that regulatory assurances of safety are false,” according to GMWatch, which reported on the study.

The study, led by glyphosate expert Michael Antoniou, Ph.D., comes amid escalating concerns about chronic exposure to agricultural chemicals, particularly in communities near large-scale farming operations.

Glyphosate, the key active ingredient in Roundup, has long been controversial because it may cause cancer.

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Disease Causing Herbicides Detected in All Pregnant Women, Levels Only Increasing — Study

A biomonitoring study has revealed that the toxic weedkillers dicamba and 2,4-D were found in all 10,0037 pregnant participants during 2010 to 2012, and that the levels of those herbicides in pregnant women has increased between 2020 to 2022.

2,4-D can cause decreased head circumference in infants, deficits in auditory processing in infants, oxidative stress, while dicamba can cause abnormal cell division and growth, increased risk of birth defects in male offspring, increased risk of liver and intrahepatic bile duct cancer, according to the researchers in the ‘Introduction’ section.

“100% of the pregnant study participants had 2,4-D detected in their urine in both the 2010–2012 cohort and the 2020–2022 cohort,” the study said in the ‘Discussion’ section.

Not only was 2,4-D detected in all women in the earlier cohort, dicamba increased significantly in the later cohort.

“…the proportion of women with dicamba detected in their urine is significantly higher in the more recent cohort,” the study said in the ‘Results’ section. “Though 2,4-D concentration levels increased, the difference was not significant.”

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