SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Environmental Working Group is sponsoring legislation that would ban the use of the highly toxic herbicide paraquat in California.
Past and recent peer-reviewed scientific studies have found a strong connection between paraquat exposure and an elevated risk of Parkinson’s disease.
If passed and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Assembly Bill 1963, authored by Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Burbank), would end the use of paraquat on fields and orchards in the state by January 2026.
“The evidence is clear: Paraquat poses a serious risk to human health and the environment,” Friedman said. “With dozens of countries already banning its use, it’s time for California to follow suit to protect Californians, especially those in rural communities, from exposure to this toxic weedkiller. We cannot afford to ignore the mounting evidence linking paraquat exposure to Parkinson’s disease, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and childhood leukemia.”
Exposure to paraquat has consistently been linked to an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, a progressive brain disorder that sparks involuntary motions, such as tremors, stiffness and a loss of balance. These symptoms worsen over time and permanently impair a person’s ability to move and speak.
“California must take decisive action to safeguard public health by enacting this legislation to permanently prohibit paraquat spraying on farms across the state,” said Bill Allayaud, EWG director of government affairs in California. “Paraquat poses a significant threat to the health of farmworkers, their families and surrounding communities.”
An EWG analysis published on March 27 shows paraquat is disproportionately sprayed in areas of the state inhabited by Latino farmworkers and their families, exacerbating environmental health risks for these communities.
Using state pesticide use data, EWG researchers found that 5.3 million pounds of paraquat were sprayed in California from 2017 to 2021, with Kern County standing out as a hot spot. Over 80 percent of residents in the Kern County communities of Shafter and Wasco are in proximity to spraying of almost 180,000 pounds of paraquat.
Over a decade ago, an analysis based on data from the National Institutes of Health found that workers who handle paraquat are more than twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease as those who apply other pesticides. A sweeping meta-analysis combining the findings from 13 studies bolstered this conclusion, revealing a 64 percent increase in the risk of Parkinson’s disease linked to exposure to paraquat.
For years, the primary manufacturer of paraquat, the Swiss-based and now Chinese-owned chemical giant Syngenta, knew about the health hazards associated with the chemical, including its correlation with Parkinson’s disease. But instead of disclosing this crucial information to the public and the Environmental Protection Agency, Syngenta spent decades concealing that information.
In 2022, The New Lede, a nonprofit news organization, published its exposé “The Paraquat Papers,” documenting the decades Syngenta spent plotting to hide its own scientific evidence and undermine independent research showing a link between exposure to paraquat and Parkinson’s.
More than 60 countries have banned paraquat, but the EPA continues to permit its use on crop fields, disregarding mounting evidence of harm – even though the agency does not allow the pesticide to be used on golf courses.
And the EPA has even warned “one sip can kill” with ingesting paraquat, which has been the cause of suicides and accidental fatal poisonings all over the world, underscoring just how toxic the chemical is.
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Full disclosure: The New Lede, which launched in May 2022, is a journalism initiative of EWG and is a distinct service that operates independently of the organization’s advocacy and communications units. EWG has no influence on editorial decision-making at The New Lede.
The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.
