Paraquat is so poisonous that a single sip can kill, yet it is still sprayed on American farmland and allowed near the food supply. Action Alert!
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THE TOPLINE
- The EPA acknowledges that one small sip of paraquat can be fatal and that there is no antidote, yet the chemical remains approved for agricultural use.
- Multiple studies and laboratory findings raise serious concerns about damage to the dopamine-producing brain cells involved in Parkinson’s.
- The bipartisan Paraquat Prevention Act would ban paraquat, prohibit the use of existing stocks, revoke allowable residues on food, and close the loophole for imported foods grown with the chemical.
Paraquat is so toxic that the Environmental Protection Agency says one small sip can be fatal. It cannot be used around home gardens, schools, parks, playgrounds, or golf courses. Yet it can still be sprayed in American agriculture, where farmers, farmworkers, rural families, and the food supply bear the risk.
That could finally change.
Representatives Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) and Chellie Pingree (D-ME) have introduced the Paraquat Prevention Act, a bipartisan bill that would cancel all registered uses of paraquat, revoke food residue tolerances, ban the sale and use of existing stocks, and prevent EPA from re-registering the chemical in the future.
This is exactly the kind of common-sense health freedom legislation Congress should pass. Americans should not have to depend on a slow-moving captured agency to protect them from a pesticide already banned in more than 70 countries.
EPA Knows Paraquat Is Exceptionally Dangerous
EPA calls paraquat “highly toxic” and reports that accidental ingestion from illegal transfer into drink containers causes roughly one to two deaths per year. EPA requires paraquat to be used only by trained, certified applicators and says it should never be used around residential dwellings, home gardens, schools, recreational parks, golf courses, or playgrounds.
That raises the obvious question: if paraquat is too dangerous for a golf course, why is it acceptable where food is grown?
The Parkinson’s Evidence Keeps Building
Paraquat has been linked in multiple studies to increased Parkinson’s disease risk. A major Agricultural Health Study paper found Parkinson’s disease was strongly associated with paraquat and rotenone, pesticides used in laboratory models of Parkinson’s-related damage. A more recent study in California’s Central Valley found further evidence that agricultural paraquat exposure increases Parkinson’s risk.
The biology is deeply concerning. Parkinson’s develops as dopamine-producing neurons are damaged or lost. Laboratory research has shown that paraquat can harm dopaminergic neurons, the very cells central to Parkinson’s disease.
EPA has long resisted concluding that paraquat causes Parkinson’s in humans. But public health policy should not require absolute certainty when the stakes are irreversible neurological disease, fatal poisoning, and repeated exposure among farm communities.
The Bill Closes the Import Loophole
The Paraquat Prevention Act does more than cancel registrations. It also directs EPA to revoke any food tolerances that allow paraquat residues on food. That matters because a domestic ban without a residue ban can become a loophole: U.S. farmers lose the chemical, but imported food grown with paraquat can still enter the country.
A true ban must protect consumers, farmers, and honest competition. If paraquat is too dangerous for American fields, it should not be tolerated on imported food either.
EPA Keeps Protecting Chemicals, not the Public’s Health
Paraquat fits a familiar pattern. First, a chemical becomes entrenched in agriculture. Then health evidence accumulates. Then the agency asks for more data, more review, more time. Meanwhile, industry insists the science is unsettled, and the public keeps absorbing the risk.
This is the same failed model Americans have seen with glyphosate, PFAS, and other chemicals regulators allowed to remain on the market while independent scientists, exposed communities, and advocates raised alarms.
Congress should not wait for EPA to find the political courage to act. The agency already knows paraquat is highly toxic. The scientific record already supports urgent concern. More than 70 countries have already acted.
Now the federal government must choose: protect people, or protect a pesticide.
Action Alert! Tell Congress to support the Paraquat Prevention Act and ban paraquat nationwide.
