{"id":430147,"date":"2026-08-11T22:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T22:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/430147\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T22:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T22:30:11","slug":"california-to-phase-out-paraquat-a-weedkiller-associated-with-serious-health-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/430147\/","title":{"rendered":"California to phase out paraquat, a weedkiller associated with serious health issues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

California will begin phasing out paraquat<\/a>, a powerful weedkiller associated with birth defects, thyroid issues and other serious health problems.<\/p>\n

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation said this week<\/a> all manufacturers of pesticide products containing the active ingredient have voluntarily agreed to withdraw the product from the market. Paraquat is banned in more than 60 countries due to its toxicity but is still allowed in the U.S., and no state uses more of it than California.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, communities have fought to end the use of paraquat, a weedkiller associated with negative impacts to human health and wildlife,\u201d said California Secretary for Environmental Protection Yana Garcia in a statement. \u201cCalifornia will keep moving toward pest management practices that protect health and our ecosystems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Millions of pounds of paraquat pesticide are sprayed annually on almonds, grapes, cotton and other crops, primarily in the San Joaquin Valley. <\/p>\n

It is California\u2019s first major pesticide phaseout since 2019, when regulators announced the state was ending virtually all uses of chlorpyrifos<\/a>, a pesticide linked to neurological issues. <\/p>\n

The state was forced to reevaluate paraquat following legislation<\/a> from former Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), which required regulators to decide whether to retain, cancel or suspend its registration, or create new restrictions. <\/p>\n

That reevaluation identified a potential association<\/a> between paraquat exposure and thyroid impacts and birth defects. It also indicated that paraquat may pose a risk to birds and other organisms. <\/p>\n

But rather than submit new scientific data in response to the evaluation, companies began voluntarily canceling their registration of paraquat pesticide products in California in April, with the last registrant canceling Aug. 6, according to the Department of Pesticide Regulation. <\/p>\n

Among them is Syngenta<\/a>, a Swiss-based company owned by the Chinese government that was one of paraquat\u2019s largest manufacturers, which said it was phasing out the product globally for commercial reasons.<\/p>\n

Experts said voluntary cancellations are sometimes an indication that companies believe it will be too costly, or too potentially damaging, to pursue new rigorous rounds of studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia is sending a powerful message that there is no place for paraquat in modern agriculture,\u201d said Bernadette Del Chiaro, senior vice president of the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, which sponsored Friedman\u2019s legislation. \u201cThe fact is, farmworkers and nearby communites have been unprotected from the health threats of paraquat, making this decision long overdue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials with the California Farm Bureau said the move will present challenges for the state\u2019s growers. <\/p>\n

\u201cParaquat has been an important tool for California farmers, and its loss raises a broader concern about California\u2019s increasingly difficult marketplace,\u201d said spokesperson Isabella Quinonez. \u201cWith the cost and complexity of maintaining products in the state continuing to grow, it is no surprise that manufacturers are leaving the California marketplace, leaving farmers with fewer tools, higher costs and less access to innovation.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s phaseout also follows a 2023 Times report<\/a> about potential harms posed by the herbicide, including thousands of lawsuits against Syngenta from workers who said exposure to the product has given them Parkinson\u2019s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that affects movement. <\/p>\n

While some studies have linked paraquat exposure to Parkinson\u2019s disease, others have found no clear link, and the company rejected any claims of a connection. <\/p>\n

The nonprofit Parkinson\u2019s Foundation said Tuesday that California\u2019s action is a \u201cmajor victory for Parkinson\u2019s prevention.\u201d <\/p>\n

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has also launched its own reassessment of paraquat and said it will host a roundtable<\/a> with experts and advocates this summer. The federal agency notes on its website that paraquat is highly toxic<\/a> and that \u201cone small sip can be fatal and there is no antidote.\u201d <\/p>\n

In March, about 60 gallons of paraquat fell from a truck onto the roadway in the Siskiyou County town of Dorris, prompting shelter-in-place orders<\/a> for about 600 residents due to the risk of toxic airborne hazards. <\/p>\n

Under state law, dealers in California may continue to use up supplies of paraquat for up to two years following the effective date of their cancellation. As always, it may only be used by professionally licensed applicators.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s phaseout follows Vermont\u2019s first-in-the-nation ban<\/a> of the herbicide, announced in June. <\/p>\n

\u201cParaquat is bad news for farmers, farmworkers and public health,\u201d said Del Chiaro of EWG. \u201cWe applaud today\u2019s announcement and urge other states to follow the lead of California and Vermont and ban this toxic crop chemical once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California will begin phasing out paraquat, a powerful weedkiller associated with birth defects, thyroid issues and other serious…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152,7,60852,1804,1750,4719,60889,171045,171041,171042,171044,56823,171043,3651,225,171046],"class_list":["post-430147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-california","tag-california-farmer","tag-company","tag-cost","tag-disease","tag-manufacturer","tag-other-crop","tag-paraquat","tag-paraquat-exposure","tag-paraquat-pesticide","tag-parkinson","tag-powerful-weedkiller","tag-product","tag-state","tag-syngenta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}