More than 50 U.S. lawmakers are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to join dozens of other countries in banning a widely used herbicide linked to Parkinson’s disease and other health hazards.
In a letter dated October 31 Speaking to the agency, seven U.S. senators said paraquat, a herbicide widely used on U.S. farms, is a “highly toxic pesticide whose continued use cannot be justified given the harm it causes to farmworkers and rural communities.” The senators’ call for a ban came after 47 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a similar letter to the EPA, which called for a ban earlier in October.
The lawmakers cite scientific links between paraquat use and the development of Parkinson’s disease and other “life-threatening diseases,” as well as “serious environmental impacts.” “Health risks include a higher risk of Parkinson’s disease, with some studies showing a 64% increase in the chance of developing Parkinson’s, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, thyroid cancer and other thyroid problems,” they wrote.
Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, organizer of the Senate letter, said the risks of exposure to paraquat are “well documented” and that it is “irresponsible” for the EPA to continue to allow its use. “I hope the EPA will follow the science and ban paraquat,” Booker said.
The EPA has long maintained that this is so no “clear connection” between paraquat exposure and Parkinson’s disease, although the agency does have some restrictions on the use of the chemical due to its acute toxicity. The agency issued a draft report reaffirmed its position earlier this year.
Still, the agency said at the time that it would review more scientific studies and issue a final report by January 17, 2025.
When asked about Congress’s call for a ban, an EPA spokesperson said only that the agency “will respond appropriately to the letter.”
Several California lawmakers called for a ban in the most recent state legislative session, also citing the risks of Parkinson’s. A compromise measure signed by the governor last month requires an accelerated regulatory review of paraquat.
The push to ban paraquat in the US is “long overdue,” said Ray Dorsey, a professor of neurology at the University of Rochester who studies the causes of Parkinson’s disease.
“For 60 years, paraquat has contributed to the rise of Parkinson’s disease,” says Dorsey. “The evidence from human research, laboratory research and apparently even the company’s own research is overwhelming. If paraquat is banned, more lives will be spared from the consequences of Parkinson’s.”
Syngenta, a Chinese manufacturer and marketer of paraquat products, did not respond to a request for comment on the letters from Congress. The company has denied that there is a valid link between Parkinson’s and paraquat. In response to previous reporting, it was claimed that no “peer-reviewed scientific publication has established a causal link between paraquat and Parkinson’s disease”.
Syngenta’s internal documents, revealed by The Guardian, show that the company was aware many years ago of scientific evidence that paraquat could affect the brain in ways that cause Parkinson’s, and that it secretly tried to influence scientific research to to counteract evidence of damage.
Syngenta was reportedly helped to suppress the risks of paraquat by a “reputation management” company called v-Fluence, the Guardian reported in September.
Thousands of American paraquat users suffering from Parkinson’s disease currently suing Syngenta claimed the company should have warned them about the risk of developing the incurable brain disease, but instead concealed evidence of the risk.
This story was published in collaboration with the New Membera journalistic project of the Environmental Working Group