Syngenta is the Swiss-based agrichemical big behind the weedkiller Gramoxone, a paraquat-based product. In early March, Syngenta introduced that it could stop producing Gramoxone at its Huddersfield, United Kingdom facility by the tip of June.
That is excellent news as a result of paraquat has been linked to various well being implications, together with an elevated threat of Parkinson’s illness and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Greater than 70 nations have banned agricultural use of the chemical, however it continues to stay authorized in the USA.
That is the final manufacturing facility worldwide the place the Swiss-based firm is presently making this product. This announcement marks a step ahead within the continued push to ban paraquat as soon as and for all.
Why Specialists Are Skeptical About Syngenta’s Announcement
Regardless of this hopeful information, specialists warning towards celebrating too quickly. “Gramoxone is the preferred paraquat model product within the US, however they’re solely 40-50% of paraquat gross sales,” says Environmental Working Group Legislative Director Geoff Horsfield. Certainly, Syngenta cites “vital competitors” as one of many chief causes for halting manufacturing1 — and even this, in keeping with Horsfield, might solely be a brief halt.
“Syngenta makes no touch upon their Gramoxone model,” says Horsfield of the corporate’s current announcement. “They don’t commit to finish the Gramoxone model. They don’t decide to not promoting paraquat.”
In line with Horsfield, Syngenta (which was acquired by Chinese language state-owned chemical conglomerate ChemChina in 2017) might relaunch manufacturing of Gramoxone at any time. “Syngenta [ChemChina] has a pesticide manufacturing facility in China,” he says, “that means it’s attainable that they may shift manufacturing there.”
He stresses the significance of a nationwide paraquat ban to make sure that the chemical is absent from American fields as soon as and for all. “The one manner to make sure we are able to shield communities and farmers from paraquat is for governments to ban paraquat,” he says.
Legality of Paraquat Across the World
Paraquat was first synthesized in 1882 and has been used as an herbicide since 1962, after the 1955 discovery of its weedkilling properties on the laboratories of Imperial Chemical Industries in Berkshire, England. Gramoxone has been produced within the UK ever since, albeit solely for export since 2007. It was on this 12 months that the European Union (to which Britain nonetheless belonged on the time) lastly outlawed its use, after Sweden took the European Fee to courtroom for ignoring proof of paraquat’s neurotoxicity. (The herbicide has been outlawed in Switzerland, Syngenta’s headquarters, since 1989.)
Because of this for almost 20 years, Nice Britain produced an herbicide so deadly it refused to spray it by itself fields. Sluggish Meals explored this ironic double-standard in depth, highlighting the regulatory hole that has allowed EU nations to provide and export tens of 1000’s of tons of harmful pesticides to low- or middle-income nations, the place misuse of paraquat particularly has led to over 1,000 deaths2.
In 2018, in keeping with a joint investigation from Public Eye and Unearthed, British authorities authorised the export of greater than 28,000 tons of paraquat-based merchandise3. And in the identical 12 months, EU member nations authorised the export of 81,615 tons of pesticides containing substances banned to be used in Europe. Syngenta was proven to be the most important exporter “by far,” exporting almost thrice as a lot as Corteva, its closest competitor. At present, regardless of a 2020 promise to make sure that “hazardous chemical substances banned within the EU are usually not produced for export,” the observe continues.
Use of Paraquat within the U.S.
Whereas three-quarters of the nations that import pesticides banned in Europe are low- or middle-income nations, the USA is a notable exception in relation to paraquat. The U.S. has but to ban this harmful chemical — paraquat has been used right here since 1964, totally on soybeans, cotton, corn, grapes, pistachios, and peanuts. From there, it makes its manner into not solely crops however a variety of on a regular basis family meals and merchandise, like Cheerios.
Whereas Syngenta’s announcement might hold Gramoxone off of American fields (for now), Horsfield cites different potential sources like Axill, Helena Agri Enterprises, Jacobo LLC, Supply Dynamics, and RedEagle Worldwide. And that’s not even scratching the floor of different dangerous pesticides like dicamba and the broadly controversial glyphosate (present in Monsanto’s Roundup).
“It’s tough to totally map out the place firms might produce paraquat as a result of it’s all proprietary data,” he says. He additionally notes, nonetheless, that “dozens of different manufacturers within the US and elsewhere nonetheless use paraquat — and most of these manufacturing services are based mostly in China or Taiwan.” Very like Nice Britain, regardless of these exports — China banned using paraquat in its personal agriculture in 2017; Taiwan banned it in 2018.
Twelve states are presently weighing payments to restrict using paraquat or prohibit it totally, with some laws focusing particularly on the world close to public faculties. In early January, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin posted on social media that the company would “freshly reassess the protection” of the chemical.
Paraquat and Parkinson’s Illness
Paraquat is linked to various well being dangers, essentially the most well-documented of which is an elevated threat of Parkinson’s Illness. A 2019 meta-analysis of 13 research discovered that paraquat publicity might enhance the chance of growing Parkinson’s by 64%4, and a 2024 research within the Worldwide Journal of Epidemiology discovered that folks dwelling or working inside 500 meters of paraquat software might greater than double their probabilities of growing the illness5.
Syngenta is presently dealing with greater than 8,000 lawsuits introduced by individuals within the States who allege that they developed Parkinson’s Illness as a direct results of these merchandise. The corporate maintains that paraquat doesn’t trigger Parkinson’s illness, calling the proof “fragmentary” and “inconclusive.” However in keeping with the EWG, Syngenta has lengthy understood the well being dangers of paraquat. They write that the corporate “spent many years hiding this data from the general public and the EPA6.” And in 2022, The New Lede obtained and revealed damning proof: the so-called “Paraquat Papers,” which revealed a company coverup scheme from inside the firm relationship again to the Nineteen Fifties7.
“Although the paperwork reviewed don’t present that Syngenta’s scientists and executives believed that paraquat could cause Parkinson’s, they do present a company concentrate on methods to guard product gross sales, refute exterior scientific analysis, and affect regulators,” reported The New Lede on the time.
Different Well being Dangers of Paraquat
Parkinson’s will not be the one well being hazard linked to the herbicide. Research have additionally linked the chemical to elevated threat of thyroid illness8, impaired kidney operate9, and cancers of the cervix, penis, lungs, blood, and pores and skin10. And in 2025, EPA launched a memorandum noting that the chemical’s potential for volatility is extra unsure than beforehand thought-about, that means larger dangers for bystanders11. They might even have lasting results on growing brains through publicity in pregnant girls.
In conclusion, whereas Syngenta’s announcement is definitely excellent news for the well being of Individuals, it’s removed from the tip of the battle.
Sources:
- https://www.syngenta.com/media/syngenta-cease-paraquat-production-uk-2026
- https://www.slowfood.com/blog-and-news/banned-at-home-sold-abroad-the-eus-pesticide-hypocrisy/
- https://www.publiceye.ch/en/matters/pesticides/banned-in-europe
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30474499/
- https://tutorial.oup.com/ije/article/53/1/dyae004/7597790
- https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2026/03/syngenta-stopping-global-paraquat-production-doesnt-end-need
- https://www.thenewlede.org/2022/10/secret-paraquat-papers-reveal-corporate-tactics-to-protect-weed-killer-linked-to-parkinsons-disease/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39449422/
- https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/3278
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3058830/
- https://www.epa.gov/ingredients-used-pesticide-products/paraquat-dichloride
