SACRAMENTO, California — California’s pesticide regulators on Monday determined a common pesticide some environmental and farmworker groups have long fought to ban is linked to thyroid disease and birth defects, but stopped short of determining a link with Parkinson’s disease.
The Department of Pesticide Regulation issued preliminary reports Monday on health and ecological risks linked to paraquat, a weedkiller that’s banned in more than 60 countries but nowhere in the United States. The findings mark the first big milestone in California’s review of the pesticide, which was fast-tracked by a new state law this year and could eventually lead to limitations on its use or a full ban.
California would be the first U.S. state to ban paraquat, following in the footsteps of the United Kingdom, China, Brazil and members of the European Union. In California, paraquat is the 46th-most-used pesticide, with 369,978 pounds applied in 2023, according to state data.
An increasing body of research has suggested that exposure to paraquat can lead to an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease, a progressive brain disorder. Other health risks of ingesting, inhaling or exposing paraquat to the skin could include cancer and failure of the heart, liver and kidneys. But California’s scientific review of human health impacts published this week said there wasn’t enough conclusive evidence to determine a causal link between paraquat and Parkinson’s, cancer or renal failure, similar to a federal scientific review in 2019.
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