EPA will take another look at the risks of a widely used weedkiller, citing “greater uncertainty” on the herbicide’s properties.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a Friday post on X the agency will “freshly reassess the safety of paraquat,” a chemical often sprayed on soybean, corn and cotton crops that researchers have tied to increased risk of Parkinson’s, a degenerative brain disease, among farmers.
The agency last reupped paraquat’s approval in 2024, determining the “risks were outweighed by the benefits.” But in November, EPA announced it was requiring paraquat manufacturers to send in more proof of the herbicide’s safety after agrochemical company Syngenta submitted new information concerning “bystander inhalation exposure risks.”
EPA’s Health Effects Division “determined that there is greater uncertainty regarding the potential for paraquat to volatilize than previously considered,” an agency memo says.
