SACRAMENTO – Pesticide Action and Agroecology Network (PAN) applauds California’s phaseout of the highly toxic weedkiller paraquat. Following decades of collective advocacy across farmworkers, rural communities, health advocates and scientists, the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) announced that all manufacturers of pesticide products containing paraquat-dichloride (known commonly as paraquat) have voluntarily cancelled their registrations. The California phaseout of use in the state is scheduled to be complete by 2029.
The Department of Pesticide Regulation took this action, at least in part, as the result of California’s passage of AB 1963 in 2024, which required a thorough review of paraquat by January 1, 2029. AB 1963 was originally submitted by the Environmental Working Group as a sunset of paraquat by January 2026, which was championed by PAN and CPR. Unfortunately the bill was amended in the Senate Agricultural Committee to only require a thorough review of paraquat by DPR by 2029. With passage, DPR required paraquat manufacturers to fill data gaps related to human health effects by June 2026. In lieu of providing required data, companies voluntarily cancelled their registrations; the last cancellation goes into effect this month. DPR-licensed dealers may continue to possess and sell pesticides that were voluntarily canceled for up to two years following the effective date of each product’s cancellation.
The PAN international network has a decades long history fighting paraquat around the world – starting in 1985 as one of the targeted pesticides in our Dirty Dozen campaign. This was followed by subsequent bans in Finland, Sweden and Switzerland by 1989 and multiple countries since then. We have been campaigning against Syngenta’s production of paraquat, and fighting for both global and country bans ever since.
This voluntary phaseout in California is a major step towards protecting farmworkers, agricultural communities and communities all along the global paraquat supply chain from this highly toxic herbicide. Paraquat has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, ALS, and to health impacts to the heart, liver, kidney and lungs. In addition, the elimination of paraquat and other synthetic pesticides reduces the climate impacts of pesticides, associated extraction of fossil fuels, and release of greenhouse gases from their production, formulation, distribution and application to agricultural fields.
SinoChem, which purchased Syngenta, and is the world’s lead manufacturer of paraquat, imports tens of millions of pounds of paraquat each year into the United States. As imports trend upwards, tariff exemptions, Farm Bill policies, and permissive pesticide regulations are incentivizing the United States’ reliance on paraquat, even as over four decades of activism has led to its prohibition in more than 70 countries. Virtually all U.S. imports of paraquat originate from countries that have banned its use within their own borders.
In the U.S., advocacy groups including PAN have worked to prohibit the use of paraquat. In 2021, these groups sued the EPA over its decision to approve paraquat’s continued registration for use. Following the lawsuit, in 2024 EPA refused to reconsider scientific evidence submitted by the Michael J. Fox Foundation connecting paraquat use to Parkinson’s and continued paraquat’s registration. In January 2025, the U.S. EPA issued yet another delay tactic as it withdrew its interim regulatory decision on paraquat, announcing that it needs more time to examine paraquat’s potential health effects. However in 2026, Syngenta announced it was ending production of paraquat because of competition from generic brands, ultimately a win because of the resulting disruption to the US supply chain.
This California action is long overdue and an important precedent for the country. California is the largest U.S. user of paraquat. The pesticide’s use is heavily concentrated in the San Joaquin Valley, where farmworkers and rural families have some of the highest rates of pesticide exposure in the world. At least 15 different states have introduced legislation to ban paraquat, and Vermont, enacted the first statewide ban earlier this year. California should follow Vermont with an eventual complete ban, and the EPA should follow the states’ lead.
This is a celebration for both human health and the environment. But this is just the beginning, California needs to honor its Sustainable Pest Management Roadmap that calls for elimination of all highly hazardous “Priority Pesticides” that represent the most toxic pesticides across the state.
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Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network (PAN) North America, is the North America Regional Center for the international PAN network. We work with those on the frontlines to tackle the pesticide problem and reclaim the future of food and farming from the pesticide and biotech corporations that have, for far too long, dictated how we grow food, placing the health and economic burdens of pesticide use on farmers, farmworkers and rural communities.
Contact:
Margaret Reeves, PAN Senior Scientist, mreeves@panna.org
