paraquat

Paraquat is banned in more than 60 countries.

Environmental Protection Agency describes paraquat as highly toxic — noting that “one sip can kill” — yet California remains one of the nation’s top users of the chemical.

An Environmental Working Group report published earlier this year found that the state’s farmworkers and low-income Latino people, in particular, are disproportionately exposed to paraquat in their communities, with more than 5.3 million pounds sprayed in Kern County alone between 2017 and 2021.

Paraquat has been the subject of thousands of lawsuits from people seeking damages related to exposure to the product, including people who say it has given them Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that affects movement.

The bill’s legislative analysis notes that at least 10 epidemiological studies have linked paraquat exposure to Parkinson’s disease, including a 2019 meta-analysis of 13 studies that found exposure to the herbicide was associated with a 1.64-fold increase in the risk of the disease.