October 21, 2025U.S. imports a toxic herbicide linked to Parkinson’s disease from countries that ban its use

Report maps the path of paraquat from fossil fuels to U.S. farms, illustrates a food system built on corporate profit over health and safety

Press Release

Media Contact:

- - Deidre Nelms, [Communications Director, Coming Clean, dnelms@comingcleaninc.org, (802) 251-0203 ext. 711]
  - Kayla Nichols [Communications Director, Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network, kayla@panna.org, (423) 571-2949]
  - Claudia Lundberg [Communications Specialist, Alianza Nacional De Campesinas, Claudia.lundberg@campesinasunite.org, (805) 767 7289]

A new report reveals that the U.S. imports tens of millions of tons of paraquat a year from China and the United Kingdom, countries that have both banned the pesticide due to health and safety concerns. Trade records show that U.S. paraquat imports have increased this decade, even as over 70 countries worldwide prohibit its use. Paraquat exposure has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, thyroid cancer, lung damage, and other serious health conditions.

“Corporate greed and weak U.S. pesticide regulations are driving a health crisis for farmworkers, farmers and rural communities. Foreign-owned agrochemical companies are profiting while our essential farming communities suffer,” said Judy Robinson, Executive Director of Coming Clean.

Designed to Kill: Who Profits from Paraquat? was developed by Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Coming Clean, and Pesticide Action and Agroecology Network North America (PANNA) to illustrate the health and climate harms of paraquat across its supply chain. An accompanying interactive map also illustrates how paraquat is made, and traces the company SinoChem’s supply chain of paraquat, from fossil fuel extraction, through toxic manufacturing facilities, to U.S. ports and farms. SinoChem is the world’s largest agrochemical conglomerate, owned by the government of China, and a major exporter of paraquat to the U.S.

“Agrochemical companies like Syngenta (now SinoChem) have tried to market paraquat as a tool for sustainable ‘no-till’ farming, or a way to keep carbon locked in soil. But paraquat is literally made from fossil fuels taken out of the ground,” said Margaret Reeves, Senior Scientist at PANNA. “By analyzing SinoChem’s actual supply chain, we were able to debunk the myth that paraquat is good for the climate.”

The report includes testimonies from farmworkers who were likely exposed to paraquat on U.S. farms, and who later developed debilitating skin burns, Parkinson’s disease, and lung damage.

“Until recently, I didn’t know that my dad likely got Parkinson’s from years of working in cotton fields, where paraquat was probably used,” said Mirna, a member of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, whose father was a farmworker in California who died of complications of Parkinson’s disease. “The government needs to recognize the impact of using these chemicals because it affects our community’s environment and health.”

“The EPA had the concrete opportunity to protect public and environmental health by banning paraquat as soon as January 2025. Instead, they delayed taking any action, despite the many studies and documented stories of paraquat’s link to Parkinson’s, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, thyroid cancer and other health issues.” said Amy Tamayo, Policy & Advocacy Director at Alianza Nacional de Campesinas. “It’s clear the agency doesn’t see the urgency in preventing further illness and impacts among vulnerable workers as they continue to claim not having enough data or time to review the evidence our communities put forward.”

U.S. trade and farm policy incentivizes the continued use of paraquat and other pesticides, the report states. Paraquat imports were exempted from major tariffs placed on other imported consumer goods in April 2025. And U.S. Farm Bill programs disproportionately favor large monoculture operations that rely on use of pesticides over small, organic and diversified production systems.

“The U.S. should certainly ban paraquat,” said Mily Trevino-Sauceda, Executive Director of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, “but more importantly, we should be incentivizing farmers to switch to agroecological practices that keep campesinas, workers, community members, and mother earth safer.”

Long-term studies comparing organic and conventional grain cropping systems in North America have shown that organic systems produced similar long-term yields as conventional systems, and were actually more profitable, while using less energy, building healthy soils that capture carbon, and emitting less greenhouse gases into the environment.

“U.S. farmers don’t need to be reliant on foreign imports of toxic pesticides to grow food. Avoiding pesticides in farming not only protects rural health and ecosystems, but will actually be more profitable over time especially considering long-term benefits like building soil biodiversity,” said Allison Davis of PANNA.

Find the report and interactive storymap in both English and Spanish at pesticidestorymap.com.

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Alianza Nacional de Campesinas is the first national women farmworkers’ organization in the U.S. created by current and former women farmworkers, along with women who hail from farmworker families. Our membership comprises 18 women-led farmworker justice organizations across 20 states, and we are committed to advancing policies and practices that address the unique challenges faced by our communities, including issues related to gender based violence, labor rights, immigration equity, and environmental justice.

Coming Clean is a nonprofit environmental health network dedicated to transforming the chemical industry so it is no longer a source of harm, and to securing systemic changes that allow a safe chemical and clean energy economy to flourish. Our members are organizations and technical experts — including grassroots activists, community leaders, scientists, health professionals, business leaders, lawyers, and farmworker advocates — committed to principled collaboration to advance a nontoxic, sustainable, and just world for all.

Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network (PAN) North America works to create a just, healthy, and equitable food system. For too long, pesticide and biotech corporations have dictated how we grow food, placing the health and economic burdens of pesticide use on farmers, farmworkers and rural communities. PAN works with those on the frontlines to tackle the pesticide problem — and reclaim the future of food and farming.