Use of herbicide linked to Parkinson's is on the rise in the US

A shocking investigation reveals that a paraquat formulation plant in Waynesboro, Mississippi, released 47,000 pounds of the toxic herbicide into the air in 2024—over 10,000 times more than other facilities handling the chemical. Despite being banned in more than 70 countries, including the EU, China, and Brazil, paraquat remains legal in the U.S., with no federal air pollution limits. Environmental reporter Delaney Nolan’s reporting for The Lens and the Mississippi River Basin Ag and Water Desk exposes how fugitive emissions from the Sipcam Agro plant may be exposing nearby communities to a chemical strongly linked to Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Beata Ritz, a UCLA epidemiologist with over 25 years of research on paraquat, confirms the biological mechanisms linking the herbicide to Parkinson’s—particularly through oxidative stress and damage to dopamine neurons and the olfactory system. She calls the U.S. failure to ban paraquat a national failure, especially as Vermont prepares to become the first state to do so. The episode underscores a growing public health crisis where industrial exposure to a known neurotoxin continues unchecked. The evidence for paraquat’s role in Parkinson’s is now considered a causal association in humans, not just a correlation. Studies show exposure can double the risk, with inhalation—especially through the nose—posing a particularly dangerous pathway due to direct neural access to the brain.