China ships roughly 78 million pounds of a Parkinson’s-linked herbicide to American ports every year, a chemical Beijing has banned within its own borders. Now Congress is moving to shut that pipeline down for good.
The bipartisan Paraquat Prevention Act, authored by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) would cancel all legal use of the herbicide paraquat in the United States. The chemical has been tied to devastating neurological damage and is already banned in more than 70 countries, including every nation in the European Union.
“The United States has no business allowing a chemical linked to Parkinson’s disease to keep being sprayed on American farmland, and this bill ends that,” Luna said in a press release.
The legislation comes as the House finds rare common ground amid what the source describes as “massive party infighting.” Luna partnered with Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) to push the measure forward.
“Vermont just proved a paraquat ban is possible. Now Congress must make it national,” Pingree said. “Our bill cancels paraquat’s registration outright. No more reviews, no more waiting, no more excuses.”
Vermont recently became the first U.S. state to restrict paraquat’s use, setting a precedent the federal bill aims to expand nationwide.
The stakes are staggering. According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, roughly 1.1 million Americans currently live with Parkinson’s disease, and nearly 90,000 more are diagnosed every year. The disease has no cure. While not fatal on its own, complications can be life-threatening. Parkinson’s attacks the nervous system, destroying dopamine-producing nerve cells in the brain and causing motor skill deterioration, cognitive impairment, mental health disorders, and sleep disturbances.
Under current law, the Environmental Protection Agency must register any pesticide sold or distributed in America through the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. The Paraquat Prevention Act would direct the EPA to cancel that registration entirely. It would also revoke any exemption allowing paraquat residue in or on food and ban the sale and use of existing stocks. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin would be prohibited from re-registering the herbicide.
