{"id":17719,"date":"2026-06-25T14:01:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T14:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17719"},"modified":"2026-06-25T14:01:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T14:01:52","slug":"vermont-is-the-first-state-to-ban-paraquat-a-weed-killer-linked-to-parkinsons-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17719","title":{"rendered":"Vermont is the first state to ban paraquat, a weed killer linked to Parkinson\u2019s disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

By AMANDA SWINHART and KIMBERLEE KRUESI<\/strong><\/p>\n

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) \u2014 Vermont has become the first U.S. state to ban paraquat, one of the most commonly used herbicides, with lawmakers citing a possible link between the weed killer and Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>

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The ban has been widely celebrated by advocates who hope Vermont\u2019s move will prompt similar action in other states to prevent the neurologic disease that robs people of control over their movements and affects about 1 million Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cVermont took the step to be the leader in this, and that\u2019s significant because it shifts the conversation,\u201d said Dan Feehan, with The Michael J. Fox Foundation, the world\u2019s largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson\u2019s research. \u201cNow, \u2018will your state be the last to ban it?\u2019 becomes the question.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, for some farmers, the ban could potentially threaten their already slim profit margins. Attempts to prohibit paraquat\u2019s use in other states where the chemical is more heavily used have repeatedly stalled.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently reviewing the safety of paraquat after saying there\u2019s no clear link between the herbicide and Parkinson\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Syngenta, a Swiss chemicals company that has made paraquat for years, announced earlier this year that it would stop global manufacturing or selling of the chemical, but also defended the herbicide\u2019s safety. Other companies continue to sell it.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite decades of investigation and more than 1,200 epidemiological and laboratory studies of paraquat, no scientist or doctor has ever concluded in a peer-reviewed scientific analysis that paraquat causes Parkinson\u2019s disease,\u201d the company said.<\/p>

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