Paraquat will continue to be used in Australia despite 70 countries banning weedkiller over Parkinson’s disease fears

Harvesting wheat in South Australia. The herbicide paraquat will remain legal despite concerns about the health impacts on farmers and workers. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters View image in fullscreen Harvesting wheat in South Australia. The herbicide paraquat will remain legal despite concerns about the health impacts on farmers and workers. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters Analysis Paraquat will continue to be used in Australia despite 70 countries banning weedkiller over Parkinson’s disease fears Anne Davies Herbicide manufacturer Sygenta had reservations dating back to 1970s but regulator says tighter controls, including phasing out backpack sprayers, can protect workers Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The herbicide paraquat, banned in over 70 countries, will remain legal in Australia despite Parkinson’s groups, scientists and neurologists arguing there is a strong correlation between direct exposure and the incidence of the disease. The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) announced its final decision on Tuesday following a decades-long review of the highly toxic paraquat and a related chemical, diquat. Both are widely used in Australian agriculture. The regulator will continue to allow their use, but with stricter conditions to reduce the exposure risk for farm workers, birds and mammals. Paraquat is used in broad-acre farming, particularly for grains, sugarcane, cotton and horticulture. The APVMA chief executive, Scott Hansen, said that while the regulator would have liked to find a clear answer as to what caused Parkinson’s, the review of hundreds of scientific papers and long-term data had not established a causal link between paraquat and the debilitating neurological disease. Secret files suggest chemical giant feared weedkiller’s link to Parkinson’s disease Read more Tuesday’s ruling was not a surprise, given it had been flagged in an earlier draft. It’s unlikely to end the controversy regarding paraquat and diquat – and Australia’s approach to regulating agricultural chemicals. About 70 countries have banned the highly toxic paraquat. The European Union and the UK banned it in 2007 after a lawsuit found the manufacturer, Sygenta, had not established the safety of the herbicide, and its initial assessment was flawed. The EU and many other nations apply what is known as the precautionary approach to licensing the use of chemicals. They require manufacturers to establish that their products are safe. Australia uses a risk-based assessment where actual risk must be established. However, establishing how risky a herbicide might be is not easy, especially given that the regulator relies on evidence from the manufacturer at the registration stage. Chemical giant feared weedkiller’s link to Parkinson’s A Guardian investigation in 2022 uncovered internal documents that showed Sygenta had reservations in the 1970s about paraquat’s chron