Between 2017 and 2021, 5.3 million pounds of the herbicide paraquat were sprayed on California fields, with 66 percent of that applied in five Central Valley counties whose residents are predominantly poor and Latino, according to a new Environmental Working Group analysis.
Paraquat, which the Environmental Protection Agency considers too toxic for use on golf courses but not on food crops, is linked to Parkinson’s disease, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and childhood leukemia.
“Paraquat is primarily used across the U.S. by farmers for clearing fields before planting almonds, corn, peanuts, soybeans, wine grapes, and other crops,” the authors of the report write. “Much of the chemical ends up in soil for years, but it can also linger in dust or drift through the air to nearby communities. This poses an increased risk to people living and working near fields who are exposed to paraquat.”
The five counties that bore the heaviest load of paraquat were Kern, Kings, Fresno, Tulare, and Merced.
Kern County had by far the most paraquat sprayed in the time period surveyed, at 1.2 million pounds. And two Kern County communities with high poverty rates, Shafter and Wasco, “have a combined population of almost 50,000 and total paraquat spraying of almost 180,000 pounds between 2017 and 2021. Latinos make up more than 80 percent of the population in both localities, and over 20 percent of residents live below the poverty line.”
“Syngenta makes paraquat in China and the United Kingdom. The Swiss-based company, which was acquired by a Chinese state-owned chemical conglomerate, has long understood the chemical’s health risks,” the report notes. “Ironically, Chinese, U.K., and Swiss farmers are prohibited by their respective governments from using paraquat due to potential health risks from exposure.”