Agrochemicals company Syngenta has said that it will stop production of the herbicide paraquat by June this year, with the company saying that the decision is for financial reasons. As a result, Syngenta will cut around 90 jobs at its plant in Huddersfield, UK – the company’s only facility that produces this chemical.
Mike Hollands, president of Syngenta UK, said in a statement that ‘this decision is about focusing our resources where they deliver the greatest value for our business and our customers.’ Paraquat currently accounts for less than 1% of Syngenta’s global sales, with 750 other companies registered to sell the chemical.
Yet, the decision comes as Syngenta is facing thousands of lawsuits in the US from people who claim that they have developed Parkinson’s disease due to exposure to paraquat. Studies have suggested that the herbicide increases the risk of the disease, particularly for those who work with the chemical or live in areas where farmers spray paraquat.
The EU banned the use of the herbicide in 2007, while the US still approves the chemical for ‘restricted use’. Many companies – including Syngenta, until this decision – produce paraquat to export to countries outside of the EU, as well as other agrochemicals. An investigation revealed that in 2024 the EU exported nearly 122,000 tonnes of pesticides banned for use inside the trading bloc.
‘The company argues that it can be used safely, but it can’t be used safely by people in smallholding farming, and that’s where a lot of it is used,’ explains Michael Eddleston, a toxicologist at the University of Edinburgh, UK.
Eddleston says that he is ‘really pleased’ about the announcement. ‘People have pushed for this decision for many years, and I guess as it’s become economically less important for Syngenta, it’s become an easy decision to make.’
‘[The decision] is not going to make a huge change, but politically, it’s very important,’ he adds. ‘[Syngenta is] the initial founder of the product, so the fact that [it is] no longer producing it is important as a statement of principle.’
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