Between 11 million and 17 million pounds of paraquat are sprayed on fields annually in the United States to help grow cotton, soybean and corn, among other crops. Use is increasing, more than doubling from 2012 to 2018, according to the federal government.
Developed by Syngenta and sold by Chevron beginning in the 1960s, paraquat destroys plants on a molecular level within hours. Even skin exposure to humans can be deadly.
The threat of long-term, low-level exposure looms large…