Saturday, April 22 is Earth Day, and this year we’re observing the holiday by asking Congress to ban a toxic herbicide that can increase risk of Parkinson’s by 100 to 500 percent. 

For decades, researchers have explored environmental connections to Parkinson’s disease. At The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF), not only do we fund leading research in this area — we also focus public policy and government relations efforts to reduce risk of exposure to harmful toxins, chemicals and other environmental concerns in the United States known to have a connection to Parkinson’s.  

For example, we advocate to reduce or ban the use of chemicals suspected most strongly to increase Parkinson’s disease risk. Paraquat, a widely used herbicide in the United States, is thought to increase Parkinson’s risk by 100 to 500 percent. Paraquat is banned in more than 50 other countries (including the European Union and China) but usage in the U.S. is increasing due to crops’ resistance to other kinds of herbicides.  

In 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its review of paraquat’s registration. MJFF submitted comments and a petition with 107,000 community signatories, urging a ban. Much to the Parkinson’s community’s dismay, the agency decided to re-register paraquat in 2020. However, after two years of advocacy asking the EPA to reconsider, in December 2022, the agency announced it will re-evaluate its decision. The EPA will now prepare new analyses of paraquat’s risks along with cost-benefit balancing. The public will have a chance to weigh in with their thoughts in the coming year. We will continue to keep you informed of those and other future opportunities for advocacy to keep pushing for the ban. 

One such opportunity is in front of us today: you can ask your U.S. Senators to cosponsor legislation that will ban paraquat. Email your Senators today and ask them to ban paraquat.  

We need to reduce toxic chemicals in our environment that have known connections to Parkinson’s disease, and banning paraquat is an important first step.  

Learn more about the environment and Parkinson’s: 

• Read about four MJFF-funded studies exploring environmental contributors to PD. 

• Watch a webinar on this topic.