The Chemical Review Committee of the Rotterdam Convention1 reviewed the amended notification from Sweden at its meeting in Geneva in March 2010. The Committee agreed that the notification did not meet the specified requirements. Accordingly, paraquat was not put forward in the process to include it in the list of chemicals subject to the Prior Informed Consent procedure.
The Rotterdam Convention was drawn-up by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) with the aim of promoting shared responsibility and cooperative...
A paraquat-based herbicide has become an essential land preparation tool for Brazilian farmers to stem the spread of glyphosate resistant weeds.
The extensive adoption of GM soybean varieties tolerant to glyphosate has led to farmers using this non-selective herbicide for weed control too much and too often. Although glyphosate is encouraging the continued adoption of no-till, with all the benefits to soil conservation that brings, excessive use is also encouraging glyphosate resistant weeds1. Up to three million hectares in Brazil are now estimated to be infested with...
Soybean growers in Brazil are facing a dilemma. More land under no-till is saving its soil and reducing energy use, but many no-till farmers are now finding that glyphosate resistant weeds are threatening future success.
No-till cropping systems have now been adopted on around 70% of cultivated land in the country, particularly for soybeans. Brazil and the US lead the world in no-till farming, but this is threatened by the rise of glyphosate resistant weeds. A recent article highlighted how worried American farmers are becoming (read more).
This is the first of two features...
In Brazil, paraquat is helping farmers to harvest more sugarcane, more efficiently. The fast and thorough desiccation achieved by paraquat means faster harvesting, more profitable cropping and less environmental impact.
Production of sugarcane in Brazil has doubled in the past decade and is forecast to double again in the next1,2. As a biofuel feedstock sugarcane is attractive because of its high net energy gain. However, its impact on the environment and opportunities for food production are under scrutiny. Minimizing land use by increasing yield, and protecting...
In the Philippines, more successful results from a project using paraquat to control weeds and prevent soil erosion have been announced. Since 2005, researchers from several universities and other organisations have been collaborating to study approaches to reducing the serious threat posed by soil erosion to food production and the environment.
Professor Gil Magsino from the University of the Philippines presented the results and conclusions from the Sagip-Lupa project’s 4th Annual Report at the University of Benguet recently.
Prof. Magsino noted that an annual...
Sugarcane production in Brazil has almost doubled in the past decade. This has resulted from a 40% increase in the area cropped and from average yields which have increased by over 12% driven by the demand for sugar from food manufacturers and as the biofuel feedstock with the best net energy gain and lowest carbon footprint.
Predictions of ethanol production from sugarcane in Brazil in 2020 made by UNICA (União da Indústria de Cana-de-Açúcar) show a more than trebling in output from a crop area increasing from around 8 million ha in 2008 to nearly 14...
The first weed species to develop resistance to the non-selective herbicide glufosinate has been recorded by researchers in Malaysia.
Preliminary experiments have confirmed concerns that an aggressive grass weed is developing populations which are no longer controlled by glufosinate, sold as brands such as Basta and Liberty. Glufosinate is a foliar herbicide, slower acting than paraquat, but faster than glyphosate. It is the herbicide used in LibertyLink GM cropping systems.
Weed scientists from the University of Malaya have been investigating reports of weed control problems...
Conservation tillage techniques have rapidly become popular ways of preparing fields for cropping because of their many environmental and economic benefits. Non-selective herbicides like paraquat are essential components of conservation tillage because fields are not plowed to bury weeds, and desiccated vegetation, stover and stubble provide a protective cover to the soil. This helps to minimise erosion, provides habitats for beneficial insects and other wildlife, and undisturbed soil builds higher levels of organic matter, key to good soil structure and fertility.
Why do...
Weeds do not hit the headlines like droughts, insect plagues or even swine flu, but cause substantial human misery, quietly and constantly, notes one of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) most renowned weed experts. Ricardo Labrada-Romero quotes figures produced by leading environmental organisation Landcare Research (New Zealand) which indicate that uncontrolled weeds cause crop losses equivalent to 380 million tonnes of wheat every year.
Paraquat is a very promising catalyst for use in fuel cells using plant carbohydrates, offering cheap, clean, renewable energy. Scientists from Brigham Young University (Utah, USA) and NASA have recently published their work in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society1.
Fuel cells may be attractive sources of energy in future. They are like batteries, but do not store energy – they need a constant source of fuel. Currently, a major stumbling block is the need to use very expensive precious metal catalysts like platinum. Fuel cells using hydrogen as a fuel have...
No-till crop production using paraquat for weed control is enabling the successful cultivation of one of China’s last available soil resources for food production.
China has 7% of the world’s arable land but has to feed more than 20% of the world’s population. In Southern China red soils account for one fifth of the country's land area where 480 million people live.
At present, nearly 30 million hectares of red soils have been cultivated, but they are highly weathered, inherently infertile and very susceptible to erosion1. No-till can help by...
This season has seen a redoubling of efforts to fight the spread of glyphosate resistant Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) in US crops. The key to resistance management is to use herbicides which have different modes of action. When it comes to achieving a broad-spectrum effect like glyphosate, the choice of alternatives is extremely limited. Paraquat’s unique mode of action1 together with its broad-spectrum weed control and fast action, make it an invaluable tool in the fight against weed resistance to glyphosate.
Palmer amaranth is one of several important weed...
Knowing how a herbicide works in detail - its 'mode of action' (MOA) - is important to understanding how to use it most effectively. Herbicide MOA is a major factor in weed control spectrum, crop selectivity and weed resistance.
Herbicides control weeds by interfering with how they grow. Different MOAs all ultimately either stop seeds from germinating or establishing as seedlings; prevent plants from making essential carbohydrates, proteins or lipids (oils and fats); or desiccate leaves and stems.
Paraquat’s MOA involves diverting the flow of energy captured from...
The Paraquat Information Center has been completely redeveloped to make it easier to find information, not only about paraquat, but also about the huge variety of cropping systems around the world in which paraquat is one of farmers' most essential tools.
Here is a quick guide to finding your way around.
Use the top navigation bar to browse the main sections of the site:
News & Features contains topical articles about paraquat and how it is being used to increase agricultural productivity.
To find out why farmers value paraquat and why using it...
In September 2008, after an evaluation by the Thai Toxicology Evaluation Committee, paraquat was approved for continued sale in Thailand and scheduled to enter the new re-registration process.
As of May 2009, the final approval of the re-registration procedure by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is still pending, but paraquat has been included in the first stage of the review program which is expected to start in July 2009. The current registration will expire in August 2011.
Following a major revision of the regulatory system for crop...
It takes skill to no-till, but persevering and wider adoption could bring many benefits, says an article on ‘No-Till: the Quiet Revolution’ in a recent edition of Scientific American.
No-till is a way of growing crops without plowing. The authors, soil and sustainable farming experts David Huggins, USDA, and Prof. John Reganold (Washington State University) cite the introduction of paraquat as a milestone in agriculture which made no-till possible.
As a broad spectrum, non-selective herbicide, paraquat controls weeds without the need to bury them by ploughing...
In 2008 the problem of weeds that have become resistant to glyphosate has continued to increase.
New outbreaks have been reported in Australia, Brazil, Paraquay and the USA, including one species previously unrecorded as being resistant1. Urochloa panicoides (liverseedgrass) was found in New South Wales, Australia infesting grain sorghum and wheat crops2.
In addition, populations of Chenopodium album (lambsquarters, fat hen) with less than usual sensitivity to glyphosate have been noted in US soybean fields3.
Glyphosate has been called a...
The main manufacturer of paraquat, Syngenta, comments on the status of paraquat in the EU:
In December 2003, following a detailed review and the scientific recommendation of the relevant EU committees, the Commission adopted Directive 2003/112/EC, which included paraquat in Annex I (“EU registration of paraquat”, to be found here in all languages).
In February 2004, however, Sweden initiated legal action before the European Court in Luxembourg requesting that the Court declare Directive 2003/112/EC null and void. Sweden was later supported in this legal action by...
Syngenta will not be applying for a new licence for paraquat in the European Union. John Atkin, Chief Operating Officer of Syngenta's crop protection business area, told a media conference in Zurich that the cost would out-weigh the benefits.
The EU Court of Justice's Court of First Instance had handed down a ruling in July 2007 which cancelled the licence granted for paraquat in 2003. Originally, Syngenta had announced that it may submit a new appication for an EU licence within the next two years. "We will not now be doing so for the time being," John Aitkin said. ...
Paraquat was granted a full re-registration in the Philippines on 22 October 2008 for a further three years. This followed a full and detailed scientific review by the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority of the Philippines. This is excellent news for the country’s 90 million inhabitants for whom agriculture is a very significant part of their economy.
For 12 million farmers, it means they can continue to use paraquat as an essential tool in their efforts to grow food, make an important contribution to the country’s export earnings from crops like...
