Just retrieved an email and searched for Paraquat, the subject relating to Parkinson's Disease.

[sprinkleeninow]

Paraquat is a highly dangerous product still manufactured and sold in the United States. Manufacturers have for some time known the direct connection between paraquat and Parkinson's Disease, but continue to sell it.

What the actual...

[RockRaven]

1. My memory bank's instant-association for paraquat is "suicide agent in developing countries"

and the Wikipedia article for paraquat has a section on that issue, confirming my recollection, specifically noting Samoa and Trinidad&Tobago in the 80s/90s time period. It also noted that when South Korea completely outlawed it in 2011, their "death by pesticide" dropped by half and the nation's overall suicide rate dropped measurably.

I suppose it should not be surprising that a substance which can kill with an acute ingestion of a few teaspoons could also have chronic/degenerative effects from sustained exposure...

The dose makes the poison, as the saying goes, so of course useful chemicals can also be dangerous. Which is why we need experts to spend their lives studying these things and make decisions which the rest of us do not have enough knowledge to make... Unfortunately -- but by design of the people who own/control this country -- our regulatory agencies are completely fucking captured by the industries which are supposedly subservient to them.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

3. A highly trenchant analysis my friend ... about so many chemicals ...

My only recollection of that particular word is from the 70's when I was a kid ... IIRC, isn't it a defoliant-type chemical that was infamously being sprayed on pot plants south of the border, and not only poisoning the local population, but also making it's way into US consumers stashes sometimes, with quite negative consequences?

[hlthe2b]

2. Paraquat was sprayed on marijauna illicitly grown during the "war on drugs"

but also to desiccate cotton after picking and as a noxious weed agent in some areas.

Nasty crap.

[Effete Snob]

5. Back in the 70's

I believe it was the Nixon/Ford administration that pioneered the use of paraquat on marijuana grown in Mexico.

It was said that the farmers, having been alerted to the use of herbicide, would quickly harvest what they could salvage immediately after application, and that paraquat residue was making its way through the supply chain. That could also have been disinfo intended to depress demand, but it's bad enough that it makes you paranoid in the first place.

[DenaliDemocrat]

4. Paraguat is not exactly common

It burns foliage to the ground. It is a restricted use pesticide with limited application. It is used in some potato farming to burn the vines. It never touches the tuber

[MheadDemo]

6. Highly regulated, highly unlikely risk to general public

Given it's toxicity paraquat is a very highly regulated herbicide not sold or available to the general public. Unless you work directly with this product it's not something that would have any relevant exposure or relationship to the many postulated causes of Parkinson's. Training and special pesticide applicators licenses are require to use it to avoid such risks.
It's allowed for use as a non-selective herbicide (kills basically most weeds/plants) where needed to clear a field before planting a new crop. That allows farmers to use practices like no-till to protect top soil by avoiding plowing to deal with weeds. Still, it's pretty rarely used in the U.S. as there are much less toxic products like Roundup/glyphosate, atrazine, 2,4-D, etc. but since those are all under similar attacks it's possible more paraquat use could come back.
It's getting lots of attention linked to class action litigators seeking a major settlement from chemical makers after their recent $10B payday received from Bayer/Monsanto for Roundup herbicide claims.

[marble falls]

7. I just lost a friend to a paraquat/agent orange cancer. Feels pretty fucking immediate to me ...

... but I especially enjoyed the description of "Roundup/glyphosate, atrazine" as "much less toxic". The way a handgun is less dangerous than an AK.

[struggle4progress]

8. How long until Tucker and Trump push it as a cure for covid?