California Paraquat Products Face Phase-Out Following Registration Cancellations
Chemical companies canceled California registrations for paraquat after a state toxicity data deadline passed.
4 reports on this incident · first at Aug 19, 2026, 12:35 a.m. ET
Earlier reports
Aug 19, 2026, 12:50 a.m. ET
Respiratory Symptoms Reported Following Paraquat Spill in Siskiyou County
Some people reported respiratory symptoms and sought care following a paraquat spill in Dorris, Siskiyou County, and no serious injuries were reported, according to Medical Daily. Anyone who swallows or is doused with a pesticide should call 1-800-222-1222 or 911 immediately. Medical Daily reported that there is no antidote for paraquat, swallowing a small amount can be fatal, and exposure is potentially associated with thyroid effects, birth defects, and risks to other organisms, particularly birds. The incident comes amidst the beginning of a phase-out of paraquat in California. Every company that sold the herbicide in the state canceled its state registration after the California Department of Pesticide Regulation required registrants to submit new data addressing gaps in its human health toxicology database by a June 5 deadline. Under state rules, licensed dealers may continue selling canceled paraquat products—which include brand names like Gramoxone—for up to two years after each cancellation takes effect. Paraquat is a restricted-material herbicide that only licensed dealers may sell and only licensed applicators may use. More than three-quarters of the state's total paraquat is applied in eight San Joaquin Valley counties, according to Medical Daily.
Aug 19, 2026, 12:49 a.m. ET
California Begins Paraquat Phase-Out as Registrations Are Canceled
Every company that sold paraquat in California canceled its state registration after the California Department of Pesticide Regulation required registrants to submit new data addressing gaps in its human health toxicology database by a June 5 deadline. The cancellations mark the beginning of a phase-out in California, though licensed dealers may keep selling canceled paraquat products for up to two years after each cancellation takes effect. Paraquat, sold under brand names including Gramoxone, is a herbicide and restricted material that only licensed dealers may sell and only licensed applicators may use.
More than three-quarters of the state total is applied in eight San Joaquin Valley counties. There is no antidote for paraquat, and swallowing a small amount can be fatal. Exposure is potentially associated with thyroid effects, birth defects, and risks to other organisms, most significantly birds. In a paraquat spill in Dorris, Siskiyou County, some people reported respiratory symptoms and sought care, and medicaldaily.com reported that no serious injuries were recorded.
Anyone who swallows or is doused with a pesticide should call 1-800-222-1222 or 911 immediately.
Aug 19, 2026, 12:35 a.m. ETFirst report
California Begins Paraquat Phase-Out After Companies Cancel Registrations
Every company that sold the herbicide paraquat in California has canceled its state registration, marking the beginning of a developing phase-out, Medical Daily reported. The cancellations occurred after the California Department of Pesticide Regulation required registrants to submit new data addressing gaps in its human health toxicology database by a June 5 deadline. Under the phase-out, licensed dealers may keep selling canceled paraquat products—which include brand names such as Gramoxone—for up to two years after each cancellation takes effect.
Paraquat is a restricted material that only licensed dealers may sell and only licensed applicators may use, according to Medical Daily. More than three-quarters of the state total is applied in eight San Joaquin Valley counties in California. Swallowing a small amount of paraquat can be fatal, and there is no antidote. Medical Daily reported that paraquat exposure is potentially associated with thyroid effects and birth defects, as well as risks to other organisms, most significantly birds.
During a paraquat spill in Dorris, Siskiyou County, some people reported respiratory symptoms and sought care, though no serious injuries were reported, according to Medical Daily. Anyone who swallows or is doused with a pesticide should call 1-800-222-1222 or 911 immediately, Medical Daily reported.
Was this report accurate and useful?
Sources
Revision history
- Version 119 Aug 2026, 04:52current
First published.
- Version 119 Aug 2026, 04:35current
First published.
- Version 119 Aug 2026, 04:50current
First published.
- Version 119 Aug 2026, 04:49current
First published.
How we work
This site models an investigative reporter rather than a wire desk. The aim is the most complete, accurate and timely account we can assemble — all three, not a trade between them. Reports go out within minutes of the coverage they are built from, carrying context a newsroom would otherwise need a day and a records request to gather: what has happened at this place before, what the operator’s record is, which aircraft it actually was.
Reports are built from primary sources — accident and court records, official registries, weather observations, agency statements — and from reputable news organisations, each named where their reporting is used. Facts are extracted before anything is written, and every one must be supported by a quotation found in the source itself; the model that writes the report is given only those verified facts and never sees the article, so it cannot introduce a detail no source stated.
Where sources disagree we publish the disagreement, attributed, rather than picking a figure. Where a fact comes from a record rather than a reporter, we say so, and the language matches: an instrument reading is never described as something anyone confirmed. Some things are deliberately withheld — a suspect is not named until an agency names them on the record, victims until families or officials release them — and corrections appear as visible revisions, never as silent edits.
None of that makes a report true. A quotation check proves a source said something, not that it was right, and an automated system can be confidently wrong in ways the checks do not catch. If something here is wrong, the feedback above is how it gets found. The full methodology, including what we refuse to publish.