An email from the Michael J Fox Foundation tells us that the US Congress is about to discuss legislation to ban the highly toxic weedkiller paraquat.

Scientists have cited the deadly herbicide as a causal factor in many cases of Parkinson’s, either from direct contact when spraying or from crop residues on fruit and vegetables.

Paraquat has been banned in more than 30 countries around the world, including EU member states. In 2010, French farm minister, as he was then, Michel Barnier finally closed a French legal loophole to stop paraquat being sold or used in France, long after an EU-wide ban had come into force. Within weeks, the French president Nicolas Sarkozy had appointed Barnier as a European Commissioner and packed him off to Brussels.

Photo by Sebastian Pichler on Unsplash