Farmers and health experts clash at hearing over proposed paraquat ban

Chair opened a continuation of public testimony on H.739, a bill proposing limits on the sale and use of the herbicide paraquat, and invited rural growers and health experts to speak.

Eugenie Doyle, co-owner of Last Resort Farm in Moncton, told the committee she has grown strawberries organically since the early 1990s without using paraquat. Doyle described a system of cover cropping (buckwheat and winter rye), timely mechanical cultivation and targeted hand-weeding to control weeds and runners and said organic methods are labor-intensive but commercially viable on a diversified 265-acre farm that sells through a farmstand, CSA, farmers markets and local retailers. "Cover cropping is pretty much the key," she said, adding that the operation provides seasonal work and that the farm now produces 2–3 acres of strawberries managed by her son.

Bill Shure, who manages about 380 acres of orchard and maintains a 3-acre nursery, said he uses Gramoxone (a paraquat formulation) in narrow strips to suppress competing vegetation during the first one or two years after planting. Shure said his operation plants roughly 10 acres of trees a year, that newly established rows can have close spacing (he described planting densities up to about 1,000–2,000 leaders per acre in high-density systems), and that mechanical cultivation is often impossible on the clay soils when wet. He described investments in a $15,000 tractor-mounted mechanical "weed eater," applicator training and safety gear, and said he would be "disturbed and discouraged" if access to Gramoxone were restricted because he fears losing the tool could force downsizing or make some plantings uneconomic.

Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group, an adjunct law professor at Georgetown, said a collection of animal, mechanistic and epidemiological studies shows that paraquat can enter brain tissue, cause oxidative damage in regions associated with motor control and is linked in human studies to increased rates of Parkinson's-like illness among people who live near treated fields. Faber highlighted an EPA modeling review released in October that, he said, found prior assumptions about paraquat's vapor behavior underestimated its tendency to volatilize. He told the committee the new modeling suggests paraquat vapor could travel miles and pose bystander exposure risks and offered to share the scientific papers and USGS state-by-state use data.

Lawmakers pressed witnesses on quantities and alternatives. The committee discussed a cited figure that roughly 125 gallons of paraquat products had been purchased statewide last year (witnesses described that as a small fraction compared with high-use states), while Shure estimated his own annual use on the order of tens of gallons on the portions of his operation where it is applied. Faber said many other herbicides have been added to the U.S. toolbox in recent years and that orchardists in other countries manage without paraquat; he offered to arrange testimony from weed-science experts to review chemical and cultural alternatives in detail.

Committee members asked for more data on application methods, persistence of vaporized paraquat, local population exposure and comparisons with larger production states such as California. Witnesses agreed to provide scientific papers, USGS use data and contact information for additional experts. The chair said the panel expects more testimony and documents this week as it moves toward wrapping up deliberations.

The hearing recorded no formal votes. Lawmakers concluded by asking for additional evidence on alternatives and for clearer numbers on local use and applicator certification before any final action.