Background Information

Paraquat's herbicidal effects were discovered in the late 1950s and the product was first sold in 1962. It is today the world's second largest selling weedkiller and is registered and used in well over 100 countries.

It is a fast-acting contact herbicide which is rainfast shortly after application and is rapidly deactivated on contact with soil, having no residual effects in the soil. Its normal use causes no adverse effects on wildlife or the environment. When properly used it has no adverse effects on the health of spray operators.

Its many uses in a wide variety of crops have helped to increase the productivity of agriculture in both the developed and developing world. By reducing the need for cultivation it has helped to prevent erosion of soil and assisted in the conservation of soil moisture. It has facilitated the introduction of 'no-till farming' or 'direct drilling' in which time and energy-consuming soil cultivation have been eliminated.