Telangana Bans Paraquat Herbicide

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Telangana officially issued a Government Order banning the sale, distribution, manufacture, and use of the highly toxic weedicide Paraquat to protect farmers and public health.

Paraquat is an extremely potent and fast-acting chemical compound used as a non-selective contact herbicide to clear weeds quickly.
It destroys any green plant tissue on contact by damaging cell structures, which makes it popular in farming despite its lethal risks.

Scientists first synthesized Paraquat in the 1880s for industrial uses as a chemical oxidation indicator and dye.
Researchers discovered its powerful weed-killing properties in the 1950s.
Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) started selling the chemical worldwide in the 1960s under the brand name Gramoxone.
Farmers use this chemical on nearly 80 lakh acres of land across India because it costs only ₹280 per litre, even though 74 countries have banned it due to high toxicity.

The pure chemical is colorless, odorless, and tasteless, which leads to accidental swallowing when people store it in unlabelled drink bottles.
It works by creating reactive oxygen species inside plant cells during photosynthesis, which destroys cell walls and dries out weeds within hours.
There is no medical antidote for Paraquat, unlike many other poisonings, meaning the internal damage is permanent once consumed.
Swallowing even a tiny amount causes severe burns in the mouth and throat, often called Paraquat Mouth.
The poison enters the bloodstream and damages the kidneys and liver before settling in the lungs.
It causes permanent lung scarring known as pulmonary fibrosis, and putting a poisoned patient on a ventilator only makes the lung damage happen faster.