Residents Sound Alarm About Common Herbicide Banned In Other Countries - Study Suggests More Toxic Than Glyphosate * 100PercentFedUp.com * by Danielle

Connecticut residents have voiced their concerns about an herbicide used to kill an invasive aquatic plant in local rivers and lakes.

“The Army Corps of Engineers previously used diquat, a possibly toxic herbicide, in Connecticut waters. Recently, they applied to use it again,” WFSB noted.

“Thousands of Connecticut residents have signed a petition against the state’s plans to spray the herbicide Diquat Dibromide in several lakes and rivers this summer. State officials want to use diquat to kill an invasive weed that’s harmful to aquatic ecosystems. But scientific studies have linked the chemical, which is banned in the EU, to organ damage in humans,” Change.org stated.

“Rapper and CT resident @chriswebby started a petition urging Connecticut officials to stop the planned spray and reconsider the use of diquat going forward,” it added.

Check it out:

Thousands of Connecticut residents have signed a petition against the state's plans to spray the herbicide Diquat Dibromide in several lakes and rivers this summer. State officials want to use diquat to kill an invasive weed that's harmful to aquatic ecosystems. But scientific… pic.twitter.com/z5RJC6He2H

— Change.org (@Change) July 3, 2025

The petition has over 18,300 signatures at the time of writing.

More from WFSB:

Lake Pocotopaug is a popular lake for recreation in East Hampton. However, an invasive plant called hydrilla has moved in.

“It does spread pretty rapidly,” said Dave Cox, East Hampton Town Manager.

Hydrilla is a plan that depletes the lake’s oxygen, making it hard for other vegetation and wildlife to exist.

Cox said East Hampton is using a fluoridone-based herbicide, instead of diquat, to get rid of hydrilla.

“It is a constant battle. I think that’s something we along with the Army Corps of Engineers are looking at whether we can totally eradicate it,” Cox added.

Yet the herbicide they’re using is not the one causing concern.

The Army Corps of Engineers said it used diquat in Portland and Chester in previous years. They clarified diquat is federally approved and has been thoroughly tested.

However, it can be potentially toxic and was banned in Europe.

According to The Guardian, diquat is the ingredient used to replace glyphosate in Roundup and other weedkiller products.

However, new research suggests diquat can kill gut bacteria and damage organs.

Although diquat is banned in the European Union, United Kingdom, China, and many other countries, it’s widely used in the United States.

NEW – Study finds Diquat, an herbicide in Roundup's updated "safer" formulas replacing Glyphosate, is 200 times more chronically toxic than Glyphosate. Despite bans in the UK, EU, China, and elsewhere, it remains widely used in U.S. agriculture.https://t.co/niWAx6QPwn

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) July 8, 2025

More info from The Guardian:

Still, the EPA has resisted calls for a ban, and Roundup formulas with the ingredient hit the shelves last year.

“From a human health perspective, this stuff is quite a bit nastier than glyphosate so we’re seeing a regrettable substitution, and the ineffective regulatory structure is allowing it,” said Nathan Donley, science director with the Center For Biological Diversity, which advocates for stricter pesticide regulations but was not involved in the new research. “Regrettable substitution” is a scientific term used to describe the replacement of a toxic substance in a consumer product with an ingredient that is also toxic.

Diquat is also thought to be a neurotoxin, carcinogen and linked to Parkinson’s disease. An October analysis of EPA data by the Friends of the Earth non-profit found it is about 200 times more toxic than glyphosate in terms of chronic exposure.

Bayer, which makes Roundup, faced nearly 175,000 lawsuits alleging that the product’s users were harmed by the product. Bayer, which bought Monsanto in 2018, reformulated Roundup after the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as a possible carcinogen.

The new review of scientific literature in part focuses on the multiple ways in which diquat damages organs and gut bacteria, including by reducing the level of proteins that are key pieces of the gut lining. The weakening can allow toxins and pathogens to move from the stomach into the bloodstream, and trigger inflammation in the intestines and throughout the body. Meanwhile, diquat can inhibit the production of beneficial bacteria that maintain the gut lining.

Damage to the lining also inhibits the absorption of nutrients and energy metabolism, the authors said.

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The research further scrutinizes how the substance harms the kidneys, lungs and liver. Diquat “causes irreversible structural and functional damage to the kidneys” because it can destroy kidney cells’ membranes and interfere with cell signals. The effects on the liver are similar, and the ingredient causes the production of proteins that inflame the organ.

“Diquat is a widely used bipyridyl herbicide that is extensively applied in agricultural production and water management due to its high efficacy in weed control. However, its environmental persistence and the toxic effects it induces have raised widespread concern. Studies show that Diquat primarily enters the body through the digestive tract, leading to poisoning,” the study, published in May 2025, reads.