Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Batasan Hills, Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. ________ 
Introduced by Honorable Representatives 
ARLENE D. BROSAS (Gabriela Women’s Party), 
FRANCE L. CASTRO (ACT Teachers Partylist),  
and RAOUL DANNIEL A. MANUEL (Kabataan Partylist) 
AN ACT PROHIBITING THE DISTRIBUTION, SALE AND USE OF PARAQUAT IN THE 
PHILIPPINES  
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Paraquat or 1,1’-dimethyl-4,4’-bipyridinium dichloride is a fast-acting, non-selective contact 
herbicide that causes rapid drying of plant leaves. It is used to control weeds and grasses in more 
than 100 different crops, including bananas and oil palms. It is used in the Philippines, particularly 
in Mindanao, where the work conditions continuously use, lack of washing facilities, lack of 
training/awareness, and lack of medical facilities make its use particularly hazardous. 
The product was first sold in 1961 and it is the most toxic herbicide used today, about 28 times 
more acutely toxic than glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide globally. From the time when 
it was first marketed until today, accidental and suicidal ingestion of paraquat has caused 
innumerable loss of lives. Paraquat is often mistakenly ingested because containers for drinking 
water and storage or mixing of paraquat are confused, and paraquat has been found available in 
stores in re-packed containers without proper labeling. An oral ingestion of a mouthful of a 20% 
paraquat solution is likely to cause death, and depending on the constitution of a person, 10 ml is 
enough to be fatal.  Fatal poisoning at the workplace occurs mostly when paraquat absorption 
through the skin is increased after prolonged contact with undiluted or diluted paraquat solution. 
Spray mist deposited in the nose may be swallowed and spray in the air can be ingested when 
workers breathe through the mouth. The level of exposure to paraquat that workers may 
experience when handling paraquat is high enough to lead to absorption of an amount that can 
result in acute poisoning. The symptoms of poisoning are often delayed. Damage to the lungs, 
for example, may not be evident until several days after absorption. Since there is no antidote 
against paraquat poisoning, the outcome can be fatal and in these cases, death mostly results 
from respiratory failure (ECCHR, 2011). 
The use of paraquat raises safety concerns for both human health and the environment on a 
global scale. Paraquat is a neurotoxic herbicide and has been linked to an increased incidence of 
Parkinson’s disease. It is a potential endocrine disruptor, teratogen, genotoxin, and carcinogen. 
Paraquat causes multiple organ failure as it damages the lungs, heart, kidneys, adrenal glands, 
central nervous system, liver, muscles, spleen, skin, and eyes.  
March 21, 2023
12:36 pm
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The Permanent People’s Tribunal on Agrochemical Transnational Corporations (PAN 
International, 2016) in its 2011 assembly reported that sprayers have died after sucking clogged 
spray nozzles or after applying pesticides with a leaky knapsack sprayer, or from splashes of 
concentrate on their bodies. Sprayers often suffer skin damage, burns, eye injuries/blindness, nail 
damage/loss, nose bleeds, and respiratory problems. Changes in wind direction result in sprayers’ 
exposure through inhalation and contact with skin and eye. The Tribunal also found that 
agricultural equipment are either left unwashed or washed in streams and rivers due to 
inadequate washing facilities, contaminating the water source. Some sprayers also bring home 
their equipment endangering household members.  
 
According to the Pesticides Action Network-Asia Pacific (PANAP), paraquat is among the top 20 
pesticides that are toxic to children. It is linked to acute poisoning and death. It can also adversely 
affect the development of brain function, disrupt hormones and may affect the immune system.  
It is also linked to Parkinson's disease.  
There are incidents of paraquat poisoning that have been recorded in the Philippines.  Dr. Norma 
Pacalso of the Benguet Provincial Health Office said there is an increase in monitored cases of 
poisoning in the province. She said from 39 cases in 2011, it rose to 48 in 2012. In 2013, twenty-
one (21) cases have already been recorded.  
 
Paraquat is marketed by Syngenta, with an approximate market share of 75%, under the brand 
name Gramoxone in formulations ranging from 24%-36% active ingredients. Other companies 
produce it under the trade names Crisquat, Dexuron, Totacol, Cyclone, Gramixel, Pathclear, and 
many others. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies it as moderately hazardous (Class 
II) but the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) considers it as highly hazardous (Class I) due to its 
acute toxicity, delayed effects, and lack of an antidote. The US Environment Protection Agency 
classifies paraquat as highly toxic by inhalation.  
 
Its use is unauthorized in Norway since 1981 and in Syngenta’s home-base Switzerland starting 
December 1989. Six European Union countries banned paraquat  – Sweden (1983), Finland 
(1986), Hungary (1991), Austria (1993), Denmark (1995), and Slovenia (1997) – long before the 
European Court’s decision to put an effective ban on paraquat in its 27 member countries in July 
2007.  The European Court of First Instance has ruled that paraquat must be prohibited within the 
European Union, exactly because the dangers of paraquat were considered too high.  The Court 
relied in its decision on the “precautionary principle”. Under the precautionary principle, even 
indications of a risk serve as a basis for the prohibition of a business practice.  The Court ruled 
that there is serious doubt as to whether paraquat has no effects on health and life even if all 
recommended safety measures are applied within the European context.  
 
Paraquat is also banned in Kuwait (1985), Cambodia (2003), Ivory Coast (2004), Syria (2005), 
United Arab Emirates (2005), Sri Lanka (2010) and most recently in Vietnam (2017).    Malaysia 
banned paraquat in 2002 but this was reversed in 2006 to allow its restricted use in oil palm 
plantations. South Korea cancelled the re-registration of paraquat in November 2011 and banned 
its sale starting 31 October 2012. In April 2012, China decided to halt all production and use of 
liquid paraquat by 2016. On February 8, 2017, the Vietnamese government officially announced 
an immediate ban on Syngenta’s paraquat upon having weighed in on the different scientific 
evidence that showed clear harms of the pesticides both on humans and the environment. 
Doctors from Bạch Mai Hospital in Hà Nội, Vietnam have reported at least one patient everyday 
hospitalized due to herbicide poisoning, popularly known as paraquat poisoning. The fatality rate 
after ingesting just 5ml of the chemical is 90 percent, doctors said. Every year, about 1,000 people 
die of paraquat poisoning across the country. 


In the USA Gramoxone must include the warning “fatal in inhaled”. But this warning is not included 
on the product sold in India, which states only “fatal if swallowed”. This was uncovered in research 
for the Monitoring Report submitted by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights 
(ECCHR) in October 2015 to the Panel of Experts on Pesticides Management at the UN Food 
and Agriculture Organization (FAO).  
 
Many international organizations such as Forest Stewardship Council (September 2005), 
Rainforest Alliance (June 2009), Fairtrade (May 2014), and the food giant DOLE (October 2007) 
have voluntarily banned it from their production systems.  The ban is due to paraquat’s high acute 
toxicity, irreversible toxic effects (especially on lungs), risk of accidents during handling and use, 
numerous accidents where the mortality rate was unacceptably high, its persistence in soil, and 
its potential for biomagnification. 
 
However, Syngenta continues to sell and distribute paraquat to other countries, such as South 
Korea, where paraquat has been used for the past three decades, with an estimated 2,000 toxic 
ingestions annually and associated 60-70% mortality. Ingestion of paraquat is still common across 
the world, from the United States to China and from Costa Rica to Malaysia. Chinese authorities 
have recently discussed concerns over 5,000 of its citizens dying from paraquat each year. 
Burkina Faso has recently proposed to add ‘Gramoxone Super’ to Annex III of the Rotterdam 
Convention, because of numerous occupational poisonings caused by this common paraquat 
formulation.  (ECCHR, 2011) 
 
Paraquat is a restricted pesticide in the Philippines. Yet, through a strong political will, Benguet 
officials banned gramoxone in the Cordilleras in July 2009. Benguet officials also called for a 
nationwide ban on gramoxone in October 2013 following the discovery that it is illegally traded 
from adjacent provinces which consequently increased poisoning incidence in the Cordilleras. 
 
The UN’s International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management discourages the use of 
pesticides whose handling and application require the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) 
that is uncomfortable, expensive, or not readily available especially in the case of small-scale 
users and farm workers in hot climates. Paraquat entails the use of PPE and thus, should not be 
marketed nor sold in the Philippines where a hot climate prevails and where companies are not 
conscientious in providing adequate PPE. 
 
Paraquat sale and use in the Philippines must be stopped. A nationwide ban on paraquat must 
be declared immediately to protect life and health, especially our women and children, and the 
yet to be born, from its hazardous effects.  
 
Everyone’s right to life is provided for in Art. 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 
(UDHR) of 1949 and in Art. 6(1) of the 1966 International Covenant on Cultural, Civic, and Political 
Rights (ICCPR). Art. 25 of the UDHR declares everyone’s right to a standard of living adequate 
for their health and well-being. Art. 23(1) of the UDHR contains the right to “just and favorable 
conditions of work”. Art. 7(b) and 12(1) of the 1966 International Covenant on economic, social, 
and cultural rights (ICESCR) provide the right to safe and healthy working conditions.  
 
Furthermore, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), has provided for several conventions 
that specify the right to just and favourable conditions at work in the context of usage of chemicals. 
The ILO’s Occupational Safety and Health Convention C155 of 1981 requires member states to 
implement “a coherent national policy on occupational safety, occupational health and the working 
environment” in order to “prevent accidents and injury to health arising out of, linked with or 
occurring in the course of work, by minimising, so far as is reasonably practicable, the causes of 


hazards inherent in the working environment” (Art. 4(1) and (2)). Fifty-seven (57) states have 
ratified this convention as by October 2011. The ILO’s Chemicals Convention C170 of 1990 
requires member states to implement “a coherent policy on safety in the use of chemicals at work” 
(Art. 4), “to prohibit or restrict the use of certain hazardous chemicals” (Art. 5), and to ensure 
labeling, “in a way easily understandable to the workers, so as to provide essential information 
regarding their classification, the hazards they present and the safety precautions to be observed” 
(Art. 7(2)). This convention has been ratified by 17 states as of October 2011.  
The ILO’s Safety and Health in Agriculture Convention C184 of 2001 requires member states to 
establish “specific criteria for the importation, classification, packaging, and labeling of chemicals 
used in agriculture and for their banning or restriction” (Art. 12(a)). Furthermore, it requires that 
member states “ensure that there are preventive and protective measures for the use of chemicals 
and handling of chemical waste at the level of the undertaking”, including the preparation, 
handling, application, storage, and transportation of chemicals, agricultural activities leading to 
the dispersion of chemicals, the maintenance, repair, and cleaning of equipment and containers 
for chemicals, and the disposal of empty containers and the treatment and disposal of chemical 
waste and obsolete chemicals (Art. 13(1) and (2)). This convention has been ratified by 13 states 
as of October 2011. 
With the numerous unaccounted deaths and disabilities due to paraquat, the severity of its effects 
on the flora and fauna of the areas where it is in use, its banning in 36 countries, and the 
inappropriateness of PPE in the Philippine climate, we are submitting this bill in the 19th Congress 
to push for a nationwide ban on Paraquat. 
In view of the foregoing, the immediate passage of this bill is earnestly sought. 
ARLENE D. BROSAS 
Gabriela Women’s Party 
FRANCE L. CASTRO 
RAOUL DANNIEL A. MANUEL 
Act Teachers Partylist 
Kabataan Partylist 


Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Batasan Hills, Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. ________ 
Introduced by Honorable Representatives 
ARLENE D. BROSAS (Gabriela Women’s Party), 
FRANCE L. CASTRO (ACT Teachers Partylist),  
and RAOUL DANNIEL A. MANUEL (Kabataan Partylist) 
AN ACT PROHIBITING THE DISTRIBUTION, SALE AND USE OF PARAQUAT IN THE 
PHILIPPINES  
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled: 
Section 1. Title. This Act shall be known as the ‘Paraquat Use Prohibition Act of 2023’. 
Section 2. Declaration of State Principles and Policies. Pursuant to Section 15, Article II of 
the Philippine Constitution, which declares that the State shall protect and promote the right to 
health of the people and instill health consciousness among them, as well as Section 16, Article 
II of the Philippine Constitution, which further declares that the State shall protect and advance 
the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony 
of nature, it is hereby the declared policy of the State: 
1. To ensure the protection and promotion of these Constitutionally guaranteed   rights to
health and balanced ecology of the people, including generations yet to be born;
2. To protect the people from the hazards of the environmentally degrading and health-
threatening agricultural practice of using paraquat to control weeds; and
3. To adopt the precautionary principle in assessing projects which are environmentally
critical.
Section 3. Definition of terms. For purposes of this Act, the following terms shall be 
understood as follows: 
a)
Back spraying refers to the application of substances, including but not limited to pesticides
and any other hazardous substances.
b) Agricultural activity, in relation to this Act, refers to the cultivation of the soil, sowing of
seeds, planting of crops, growing of fruit trees, and shall include, among others, the following
activities: land preparation, seeding, planting, cultivation, harvesting, bagging, and other
activities and practices performed in conjunction with farming operations.
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c) Agricultural entity refers to any person, whether natural or juridical, who is involved in 
agricultural activities. 
 
d) Banned pesticide or herbicide is a pesticide or an herbicide for which all registered uses 
have been prohibited by government action or for which all requests for registration or 
equivalent action for all uses have, for health or environmental reasons, not been granted. 
 
e) Global Positioning System survey refers to a survey plan to be made with the aid of Global 
Positioning System showing the metes and bounds of each agricultural farm/plantation that 
shall be submitted to the Office of the Mayor of the municipality/city which has jurisdiction over 
concerned agricultural farms/plantations. 
 
f) Hazardous substances refer to substances which present either: 
 
1. Short-term acute hazards, such as acute toxicity by indigestion, inhalation or skin   
absorption, or other skin or eye contact hazards, or the risk of fire or explosion; or 
2.  Long-term hazards, including chronic toxicity upon repeated exposure, 
carcinogenicity, resistant to detoxification process, such as biodegradation, the potential 
to pollute underground or surface waters, or aesthetically objectionable properties such 
as offensive odors; or those substances which the Fertilizer and Pesticides Authority 
(FPA) under the Department of Agriculture and other government agencies will identify 
as hazardous. 
g) Herbicide refers to any substance or product, or a mixture thereof, including active 
ingredients, adjuvants and formulations, intended to control, prevent, destroy, repel, or 
mitigate, directly or indirectly, any unwanted plant/weed.  
 
h) Imminent hazard refers to a situation which exists when the use of a pesticide or herbicide 
will likely result in unreasonable adverse effects on the public and/or the environment or will 
involve unreasonable hazards to the survival of species declared endangered by the 
appropriate authorities. 
 
i) Paraquat refers to herbicides with 1,1’-dimethyl-4,4’-bipyridinium dichloride (chemical formula 
C12H14N2) as active ingredient. 
 
j) Pest refers to any form of plant or animal life, or any pathogenic agent injurious or potentially 
injurious to plants or plant products. 
 
k) Pesticide refers to any substance or product, or a mixture thereof, including active 
ingredients, adjuvants and pesticide formulations, intended to control, prevent, destroy repel 
or mitigate, directly or indirectly, any pest. The term shall be understood to include insecticide, 
fungicide, bactericide, nematocide, herbicide, agaricide, molluscicide, avicide, rodenticide, 
plant regulator, defoliant, dessicant, and the like. 
 
l) Restricted pesticide or herbicide is a pesticide for which virtually all registered uses have 
been prohibited by final government regulatory action, but for which certain specific registered 
use or uses remain authorized. It may not be allowed for distribution, sale and use in certain 
crops and/or areas of the country; and may be used only by and under the supervision of 
certified applicators, or under such conditions as the FPA executive director may require. 
 


m) Toxicity refers to a physiological or biological property determinative of the capacity of a 
chemical to do harm or produce injury to a living organism through non-mechanical means. 
 
n) Unauthorized pesticide or herbicide is a pesticide or herbicide for which registration has 
been denied by the government. 
 
o) Weed refers to any form of plant injurious or potentially injurious or perceived to be injurious 
to agricultural crops. 
 
Section 4. Ban on the distribution, sale, and use of Paraquat in agriculture and other 
activities. The distribution, sale, and use of paraquat for agriculture and other pest management 
activities are hereby declared as contrary to law. Its distribution, sale, and use in the Philippines 
are hereby declared illegal and punishable under this Act.  
Section 5. Scope and presumption. The provision of this Act shall apply to the distribution, sale, 
and use of Paraquat in all agricultural and pest management activities; Provided, that the 
detection of paraquat residues in the agricultural crops, food, and environment is a prima facie 
evidence of the commission of the act 
Section 6. Liability. Any person, natural or juridical, who distributes, sells, buys, or applies 
Paraquat shall be held liable and penalized under section 10 hereof. Provided, that if the violator 
is a corporation, partnership or any other juridical entity, the penal provisions hereof shall be 
applied to the members of the Board and the officers of the corporation, the managing partner in 
the case of partnership, or the equivalent head in the case of any other juridical entity or any other 
person acting on their behalf, with or without written authorization, who have acquiesced or 
consented to the distribution, sale, use and application of paraquat. In the case of a corporation, 
the indictment shall include the manager of the department directly responsible for the 
commission of the act  
 
Section 7. Implementing agencies. The Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) shall be 
primarily responsible for the implementation and enforcement of this Act.  
Section 8. There shall be created a municipal or city inspection and monitoring committee, to 
monitor compliance with this Act, to be composed of representatives of   farmers’/farmworkers’ 
organizations, environment protection advocates, civil society, church people, and youth 
organizations. The municipal/city agriculturist, municipal/city health officer, community 
environmental officer, and the municipal/city chief of police shall be automatic members of the 
inspection and monitoring committee. 
The municipality/city-based inspection and monitoring committees shall be co-headed by the 
municipal or city health officer and the municipal or city agriculturist.  It shall have inspectorial and 
investigative powers, with the power to issue subpoena duces and ad testificandum, in cases 
where complaint for possible violation of this Act has been reported or filed to the committee. 
Any persons who shall delay, prohibit, bar, cause the delay or prohibition of the inspection and 
investigation of the committee shall be subject the corresponding penalty herein-below provided.  
Any person or entity who shall fail to obey the subpoena of the committee may be held liable for 
contempt and punished accordingly in accordance with the provisions of the Rules of Court on 
Contempt.  
The committee, after conducting inspection or investigation, shall submit its report to the FPA 
which shall thereafter cause the prosecution of any violator of this Act. 


Section 9. Documentation/Inventory. All distributors, suppliers, and sellers of pesticides and 
herbicides shall be required to submit a list of the products they distribute, supply, or sell to the 
city or municipality monitoring committee where they are based. The failure to do so shall merit 
suspension or cancellation of business permit and their operation. 
Any person or entity using any pesticide or herbicide shall be required to submit to the 
monitoring committee a report which shall include, but not limited to the following: 
a. The area covered by these agricultural farms/plantations where the pesticide or 
herbicide shall be used or applied. 
b. Main crop produced by these agricultural farms/plantations 
c. Pesticides used or intended to be use in the farm or plantation. 
 
Section 10. Penal provisions.  The penalty of prision mayor shall be imposed upon any person 
or entity found to have violated section 4 of this Act. 
The aerial spraying and similar operations with the use of paraquat shall be considered an 
aggravating circumstance and any person or entity found guilty thereof shall be punished with a 
penalty next higher in degree. 
The penalty of prision correcional shall be imposed upon any person or entity found to have 
violated the provision of the third paragraph, of section 8 hereof. 
In addition, the following fines shall be imposed: 
1. For violation of Section 4, a fine of not less than fifty thousand Philippine pesos 
(P50,000.00) but not more than one hundred thousand Philippine pesos (P100,000.00) per 
day shall be imposed upon the owner of the plantation who actually instructed the use of 
paraquat; 
 
2. For failure to submit report under Section 9, second paragraph of this Act, a fine of not 
less than fifty thousand Philippine pesos (P50,000.00) shall be imposed; 
 
3. The filing of a criminal action under this Act shall be without prejudice to the filing of civil 
and administrative cases against the violators hereof by the persons or communities affected 
by the use of Paraquat. 
 
Section 11. Implementing Rules and Regulations. Within sixty (60) days after the effectivity of 
this Act, the Department of Agriculture, through the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority, in 
coordination with the DILG, DENR EMB, and DOH, shall formulate and issue Implementing Rules 
and Regulations of this Act. 
Section 12. Separability clause. If any part or provision of this Act is declared void or 
unconstitutional, the remaining provisions thereof shall remain in full force and effect. 
 
Section 13. Repealing clause. All other laws, decrees, rules and regulations, orders, and 
issuances inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly 
Section 14. Effectivity clause. This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days following its 
publication in the Official Gazette or in any newspaper of general circulation. 
 
 
Approved,