Hey, it's Flora, and you are listening to Science Friday.

Paracquot is an herbicide widely used in agriculture.

It's toxic, it's been linked to Parkinson's, and it's been banned in over 70 countries.

But not here.

In fact, its use here is on the rise.

One of the plants in the U.S. that processes

paraquot is in Wayne County in southeastern Mississippi. And according to a startling piece of

reporting from my next guest, the plant is leaking large amounts of paraquot into the air.

Here to tell us more is environmental reporter Delaney Nolan, who reported this story for the Lens and the Mississippi River Basin Ag and Water Desk.

Delaney, thanks for being here.

Thanks so much for having, Wang's Love Science Friday.

Oh, thanks.

Take us to this plant in Mississippi.

Where is it?

What does it do?

Yeah, this is a plant in Waynesbury, Mississippi, which is a small, quite rural town.

And at this plant, they formulate and repackage paraquot.

So paracquot is this cheap, super toxic, what they call burn down agent herbicide.

So we don't make paraquot in the United States anymore. Now it is

mostly made in China or the UK and it's imported to the U.S. where it's banned, right?

Where it's banned. It's banned in China. It's banned in the UK. It's banned in EU. It's

banned in Brazil. It's banned in more than 70 countries because it is, again, so, so poisonous.

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