The Department of Chemicalization, Plant Protection and Quarantine of Kyrgyzstan issued a decree on June 18, 2025, No. 47, prohibiting the circulation of pesticides based on the active substance paraquat dichloride (including development, production, state registration/re-registration, import to and export from the Kyrgyz Republic, sale, storage, transportation, use, neutralization, disposal, destruction, burial and advertising). The Ministry of Agriculture of Kyrgyzstan reported.
According to it, since 2024, the Department of Chemicalization, Plant Protection and Quarantine has focused its main efforts on abandoning particularly hazardous pesticides.
«Highly hazardous pesticides are chemicals that harm the environment and human health, causing cancer, nervous system diseases in children, deterioration of reproductive health in the population, and endocrine disorders. The lethal dose is approximately one teaspoon. In addition to the lungs, it can affect the liver and kidneys (renal failure). Paraquat does not affect the bark of fruit trees, so it is widely used to destroy weeds between orchards,» the statement says.
The European Union law on the withdrawal of the license for paraquat has been a successful intervention in the field of public health, eliminating the harmful effects of paraquat and effectively reducing the number of poisonings and deaths, the Ministry of Agriculture notes.
This order was approved in accordance with the Kyrgyz Republic Law «On Chemicalization and Plant Protection» and Kyrgyz Republic Government Decree No. 390 of July 1, 2013. In the future, the department will develop orders banning particularly dangerous pesticides based on dozens of active substances.