Seventy-one percent of counties that spray the most glyphosate have late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma incidence rates above the national average, according to a new data analysis from the advocacy group Food and Water Watch.
Last month, Investigate Midwest, in partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s StoryReach U.S. Fellowship, published an investigation that found 60% of the top 500 counties for pesticide use had overall cancer rates above the national average.
Food and Water Watch’s data analysis, which also found that most high-pesticide-use counties had cancer rates above the national average, included late-stage diagnosis, the stage of many plaintiffs who have sued large agricultural companies over cancer diagnoses.
The analysis looked at the top 20% of counties for glyphosate use and found that most were in the upper Midwest. Nearly three out of four of those counties had late-stage cancer rates higher than the national average.
Nearly 100,000 lawsuits have been settled by pesticide makers, most by Bayer, the maker of Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide.
“A lot of the strongest cases that are able to make it into litigation are the more aggressive, late-stage (cases),” Amanda Starbuck, a researcher with Food & Water Watch, told Investigate Midwest.
Have you or a loved one been diagnosed with cancer that you believe may have been caused by widespread pesticide use? If so, Investigate Midwest invites you to complete this brief form and help us as explore this topic.
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