Eastern North Dakota is a top corn and soybean-growing region, with many of its counties among the nation’s largest users of pesticides and herbicides.
It’s also home to higher-than-average cancer rates.
Of the top 500 U.S. counties for pesticide use, seven are in North Dakota, all within the Red River Valley.
Three of those counties — Pembina, Cass and Richland — also have cancer rates higher than the national average, according to an analysis of data from both the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Cancer Institute.
In fact, across the state, the higher a county’s pesticide use, the higher its cancer rates tend to be.
Many states across the Midwest have high rates of pesticide use and higher-than-average cancer rates.
But North Dakota is one of only two states where lawmakers have banned residents from suing agrichemical companies, such as Bayer, the maker of Roundup, an herbicide.
House Bill 1318, passed last year, was pushed for by Bayer and other agrochemical groups.
For the past year, Investigate Midwest, in partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s StoryReach U.S. Fellowship and the Fund for Investigative Journalism, has been reporting on the link between pesticides and cancer. You can read more of our reporting below, and explore data in your own community.
feature story
Pesticide use and cancer risk rise together across America’s heartland
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3 charts to better understand the potential link between pesticides and cancer
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High pesticide-use counties often have higher-than-average late-stage cancer rates
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