Friday, July 1, 2022

New Evidence Links Fumigants to Cancer in GeoHealth Study | My Story at EWG's The New Lede


The New Lede has just published my second piece with them. Run by the award-winning Carey Gillam, the journalist who's followed the glyphosate cases more than anyone, it's an environmental journalism initiative launched by the respected nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG) which says the site is "redefining environmental journalism."

This particular story below is quite interesting for its findings, but also for the data it used. It paired county wide data from the United States Geographical Survey with state and national cancer registries looking for correlations and bingo–it found one standout fumigant. (This fumigant is not related to wine grape growing, but to other crops.) Normally, health studies have looked are more precise data, but this one found surprisingly consistent results using very basic data. 

Read The Story:

Building on years of research that shows links between agricultural chemicals and cancer, researchers say they have found fresh evidence tying certain pesticides to cancers in children and adults in 11 western U.S. states.  

Analyzing federal pesticide data and state health registries, the research team reported a close association between the use of pesticides called fumigants and the development of cancers in people living in the states analyzed.

Here's where the fumigant, metam, is used in California.



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