The counties with the highest use of pesticides per square mile are all located in Missouri's Bootheel. Many of these counties have some of the state's highest cancer rates and their health care options are dwindling.
The announcement follows a story published earlier this month that examined the high number of cases of the brain cancer, glioblastoma, found by researcher Caitlin McClain.
Lessie Ann Patterson lived in Monticello, Illinois, for 25 years before dying in 2015 from glioblastoma, a rapidly advancing brain cancer with an average survival time of 12 to 18