Drey’s diagnosis comes amid national attention on Iowa’s cancer crisis, which experts believe could be tied to a “toxic mix” of environmental and health risk factors.
Paraquat has been linked to Parkinson’s disease and just a sip is fatal, but tens of thousands of pounds of it are being released in the Mississippi Basin.
Decades of industrialized farming, pressure from chemical manufacturers and federal farm policy have left many producers relying heavily on pesticides.
A new statewide study calls for more laws to guard against 'chemical trespass,' as agrichemicals were found at schools and parks across the state. The study comes just days after Illinois lawmakers rejected a bill requiring advance spray notice to those sites.
More than 700 Illinois schools are within a quarter-mile of crop fields, yet state law doesn’t require pesticide applicators to notify them before spraying. Advocates say a new notification proposal would give educators and park staff time to move children indoors and reduce exposure.
Even people outside of agriculture carried residue from dozens of chemicals after just one week, the study authors said. Many of these same chemicals, including several banned in Europe, are still in use across US farms.
