The link between pesticide use and increased rates of cancer is well-documented, with several studies noting that rural communities are especially hard hit by this health crisis. According to a recent study in the journal “Frontiers in Cancer Control and Society,” people who live in agricultural communities in the U.S. where pesticides are used on farms—but who don’t farm themselves—face the same increased cancer risk as people who smoke.
These findings are echoed in another recent study in which researchers conducted a county-by-county analysis of cancer rates and pesticide use in Missouri. The study found that the four counties with the highest use of pesticides per square mile rank in the top 15 for overall cancer rates in Missouri. Further, the study noted that the counties with the highest rates of cancer are rural.