Are pesticides as dangerous to your health as smoking?

Governments and businesses banned smoking in many public places decades ago, knowing that even secondhand smoke had the potential to cause life-threatening cancer.

Now, a new study suggests that exposure to some pesticides may put people at an even higher risk of cancer than smoking does. 

At a time when our country grows more food than we can eat, there’s no reason to apply untested and potentially unsafe substances to our soil, water, air and food. 

And until the government and industry adopt a more preventative approach, we must take stronger action to reduce or ban the use of the most dangerous and most widely used chemicals. The current approach of spraying first and asking questions later is unwise and unsustainable.

The “secondhand” impact of pesticides in the environment 

The study results, published in Frontiers in Cancer Control and Society, found increases in cancer cases in areas of the country with the highest use of pesticides compared to areas with lower pesticide use. Due to problems from pesticide drift and runoff, exposure may extend from farm workers to people living in surrounding agricultural areas. 

While studies of pesticides impacts have focused on individual pesticides, the authors of the study note that people may be exposed to multiple pesticides used to treat various crops.

More than 60 years ago, Rachel Carson warned us of the danger that certain pesticides posed to birds in “Silent Spring.”

More recently, we’ve learned that an entire class of pesticides is deadly to bees and other pollinators. Pesticides are a leading reason that many bee species are disappearing across the United States. Without these pollinators, of course, we’d have to say goodbye to many of the foods we eat every day.

The  study reminds us that pesticides can harm people as well. But the use of even highly toxic pesticides continues.

Pesticide manufacturers use the tobacco industry’s playbook to downplay risks

Monsanto – now Bayer – the makers of the widely used weedkiller Roundup has worked hard to convince us its product is safe — but meanwhile, the World Health Organization has labeled glyphosate, the main ingredient in the agricultural formulation of Roundup, as a “probable human carcinogen.” 

Echoing actions by the tobacco industry, Monsanto’s own documents and emails have revealed the company’s deceptive efforts to manipulate the media in favor of its product’s safety. 

As more studies continue to draw links between pesticides and our health, regulators shouldn’t trust pesticide manufacturers at their word on the safety of their products.

What we’re doing to stop the spread of pesticides

At PIRG, we’re working to ban the use of the most dangerous and most widely used chemicals unless and until they’re proven safe. Here are some of our campaigns: 

• Banning dangerous, drifting 2,4-D. PIRG has rallied thousands of concerned citizens to urge the EPA to ban the toxic weed killer 2,4-D, which has been associated with cancer.
• Protecting kids from the brain-damaging insecticide chlorpyrifos. We’ve collected nearly 15,000 petition signatures for the EPA, urging the agency to reinstate the life-saving ban on chlorpyrifos and keep it away from our kids. 
• Stopping the sale of pesticides containing toxic glyphosate. We’re calling on the Environmental Protection Agency and state governors to ban glyphosate, which was first linked to cancer in 2015. 

Call upon the EPA to ban 2,4-D today and keep pesticides away from our food and families.