Eastern North Dakota is a top producer of corn and soybeans, and many of its counties are the nation’s largest users of pesticides and herbicides.
It also has a higher than average cancer rate.
Seven of the top 500 pesticide-using counties in the United States are in North Dakota, all within the Red River Valley.
An analysis of data from both the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Cancer Institute found that three of those counties, Pembina, Cass and Richland, also had cancer rates higher than the national average.
In fact, counties with higher levels of pesticide use across the state tend to have higher cancer rates.
Many states in the Midwest have high rates of pesticide use and higher than average cancer rates.
But North Dakota is one of only two states where lawmakers have prohibited residents from suing pesticide companies, including Bayer, the maker of the herbicide Roundup.
House Bill 1318, passed last year, was pushed by Bayer and other pesticide groups.
For the past year, Investigate Midwest has been working with the Pulitzer Center’s StoryReach US Fellowship and the Fund for Investigative Reporting to report on the link between pesticides and cancer. Read more about the report below, or explore the data in your own community.
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