High glyphosate use is linked to elevated rates of non-Hodgkin lymphoma cancer, particularly in Iowa and the Upper Midwest, finds a new Food & Water Watch analysis. Accompanying the analysis is a new interactive national map, detailing rates of glyphosate application on cropland and incidence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, down to the county level.

This comes on the heels of President Trump’s Executive Order to boost domestic glyphosate production, and as Bayer pushes Cancer Gag Acts across the country to give pesticide manufacturers immunity from health-related lawsuits. Glyphosate-based herbicides including Bayer’s Roundup are the most widely used in the country; the World Health Organization classifies glyphosate as probably carcinogenic.

The analysis finds that, of the U.S. counties spraying the most glyphosate per square mile that have reported non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) rates:

• 60% have NHL rates above the national average.
• 71% have late-stage NHL rates above the national average.
• In Iowa alone, 82 percent of high glyphosate counties have NHL rates above the national average, and half are “hot spots” — in the top 20% for NHL rates nationwide. Iowa has the second-highest overall cancer rate in the nation.

Iowa has become a flashpoint of opposition against Bayer’s Cancer Gag Act, which faces a funnel deadline of Friday, March 20. Fully 89% of Iowa voters oppose pesticide immunity legislation; over 150 people rallied at the State Capitol against the bill last month. 

Food & Water Watch Research Director Amanda Starbuck issued the following statement:

“The research is clear: glyphosate poses a serious threat to human health. As cancer diagnoses become heartbreakingly common in America’s farming communities, the pesticide industry has gone on the offensive. Not content with introducing toxic chemicals to our environments, manufacturers now want immunity from the health impacts of their pesticide products. President Trump has been all too willing to endorse the corporate crusade.

“President Trump’s embrace of glyphosate will make America very, very sick. Bayer’s cruel Cancer Gag Acts have no place in communities struggling with cancer crises. It’s time to follow the science and end our reliance on dangerous pesticides once and for all.”