Women farmers living in Brazil’s Paraná state run a 60% chance of developing breast cancer and a 220% increase in the risk of metastasis, according to a new study. Breast cancer risk in the region, which is dominated by family farms with intensive use of pesticides, is 41% higher than the average for Brazil; the mortality rate from the disease is 14% higher. The recent study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, is the first of its kind conducted with women in the country; it included 758 subjects, split between those who had been exposed to pesticides and those who hadn’t. “The research shows the direct link between exposure to pesticides and high incidence of breast cancer in the farmers,” said study lead author Carolina Panis, from the tumor biology lab at Western Paraná State University. “Although they do not spray the pesticides, those women are responsible for decontaminating the protective equipment and washing the clothes used to do it. Doing that without gloves is enough to cause contamination.” Brazil, a global agricultural powerhouse, also has one of the most permissive pesticide regimes of any country. There are 42 active pesticide ingredients considered probably carcinogenic that are licensed for sale in the country; 27 of these are classified as possibly carcinogenic by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). In Paraná, a state in southern Brazil, glyphosate stands out among the top 10 most used pesticides from 2013…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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