A Bumper Crop of Cancer

I have mixed feelings about the use of pesticides in farming. On one hand, they can significantly increase yields which has helped to decrease poverty and hunger in developing countries but on the other hand you can also wind up with some awful side effects.

From NPR's All Things Considered...

The train carries roughly 60 cancer patients and their families each night.
Some people say that cancer, once thought of as an urban disease, seems
to be increasingly afflicting farm villages.

Locals call No. 339 by a chilling name — "the cancer train." It routinely carries at least 60 cancer patients who make the overnight journey with their families to the town of Bikaner for treatment at the government's regional cancer center.

People say they never used to see so many cancer patients in this farm region. Cancer was considered an urban disease, suffered by people who lived in cities choked with industry and pollution.

But research by one of the most respected medical institutes in India recently found that farming villages using large amounts of pesticides have significantly higher rates of cancer than villages that use less of the chemicals.

To listen to the audio (about 10 mins) of the story, click here.