Top Tweets for #picloram

A new first-of-its-kind study identified picloram, a persistent herbicide widely used on conventional pastures and in forests, followed by the ubiquitous glyphosate, as two herbicides most strongly linked to rising rates of colorectal cancers in younger adults. Colorectal cancer leaped from the fifth-leading cause of death in adults under 50 in 1990 to first place in 2023. Researchers found troubling associations between exposure to these widely used weedkillers and early-onset colorectal cancer, adding to a growing body of evidence that our everyday chemical exposures may be playing a role in this alarming trend. As use of these herbicides continues across agriculture and landscapes, the findings underscore the urgent need for deeper investigation, stronger safeguards, and a shift toward safer, non-toxic alternatives. Corteva Agriscience (a spinoff of Dow and DuPont) makes picloram-based Tordon weedkiller and Bayer-Monsanto makes glyphosate-based Roundup weedkiller. Bayer has already had over 170,000 Roundup-cancer lawsuits filed against it worldwide for Roundup's link to non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Public interest researchers need to do more study of picloram and glyphosate’s link to colon cancer, and quickly. We think everyone that has gotten colon cancer because of these herbicides needs their day in court, too.