21
Jan
Report Highlights Rising Incidence of Cancer in Younger Women and Disparities by Race and Ethnicity
(Beyond Pesticides, January 21, 2025) When the American Cancer Society (ACS) published its annual report last week, it pointed to a rising incidence of cancer in younger women and highlighted disparities by race and ethnicity that was especially timely with the commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In its report, “Cancer Mortality Continues to Drop Despite Rising Incidence in Women; Rates of New Diagnoses Under 65 Higher in Women Than Men,” ACS writes:
“Disparities in cancer occurrence and outcomes are often the result of socioeconomic deprivation as a consequence of structural racism, which limits opportunities for education and other mechanisms of upward mobility. For example, the historical practice of mortgage lending discrimination known as redlining is associated with later stage cancer diagnosis, lower likelihood of receiving recommended treatment, and higher cancer mortality. Inequalities in wealth lead to differences in the prevalence of risk factor exposures as well as access to high-quality cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment. Even beyond higher prevalence of common risk factors like smoking and obesity, exposure to carcinogenic air emissions is up to 50% higher among people experiencing poverty, regardless of race or ethnicity. In 2022, 25% of AIAN [American Indian and Alaska Native] people lived below the federal poverty level ($27,750 for a family of four), as well as 17% of Black and Hispanic people, compared with 9% of White and Asian people. Persistent poverty ranks among the leading causes of death alongside smoking and is consistently associated with higher cancer incidence, later stage diagnosis, and worse outcomes. The effects of poverty are both compounded by and independent of racial status. A recent study found that living in a disadvantaged neighborhood increased the likelihood of aggressive prostate cancer by 30% among Black men but had no impact on risk in White men, suggesting the contribution of race-specific factors, such as minority stress.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that even the wealthiest of us are dependent on those less fortunate, whose work is not adequately rewarded in our capitalist economy—farmworkers, landscapers, workers in meat-packing and food processing plants, factory workers, hospital workers, sanitation workers—and those workers are disproportionately people of color. Beyond Pesticides is urging the public to remind our legislators of “their duty to protect the most exposed and most vulnerable members of society from the impacts of an economy unnecessarily dependent on toxic chemicals.”
Justice for all people converges with the protection of biodiversity, health, and climate. As Dr. King said in his 1967 Christmas sermon, “It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality.”
If we are not protecting the most vulnerable in society, we ultimately adversely affect the entire society because we are intricately linked in the web of life. This is a day to recognize the importance and value of those who are disproportionately affected by toxic chemical production, transportation, use, and disposal (including those who live in fenceline communities near chemical plants or agricultural fields) redouble our focus on their protection, and adopt practices and policies that no longer support environmental racism. On this day, we recognize that we can all individually shift our personal and community practices to organic management and products, and, in so doing, eliminate the cradle-to-grave exposures that disproportionately affect people of color.
Dr. King’s words in his 1967 sermon clearly focus on addressing injustices for disenfranchised people. Similarly, with biodiversity collapse looming, it has become exceedingly clear that the protection of ecosystems requires support for those organisms most vulnerable but essential to all life. And just as we need to recognize our dependence on vulnerable humans and protect them, we must similarly recognize and protect vulnerable members of all species integral to the web of life.
Environmental injustice looms large on the horizon. Workers integral to meeting societal needs—especially in agriculture and landscaping—face the threat of deportation. Pesticide regulation, which has failed even under friendly administrations to protect human health, enhance biodiversity, and prevent climate disasters—is in need of reform in order to protect those at greatest risk, and in doing so, protect us all.
Beyond Pesticides states, “We recognize the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a new administration takes office. We need to ask all leaders to follow Dr. King’s leadership in recognizing the need to protect the most vulnerable among us.”
Here are some actions Congress can take:
Ensure protection for farmworkers.
- Farmworkers need more protections, not industry-friendly compromises when alternatives are available. Currently, the average life expectancy for a farmworker is 49 years, compared to 78 for the general population. A recent report, Exposed and At Risk: Opportunities to Strengthen Enforcement of Pesticide Regulations for Farmworker Safety, by the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law and Graduate School, in partnership with the nonprofit advocacy group, Farmworker Justice, again highlights the systemic racism of our country’s pesticide policies. Our nation depends on farmworkers, declared “essential workers” during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure sustenance for the nation and world. Yet, the occupational exposure to toxic pesticides by farmworkers is discounted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), while study after study documents the disproportionate level of illness among farmworkers.
- Many farmworkers are migrant workers, and are subject to conditions that would not be permitted for U.S. citizens. The U.S. must sign the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which would set a moral standard to treat migrant workers like workers who are citizens.
- Prohibit the use of toxic fumigants that endanger farmworkers and their communities.
Protect all who are at disproportionate risk.
- Require EPA to begin meaningful dialogue with Native American tribes to learn how pesticide use can be avoided by adopting indigenous practices. When needs can be met without using pesticides, such use causes “unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.”
- Require that registration decisions take into account cradle-to-grave exposures. Harm done in the manufacture, transportation, and disposal—in addition to use—of pesticides must count as “unreasonable adverse effects.”
- Prohibit the registration of pesticides that threaten children, biodiversity, or the climate.
- Phase out toxic petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers by 2032.
Members of Congress
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that even the wealthiest of us are dependent on those less fortunate, whose work is not rewarded in our economic system—farmworkers, landscapers, workers in meat-packing and food processing plants, factory workers, hospital workers, sanitation workers —who are predominately people of color. So, on Martin Luther King Day, as we commemorate Dr. King, it is fitting to seek better protections for the most exposed and most vulnerable members of society from the impacts of our economy, which is unnecessarily dependent on toxic chemicals
Justice for all people converges with the protection of biodiversity, health, and climate. As Dr. King said in his 1967 Christmas sermon, “[A]ll life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality.”
Dr. King’s words in his 1967 sermon clearly focus on addressing injustices for disenfranchised people. Similarly, with biodiversity collapse looming, it has become exceedingly clear that the protection of ecosystems requires support for those organisms most vulnerable but essential to all life. And just as we need to recognize our dependence on vulnerable humans and protect them, we must similarly recognize and protect vulnerable members of all species integral to the web of life.
Environmental injustice looms large on the horizon. Workers integral to meeting societal needs—especially in agriculture and landscaping—face the threat of deportation. Pesticide regulation, which has failed even under friendly administrations to protect human health, enhance biodiversity, and prevent climate disasters, is in need of reform in order to protect those at greatest risk—and in doing so, protect us all.
As a new administration takes office, we need to ask all leaders to follow Dr. King’s leadership in recognizing the need to protect the most vulnerable among us.
Here are some actions I would like to see Congress take:
(1) Ensure protection for farmworkers
Farmworkers need more protections, not industry-friendly compromises when alternatives are available. Currently, the average life expectancy for a farmworker is 49 years, compared to 78 for the general population. Our nation depends on farmworkers, declared “essential workers” during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure sustenance for the nation and world. Yet, the occupational exposure to toxic pesticides by farmworkers is discounted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), while study after study documents the disproportionate level of illness among farmworkers.
The U.S. must sign the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which would set a moral standard to treat migrant workers like workers who are citizens.
Prohibit the use of toxic fumigants that endanger farmworkers and their communities.
(2) Protect all who are at disproportionate risk.
Require EPA to begin meaningful dialogue with Native American tribes to learn how pesticide use can be avoided by adopting indigenous practices. When needs can be met without using pesticides, such use causes “unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.”
Require that registration decisions take into account cradle-to-grave exposures. Harm done in the manufacture, transportation, and disposal—in addition to use—of pesticides must count as “unreasonable adverse effects.”
Prohibit the registration of pesticides that threaten children, biodiversity, or the climate.
Please join me in seeking to phase out toxic petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers by 2032 and replace them with organic management practices that are both effective and cost-competitive.
Thank you.
All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.
Sources: Cancer statistics, 2025
