পরিবেশ
A Tenant Farmer Sprayed Paraquat on the Land for Decades
In Hebron, New York, a rural farming town of about 1,800 residents in Washington County, farmer Gordon Chaplin, 81, and his wife Sarah Teale believe the herbicide paraquat caused his Parkinson's disease, and they are demanding the state ban it.
Chaplin, who has owned his 200-acre cattle and corn farm for over 40 years, was diagnosed nearly a decade ago after symptoms like unreadable handwriting and acting out dreams; he has no family history of the disease. A tenant farmer sprayed paraquat on the land for decades. After his diagnosis, Teale found 14 nearby residents with the disease, dubbing the seven-mile stretch between east and west Hebron Parkinson's Valley.
Paraquat, banned in over 70 countries, is linked to Parkinson's in studies, including a 2011 finding that farmers who sprayed it were 2.5 times as likely to develop the disease, and a 2024 study showing double the risk for those living or working near sprayed areas. This year, 14 US states introduced bills to restrict or ban paraquat; Vermont passed a ban, but New York's bill died amid a budget standoff.
উৎস: Guardian US Politics