Move to change how U.S. tracks pesticide use sparks protest science.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from science.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Last year, Alan Kolok, an ecotoxicologist at the University ofIdaho, published a study that found the incidence of cancer incounties across 11 western U.S. states was correlated with the useof farm chemicals called fumigants, which kill soil pests. Thefine-grained analysis was feasible, he says, because a U.S.government database made timely, county-level statistics onpesticide use publicly available. Now, Kolok is one of manyscientists concerned that changes to the National Pesticide UseMaps database will make it far less useful to scientists. Lastmonth, he joined more than 250 researchers and dozens of publichealth and environmental groups in urging the U.S. GeologicalSurvey (USGS), which oversees the database, to reconsider moves to