NEWS BRIEFS
CANCER BLAMED
ON AERIAL SPRAY
Anti-pesticide activist Day Owen believes the
forestry herbicides that drifted onto his organic farm
and onto his skin from a nearby helicopter spray in
October 2007 may have given him skin cancer.
Owen, founder of the vocal anti-pesticide group the
Pitchfork Rebellion, videotaped the 2007 helicopter
spray and narrated the effects, including a feeling that
his face was on fire and tasting the herbicide in his
mouth. Owen reports that he developed a rash on parts
of his body and that his forehead felt chemically
burned. He says that’s where a small growth developed
and grew, and this August it turned black overnight.
The spray was a “cocktail of imazapyr, sulfometuron-
methyl, and glyphosate, plus inert ingredients that they
[Roseburg Forest Products] did not disclose due to
‘trade secrets,’” Owen says.
Owen says he was had three surgeries to remove the
basal cell carcinoma. He says, “Though it can’t be
proved, the circumstantial evidence leads me to believe
it was the result of that exposure; the exact place that I
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
was chemically burned turned into a growth that then
turned into cancer.” He adds that he went to his doctor
with his concerns about the growth on his forehead
shortly after it first appeared.
‘The exact place that I
was chemically burned
turned into a growth that
then turned into cancer.’
- Day Owen, Pitchfork Rebellion
In addition to the aerial sprays, residents of Triangle
Lake in Oregon’s Coast Range have found evidence of
pesticide exposures in their water and in their bodies.
Owen and other Triangle Lake area dwellers participated
in a January 2011 study by Dana Barr of Emory
University that found 2,4-D and atrazine metabolites in
the more than 40 people who participated.
A study of 1,341 licensed herbicide applicators in
the Netherlands published in 2004 indicated that they
were at an increased risk for skin cancer mortality, but
“it is not clear if this excess of skin cancer should be
attributed to herbicide exposure or to excess exposure
to sunlight.”
Several studies have shown that farmers exposed to
pesticides are at a higher risk of cancer, including skin
cancer. Owen says not enough research has been done
on the link between various pesticides and skin cancer
and he will be pressing for more research to be done.
Owen says he has no health insurance, and the three
surgeries and lab work cost more than $5,000. He is
asking “people who have appreciated his eight years of
unpaid volunteer work with the Pitchfork Rebellion” to
help by making a donation toward the medical expenses.
Pitchfork Rebellion has not accepted donations in the
past, and Owen says if anything beyond the amount
needed for the medical expenses comes in it will be
donated to anti-pesticide groups. Checks can be made
out to Day Owen and mailed to Pitchfork Rebellion,
Box 160, Greenleaf, OR 97430.
— Camilla Mortensen
EUGENE WEEKLY AUGUST 23, 2012 9