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CNN
16 hours ago
- Health
- CNN
VA hospital staff see plunging morale as shortages leave doctors prepping rooms and nurses chasing supplies
In her 34 years working as a nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Georgia, Irma Westmoreland has seen it all — from patients exposed to Agent Orange to traumatic brain injuries and amputations suffered in combat. But now, it is the turmoil at the Department of Veterans Affairs that is leaving her shaken. 'It is very jarring,' she told CNN. 'The nurses, they're afraid.' Morale among doctors and nurses at Veterans Affairs hospitals has plunged, according to more than a dozen medical professionals at hospitals across the country as well as union officials who spoke to CNN. They are worried about support staff being laid off after President Donald Trump took office in January despite an already strained medical system with staffing shortages, hiring freezes and attrition. And they are worried about the VA's goal — on hold for now — to reduce its 470,000-person workforce by some 15%. Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins has vowed that doctors and nurses will be exempt from any layoff plans. But some staff who handle administration, billing, and running facilities have already left, leaving doctors and nurses to do those jobs on top of practicing medicine. 'As they lay off support staff, like our dietary staff, our housekeeping staff and the staff that support us, then we're going to be having to take on those jobs,' Westmoreland, who is also a top nurses union representative, said. 'That means our patients are going to have to wait longer for the treatment and care that they deserve and they need, and that's our concern.' Peter Kasperowicz, a spokesman for the VA, said many staff members who had been laid off have been asked back, and the 'vast majority' have returned. However, frontline workers who spoke to CNN say they have only felt the decline in staffing, and fear more to come. They say supplies have gone unordered, appointments go unscheduled, and medical staff fear that these conditions might not only encourage doctors and nurses now working in the over-strained system to quit, but dry up the pipeline for future talent to care for the country's veterans. 'I joined the VA for stability,' one doctor said. 'But why would anyone want to come here?' First created by executive order in 1930, the Department of Veteran Affairs has gone through many iterations. Today, the Cabinet-level agency serves some 9 million US veterans per year, assisting them with everything from interment at military cemeteries to all aspects of their healthcare. Its hospitals, outpatient centers, and affiliated medical services number over a thousand, making them one of largest health systems in the country. Hospital and medical services accounted for 42% of the VA's $302 billion spending in 2023, according to the Peterson Institute, an economics think tank. As President Donald Trump took office in January, plans for cuts to the VA quickly emerged as part of the new administration's broad promises to dramatically reduce the size of government. Asked about its plans under the Trump administration, Kasperowicz said: 'The fact is that during the Biden Administration, VA failed to address nearly all of its most serious problems, such as benefits backlogs and rising health care wait times.' 'Under President Trump and Secretary Collins, VA is fixing these and other serious problems,' he continued. 'We owe it to America's Veterans to take a close look at how VA is currently functioning and whether current policies are leading to the best outcomes for Veterans.' He disputed that there were morale issues among VA health professionals and blamed the media for 'fear mongering.' Almost no federal agency has been spared from the slashes, but with a target of laying off some 70,000 people, the VA cuts would be among the more dramatic. Sources at the agency and on Capitol Hill previously told CNN the first significant round of layoffs was planned to begin this month, with a second round planned to begin in September. This comes as VA hospitals were already facing critical shortages, with over 80% of VA hospitals reporting doctor and nursing shortages in the 2024 fiscal year that was then compounded by limits to hiring introduced last year under the Biden administration. Over the years, there have been numerous bipartisan criticisms of, and calls to reform, the agency. Its spending, bureaucracy, quality and ability to provide services have all faced scrutiny over the years and across administrations. Collins, the VA secretary, has argued he is trying to improve the system by cutting bureaucracy and standardizing practices, leading to better care for veterans. Kasperowicz told CNN that since Trump took office, the agency has reduced disabilities claims backlogs, opened 13 new clinics, and accelerated integrating an electronic records system, among other successes. 'VA is undergoing a holistic review centered on reducing bureaucracy and improving services to Veterans,' he said. 'The goal is to implement a reduction in force (RIF) that could affect as much as 15% of VA's workforce, or about 70,000 people. But those reductions have not happened yet,' he said. 'As we reform VA, we are guided by the fact that the Biden Administration added tens of thousands of new VA employees and tens of billions in additional VA spending, and the department's performance got worse.' However, plans for potential layoffs drew alarm from both sides of the aisle. Republicans questioned the wisdom of the targeted numbers, and some Democrats pointed out that the plans come even as there is a current shortage of hospital staff. Amid this scrutiny, Collins noted to VA employees at a town hall in June that the 'reduction-in-force,' or layoff plan, 'has been put on hold,' though he added that he expected this hold 'to be lifted at some point that allows us to go and look at what we may be doing.' In May, a federal judge had halted plans for the layoffs at several agencies, pending further legal reviews. The town hall, a recording of which was shared with CNN, drew some 7,000 questions from VA employees, a fifth of which were about the layoff plans. Collins has repeatedly said the cuts would not affect doctors and nurses, and suggested during the event that 'the people there cleaning the rooms, doing the sterilizations' should not be targeted for layoffs. The agency has exempted 'more than 350,000 occupations from the hiring freeze,' Kasperowicz noted in a statement to CNN. 'These roles provide and support the direct mission of providing medical care and services to our veterans.' When CNN spoke to a dozen VA hospital employees across the country, however, some said doctors were voluntarily leaving because of the strain on the workforce and the supply chain. Most spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from their employers. They were even reluctant to publicly disclose the state or facility where they work. 'There's a sense of doom hanging over your head,' one VA doctor in the central US said. A nurse at an eastern US VA hospital said: 'A lot of employees feel like they're under attack' at that facility. There is 'pervasive fear everywhere,' said a doctor at a southern US VA hospital. Westmoreland, the nurse at Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, fears patients will ultimately bear the brunt of the consequences, even as medical staff scramble to do what they can. 'We already had shortages,' Westmoreland said. 'And so if you already have a shortage and then you put more pressure on that, what are you going to do? It's just going to make it worse.' A new state-of-the-art health clinic in Fredericksburg, Virginia, lays bare some of those challenges. Opened to much fanfare in February this year, the more than 470,000- square- foot facility was billed as a 'significant milestone for VA to continue delivering world-class health care to our veterans in Spotsylvania County and beyond,' according to the VA news release. The center is intended to provide primary care, mental health, rehabilitation service and specialty care like cardiology, neurology and dermatology for some 35,000 veterans each year and to bring some 900 new jobs to the area. It was opened to relieve overcrowding at other VA hospitals in the region. When CNN spoke to two patients who had sought care at the facility in April, they said it felt clearly short-staffed. 'It was a ghost town,' said Lt. Col. Janice Sierra, who is retired from the US Army Reserve. Sierra and retired Navy veteran Van Elder told CNN at the time that the pharmacy was not open, X-rays were not available, and the women's clinic was not open. 'I'd call it pitiful,' Elder said. 'It was just a virtually empty place.' Asked about the staff shortage at the time, VA Secretary Collins said it was to be expected that the Fredericksburg clinic would not be fully-staffed initially, but that the agency would ramp up staffing. 'When you open new facilities, you open them in phases,' Collins told CNN's Jake Tapper in April. 'When false stories get out there that [these facilities] they're not opening fully staffed because of things that we've done, that's just a lie,' he said, adding that it would be 'fully equipped by the later this year, which is exactly the way it was supposed to open.' The pharmacy at Fredericksburg has recently opened. But as of late June, Elder said the radiology wing still had not opened. He said the staff recently told him he needed to go to the VA Medical Center in Richmond, an hour away. When he got there, Elder saw a sign in the radiology department saying: 'Notice: Severe Staffing Shortage; Wait times will be longer than anticipated.' Elder shared a photograph of the sign with CNN. The VA spokesman told CNN that the 'VA Fredericksburg Health Care Center's phased opening and staffing plan is right on schedule. The clinic started with approximately 230 team members, and it now employs 289 people, with another 266 in various stages of recruitment,' and that x-ray services would be open in late July. He attributed the lack of radiologists at the Richmond site to a national shortage, noting that radiologists are exempt from any hiring freeze. 'The Richmond VAMC is actively recruiting more radiologists, and because Richmond VAMC patients can access radiology services at VA or in the community when needed, there have been no delays or negative impacts to patient care,' Kasperowicz, the VA spokesman, said. In this climate, medical professionals who spoke to CNN said an added dose of stress has been a lack of support staff such as supply clerks and administrators. They say this has forced frontline medical workers to take on these tasks themselves — with limited success. The ordering of supplies and equipment came to a halt, said the doctor at the central US VA hospital, while a doctor at another VA hospital said physicians and nurses there are now servicing medical equipment and making patient appointments. 'This is like a death by a thousand cuts,' that doctor said. 'They're trying to make life difficult. They're trying to make people quit.' The senior VA doctor from the southern US hospital told CNN that they were preparing rooms before their appointments. 'I change the paper on exam tables. All the doctors do,' the person said. Westmoreland, the longtime nurse in Augusta, told CNN that shortages are so bad at her hospital they are even low on portable jugs to collect urine from bed-bound patients, forcing nurses to have to 'call around from unit to unit to unit to try to find a urinal [jug].' Even when one is found, there is no one to bring them up. 'The supply area's locked up because they don't have enough staff,' said Westmoreland, who CNN met at a rally for veterans and union members in Washington, DC. 'And it's very disheartening to the nurses because I'm trying to take care of my patients, and I'm having to run around and find something that I should have in the cabinet,' she said. 'Who's on the other side of that shortage?' she said. 'A veteran who stood on the line for us, for our country, and he deserves better care than that.' Kasperowicz told CNN nurses at the hospital 'have access' to the urinals when they need them and a person who has keys is available to unlock the supply closet. He added that 'there is no scenario in which VA will require doctors to perform anything other than their normal patient care duties.' Regardless of whether or when more layoffs happen, doctors who spoke to CNN agreed that they are concerned that patient care will worsen. 'I'm going to fail,' one doctor said, 'because I can't do budgeting, hiring actions, scheduling actions' on top of treating patients.
CNN
16 hours ago
- Health
- CNN
VA hospital staff see plunging morale as shortages leave doctors prepping rooms and nurses chasing supplies
In her 34 years working as a nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Georgia, Irma Westmoreland has seen it all — from patients exposed to Agent Orange to traumatic brain injuries and amputations suffered in combat. But now, it is the turmoil at the Department of Veterans Affairs that is leaving her shaken. 'It is very jarring,' she told CNN. 'The nurses, they're afraid.' Morale among doctors and nurses at Veterans Affairs hospitals has plunged, according to more than a dozen medical professionals at hospitals across the country as well as union officials who spoke to CNN. They are worried about support staff being laid off after President Donald Trump took office in January despite an already strained medical system with staffing shortages, hiring freezes and attrition. And they are worried about the VA's goal — on hold for now — to reduce its 470,000-person workforce by some 15%. Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins has vowed that doctors and nurses will be exempt from any layoff plans. But some staff who handle administration, billing, and running facilities have already left, leaving doctors and nurses to do those jobs on top of practicing medicine. 'As they lay off support staff, like our dietary staff, our housekeeping staff and the staff that support us, then we're going to be having to take on those jobs,' Westmoreland, who is also a top nurses union representative, said. 'That means our patients are going to have to wait longer for the treatment and care that they deserve and they need, and that's our concern.' Peter Kasperowicz, a spokesman for the VA, said many staff members who had been laid off have been asked back, and the 'vast majority' have returned. However, frontline workers who spoke to CNN say they have only felt the decline in staffing, and fear more to come. They say supplies have gone unordered, appointments go unscheduled, and medical staff fear that these conditions might not only encourage doctors and nurses now working in the over-strained system to quit, but dry up the pipeline for future talent to care for the country's veterans. 'I joined the VA for stability,' one doctor said. 'But why would anyone want to come here?' First created by executive order in 1930, the Department of Veteran Affairs has gone through many iterations. Today, the Cabinet-level agency serves some 9 million US veterans per year, assisting them with everything from interment at military cemeteries to all aspects of their healthcare. Its hospitals, outpatient centers, and affiliated medical services number over a thousand, making them one of largest health systems in the country. Hospital and medical services accounted for 42% of the VA's $302 billion spending in 2023, according to the Peterson Institute, an economics think tank. As President Donald Trump took office in January, plans for cuts to the VA quickly emerged as part of the new administration's broad promises to dramatically reduce the size of government. Asked about its plans under the Trump administration, Kasperowicz said: 'The fact is that during the Biden Administration, VA failed to address nearly all of its most serious problems, such as benefits backlogs and rising health care wait times.' 'Under President Trump and Secretary Collins, VA is fixing these and other serious problems,' he continued. 'We owe it to America's Veterans to take a close look at how VA is currently functioning and whether current policies are leading to the best outcomes for Veterans.' He disputed that there were morale issues among VA health professionals and blamed the media for 'fear mongering.' Almost no federal agency has been spared from the slashes, but with a target of laying off some 70,000 people, the VA cuts would be among the more dramatic. Sources at the agency and on Capitol Hill previously told CNN the first significant round of layoffs was planned to begin this month, with a second round planned to begin in September. This comes as VA hospitals were already facing critical shortages, with over 80% of VA hospitals reporting doctor and nursing shortages in the 2024 fiscal year that was then compounded by limits to hiring introduced last year under the Biden administration. Over the years, there have been numerous bipartisan criticisms of, and calls to reform, the agency. Its spending, bureaucracy, quality and ability to provide services have all faced scrutiny over the years and across administrations. Collins, the VA secretary, has argued he is trying to improve the system by cutting bureaucracy and standardizing practices, leading to better care for veterans. Kasperowicz told CNN that since Trump took office, the agency has reduced disabilities claims backlogs, opened 13 new clinics, and accelerated integrating an electronic records system, among other successes. 'VA is undergoing a holistic review centered on reducing bureaucracy and improving services to Veterans,' he said. 'The goal is to implement a reduction in force (RIF) that could affect as much as 15% of VA's workforce, or about 70,000 people. But those reductions have not happened yet,' he said. 'As we reform VA, we are guided by the fact that the Biden Administration added tens of thousands of new VA employees and tens of billions in additional VA spending, and the department's performance got worse.' However, plans for potential layoffs drew alarm from both sides of the aisle. Republicans questioned the wisdom of the targeted numbers, and some Democrats pointed out that the plans come even as there is a current shortage of hospital staff. Amid this scrutiny, Collins noted to VA employees at a town hall in June that the 'reduction-in-force,' or layoff plan, 'has been put on hold,' though he added that he expected this hold 'to be lifted at some point that allows us to go and look at what we may be doing.' In May, a federal judge had halted plans for the layoffs at several agencies, pending further legal reviews. The town hall, a recording of which was shared with CNN, drew some 7,000 questions from VA employees, a fifth of which were about the layoff plans. Collins has repeatedly said the cuts would not affect doctors and nurses, and suggested during the event that 'the people there cleaning the rooms, doing the sterilizations' should not be targeted for layoffs. The agency has exempted 'more than 350,000 occupations from the hiring freeze,' Kasperowicz noted in a statement to CNN. 'These roles provide and support the direct mission of providing medical care and services to our veterans.' When CNN spoke to a dozen VA hospital employees across the country, however, some said doctors were voluntarily leaving because of the strain on the workforce and the supply chain. Most spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from their employers. They were even reluctant to publicly disclose the state or facility where they work. 'There's a sense of doom hanging over your head,' one VA doctor in the central US said. A nurse at an eastern US VA hospital said: 'A lot of employees feel like they're under attack' at that facility. There is 'pervasive fear everywhere,' said a doctor at a southern US VA hospital. Westmoreland, the nurse at Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, fears patients will ultimately bear the brunt of the consequences, even as medical staff scramble to do what they can. 'We already had shortages,' Westmoreland said. 'And so if you already have a shortage and then you put more pressure on that, what are you going to do? It's just going to make it worse.' A new state-of-the-art health clinic in Fredericksburg, Virginia, lays bare some of those challenges. Opened to much fanfare in February this year, the more than 470,000- square- foot facility was billed as a 'significant milestone for VA to continue delivering world-class health care to our veterans in Spotsylvania County and beyond,' according to the VA news release. The center is intended to provide primary care, mental health, rehabilitation service and specialty care like cardiology, neurology and dermatology for some 35,000 veterans each year and to bring some 900 new jobs to the area. It was opened to relieve overcrowding at other VA hospitals in the region. When CNN spoke to two patients who had sought care at the facility in April, they said it felt clearly short-staffed. 'It was a ghost town,' said Lt. Col. Janice Sierra, who is retired from the US Army Reserve. Sierra and retired Navy veteran Van Elder told CNN at the time that the pharmacy was not open, X-rays were not available, and the women's clinic was not open. 'I'd call it pitiful,' Elder said. 'It was just a virtually empty place.' Asked about the staff shortage at the time, VA Secretary Collins said it was to be expected that the Fredericksburg clinic would not be fully-staffed initially, but that the agency would ramp up staffing. 'When you open new facilities, you open them in phases,' Collins told CNN's Jake Tapper in April. 'When false stories get out there that [these facilities] they're not opening fully staffed because of things that we've done, that's just a lie,' he said, adding that it would be 'fully equipped by the later this year, which is exactly the way it was supposed to open.' The pharmacy at Fredericksburg has recently opened. But as of late June, Elder said the radiology wing still had not opened. He said the staff recently told him he needed to go to the VA Medical Center in Richmond, an hour away. When he got there, Elder saw a sign in the radiology department saying: 'Notice: Severe Staffing Shortage; Wait times will be longer than anticipated.' Elder shared a photograph of the sign with CNN. The VA spokesman told CNN that the 'VA Fredericksburg Health Care Center's phased opening and staffing plan is right on schedule. The clinic started with approximately 230 team members, and it now employs 289 people, with another 266 in various stages of recruitment,' and that x-ray services would be open in late July. He attributed the lack of radiologists at the Richmond site to a national shortage, noting that radiologists are exempt from any hiring freeze. 'The Richmond VAMC is actively recruiting more radiologists, and because Richmond VAMC patients can access radiology services at VA or in the community when needed, there have been no delays or negative impacts to patient care,' Kasperowicz, the VA spokesman, said. In this climate, medical professionals who spoke to CNN said an added dose of stress has been a lack of support staff such as supply clerks and administrators. They say this has forced frontline medical workers to take on these tasks themselves — with limited success. The ordering of supplies and equipment came to a halt, said the doctor at the central US VA hospital, while a doctor at another VA hospital said physicians and nurses there are now servicing medical equipment and making patient appointments. 'This is like a death by a thousand cuts,' that doctor said. 'They're trying to make life difficult. They're trying to make people quit.' The senior VA doctor from the southern US hospital told CNN that they were preparing rooms before their appointments. 'I change the paper on exam tables. All the doctors do,' the person said. Westmoreland, the longtime nurse in Augusta, told CNN that shortages are so bad at her hospital they are even low on portable jugs to collect urine from bed-bound patients, forcing nurses to have to 'call around from unit to unit to unit to try to find a urinal [jug].' Even when one is found, there is no one to bring them up. 'The supply area's locked up because they don't have enough staff,' said Westmoreland, who CNN met at a rally for veterans and union members in Washington, DC. 'And it's very disheartening to the nurses because I'm trying to take care of my patients, and I'm having to run around and find something that I should have in the cabinet,' she said. 'Who's on the other side of that shortage?' she said. 'A veteran who stood on the line for us, for our country, and he deserves better care than that.' Kasperowicz told CNN nurses at the hospital 'have access' to the urinals when they need them and a person who has keys is available to unlock the supply closet. He added that 'there is no scenario in which VA will require doctors to perform anything other than their normal patient care duties.' Regardless of whether or when more layoffs happen, doctors who spoke to CNN agreed that they are concerned that patient care will worsen. 'I'm going to fail,' one doctor said, 'because I can't do budgeting, hiring actions, scheduling actions' on top of treating patients.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
America's silent poisoning: Map shows the US states most at risk
You may think you're being healthy by filling your plate with fruits and vegetables, but experts are warning the nutritious staples may actually be covered in cancer-causing chemicals. Based on the most recent data collected by the US Geological Survey in 2019, harvesters across Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Oklahoma and parts of Texas have been using the toxic herbicide 2,4-D at high amounts. The chemical was an active component in Agent Orange - the defoliant used by American forces during the Vietnam War to destroy forestry and crops - and is now a widely used herbicide to control the growth of weeds around crops. Farmers across the Midwest and southern states typically spray the pesticide over corn plants, soybeans, rice, wheat, hay, barley, oats, rye, sugarcane and tobacco. Due to its ability to completely destroy vegetation, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified 2,4-D as a 'possible human carcinogen' in 2015. The classification came as a result of multiple studies suggesting that high exposure to the herbicide could damage human cells and was seen to cause cancer in animals. While direct exposure to Pesticide 2,4-D is rare for most Americans, the toxins from the herbicide can accumulate in the body through eating unwashed grains and other crops. And while the chemical may only be used on crops in select states, the crops from those states are shipped nationwide - indicating that all Americans are at a risk. David Goldsmith, an environmental epidemiologist at George Washington University in Washington, DC, said: 'The public needs to be informed and vigilant about the use of herbicides, keeping them away from children and schools.' He told Newsweek: 'I am concerned if farmers or farmworkers are not using effective safety gear and thus may be excessively exposed via inhalation or skin contact. 'I am also concerned that 2,4-D may contaminate drinking water sources. Although, I believe that there is a direct risk for people who buy produce from fields that have had 2,4-D used on them.' Talking about why the herbicide was being heavily used only in certain states, Gurumurthy Ramachandran, director of the Johns Hopkins Education and Research Center for Occupational Safety and Health noted that it was due to their particular type of produce. He said: 'The Midwest, Great Plains, and Northwestern US have the highest 2,4-D usage, largely because these regions are the primary producers of corn, soybeans, wheat, and other field crops that are commonly treated with 2,4-D.' No usage of the toxic pesticide was seen in states such as California - known for producing artichokes, broccoli, carrots and lettuce - and states in the New England region. Sparse use of 2,4-D was reported in Idaho, Montana, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming - all known for producing onions, potatoes, carrots, lentils, sweet corn, beans, peppers and pumpkins. The data also showed low use by farmers in Florida, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, where agricultural produce is mostly focused on celery, peas, brussels sprouts, okra, radishes, summer squash, winter squash, tomatoes and cucumbers. Shockingly, data from the CDC also shows that Kentucky has the high rates of cancer in the US - particularly lung, colon and pancreatic cancers - followed closely by Iowa and Louisiana. Federal agencies across the US, including the Environmental Protection Agency, have deemed 2,4-D as safe for humans, despite research suggesting otherwise. While not completely banned across the entire European Union, 2,4-D is heavily restricted and its use is significantly curtailed in many countries in the region. In one such instance, the herbicide not been approved for use on lawns and gardens in countries like Denmark and Norway. A 2022 BMC study found that one in three Americans had higher than acceptable levels of exposure to the toxic herbicide and were at the risk of leukemia in children, birth defects and reproductive problems in adults. According to Natural Resources Defense Council, scientists have also previously found links between exposure to 2,4-D and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (a form of blood cancer) and sarcoma (a soft-tissue cancer). Additionally, the agency warned that high exposure to the herbicide can negatively alter the functioning of various hormones including estrogen, androgen, and thyroid hormones - paving the way for the development for cancer. Gerald LeBlanc, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, told Newsweek: 'IARC has classified 2,4-D as a Group 2B carcinogen, which means that it is possibly carcinogenic to humans. 'In my estimation, 2,4-D might cause cancer in humans, but only at unrealistically high exposure levels.' However, it is possible that the herbicide can cause internal body damage over time if consumed through foods. Toxins are often stored in fat tissues, organs such as the liver and kidneys and even within nerve cells and bone marrow when ingested. An overload of harmful toxins in the body can eventually cause fatal damage to cells, tissue and crucial organs. Ramachandran noted: 'The issue is that pesticides can remain on or in food, and chronic dietary exposure has been linked to increased risks of metabolic syndrome, cancers, and other health problems. 'They can also contaminate water, air, and soil, potentially affecting people living near treated fields or those exposed through drift and runoff.' As a result, he advised Americans to 'wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly before consumption; consider choosing organic produce to reduce dietary pesticide exposure, especially for children and pregnant women; and avoid entering fields or areas recently treated with pesticides and follow posted warnings.'
Newsweek
5 days ago
- Health
- Newsweek
Map Shows States With Highest Use Of Harmful Pesticides
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Midwestern and Southern states use much higher rates of the potentially harmful pesticide 2,4-D, according to U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data. A map by USGS, based on the latest data, collected in 2019, shows that use is most prevalent across Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, with other states also using the herbicide in certain areas. 2,4-D was found to be "possibly carcinogenic to humans" in a 2015 report by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in the World Health Organization (WHO), although the report states there was "inadequate evidence" at the time to determine the extent of its harm. But there are justified concerns about potential harm, depending on exposure levels to 2,4-D. Newsweek has contacted the Department of Agriculture (USDA) via email for comment. Why It Matters 2,4-D has been used as a pesticide since the 1940s, and gained notoriety as one of the components of Agent Orange, the defoliant used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War to destroy forestry and crops. While the other component of Agent Orange, 2,4,5-T, contained high levels of dioxin which was found to cause cancer and other health problems, dioxins are reportedly not found at detectable levels in 2,4-D products sold and used in the United States, USDA said. However, there is still some concern about the safety of its use, particularly as it has been used more widely in the last decade. A map to show the use of 2,4-D pesticides in different US states. A map to show the use of 2,4-D pesticides in different US states. Uncredited/U.S. Geological Survey What To Know 2,4-D is used to kill broadleaf weeds in various places, from lawns to fruit and vegetable crops, according to USDA. "The Midwest, Great Plains, and Northwestern U.S. have the highest 2,4-D usage, largely because these regions are the primary producers of corn, soybeans, wheat, and other field crops that are commonly treated with 2,4-D," Gurumurthy Ramachandran, director of the Johns Hopkins Education and Research Center for Occupational Safety and Health, told Newsweek. The increase in its use has been primarily due to the "rise of glyphosate-resistant weeds," Ramachandran said. Glyphosate, a once dominant herbicide, has become less effective as many weed species have developed resistance to it. To combat these resistant weeds, farmers have turned to alternative herbicides like 2,4-D, given its effective and low-cost control of broadleaf weeds. However, while USDA reported that "2,4-D generally has low toxicity for humans," others may disagree. The herbicide has been linked to significant health concerns, including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), endocrine disruption, a decrease in fertility and increase in birth defects, according to the nonprofit organization Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The IARC report detailed that there was "strong evidence that 2,4-D induces oxidative stress, a mechanism that can operate in humans, and moderate evidence that 2,4-D causes immunosuppression, based on in vivo and in vitro studies." "However, epidemiological studies did not find strong or consistent increases in risk of NHL or other cancers in relation to 2,4-D exposure," it added. The IARC also told Newsweek that the classification does not indicate the level of risk associated with a given level or circumstance of exposure. "The cancer risk associated with substances or agents assigned the same classification may be very different, depending on factors such as the type and extent of exposure and the degree of the effect of the agent at a given level of exposure," the organization said. The issue is that pesticides "can remain on or in food, and chronic dietary exposure has been linked to increased risks of metabolic syndrome, cancers, and other health problems," Ramachandran said. They can also "contaminate water, air, and soil, potentially affecting people living near treated fields or those exposed through drift and runoff," he added. This means that's its important for Americans to "wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly before consumption; consider choosing organic produce to reduce dietary pesticide exposure, especially for children and pregnant women; and avoid entering fields or areas recently treated with pesticides and follow posted warnings," Ramachandran said. What People Are Saying Cynthia Curl, a professor in the School of Public and Population Health at Boise State University, Idaho, told Newsweek: "I think we need to be judicious in our use of these agricultural tools, understanding that exposures to these chemicals have been associated with adverse health effects. We should be supporting federal programs like the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that fund research, outreach and education to evaluate pesticide safety and support interventions to reduce pesticide exposures to workers, people living in agricultural communities and the general public." David F. Goldsmith, an occupational and environmental epidemiologist at Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, D.C, told Newsweek: "I am concerned if farmers or farmworkers are not using effective safety gear and thus may be excessively exposed via inhalation or skin contact. I am also concerned that 2,4-D may contaminate drinking water sources. Although, I believe that there is a direct risk for people who buy produce from fields that have had 2,4-D used on them." He added: "The public needs to be informed and vigilant about the use of herbicides, keeping them away from children, schools and using protective equipment such as gloves, face masks, and goggles. For farm workers, many of whom do not speak English, the information on the Material Safety Data Sheet needs to be translated and the farm managers who are sending them out into the fields need to ensure they have personal protective equipment, that they wear long sleeves and gloves." Gerald LeBlanc, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, told Newsweek: "I am not concerned that 2,4-D may cause cancer in humans. IARC has classified 2,4-D as a Group 2B carcinogen, which means that it is possibly carcinogenic to humans. In my estimation, 2,4-D might cause cancer in humans, but only at unrealistically high exposure levels." He added: "It's essential to recognize that toxicity is just one side of the coin when assessing chemical risk. The other side is exposure. Pesticide applicators are exposed to much higher levels than consumers of the agricultural products. Therefore, pesticide applicators may be at risk while the pesticide may pose no risk to consumers. The EPA sets limits on the amount of pesticides that can be found on agricultural products. As long as these limits are not exceeded, the pesticides are considered to be safe for human consumption. This is the case for 2,4-D, where residues associated with crops are typically well below levels that pose a risk of harm to consumers." What's Next Before the extent of the health impacts of 2,4-D are made clear, more research is needed and various governmental agencies are continuing to review the herbicide's safety. It's also important to note, the USGS map is based on 2019 data, the latest data collected by the agency, so the prevalence and use of the pesticide may have changed in more recent years. More recently, farmers have been finding "new replacements" for the pesticide, Diana S. Aga, a professor of chemistry at University at Buffalo, New York, and fellow of the American Chemical Society, told Newsweek. The USGS also told Newsweek that final annual pesticide-use estimates, for approximately 400 compounds, from 2018 to 2022 will be published later this year. "The pesticide use data releases are currently undergoing peer review, and we anticipate these products will be published around September 2025," they said.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Donald laps it up as Nato leaders compete to shower him with sycophancy
Sometimes it pays to be a narcissist. To bend reality to your own worldview. To live almost entirely in the present. Where contradicting yourself is not a problem because two opposing statements can both be true. On the way to Nato you can question article 5. On the way back you can give all the other Nato leaders a patronising pat on the head. And everyone is grateful for it. There again it also helps if you are the most powerful man in the world. Donald Trump is not just tolerated, he is actively indulged. Prime ministers from other countries go out of their way to compete with one another in outright sycophancy. Flattery that started off as contrived now sounds dangerously sincere. Almost as if they genuinely believe it. Thank you Agent Orange for all you have done. We don't know where we would be without you. And The Donald just laps it up. Feeds on it. At the recent Nato summit he looked like a pig in shit. Living his best life. Whatever sunbed regime he's on, it's working for him. If he lost any sleep over his decision to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, it doesn't show. Just repeat after Donald. The mission was a complete and utter success and Iran's programme has been put back decades. If the Pentagon says otherwise, it's just fake news. Yet again, reality can be what you want it to be. Even when Trump temporarily loses it, he wins. Swearing is generally a no no for any leader. A sign that you've lost control. But when Donald said Israel and Iran didn't know what the fuck they were doing, he came out of it smelling of roses. Praised for his authenticity. Applauded for saying what the rest of the world is thinking. The Donald can do no wrong. He looks relaxed. God stand up for narcissists. Keir Starmer is no narcissist. And breathe a sigh of relief for that. The UK tried the narcissist route with Boris Johnson and that didn't end well. Maybe we just aren't a powerful enough country to get away with a sociopath in charge. Or, heaven forbid, maybe it was a matter of timing. Boris was the right man at the wrong time. That's a horrible thought. Most of us would quite happily settle for a period of fairly boring politics. Where the government is serving the country rather than the ego of the person in charge. Where even when they are getting things wrong, they are at least trying to do the right thing. But that level of decency comes with a cost. Your psyche does not reward itself with a free pass. You worry about the consequences of your actions. Your toadying to The Donald. You worry about the people dying in Ukraine, Gaza, Israel and Iran. You worry when your domestic policies look like they are falling apart. Wish you had spent more time reassuring backbenchers. Had explained better the trade-offs you were making. Had not been so quick to take a quick cash-saving win by removing benefits from people who can't wash themselves before going to work. Keir has tried to keep a lid on all this as leaders always do. Pretend that he's fully in charge of the situation. That everything is going according to plan. But always the tell-tale signs leak out. Starmer's eyes betray him. They have a deadness to them, the life squeezed out. His face pasty and pallid. A man desperate for a breather, a moment to relax away from the treadmill. Yet always there is one thing more. Another summit, another speech, another bilat, another crisis at home. This wasn't how he imagined his first year in Downing Street. The pressure and the pace is relentless. The treadmill going ever faster and there's no getting off. He aches in the places that he used to play. Just hours after returning from The Hague, Keir was giving a keynote speech to the British Chambers of Commerce. It was one that he and they will quickly forget. A routine, box-ticking affair. An annual date, along with the CBI, in any prime minister's diary. It wasn't meant to be this way, mind. Starmer knows better than anyone that Labour has to work twice as hard to show that it is the party of business. But this time he couldn't fake it to make it. He's no visionary. He can't access people's hearts. Only their reason. And that only intermittently. Keir began by thanking the BCC for all it had done for the country. He knew it had been a tough year and he had asked a lot of business, but the good times were round the corner. Possibly. There was the new infrastructure strategy. Now there was also a new trade strategy which sounded very much like the old one. Which was to keep on doing the trade deals we can, as with the partial deals with the EU, US and India, and try to do some new smaller deals with other nations. The applause from the audience was barely audible. They didn't sound desperately impressed. They can tell when a speaker is out on his feet and is phoning it in. Just over an hour later and Starmer was in the Commons for a statement on the G7 and Nato summits. Here he was much more like his chipper self. Not so much in his opening remarks about how the west was making a dangerous world safer, but in his reply to Kemi Badenoch. The Tory leader just gets worse and worse. Half-witted, sulky and tone deaf. Kemikaze seemed to think the UK should no longer bother to send its prime minister to these international meetings. That Keir had only gone for the craic and to avoid her at prime minister's questions. As if. Facing Kemi over the dispatch box was his half an hour of R&R in the week. Starmer dismissed her with barely concealed contempt as neither serious nor credible. An am-dram politician. Even the Tories were aghast. Mark Pritchard openly criticised his leader. He spoke for many on his own benches. Kemi had achieved the seemingly impossible. She had revivified a tired prime minister and united both Labour and opposition MPs against her. There is only one politician who looks a genuine leader in the Commons and it is still Starmer. He may have his hands full with a rebellion over the welfare bill, but as long as Kemi remains the leader of the opposition, he has nothing to fear from the Tories.
