Clearcutting, Chemicals And Cancer: The Occupational Hazards Facing Forestry Workers In Canada

If you're familiar with forestry management, you'll know one of the most heated debates around is how best to regenerate softwood/coniferous forests. Clearcutting trees draws the ire of environmentalists, but when combined with aerial herbicide spraying some studies show it produces much better yields of new wood. Non-chemical methods use a variety of techniques to foster regeneration, often successfully, but some provinces that have experimented with these methods have opted to return to chemicals when regeneration failed to produce desired results.

Tallying up yields of wood and considering the effects of clearcutting and chemicals on wildlife and diversity of plant species are not the only things we should consider in this debate. For forestry workers applying glyphosate-based chemicals such as Monsanto's Vision silviculture herbicide, there is growing evidence that their regular exposure is putting them at increased risk of developing cancers and other serious