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The pesticide glyphosate is used worldwide, also on soybean and cotton plantations in Argentina. It's causing more cases of cancer, miscarriage and deformation there, says pediatrician Ávila Vázquez.

Deutsche Welle: What is your experience with the herbicide glyphosate, particularly as it is used in Argentina?

We can clearly see that much more people are getting sick and suffering from new illnesses due to glyphosate. They are more frequently affected by cancer, especially lung, breast and colon cancers. We have analyzed the relationship in different studies.

People in some rural areas are suffering from cancer three times more than before, and cancer has become the main cause of death in some locations with soybean cultivation. For instance, in the small town of Monte Maíz, we found that in 2014 there were 35 cases of cancer. According to the data of the Health Ministry there were only 11 cases, but we have found 24 additional cases.

Children and unborn babies react particularly to environmental toxins. What is your analysis on this?

Around 12 million Argentines live in soybean cultivation regions. They live in villages surrounded by soybean fields, in which glyphosate is being sprayed. We call them pueblos fumigados - sprayed villages. In those places, we have observed that the number of miscarriages has greatly increased. Usually, the rate of miscarriage in humans and animals is 2 percent, but in these places the rate of abortion is between 5 and 6 percent.