‘Brown up to the elbow’ – farmers face a reckoning over pesticide exposure and Parkinson’s Disease

For those living with the consequences of historical chemical use, the past cannot be undone. But we must learn from their stories

Back in the day, especially in the 1960s and ’70s, people “didn’t take much notice of ‘health and safety’”. Photo: Getty

For generations of Irish farmers, agricultural chemicals weren’t seen as risk; they were simply a tool, as essential and routine as a tractor on the farm.

But today, as tremors and rigidity creep into the lives of some of those who spent decades working the land, their legacy has morphed into a quiet reckoning.