Chevron (Texaco) killed and poisoned hundreds and when they finally lost in court they went after the laywer which is currently still under illegal house arrest in NY. [1]
As a biochemist (no conflict of interest), I honestly don't think there's any reason to think this has anything to do with glyphosate or herbicides.
Environmental exposure in general is unlikely to have a subacute presentation such as in CJD, so that probably rules out exposure to reasonable levels of any herbicide.
And possibly exposure to chronic wasting disease from deer being driven from forests (Irving re-plants clear-cuts with spruce monoculture that provides no food for deer) into proximity to humans:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/deer-st-andrews...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/deer-mobs-bathu...
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/n-b-town-overrun-by-deer-consi...
I used to work for the Ministry of agriculture there and we shared most of our data and procedures with Quebec's.
Québec land area: 1,365,128 km²
Québec total annual timber harvest: 4.8 million m³
New Brunswick land area: 71,450 km²
New Brunswick timber harvest from Crown lands: 5.4 million m³
New Brunswick timber harvest from private lands: 3 million m³
Québec protected areas alone are more than twice the size of the whole of New Brunswick.
What other populated region in North America is as intensely logged as New Brunswick? Maybe rural Oregon or Washington?
New Brunswick is basically a lumber colony for the Irving companies (also, so is Northern Maine, see sprainedankels' comment elsewhere in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26506784). On average 1% of the forest cover of New Brunswick (at least 85% of the province is forest cover) is clear-cut every year, and then the clear cut is drenched in herbicides from the air. The current herbicide is glyphosate, which has been linked to neurological disorders, but aerial spraying of herbicides in other forms dates back to the 1950s.
Here is a linkdump for more information:
http://www.stopsprayingnb.ca/
http://isourforestreallyours.com/Isourforestreallyours/Start...
https://web.archive.org/web/20160322213243/http://dearbriang...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/forests-and-flo...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/louis-lapierre-...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/forestry-deal-r...
This even comes up in the comments section on satire websites:
"Back around 1973 or 1974, I knew of a photographer who had a summer contract with Irving, documenting the effect of spraying. He photographed deformities, poisoned animals, etc. The company was very secretive and made sure that every single roll of film was handed back to them." https://themanatee.net/firing-of-dr-cleary-proves-once-for-a...
https://themanatee.net/new-brunswicks-10-most-beautiful-clea...