A mystery surge in cancer in Iowa has been blamed on alcohol – but locals fear another major factor is being ignored or suppressed.
DailyMail.com visited Iowa and spoke to doctors and locals who had cancer themselves or knew of dozens who had, but one common thread stood out – none of them were heavy drinkers.
And while a report published in early 2024 highlighted alcohol as a major health concern, locals are trying to raise awareness about another contributor: agricultural chemicals – of which Iowa uses more than any other state.
Chris Jones, a retired research engineer and chemist at the University of Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research, told DailyMail.com this 'taboo subject’ makes it difficult to get people to talk – or do something – about it.
The Iowa Statehouse, in the capital city of Des Moines, is home to the state’s Senate, House of Representatives and Office of the Governor
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Mr Jones said: 'People know what to do. We know what to do and that’s to regulate the pollution from agriculture, but it’s such a taboo subject that it’s hard to get anybody to talk, especially if they’re still working.’
He said the state needs to introduce regulation into the agricultural industry – providing guidelines for the types and amount of fertilizers and pesticides used on crops, introduce a greater variety of crops and add funding back to programs that monitor water quality.
Neil Hamilton, a lawyer and the former Director of the Drake Agricultural Law Center, told DailyMail.com: 'There seems to be a surprising lack of curiosity [from] the agricultural companies and agriculturalists and farm groups.
’And, you know, maybe that’s predictable, because they maybe are concerned about what might be found if we started scratching a little bit deeper.’
The 2022 census revealed the 30.5million acres of farmland in Iowa employ an estimated 153,000 farmers, generating $783million in revenue.
Iowa has the third most farms in the nation – falling behind Texas and Missouri, despite having half and one-tenth of the population of those states, respectively.
And the state uses 237million pounds of weed killers and 11.6billion pounds of fertilizer per year – more than any other state.
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There are roughly 350 pesticides registered for use, including some that have been labeled by the EPA as 'possible human carcinogens.’
Studies have found an association between the chemicals and some kinds of cancer, including breast, liver and colon cancers, as well as thyroid disease, birth defects and neurodevelopmental disorders.
Early reports from a longitudinal study by the National Cancer Institute that monitored 53,000 pesticides applicators in North Carolina and Iowa found a link between atrazine, an herbicide, and Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and prostate cancer – but the link was tenuous.
Of all the cancers in Iowa, prostate is the second most common.
Dr Richard Deming, medical director of the Mercy Cancer Center in Des Moines who treats cancer patients from all over the state, previously told this website the emerging cancer trends and high use of chemicals has made doctors like him suspicious of a connection between the two.
He said: 'I think many of us think that over time, we’re going to find some cause and effect… it wouldn’t shock us… if we found out they cause cancer. ’
An EPA representative told DailyMail.com the chemicals allowed by national guidelines are strictly regulated.
They said: 'EPA periodically reviews existing registered pesticides to ensure they can be used without unreasonable risks to human health and the environment.
’The registration review program is intended to make sure that, as the ability to assess risk evolves and as policies and practices change, all registered pesticides continue to meet the statutory standard of no unreasonable adverse effect.’
In addition to pesticides, after manure and fertilizers are applied to fields, rain can wash them away into streams, rivers or into groundwater supply. There, they break down when exposed to air into byproducts called nitrates and nitrites.
Once dissolved in water, these can travel long distances, and while wastewater treatment plants can treat for them, they can only do so if they know they’re present.
Nitrates have been linked to thyroid and ovarian cancer in women and colon, kidney and stomach cancer in all adults, as well as preterm births and birth defects.
As of time of publishing, The Iowa Water Quality Information System, which reports live data from around 50 streams, flagged two waterways containing nitrate levels near 24 ppm – nearly 2.5 times higher than the EPA threshold for drinking water.
A further three sites reported levels between 11 ppm and 20 ppm.
In Mr Jones’ 30-year-career monitoring Iowa’s water quality at more than 70 stream and lake sites across the state, he’s become convinced the state needs tighter regulation of its waterways, specifically because of these chemicals.
He regularly reported on high levels of nitrates in the various waterways across the state – including those citizens swam and fished in. A blog he ran through the University of Iowa that shared this pollution data and his opinions about water policy gained a large audience in the state.
In May 2023, two members of Iowa’s state legislature allegedly approached university officials about stopping Mr Jones’ blog, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported.
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Mr Jones told The Chronicle the message from them was: 'You guys can’t be over here asking for money for these various programs and at the same time allow this blog to continue.’
He added, 'Now, is that a threat? Is that a threat to defund something? I think it’s definitely something you better take seriously.’
Shortly after, his blog was shut down, he retired and $500,000 in funding was stripped from his program.
Mr Jones wrote: 'I’ve written these essays, especially over the last two years, knowing that I was basically a dog chasing cars. Once in a while, even a three-legged dog like me can get too close to the rear wheels, and well, that happened.’
One of the lawmakers named in the Chronicle, Senator Dan Zumbach, who is also a farmer, said 'no threat to funding was ever made because of the content of a blog,’ and those claims are 'reckless and potentially defamatory.’
Senator Tom Shipley, also named, told the Chronicle a conversation had occurred about Mr Jones’ blog, but declined further comment.
Still, Mr Jones’ said it’s not too late for the state to fix its problems.
He is urging state officials to encourage farmers to plant more diverse crops, which require less chemicals, and increase distance between farms and water sources to reduce the chance of run off.
Iowa is bordered on one side by the Missouri river and the other side by the Mississippi, pictured here. The entire state is connected by streams, lakes and groundwater wells
Iowa has made some moves to reduce contamination.
In 2008, the state implemented a nutrient reduction strategy that provides a plan for farmers, wastewater treatment plants, factories and cities to opt into to 'reduce nutrients [nitrates] in surface water…. in a scientific, reasonable and cost effective manner.’
Though well intentioned, Mr Hamilton called the strategy 'an exercise in magical thinking’ and said it hasn’t done much to change the total amount of fertilizers used in the state.
The Environmental Protection Act’s Clean Water Act (CWA) has been helpful in tracking how chemicals applied to farms moves around the water supply Professor David Cwiertny, director of the Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination, told DailyMail.com.
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But 'there’s a bunch of waterways that we don’t have enough information on to determine if they’re compliant or not. So sort of acknowledging that if there’s some data deficiencies there.’
In addition, the CWA has some regulations for farming pollution, but largely exempts agriculture from its guidelines, Mr Hamilton said.
But these recommendations are a hard sell when people fail to acknowledge the problem in the first place, Professor Cwiertny said.
He said scientists haven’t come to a consensus about how agriculture might be affecting human health but different aspects could be causing different problems.
What’s happening in Iowa is evidence of a trend that scientists and environmentalists have been wary of for a long time, but research has stopped short of connecting the chemicals and cancer for certain.
The trends are concerning enough, however, that it warrants attention, Mr Jones added.
And Professor Cwiertny said: 'Isn’t this enough information to act on? We could protect folks from exposures that may be problematic, even if we don’t know with 100 percent certainty that they are.
’And that’s where we haven’t been able to do anything here. And that, I think, is why people are more frustrated now.’
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Dr Richard Deming, The Medical Director Mercy One Cancer Center in Des Moines, told DailyMail.com that the increase in cancer rates is multifactorial – including radon, diet, alcohol, exercise, sun and chemical exposures
Even still, Professor Cwiertny said people should be careful before jumping to conclusions about what might’ve caused their cancer. Other factors – radon, a natural radioactive gas common in the state, arsenic, a carcinogenic deposit in soil, diet and sunburn – could also have an effect.
But Iowa is beginning to pay more attention to its cancer problem.
The University of Iowa and National Cancer Institute run the Iowa Cancer Registry, which releases an annual report on cancer incidence in the state and potential risk factors.
It estimated that in 2024 an estimated 21,000 new, invasive cancers will be diagnosed in Iowans and 6,100 people will die from them. After breast, prostate and lung cancer – colorectal and skin cancers are predicted to be most common.
Mary Charlton, a professor of epidemiology who is the principal investigator of the Iowa Cancer Registry, told DailyMail.com this year’s report got more attention than ever but also generated 'maybe a little bit of confusion’ over its focus on alcohol.
’We featured alcohol, not because we think it is the number one contributor to our high cancer rate,’ Dr Charlton explained, 'but because we think it is the one that people have the least awareness of.
’The majority of people, especially after the report came out, told me they had no idea that alcohol was a carcinogen.’
But the researchers hope by highlighting alcohol, people may drink less.
As of 2022, about one quarter of adults in Iowa reported binge drinking, which is higher than the national average of 17 percent. The state ranks fourth in the nation for binge drinking rates.
Crucially, it’s not too late to address any of these issues, including agriculture, Mr Jones said.
Mr Hamilton also said more could be done in the state. He added: 'You would think we would be interested in knowing a little bit more for no other reason than just trying to improve our potential health outcomes.’
