Iowa’s cancer rate sits roughly 10% above the national average, with elevated numbers for prostate, breast, colorectal, melanoma and lung cancers. The trend is notable because cancer incidence is falling in all but three states nationwide, and it has intensified scrutiny of the state’s water and agricultural chemical exposure.
Iowa’s economy relies heavily on corn and soybean production along with hog farming. That combination produces nitrogen runoff that can seep into rivers used for drinking water. The EPA does not currently classify nitrates — which originate from chemical fertilizers and animal waste — as carcinogens. However, once inside the human body, nitrates can undergo a process called nitrosation that converts them into compounds considered probable carcinogens. Pesticide residue and so-called “forever chemicals” have also drawn concern.
The Make America Healthy Again movement, led by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has pushed to reduce Americans’ exposure to these substances, and the idea has attracted support from candidates across the political spectrum.
Tony Lyons, president of MAHA Action, said reducing chemical exposure is an urgent priority and argued that not every Iowa politician is genuinely committed to addressing it. He pointed to studies linking nitrate-contaminated water — tied to fertilizer and manure runoff — to cancer, and to research connecting pesticide chemicals to elevated risks of colorectal cancer, bladder cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other malignancies.
“Any discussion that does not include water quality and the nitrate load when we’re talking about cancer isn’t a serious discussion. It doesn’t matter if you’re left or right, you’re drinking the water,” said Zach Lahn, a Republican candidate for governor in Iowa.
Not everyone attributes the state’s cancer rates primarily to environmental contamination. State-funded research out of the University of Iowa has found that most — though not all — of the state’s elevated cancer rates can be explained by demographic and behavioral factors, including smoking and binge drinking.
At the same time, the University of Iowa has expanded its cancer research in response to the rising rates. One beneficiary of that work is Linda Jacobs, 64, who a decade ago underwent a bilateral mastectomy and radiation therapy for recurrent breast cancer. She later developed an aggressive, treatment-resistant angiosarcoma. Mohammed Milhem, MBBS, treated her by injecting her tumor with a genetically altered herpes virus he had been studying as part of his research — a treatment that left her cancer-free.
Researchers and advocates on both sides of the debate agree that preventing cancer in the first place, through a combination of lifestyle changes and reduced environmental exposure to contaminants, remains the preferable path forward.
