Letters to the Editor: Cancer in Iowa

The Modern Ag Alliance has been running full page ads in the Des Moines Register claiming that “Farmers need your support” regarding “certainty around pesticide labeling requirements.” Do not be fooled, it is not farmers who have mounted this advertising campaign seeking immunity from lawsuits for cancer arising from exposure to Roundup (glyphosate), and diseases arising from other pesticide exposures.  It is in fact cynically misleading as it is farmers, and other rural Iowans, who are at greatest risk to adverse health effects from these chemicals. Senate Study Bill 1051 has now advanced out of committee following a 2 to 1 vote.

Corporations that control and drive American industrial agriculture production often use right to farm laws to suggest that they are represented by “farmers” in conveying their wishes to the public. But, truly independent farmers are a vanishing species. By 2000, corporate control of agriculture had eliminated the vast majority of independent livestock operations. Now at least 90% of beef, nearly 70% of pork, and over 50% of meat chicken and turkey production are controlled by the top four corporations in each sector. About 60% of eggs come from corporate owned facilities and the rest come from their contractor operations. The top U.S. beef producer is JBS USA Holdings, Inc. the wholly owned subsidiary of Brazilian JBS S.A. The top pork producer in the U.S. is Smithfield Foods, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of China’s W.H. Group. Currently, over 50% of American corn production is contracted to the biofuel industry. The producer of Roundup is Bayer AG, the German multinational corporation that bought Monsanto, and its known liability, for $63 billion in 2018. These corporate entities that own farm animals and their waste, and farm pesticides, are responsible for the adverse health effects arising from their products.

As noted in our book “Industrial Farm Animal Production, the Environment, and Public Health,” (https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12946/industrial-farm-animal-production-environment-and-public-health) the late ISU agricultural economist Neil Harl concluded that the effect of corporate contract farming has turned once proud independent farmers into modern day “serfs,” “relatively powerless pawns.” American farmers who are producing more and more are earning less and less. They now face a very uncertain future with the promised tariffs and hold on U.S.A.I.D. funding that threaten their export markets.

Corporate control of animal agriculture in Iowa between 1990 and 2020 has resulted in massive increases in farm animal production — three times as many hogs and six times as many eggs — accompanied by equivalent increases in related pollutants. Agriculture is the largest class of U.S. industrial emissions of ammonia, about 80% coming from farm animal production. As such, it is a major contributor to fine particulate air pollution, specifically PM (particulate matter) 2.5 (microns) and PM10, arising from release of ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate that are precursors to the formation of a large proportion of PM10 and even a larger proportion of PM2.5 in livestock dense regions like Iowa. Animal agricultural production is also a major contributor to global warming. Of total global anthropogenic emissions, about 37% of methane and 65% of nitrous oxide arise from animal production.

Less dramatic increases in Iowa corn (8%) and soybean (20%) acres have occurred between 1990 and 2020. Glyphosate has been used extensively for fifty years and continues to be widely used on both corn and soybeans. Commercial ammonia and animal manure are often over-applied, and with pesticides, are drained efficiently via thousands of miles of drainage tiles to Iowa waterways. Chris Jones, PhD, writing in The Swine Republic has calculated, based on fecal equivalents, that Iowa’s real population is not 3 million, but rather 168 million. Jones also concluded that only 15 stream segments of 70,000 miles Iowa’s perennial streams meet their designated use under the Clean Water Act, and that over 6,000 rural wells are contaminated with nitrate, coliform bacteria and farm chemicals. (https://naturalresources.extension.iastate.edu/encyclopedia/how-understand-iowas-section-303d-impaired-waters-listings) 

The Iowa Cancer Registry has reported that Iowa’s all-site cancer incidence, unlike that of other U.S. states, has been observed to rise beginning by 2014, and after Kentucky, had the nation’s second highest 2016-2020 age-adjusted cancer incidence. As the only state with a rising cancer incidence, Iowa is now the cancer capital of America. Two very important agricultural carcinogens are the WHO’s International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC) “probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A) — outdoor fine particulate (PM (particulate matter) 2.5 (microns) and PM10), and glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) — both pollutants exposing Iowans statewide. As a participant in IARC expert panels, but not these two in 2015, I can attest to the comprehensiveness and rigor of these science-based reviews and monographs.

The following evidence and statistics come from Chapter 3 of Industrial Farm Animal Production, the Environment, and Public Health which I wrote in collaboration with others. And, from my presentation on the first day of the Harkin Institute’s Industrial Farm Animal Production, the Environment, and Public Health Conference held at Drake last September and still available through the Harkin Institute website on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/live/WK_MSiGhMXE?t=9511s  day 1, session 2) 

Cancer arises from a complex interplay of genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors. There is no evidence that Iowans genetics put them at increased cancer risk than those of other states. As reported by the Iowa Cancer Registry (https://shri.public-health.uiowa.edu/cancer-data/reports/iowa-cancer-reports/, ICR, 2024), Iowa does have relatively high behavioral risk factors known to be important in cancer causation, but has largely followed national trends. Smoking, the behavioral risk factor causing lung cancer, has decreased nationally and in Iowa since 1975. But, the site-specific cancer that has increased significantly between 1975-2020 is lung cancer, now responsible for nearly a quarter of Iowa cancer deaths. Other cancers contributing to Iowa’s rise in cancer incidence over this period include cancer of the esophagus, liver, kidney and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

In the context of environmentally caused cancer, it is important to understand that there is, from first exposure a latency (of 10-20 years) and cumulative exposure (concentration x time) with no threshold, that dictate cancer risk. The massive increase in pork and egg production beginning in the 1990s we believe resulted in a corresponding increase in fine particle air pollution statewide and with it an increase in lung cancer incidence. We observed an earlier steep increase in lung cancer incidence between 1975-1992, that we believe was related to the housing of millions of pigs in concentrated animal feeding operations beginning in the 1960s resulting in off-gassing of ammonia and other toxic gases from manure pits. Numerous research studies have shown that exposure to PM2.5 is associated with increased cardiopulmonary, cerebrovascular, all-site and lung cancer mortality. Several studies have linked increased PM2.5 exposure with increases in breast, esophageal, liver and kidney cancer mortality. Between1975-2020 we have observed parallel increases in women’s lung and breast cancer incidence that suggests a common etiology (https://www.youtube.com/live/WK_MSiGhMXE?t=11804s presentation).

Over the period 1975-2020 we have also observed an increase in NHL incidence, greater among men in Iowa’s 90 rural counties and consistent with their periodic occupational exposures to glyphosate. But, we also observed a smaller but consistent increase in NHL among rural women who have infrequent occupational exposures. While the total population in these rural counties has decreased between 1975 and 2020, we have observed incremental increases in NHL — a total of 12,633 incident cases over this period. Both rural and urban county men and women may be exposed to low levels of glyphosate daily from farm chemical contaminated well water or contaminated drinking water taken from rivers or wells.

There is an extensive 50 year literature on occupational diseases arising from exposures to pesticides — dermatitis, asthma, reproductive impairment, as well as some cancers. And there are other existing harmful pesticides now marketed by Bayer like flufenacet, a thyroid endocrine disruptor that affects brain development. A coalition of 49 health and environmental organizations have now petitioned European Commission and Member States to ban flufenacet.

Given the extensive past and current literature, as well as emerging pesticide research on adverse health effects arising from occupational and environmental pesticides exposures, it would be foolish to immunize German Bayer and other pesticide manufacturers from liability as is proposed by Senate Study bill 1051. Urge your state senators and representatives to oppose this dangerous legislation that would deny Iowans with pesticide linked diseases their day in court.

James A. Merchant, MD, DrPH, Professor Emeritus, Colleges of Public Health and Medicine; Founding Dean Emeritus, College of Public Health, Iowa City

DeJean does Iowa good

As a Philadelphia Eagles fan since 1979, and an Iowa Hawkeyes fan since I was a wee lad, I was pleased as all get out to see local hero Cooper DeJean get a pick-six in the Super Bowl. And yes, John Cullen, a lot like Philly great Jason Kelce, Coop will never have to buy a drink in his hometown again. That play alone is the stuff of NFL legend — we Philly fans will savor that, and the Super Bowl win for years to come.

So many other great stories that emerge for Philly after that win — General Manager Howie Roseman constructs another roster, with great hires in Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore and Defensive Coordinator  Vic Fangio, that’s probably better than the line-up that won the big game back in 2018.

Quarterback Jalen Hurts silenced the doubters, and even though Saquon Barkley was limited to rushing yardage, the running back had a comeback season for the ages after many had written him off. It might not be dynasty time in  Philly, but back in the day when he shut down Brady and the Pats in the other Philly Super Bowl win, we had some points to prove. I'm still processing the whole thing, which is wonderful.

Also nice to see so many “Team Cooper” T-shirts out at the Cobb on Super Bowl Sunday. The kid is truly making the phrase “local boy does good” ring true.

Mick Polich, Storm Lake

Towing practices during snow emergencies: A concern for SL residents

I am writing as a concerned resident of Storm Lake to bring attention to troubling towing practices during snow emergencies in our city. On the evening of Feb. 15, 2025, my vehicle was towed under the city’s snow emergency policy. However, there was no snow on the ground, and no snow removal operations were underway at the time. This raises serious questions about the fairness and consistency of the towing policy, particularly when the city’s ordinance does not clearly specify whether snow removal is required to trigger towing.

What is even more concerning is the fact that Tyson Rice, a former City Council member, operates the only towing company contracted by the city. This raises the possibility of a conflict of interest, with a single company benefiting from snow emergency towing without open competition or transparency. Given that the city has other local towing businesses like Bob’s Towing, many residents, including myself, are left wondering whether this practice is influenced by political connections rather than what is best for the public.

The issue is compounded by the fact that the only official notice about snow emergencies on the Storm Lake website is entirely in English. This creates a significant barrier for our town’s large non-English-speaking population, who may not be able to understand the snow emergency rules. Furthermore, the website merely states that vehicles "may be ticketed or towed" during snow emergencies, but it does not clarify under what specific conditions. Given that there was no snow or snow removal happening at the time of my tow, it's strange that towing was chosen as the enforcement action.

When I asked Mr. Rice whether other towing companies were allowed to tow during snow emergencies, he said they could. However, when I spoke with the Storm Lake Police Department’s lieutenant, I was told that Mr. Rice’s company holds the exclusive contract to tow all vehicles for the city. This contradiction raised red flags. Mr. Rice, when questioned, initially tried to distance himself from being the actual owner of Storm Lake Towing, which seems highly suspicious. His attempt to avoid the obvious connection, coupled with his exclusive contract, raises serious concerns about a potential conflict of interest and lack of transparency in the towing process.

To make matters worse, Tyson Rice’s towing company charges an exorbitant $280 to tow a vehicle a short distance — just 1.3 miles in my case. This is a heavy financial burden, especially for our town’s vulnerable populations, including those who may not fully understand the snow emergency rules due to language barriers. When I went to retrieve my car, I witnessed several other Hispanic residents, all of whom did not speak English and were confused about what was happening. I had to act as a translator, helping them understand why their vehicles were towed and how to resolve the situation. It was clear that many of these individuals were unaware of why their cars had been towed or how to navigate the process, adding to the financial and emotional strain they were already facing.

The high towing fees, unclear policies, and the language barrier create unnecessary hardships for these residents. The situation also raises concerns about potential constitutional violations. The 4th Amendment protects us from unreasonable seizures of property, and the 14th Amendment ensures equal protection under the law. The current practices seem to be in conflict with both of these protections, particularly in how they disproportionately affect non-English-speaking and financially vulnerable residents.

I urge the community to consider these concerns and for local officials to take steps to ensure towing practices are fair, transparent, and free from any conflicts of interest. This issue not only affects the wallets of Storm Lake residents but also undermines the trust we place in our local government.

David Almendarez, Storm Lake