Governor Kim Reynolds provided the 2025 Condition of the State on Jan. 14. The budget she recommended was $9.43 billion. She recommended a $1 million allocation to study cancer in Iowa. This was 0.0111 per cent of the total budget.
This allocation was to offset that the state of Iowa now has the second-highest cancer incidence among all U.S. states, with 486.6 new cases of cancer per 100,000 compared to the national average of 442. The rate is growing faster than for any other state in the country.
For more than 50 years, the Iowa Cancer Registry at the University of Iowa has tracked cancer rates in Iowa. During that time, Iowa cancer trends tracked with the national averages.
That all changed around 2015, when Iowa cancer rates suddenly began rising faster than national averages. The claim in the February 2024 cancer report indicated it was due to the high rate of binge drinking in Iowa.
However, as many researchers pointed out, Iowa binge-drinking rates have not changed significantly in recent years. And other states, like Montana and North Dakota, have higher binge-drinking rates—but no rise in their state cancer profiles, according to a report from the CDC.
“What needs to be looked at are things that are probable or possible carcinogens that have increased beginning about 1990, said Dr. James Merchant, a retired professor of occupational and environmental health at the University of Iowa, in an article in the Des Moines Register.
Most notable? The changing agricultural practices over the past two decades could be driving the trend, noted Merchant. Health advocates and environmentalists are quick to point out that Iowa has some of the highest usage of nitrate fertilizers and herbicides like glyphosate, as well as the largest amounts of animal manure from confined feeding operations in the country.
The growth in CAFOs has increased almost fivefold since the 1990s, from 789 to 3,936, according to a 2020 report from the Environmental Working Group.
This has exponentially increased the animal manure released. According to a report from the Iowa Environmental Council, the amount of livestock manure Iowa now generates is equal to the amount produced by 168 million people. Unlike human sewage, the hog waste products emptied from the lagoons are applied directly to the soil.
To bring these concerns home for Greene Countians, according to the Iowa Cancer Registry there are 625 people living with cancer in our county, 70 new cases will be diagnosed this year, and 25 deaths will occur.
You will have the opportunity to discuss the high cancer rates, as well as other important issues in Greene County this Saturday, Feb.1, at 10:30 am. Our Senate representative Jesse Green, and House representative Carter Nordman will be present at a “Meet your Legislator” event. The dialogue will be held at the Welcome Center of the Thomas Jefferson Gardens in Jefferson.
VIEW FROM MY WINDOW is submitted by Mary Weaver of rural Rippey
