SPECIAL REPORT: WHAT’S BEHIND THE CANCER SURGE IN IOWA?

Headlines recently reported Iowa’s new title: America’s Cancer Capital.^[I]  What are the factors that could’ve led to this? Could it be that Iowa has more GMO farm fields, more ethanol facilities, as well as more factory farms than any other state in the U.S? The toxins, the runoff, and the waste produced from these farming facilities is getting in the water, in the air, and in people’s bodies. Without question, the extensive use of pesticides and toxic agricultural runoff polluting water magnifies cancer risk to anyone exposed. (Above photo courtesy Grace Farm Project)

IOWA: CANCER CAPITAL OF THE U.S.

There are many factors that could be contributing to Iowa’s new title:

• Factory Farm Waste and Pollution
• Pesticide overuse
• Ethanol and biodiesel production emit more carcinogens to the air than oil refineries and use massive amounts of carcinogenic pesticides on the growing corn. Ethanol, ironically, also increases smog and is now found to be worse for the climate than gasoline.
• Nitrate pollution
• Agricultural runoff

Image: Ethanol Facility, courtesy MPR News

Data shows that in 2021, 14,500,000 pounds of pesticides were doused on corn grown in Iowa. Corn crops grown for Ethanol use both Atrazine and Roundup and plenty of other horrible carcinogens. (see table below)

Data (USDA)^[ii] Page 232, Corn Pesticide map (Chem & Eng News)^[iii]

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After years of dominating GMO corn, soybean, and ethanol farming, Iowa is suffering the consequences. The condition of waterways and drinking water sources in Iowa now is sub standard at best. Behind this mess sits a toxic soup of cancer-causing pesticides applied to millions of acres of farm fields, 109 billion pounds of manure flowing from factory farms yearly, much of it illegally dumped in waterways; as well as carcinogens escaping from ethanol plants. On top of this, Iowa’s municipal water purification facilities have been pushed to their limit trying to keep up with the ever-growing nitrate burden. All of these factors make health nearly impossible to attain in Iowa. Meanwhile the Big Ag industries are reeling in the profits, and turning a blind eye to all the damage they’re causing. Instead of covering the costs of removing all the pollution they’ve caused, Big Ag lets the Iowa residents bear the burden both in health and in taxes.

Investigate Midwest reports: Dr. Richard Deming, a Des Moines oncologist, said, “If you did an aerial map of Iowa, we are — river to river and north to south — a bath of ag chemicals: herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, nitrates,”

“We’re not yet at the point where we can say what every single chemical that ultimately gets into our water supply (or) onto our skin causes, but when you look at the amount of ag chemicals Iowans are exposed to compared to other states, I suspect that we’ll find that might also be one of the contributing factors.”

Map: Source NBC News

IOWA’S NEW CANCER CONCERNS INCLUDE 4 TYPES OF CANCER: (Data gathered from the Gazette)

• Melanoma: one of the fastest increasing rates of melanoma in the country
• Breast Cancer: unusually high, making up 14% of new cancer cases
• Prostate Cancer: like breast cancer, increasing faster in Iowa than other parts of the country
• Lung Cancer increased to 61.2% rate compared to national rate of 53.6%

Could these cancers be avoided in a cleaner environment? Possibly. GMO crops may sound fine and dandy, and their marketing may convince you this stuff is harmless; but the way corn and soy and these crops are grown today is far different than days of old. According to the US Geological Survey, In the first 20 years of GMO farming between 1992 and 2012, 2.6 BILLION POUNDS of glyphosate were applied to US Farmland. God only knows how much its increased since, for as the weeds become intolerant to Roundup, more and more must be applied.

When you look closely at the Roundup-Bayer-Monsanto-GMO farming system, you’ll uncover millions of pounds of cancer-causing pesticides used to grow food. You have to wonder how safe that really can be. These pesticides don’t just kill pests, they target everything they make contact with. They can kill people, animals, and pollinators. They end up not just in the drinking water and waterways, but everything else too: the food, private wells, the soil, and the air. It’s a fact that over exposure to carcinogenic, neurotoxic, and reproductive toxins found in pesticides increases risk of cancer and other significant diseases like Parkinson’s, MS, and Alzheimer’s, birth defects, mitochondrial dysfunction, and a host of chronic diseases. Continued exposure further interferes with one’s success at healing.

FACTORY FARMS ACROSS THE STATE ILLEGALLY DUMP ANIMAL MANURE INTO WATER SUPPLIES

At 109 billion pounds of waste annually, “Iowa Produces More Factory Farm Waste Than Any Other State,” Food and Water Watch reports. “A 78% increase over 20 years, and more than 25 times the state’s human population.”

What’s happening in Iowa should be sounding alarm bells around the world. For, it’s not just Iowa where these toxins reside. Factory Farm waste remains unregulated nationwide. Waste from these mega farms get in drinking water sources throughout the country, and anywhere around the world where these God forsaken animal concentration camps are located. Since all water is essentially connected, it’s eventually affecting us all, is it not?

Image: Factory Farm Source Getty: These poor animals can’t even turn around, let alone know what sunshine or grass feels like.

Drinking water everywhere should be clean, not compromised with herbicides and pesticides and runoff compounds. As the state with the most factory farms, ethanol facilities, and GMO corn and soybean fields, Iowans won’t be getting relief until policies change.

If we have any sense at all, and truly want to reduce human and animal disease, this must serve as a wake up call. It’s time for us all to stand up and defend our families, defend our land, defend our friends, defend animals and pollinators.

AMERICA’S INVISIBLE WATER CRISIS MUST BE FIXED

Cancer is increasing everywhere. When carcinogens get in the water, we must remove them. It’s not healthy for humans or animals to consume toxic water. If we care at all, we must demand the government tighten its rules, push back on the Big Ag companies, and get the toxic crap out of farming and out of our water. We must get back to using healthier more natural methods of growing food. We must resuscitate soil health and all else will follow. GMO farming only leads to disease for the soil and for us. Let’s jump ship and return to natural organic and regenerative farming as fast as we can.

Agriculture’s Impact on Rivers, Fish, and Human Health

“Toxic pollutants can affect human health either because they contaminate drinking water supplies or because they accumulate in the fat or tissue of fish, which are consumed by human populations. The primary toxic substances due to fish consumption are currently PCBs and chlordane. Although dieldrin is currently the basis for fish consumption advisories in Illinois, other states may follow suit.

The second category of toxic pollutants which is of concern to human health includes those substances that pose threats to drinking water. Based upon the fact that they have either shown exceedances of maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) or had a significant impact on water treatment needs, Atrazine and Nitrate are considered to be of top priority. Both produce localized and seasonal problems, but are of basin-wide concern. Nitrate is additionally of priority concern because recent research suggests that the Upper Mississippi River is a major source of nitrogen in the Gulf of Mexico.“www.umrba.org

SOLUTIONS

• Filter your water for everything and everyone, for drinking as well as cooking and showering.
• We must bring back the family farms and say goodbye to the industrial mega farms.
• It’s truly in our best interest to support and buy from those farmers who raise animals ethically and humanely. As we’re seeing today with the threat of bird flu spreading, confining thousands and thousands of animals together in cramped spaces indoors is not recommended. It simply is not healthy for them or us. It’s time to outlaw factory farms. The only ones benefitting from factory farms are the corporations who profit from them.
• We have to get ethanol out of gasoline, this alone would reduce smog formation and help people breathe better and help lessen impacts of climate change.
• When you purchase eggs or meat or milk, try your best to support local family farms and organic farms rather than factory farms. Support animals’ right to sunlight and the outdoors. (FYI, Eggland’s Best are anything but best, they are not good farms, they’re factory farms, they mistreat their hens, the birds are in cages.)
• GMO farming, factory farms, and ethanol production all contribute to climate change, which is another huge reason they all should be phased out. This article was directed toward the direct health and disease consequences of these farms and how that relates to the surge in cancer in Iowa. To see more about climate change specifically, please check out my other articles on this blog or see my books. Thank you.

One final note about Monsanto and Bayer, two of my least favorite entities. Roundup, (otherwise known as Glyphosate) was created by Monsanto– the same company that created Agent Orange and PCBs. These chemicals cause cancer and disease. In 2016, Monsanto merged with Bayer. Bayer now sells Roundup and for a long time, has sold a similar devastating product called Glufosinate– sold under the trade name Liberty. Beware. Bayer is a sinister company, with a dire legacy, for they are the same company that produced the infamous Zyclon-B gas, the agent used in killing millions of prisoners held in the concentration camps during WWII. Their newest line of pesticides– known as Neonicotinoids-– is wiping out bees and pollinators. If something is not done soon to curtail use of products made by these corporations, our entire food supply may collapse, and surging cancer rates may become the norm. These companies are not your friends. If you care about your health and your family, using their products on your lawn or garden is not recommended.

This article is based on “People in Danger”–a section in my latest book, Filter Your Water Now!, (pages 219-226.) God bless America and the whole world.

Thanks for being here!

REFERENCES

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^[i] “Explosion of Disease in America’s Cancer Capital Could Have Same Root Cause As State’s Economic Boom, Maiya Focht, Daily Mail, August 17, 2024, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13663295/disease-america-cancer-capital-cause-state-economic-boom.html

^[ii] “Corn: Fall 2021,” Iowa Ag News – Chemical Use, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Agricultural Statistics Service, May 13, 2022, https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Iowa/Publications/Other_Surveys/2022/IA-Ag-Chem-Corn-2022.pdf

^[iii] “EPA Revisits Atrazine,” Britt E. Erickson, March 1, 2010, Volumer 88, Number 9, Chemical and Engineering News, https://pubsapp.acs.org/cen/environment/88/8809gov1.html