Advocates call on Iowa lawmakers to defeat ‘Cancer Gag Act’

DES MOINES — Advocates for small communities in Iowa are calling on state lawmakers not to pass the so-called “Cancer Gag Act,” which they said would give pesticide companies immunity from lawsuits by Iowans harmed by their products. Iowa lawmakers considered the bill last year but ran out of time to act on it.

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement community organizer Caitlin Golle says lawmakers are already poised to take up a similar measure in the new session. She thinks it is the wrong thing to do in a state already seeing high cancer rates.  “In 2023, the Iowa Cancer Registry reported that Iowa has the second-highest cancer rate in the country,” Golle points out. “The National Cancer Institute reported Iowa is the only state where the rate of new cancers increased significantly from 2015 to 2019.”

Pesticides often waft into the air and seep into groundwater. Golle worries giving pesticide manufacturers immunity from lawsuits will add to the problems in rural Iowa, where large animal confinement operations are already polluting ground and surface water with manure runoff. Ag companies say they apply pesticides safely and are always looking for better ways to produce meat while keeping up with consumer demand.

Golle and other grassroots advocates want to see Iowa join a growing list of states refusing to give pesticide makers like Bayer immunity from lawsuits brought by Iowans, who say they have suffered health effects from chemicals like glyphosate. “Chemicals like glyphosate, or ‘Roundup,’ are known to cause cancer,” Golle notes. “A study published by Frontiers in Cancer Control and Society finds that pesticides may cause cancer on a level equivalent to smoking cigarettes.”

The pesticide company Bayer has four registered lobbyists in Iowa compared to other large companies with just one, if any.