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Agricultural operations across Iowa are a leading cause of significant water pollution problems in the state, posing dire risks to public and environmental health, according to a new scientific report that is sparking heated debate in the key US farm state.

The 227-page “Central Iowa Source Water Research Assessment” (CISWRA) was formally released by Polk County, Iowa, officials on July 1 after months of what multiple sources said were intentional actions by public officials to suppress details of the report.

The report caps a two-year-long research review by a team of 16 scientists that focused on pollution patterns in two “essential” rivers fed from a watershed running from southern Minnesota through the central part of Iowa to the state capital of Des Moines.

Those rivers, the Des Moines and the Raccoon, are the primary source of drinking water for roughly 600,000 people and are considered important recreational state assets, but the rivers are commonly laden with harmful contaminants that include phosphorus and nitrogen, bacteria from animal and human waste, pesticides and other chemicals.

New research out of Iowa adds to a wide body of evidence showing that when pregnant women are exposed to nitrates in drinking water, it raises the risks of problematic birth outcomes, including low birth weights and pre-term birth.

The study, published June 25 in PLOS Water, found that the risks persist even when exposures are lower than the regulatory standard for allowable levels.

It comes as the US farm state wrestles with near-record levels of nitrates in prominent waterways, and as residents increasingly question high levels of cancer and other health problems occurring across Iowa.

Nitrate levels have been so high recently in key Iowa rivers that in June, public health officials banned about 600,000 businesses and homeowners in central Iowa from watering lawns to limit demands on utility operations seeking to filter nitrates from water for household use.

Bayer this week put a halt to its latest courtroom battle over allegations that its weed killing products cause cancer, settling a Missouri case after four weeks of testimony and just as the trial was coming to a close and just ahead of important US Supreme Court consideration.

The confidential settlement, recorded June 16 in Missouri state court in St. Louis, came after the judge in the case denied Bayer’s motion for a directed verdict in the company’s favor that would have headed off jury deliberations. It is among many similar cases that Bayer has settled since purchasing Roundup maker Monsanto in 2018.

INDIANOLA, Iowa – Six months ago, Alex Hammer was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 37. Dianne Chambers endured surgery, chemotherapy and dozens of rounds of radiation to fight aggressive breast cancer, and Janan Haugen spends most days helping care for her 16-year-old grandson, who is still being treated for brain cancer he developed at the age of 7.

The three were among a group of about two dozen people who came together last week in Indianola, Iowa, to share their experiences with rising rates of cancer plaguing the state. The event in the town of about 16,000 residents was the first of 16 “listening” sessions scheduled around Iowa as part of a new research project aimed at investigating potential environmental causes for what some call a cancer “crisis.”  

A new long-term animal study of the widely used weed killer glyphosate find fresh evidence that the herbicide, introduced by Monsanto in the 1970s, causes multiple types of cancer, and may do so at doses considered safe by regulators.

The results of the two-year study, which were published June 10 in the journal Environmental Health, add to an ongoing global debate over the safety of the pesticide, which is commonly used by farmers to kill weeds in fields and pastures. The chemical is also used widely to manage weeds on golf courses, in parks and playgrounds, and in forestry management.

In the nationwide legal battle between pesticide maker Syngenta and thousands of people suffering from Parkinson’s disease that they blame on exposure to paraquat weed killer, plaintiffs are dying faster than they can get to trial, according to a court filing made this week by lawyers frustrated by repeated delays in the cases.

“A majority of bellwether plaintiffs have now died,” plaintiffs’ attorneys stated in the June 2 filing in California’s Contra Costa County Superior Court, which is overseeing coordinated proceedings for more than 400 cases against Syngenta. “Years have passed since the close of discovery for the first round of bellwether cases. It is time to move these cases toward trial expediently.”

The scene now playing out in an obscure Missouri courtroom is one observed many times before: A veteran Monsanto scientist is spending long days on a witness stand, defending the company and its Germany-based owner Bayer against allegations that the agrochemical company’s popular Roundup weed killer causes cancer.

Donna Farmer, whose work as a Monsanto toxicologist began more than 30 years ago, has repeatedly assured jurors in the Missouri case of the safety of the company’s herbicides and of Monsanto’s devotion to rigorous scientific research. Farmer’s testimony, which was continuing on Monday, has been delivered in many prior trials and depositions.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys sought to counter those assurances by presenting evidence that also has been repeatedly shared in prior cases, showing jurors excerpts of internal corporate files that revealed secret Monsanto tactics to downplay connections between its products and cancer, including discussions of ghostwriting scientific papers.

Exposures to pesticides and other chemicals, ultra-processed foods and over-prescription of medications are among the factors contributing to an epidemic of chronic disease in America’s children, according to a government report issued Thursday by the Trump administration’s controversial “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Commission.

The 68-page assessment calls for a “transformation” of US food, health and “scientific systems” as a means to address what the report calls the “sickest generation in American history in terms of chronic disease”.

The report blames complacency in scientific and medical institutions, corrupted federal and state policies guided “more by corporate profit than the public interest,” and US food and agricultural systems that have “embraced ultra-processed ingredients and synthetic chemicals.” The report specifically calls out corporate influence over research, regulators and lawmakers as factors contributing to the problems.

Residents of a Michigan community whose drinking water was polluted with toxic chemicals from a long-shuttered paper mill continue to have high levels of the compounds in their bodies, even years after the community switched to alternate water supplies, according to a new study.

A team led by researchers from Michigan State University (MSU) measured levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in blood samples taken from people living in the area of Parchment, Michigan, coming up with data the researchers said underscores how difficult it is to purge PFAS from the bodies of people exposed to them.

Farm groups were cheering moves announced this week by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that will alter endangered species protections to allow for easier use of certain pesticides in agriculture.

Echoing the industry applause, US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins thanked the EPA for “unleashing regulatory burdens” on farmers and ranchers through its new strategy for insecticide use, changes that include reducing buffer zones designed to protect threatened species from the toxic chemicals used to kill crop pests.

The EPA unveiled its “final Insecticide Strategy” document Tuesday, described by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in a statement as “another example of how protecting our environment and safeguarding our economy can go hand in hand.”