Iowa Farmers Union holds Cancer Listening Post in Fairfield

FAIRFIELD – Fairfield residents shared their experiences with cancer during a meeting at the Fairfield Public Library on Friday, Feb. 28.

The Iowa Farmers Union hosted the event, one of four Cancer Listening Posts it put on throughout the state between Feb. 21 and March 2. Part of the meeting was dedicated to hearing cancer stories from locals who either battled the disease or had a family member who did. The other purpose of the meeting was to draw attention to Senate Study Bill 1051, which would shield pesticide companies from lawsuits over their warning labels. The Iowa Farmers Union is against the legislation, and used its series of Cancer Listening Posts to talk about the relationship between pesticide exposure and Iowa’s high cancer rate.

The Iowa Farmers Union invited one elected Democrat and one elected Republican to the event, just as it did for the other three Cancer Listening Post events. Those elected officials were Jefferson County Supervisor Joe Ledger, a Republican, and State Rep. Megan Srinivas, a Democrat serving District 30 (Des Moines area). An organizer said that State Reps. Jeff Shipley and Helena Hayes were also invited but were unable to attend.

BATTLING CANCER

Duane Terrell spoke about the harrowing ordeal his family went through when they learned their 3-year-old son had brain cancer, which Terrell first noticed when his son kept losing his balance while walking. Terrell said his son had to undergo a year of chemotherapy and brain surgeries, and that his son is now deaf in his right ear.

Terrell spoke about how the family used to live in the countryside, and had to close their windows every time their neighboring farmer sprayed. Terrell said his son’s type of cancer is linked to a pesticide, and that he had to sue his neighbor over the spraying.

Diane Rosenberg spoke about her battle with cancer, and how the experience made her realize just how many of her friends and colleagues also had cancer. She told Sen. Srinivas that she appreciated her work opposing SSB 1051.

Diana Krystofiak suggested that residents could work with farmers to reduce the public’s exposure to chemicals by getting the farmers to announce when they’re going to spray so that residents can know to close their windows or remain indoors.

ROUNDUP LAWSUITS

A man named Charles Benbrook spoke about his work as an agricultural policy expert. He lives in Seattle, Washington, but has been visiting Iowa since the 1980s when he was helping farmers get back on their feet after the farm crisis. The Iowa Farmers Union invited Benbrook to speak at its events around the state. At Friday’s meeting, Benbrook spoke about lawsuits that people have won against Monsanto by showing a link between their lymphoma and their exposure to Roundup.

Benbrook spoke about how the maker of Roundup, Bayer (which bought Monsanto in 2018), switched its formula for Roundup to comply with European regulations, but continued using the old formula for the American market, which he said is a less safe version of the product. Srinivas echoed these comments, saying that lobbyists from Bayer have argued that glyphosate, the main active ingredient in Roundup, does not cause cancer, but she did not believe that to be true, and pointed to countries that have restricted its use due to health concerns.

In a written report about his tour through Iowa, Benbrook explained why he is urging Iowans to oppose SSB 1051.

“The multi-faceted effort underway to purge ‘failure to warn’ claims from ongoing and future litigation will shield the pesticide industry from paying a possibly high price for overzealous marketing of sometimes unsafe products,” he wrote. “This will solve a big problem faced by companies that downplay high-risk scenarios and fail to reduce exposures and risk levels through label directions, [Personal Protective Equipment], and warnings. This will put everyone else at heightened risk of harm from lawful uses of pesticides that can be applied safely, if safety was a company priority.”

HANDLE WITH CARE

After the meeting, Joe Ledger told the Union that he was moved by listening to the heart-breaking stories of those affected by cancer. He said it’s true that chemicals like pesticides can be dangerous if handled improperly. However, he noted that farmers must complete a continuing education course every year to renew a license that allows them to buy pesticide. When he handles pesticide, he puts on boots, rubber gloves and a face shield, and added that most farmers take these precautions. He said that non-farmers might be unaware of these important precautions and handle pesticides like Roundup with less care.

“Some of them probably use it with shorts on, and you know that’s going to drift onto you,” he said. “You can buy [Roundup] from Walmart or Bomgaars, and you don’t need a license to purchase it.”

Ledger said these continuing educational courses teach farmers about proper pesticide application and relevant laws about when and where it can be applied.

“Part of what you learn from continuing ed is that some chemicals can only be used at certain hours of the day and certain times of the year,” he said.

LEGISLATORS RESPOND

The Union reached out to area legislators for comments on SSB 1051. Rep. Helena Hayes said that she did not support the bill. In a statement, she reviewed the arguments she’s heard on both sides.

“Bayer, the chemical company that produces Roundup, argues that pesticide makers should not be held liable for failing to alert people of foreseeable health risks as long as their products have a federally approved label,” she wrote. “Lobbyists for Bayer, the company that owns Monsanto in Muscatine, Iowa, testified in a House subcommittee last year that because the EPA found Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, is ‘not likely to be carcinogenic,’ it would be illegal for them to include a cancer warning on the Roundup label. Others have noted that juries and judges across the US have ordered Bayer to pay billions to consumers diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other cancers on the basis that Bayer failed to warn them of the dangers of Roundup.”

Iowa Sen. Adrian Dickey said he believes SSB 1051 is a “common sense” reform.

“This bill does not prevent Iowans from suing Bayer if they feel that this product causes cancer,” Dickey wrote in a statement to The Union. “The bill has to do with some groups attempting to sue Bayer for not having a label on their product that says that the product causes cancer. The reason that label is not on the product is because the federal government will not allow that label to be applied because the federal government has not determined that the product actually causes cancer. To me, this is a common sense issue. Why should some people be allowed to sue a company for something that our federal government will not allow the company to do? This bill does not prevent the same individuals from suing Bayer if they feel the product causes cancer, they just can’t sue them over the label.”

Benbrook also offered his thoughts on EPA rules on warning labels.

“Lobbyists supporting passage of the bill in Iowa have claimed that registrants cannot add exposure and risk-mitigation provisions onto their labels that are different from EPA judgements or requirements. This is not true,” Benbrook wrote. “EPA sets maximum exposure thresholds. To the EPA, pesticide users, and some pesticide companies, steps to lower exposures well below maximum exposure limits are valuable for a host of reasons. EPA never objects to new risk-reduction measures a registrant wants to add to a label to make a legal pesticide use even safer.”

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

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