(Community First Broadcasting Staff Photo)Iowa (RI) — Republican candidate for governor Zach Lahn says Iowa’s high cancer rate is connected to agriculture — a message he acknowledges is unpopular with some fellow Republicans.
Lahn says there’s a correlation between high nitrate loads in water and colon and ovarian cancer.
Lahn says Iowa needs a larger network of water-quality monitors to hold policymakers accountable.
Lahn is the latest Iowa candidate to participate in a forum organized by the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network. Robin Anderson was among 15 cancer patients, survivors, and advocates who shared their stories with Lahn Tuesday morning.
Lahn grew emotional as he spoke about his father’s diagnosis seven years ago with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The American Cancer Society supports increasing Iowa’s tobacco tax. Lahn told the group he would only consider raising the tax if additional funding were dedicated to helping people quit smoking. Without that, he said, a cigarette-tax hike would amount to a “poverty tax,” noting that the smoking rates in households below the poverty line are nearly double the national average.
