Governor says “regulation is hardly ever the answer” for Iowa’s dangerous nitrate levels in its drinking water.

I live in Iowa and can vouch that conversation around cancer rates, nitrates and pesticides has intensified over the last year, along with our legislature's inaction on the whole thing. Not mentioned in this article were the two bills that have been pushed through the state senate twice now, which would've prevented Iowans from filing lawsuits against pesticide and herbicide companies for failing to warn about cancer risks if those companies follow the EPA's labeling guidelines.

The primary lobby of those bills was the pesticide giant Bayer (who bought and absorbed Monsanto) with backing from several of Iowa's industrial farming organizations. They launched a giant ad campaign to "control weeds, not farming" alongside their bill to influence opinions.