Thanks for ‘Cancer in Iowa’ series

I wish to express my appreciation to The Gazette for the recent informative series on cancer occurrence in Iowa. Among other topics the series suggests potential environmental causes for the high cancer rate in Iowa including agricultural chemicals. I am sure many other readers also appreciated the irony of the half-page ad on page three of section that completed the cancer series, which under the heading “Control Weeds Not Farming” advocated against threats to the use of the “#1 tool to control weeds,” glyphosate.

The following day (April 1) The Gazette published a letter from Curt Zingula contesting implications in the series that agricultural chemicals might contribute to the cancer risk in Iowa, arguing the series’ author “ … repeatedly cited studies using correlations. Correlation significantly lacks the respect of causation within the science community.” I agree, correlation is not proof and simple, direct causes for many complex diseases including most forms of cancer are elusive. However, in my many years as a health care provider nearly every patient I saw who had oral cancer also had one or more risk factors such as tobacco use that are well known to be correlated with oral cancer. Mr. Zingula might want to look up a recent Journal of the National Cancer Institute report that describes elevated cancer biomarkers in the urine of people who also showed high glyphosate concentrations.

Gary Coleman

Iowa City