Disability benefits for Iowa firefighters and police officers would be expanded to cover all cancers — beyond the 14 currently covered — under legislation that advanced Monday in the Iowa Senate, the place where previous attempts to move the proposal have faltered.
Agriculture chemical companies would be protected from lawsuits over warning labeling on their products to inform consumers of health risks under a bill passed by the Iowa Senate Wednesday. This bill is now headed to the House, which did not take up a similar bill that was passed by the Senate last year.
Also, Senate Republicans once again approved bills banning citizen police review boards and adding a gubernatorial nominee to district judicial nominating commissions
About a quarter of Iowans would no longer pay co-pays and deductibles for supplemental and diagnostic breast exams under legislation that unanimously passed the Iowa House and advanced Wednesday in the Iowa Senate. But insurers say health care costs would rise for everyone.
A group of Des Moines firefighters and their family members filled a legislative committee room last week at the Iowa Capitol, hopeful that this will be the year lawmakers pass legislation to expand medical coverage for firefighters who develop cancer on the job. While a House bill passed unanimously through committee, the Senate bill was removed from a committee agenda.
Charles Benbrook told an Iowa City audience this week that the state’s agriculture is too pesticide intensive, and the chemicals are “harming the soil, harming public health, and it is harming fish populations and birds and the deer.”
With Iowa maintaining the second-highest rate and fastest-growing rate of new cancers nationally, advancements in treatment has its count of cancer survivors up in the state to 171,535 in 2025 — up from 168,610 in 2024.
Just like bars and restaurants in the state, smoking would be prohibited inside Iowa casinos under legislation that took a step forward Tuesday.
Iowa has the fastest-growing rate of new cancers and ranks second-highest in cancer rates compared with other states. That has caught the attention of some Iowa lawmakers, who are aiming to address the problem with proposed legislation.
Also, Iowans protest bill that would shield pesticide companies over failure to warn consumers about health risks of their products
Also, 3 people charged after protests at Iowa Capitol
This week on the podcast: Cedar Rapids casino update, the pesticide tort reform bill is back and Iowa House Republicans’ higher education committee is in full swing
Under a bill being considered in the Iowa Senate, Bayer -- the maker of glyphosate-based Roundup -- would be shielded from lawsuits claiming the company failed to warn consumers of health risks if the product label complies with federal labeling requirements.
Cancers of the eye are exceedingly rare, and only a rare handful of cancer clinics in the nation are equipped to deal with them.
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