Farmers unfairly blamed for rising cancer rates

The Gazette seems to unfairly point their fingers toward farmers for polluted waters and rising cancer rates in our state. We all drive to work, heat/cool our homes, turn on the lights, cook dinner on the stove and plug in our electric cars. This contributes to fossil fuel burning in energy production despite advances in wind and solar. Industrial wastes are huge contributors of pollution including forever chemicals in our soil and water.

The high levels of naturally occurring radium, radon and cobalt in the Midwest soils are a cause of concern. Lets take a look at every homeowner’s lawn. Bluegrass is not blue or native to North America. It requires more land and water as lawn turf in the U.S. than do corn and wheat combined. We use 10 times more fertilizer and pesticide per acre on the over 40 million acres of our lawns than on corn and wheat. We can’t eat it, only mow it. We water it from the faucet with treated drinking water, estimated to total 200 gallons of water per day per acre, costing us billions of dollars — in a drought.

Lastly, a recent study showed that a common ingredient in the milk of every breast feeding mother across this nation was jet fuel residue. This unburned aviation fuel exhaust vapor rains down on every square inch of this planet. We all contribute and share the responsibility of our problem.

William Copper

Marion