Unlikely state becomes America's surprising new cancer epicenter - as experts hone in on five factors causing 'public health crisis'

Unlikely state becomes America's surprising new cancer epicenter - as experts hone in on five factors causing 'public health crisis' READ MORE: The foods that cancer experts want you to stop eating By Maiya Focht For Dailymail.Com Published: 23:03, 10 June 2024 | Updated: 23:18, 10 June 2024 e-mail View comments Researchers studying a sharp rise in cancers in Iowa have honed in on a number of factors that have made the state America's unlikely epicenter of new cases . The state has the fastest growing rate of new cancers and the second highest cancer rate in the country for the second year in a row.

This trend left many Midwesterners and officials baffled because neighboring states, with similar demographics and agricultural practices, actually saw a decline in cancer rates. But now officials are pointing to a unique environmental cause for the uptick. It may be, at least in part, to do with a geographic anomaly - a radioactive gas that is leeching from the Earth thanks to geological changes that took place during the last ice age.

Each year, the Iowa Cancer Registry and University of Iowa release a report on how the state's cancer cases line up with the rest of the country. Pesticide use is one of the five factors likely contributing to the rise of cancer cases in Iowa, officials say. Radon, a naturally occurring gas that gets released from weathered bed rock, is the number one cause of lung cancers in non smokers according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

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