And then there were six

Crabtrees, Cancer and Cerro Gordo County

Last night I wrote an essay and posted it here, telling a brief story about my family.

All for the Glory of Bayer was the title of that essay.

In 1970 I was 6 years old and enjoying life growing up on our family farm in the southeast corner of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa. I was the youngest of eight kids on my parents’ farm, going to school, helping on the farm, a great life.

And I remember, right around the 4th of July that summer of 1970, my parents brought home my little sister Laura. And then I became the eighth of nine children. While being deposed as the youngest child may have had some downsides, honestly Laura has always made our family just that much more special. You will get no complaints from me.

We all grew up, went to Sheffield-Chapin Public School, graduated, went to college or some post-secondary education. We all worked, started careers, married, had kids and all the other things. We all succeeded, and failed, we were all happy, and sad, at various times and in varied measures. We are a family, in every definition of the word.

(Ted & Elsie Crabtree family - all 11 of us - circa 1973, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa)

Over the last 24 years we have lost both of my parents and three of my siblings. Last year when my eldest brother Steve died, Laura posted word of his passing on social media with the comment, “and then there were six.” I thought that summed up my feelings pretty well too.

I miss my brother and sisters as well as my mother and father. God how I miss them so. When I see things happening in Iowa that betray the lives my parents and siblings lived it offends me deeply.

Moreover, when I see things happening in Iowa that dishonor the deaths that my parents and siblings endured and the manner in which they endured it, well, that offends me deeply too. Four of them died from cancer. My father also had colon cancer, which likely contributed to his death but was not the singular cause.

I tell you this little story about our lives, and about the final demise of almost half of my family, so that you might better understand why I feel so deeply and passionately about the issues surrounding rising cancer rates in Iowa. And perhaps my story provides some insight into why I am so deeply offended by the wantonly ignorant and craven attitudes of Iowa’s Governor, Legislature and state agencies around this issue as well.

Yesterday, I let my anger and frustration cloud my thinking and writing. After I told the story above, I talked about two different issues to which I took offense – the insouciant attitudes of Governor Reynolds and other so-called leaders in state government regarding Iowa’s cancer crisis. And the unbearable shilling by Republican legislators on behalf of the Bayer Corporation to protect them from legal liability that they inherited when they acquired Monsanto.

I know what I know. And I know that these two issues are related but more nuance and argument is needed to effectively make those connections for you all. So, I decided today to write-through my post yesterday and focus on these issues one at a time. I will make the arguments about how they are connected in future writings here.

Iowans want to know why cancer rates in our state are so high and rising.

Hey, Governor Reynolds, I’ll shout that again from back here in the cheap seats. Iowans want to know why cancer rates in our state are so high and rising.

Iowa’s cancer rate is the 2nd highest among the states. And ours is the only state where that rate is on the increase. I cannot prove what is causing the cancer rate to rise, any more than I pinpoint what caused the cancers that my parents and siblings endured. But there’s the rub, the state of Iowa doesn’t know either and they should want to know and, at a minimum, try to learn the reasons why.

However, during the last session few legislators fought for research funding or any other vehicle to understand rising cancer rates. In fact, most legislators either ignored the issue altogether or actively opposed legislative initiatives to research and understand Iowa’s cancer crisis. I took offense to that.

There were, however, two members of the state House of Representatives - Rep. Austin Baeth (D-Des Moines) and Rep. Hans Wilz (R-Ottumwa) - that introduced a slate of bills to address and better understand Iowa’s cancer crisis. None of their bills made it through both legislative houses. But challenging our state’s cancer crisis is a long row to hoe, persistence will be required.

Rep. Wilz, to his credit, also introduced HF 2339, which would have appropriated $2 million from the health department’s general fund to conduct a review of state cancer surveillance data. That review, conducted by the department and the Iowa Cancer Consortium, would be submitted to the Legislature by Sept. 1, 2025. The groups would then investigate the causes of Iowa’s rising cancer rates and recommend action steps to guide prevention.

HF 2339 takes an important, research- and data-driven approach. Rep. Baeth said it well in an interview with the Cedar Rapids Gazette, “I hear back from a lot of Iowans who are concerned about the unknown, about what might be causing this alarming cancer crisis. Before we jump to conclusions, I think it's really important that we invest in doing solid scientific research for us to confidently identify what those potential culprits are.”

He is correct, of course. But we should also remember what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in his Letter from a Birmingham jail; “... “This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied’…” Representative Baeth, Representative Wilz and their colleagues in the Iowa House and Senate must come to understand what Dr. King was saying. Iowa’s cancer crisis cannot wait much longer and things that take time, things like research and gathering data, must begin very soon. Any other path will lead us to “Never.”

“And then there were six,” my sister Laura said. Makes it feel like we’re coming closer and closer to “Never” for the Crabtrees of Cerro Gordo County.

john