Amid growing concern over Iowa's water quality, scientists have sued the Environmental Protection Agency for neglecting to provide nitrate assessment data for state waterways commonly polluted with the chemical.
The EPA eliminated the office that conducts these health assessments as part of a move to streamline bureaucracy. Food and Water Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the data nearly a year ago. As of now, the EPA has not responded.
The group's senior staff attorney, Tyler Lobdell, said scientists are simply seeking basic information on the status of the nitrate assessment program.
"Are there scientists who used to be working on this assessment that the Trump administration has fired? What is the status of this critical assessment that – the science is clear – we need to adequately protect the American public?" Lobdell said.
In 2017, the first Trump administration paused an ongoing evaluation of the effects of nitrate on human health. In 2023, the Biden administration's EPA re-initiated it, but that data hasn't been made available despite repeated requests and last year's FOIA request.
Nitrate and nitrite have both been linked to the cancer rate in Iowa, which consistently has the highest number of new cases in the nation. Lobdell said it's thought to be tied to the factory farming industry.
"This public health crisis tends to follow that industry. And when that industry really sets up shop and gets embedded in an area, this is unfortunately one of the results that we see," Lobdell said.
A study by the Iowa Environmental Council reported that Iowans who consume well water contaminated with nitrate had a 200% increased risk of developing colorectal cancer.