The mysterious rise of cancer among young adults in the Corn Belt [View all]

In Iowa, young cancer patients are making the small state a bellwether of a generational reckoning.

WINTERSET, Iowa — Mackenzie Dryden’s happiest childhood memories are of running barefoot through the sunlit corn fields of her hometown. But when she was diagnosed with cancer 2½ years ago at 18 years old, a disturbing thought began to take hold.

Could something in the land she loved have made her sick?

Dryden went to social media for answers, and stumbled upon a deeper mystery: Within just two years, four other recent graduates from her high school — home to only 500 students — had also been diagnosed with advanced cancers.

“It’s kind of insane this is happening,” the college senior said in an interview.

Dryden’s questioning taps into an unsettling shift in cancer diagnoses in America, with rates for young adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s trending up even as overall cancer rates decline — and with geography appearing to be a key characteristic in who falls ill young.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/10/27/young-cancer-iowa/