Nah, it’s just lazy Millennial immune systems.

I'm gonna saaay...chemical mixtures used by corporations have played a hand in this. puts on tinfoil hat And if history has anything to say about it these same corporations likely knew about the risks.

Honestly though, could be the microplasics. The stress. Our general mostly-jokingly stated desire to just die grandly manifesting a physical form. Obesity. Who knows, hopefully we'll have some answers soon.

My bet is on a combination of all of the above (except aliens... probably)

Plastic is the new asbestos and lead. Goddamnit.

The question that really needs an answer is why has this just started to happen now. Air pollution was far worse decades ago. Ultra-processed garbage has been around for a long time, and was arguably more prevalent thirty or forty years ago. Plastics and micro-plastics have not just suddenly appeared (though perhaps they've reached some critical concentration?). Working hours have been largely static since the 80s or so, and have noticeably declined since the 60s.

From looking at a similar article to this, it seems that colorectal cancers have seen the single biggest increase, so you'd be inclined to think diet, but then I wonder if it's a particular new additive or ingredient or if it's simply general diet quality, sugar, lack of fiber, obesity, that sort of thing.

ultra processed foods

I'm betting specifically sugars. Cancer cells love sugar, allows them to rapidly grow.

It's why we use glucose in PET scans as a way to detect cancer.

Obesity continues to rise, and that also increases risk of cancer

Honestly there are so many things that come to mind that it's hard to pick one.

Looking at something that specifically would mean younger people would see a bigger increase than older, I wonder if stress is a big player? We know chronic stress increases your risk of cancer, and with house prices, climate change, social media, degrees becoming almost mandatory to get a job, along with I'm sure many other factors, surely more young adults are chronically stressed than ever?

I’m sorry, are only young people exposed to microplastics?

This is something specific to the young.

Plastic water bottles have been around for ages though, so why just now?

Don't forget all the pfas in our blood!

Diesel exhaust particles

Antibiotics are an underappreciated factor.

https://humanmicrobiome.info/cancer/

And a smattering of microplastics.

The main figures mentioned are from 2000-2019. So definitely no COVID involved.

But why now then? Teflon has been widespread since the 50s. A lot of these compounds have been around for a long time, so why is this just happening now?

Politics aside, there's a very big scientific question here too that needs to be answered.

Not sure about BPA, but we're closer to knowing what BPA does than what BPS does. We just replaced a somewhat studied plasticizer for an even less studied and understood one. Plasticizers never went away.

The ones with the most money win the narrative

We can simply stop putting it in food if there's a hint it's bad. It's so simple, bit somebody would lose a few bucks.

https://www.ajmc.com/view/kashyap-patel-md-sees-link-between-covid-19-and-cancer-progression-calls-for-more-biomarker-testing

... Patel is now on a mission to put concrete numbers to what he acknowledges are clinic-level observations, and to find a way to help patients most at risk. There is evidence to support Patel’s observation that SARS-CoV-2 can set off inflammatory responses in tumors, causing cancer to progress much sooner and more aggressively, and even reawaken dormant cancer cells.