Important Takeaways:

• Now doctors face new cancer crisis – mystery rise of lung tumors in young people who’ve NEVER smoked
• As scientists work to unravel the mysterious rise in early-onset colon cancers, a new worrying trend has emerged.
• Lung cancer rates, which have been dropping for decades as the world weans off tobacco, are now rising in young, otherwise healthy people who’ve never smoked.
• One in 10 lung cancer diagnoses in the US are patients under 55, but the rate of early cases has been increasing for the past two decades. And the share of these young patients who have never smoked cigarettes is also growing.
• Researchers believe that the way new homes are built may be exposing residents to a poisonous gas. They also say vaping and cannabis could be factors.
• Lung cancer is the deadliest form of the disease, making up one in five US cancer deaths. Along with over 230,000 diagnoses, 125,000 Americans are expected to die of it this year.
• ‘Radon is the main cause of cancer in non-smokers,’ Dr Mezquita said. ‘Radon is a risk factor also in young populations.’
• She said this could be due to radon exposure in homes from birth, which could enter the home through contaminated soil.
• Additionally, a 2019 report in Nature found that radon exposure in homes is increasing due to modern construction being more airtight.
• Dr Mezquita also pointed toward vaping, which she noted ‘is very prevalent in younger populations.’

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