> The rate of cancer has risen about 30% for young people since the seventies. So it seems that there's something wrong in our environment or lifestyles that could be increasing risk. One would do well to read the research (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...) from which that widely quoted 30% figure comes. It does not suggest any simple conclusion as to what is causing the increase. Rather, it paints a very complex picture, with likely very different causes for increases in different cancers, and also documents significant decreases in certain cancers. Among the three categories of causes for increases listed, increased detection is prominent.
Note also that the study is a retrospective study, and comes with all the statistical cautions that are inherent in that methodology.
"It does not suggest any simple conclusion as to what is causing the increase."
Nor did I. Environmental and lifestyle factors are a huge domain covering vastly complex interconnected systems, many of which we know almost nothing about. We're just now starting to look at epigenetic effects now. How many substances are we exposed to that can cause issues in the next generation when a large number of things we're exposed to have only been tested for short or medium term exposure, or simply not tested at all.
Although, anecdotally, it feels like the bulk of changes out side of tobacco is focused on cure research and not as much on preventing environmental factors. Perhaps that's mostly that cures make for good news and restrictions on using certain products or chemicals are viewed as draconian (especially with things widely loved or used like alcohol).
Note also that the study is a retrospective study, and comes with all the statistical cautions that are inherent in that methodology.