The number one reason blamed for childhood deaths in America used to be accidents; now it's cancer.
ABC News is reporting today that cancer has officially outranked every other cause of childhood death in this country:
Cancer is the leading cause of childhood death in the United States, with 13,500 new diagnoses each year according to the American Cancer Institute. One out of every 300 boys and one out of every 333 girls will develop cancer before their 20th birthday, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Cancer in America has seen a sharp increase over the last 100 years across all age groups. Data from the U.S. Public Health Service estimates that cancer death rates in 1900 were around 64 per 100,000; that number has increased almost threefold to 188.7 per 100,000 in 2005.
This dramatic increase over a relatively short span of time obviously suggests environmental factors are at play here. So why haven't all these charitable "run for the cure" cancer drives — fundraisers that happen year after year after year as cancer rates only continue to grow — ever cured anything?
The Cancer Prevention Coalition (CPC) notes that cancer equals big business in this country:
Winning the war on cancer means preventing cancer. Yet cancer is a multi-billion dollar business. Isn't preventing cancer bad for business? It is for the pharmaceutical and mammography businesses. These industries have intricate ties to U. S. policy makers, directing research funds to ensure their continued profits in cancer diagnosis/treatment.
If prevention is key to crushing cancer, then finding out what is actually causing this cancer epidemic from independent studies not funded by the very companies that stand to profit off pointing fingers in the wrong direction is the first step.
What is causing all this cancer, especially the rise in children? Two big factors may be chemicals and electromagnetic radiation.
A whopping 70-90% of any average U.S. grocery store is filled with processed foods full of chemical additives and preservatives, many of which are genetically modified, in addition to the fact that a vast majority of U.S. food is tainted with pesticides.