(New York Times) – Statistics show a clear spike in eight cancers in younger people, but that has brought a debate over whether many cases ever needed to be found.

Outside exam rooms and clinics, many medical experts are debating the culprits of the spike. They are looking at toxins in the environment, the obesity epidemic and changes in peoples’ microbiomes, perhaps from diets heavy in ultraprocessed foods. With rates rising so swiftly, they say, there is a compelling reason to find out why.

Some cancer specialists counter these concerns, saying the surge in diagnoses is primarily a surge in detecting cancers that did not need to be found, or did not need to be found so soon. They would not have killed patients if they had not been detected, or if they had been detected later in life. (Read More)