MITCHELL, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) An American Cancer Society study looked at 34 kinds of cancer in more than 23 million Americans born between 1920 and 1990. It found that later generations were more at risk of contracting 17 types of cancer than were the older Boomer and Greatest generations. Each successive generation had a greater cancer risk than the generation before it. Rates of kidney and intestinal cancer, for example, were three times higher in those born in 1990 than those born in 1955.
Researchers could not identify a single cause for the increased cancer risk. They speculate it could be due to generational changes in diet, lifestyle and environmental exposure.