ABSTRACT
In 1975, the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare published a nationally representative sample survey of children in 1971-72. Cancer mortality rates plunged for all races, ages, and sexes, making analysis of US trends more reflective of technology changes than of any effects of environmental threats such as radiation. Of 2378 cancers diagnosed in Connecticut Baby Boomers between age 15 and 24, 767 fewer would have occurred if rates had remained unchanged. As the 1960s and 1970s moved along, the Baby Boom generation reached adolescence and adulthood, and began to make an impact on American life. Radiation exposure in infancy and childhood can lead to increased cancer risk in teenage and early adult years, especially those sensitive to radiation. Adverse trends from childhood continued; cancer cases rose sharply, and cancer mortality near nuclear plants did not improve as much as it did elsewhere in the US Pneumonia deaths leveled off after many years of large decreases.
