The increase was primarily limited to white Americans, and the reason for the rise is unclear. Most were tongue cancers. The oral tongue cancer rates in whites younger than age 40 began in people born in the mid-1940s. Calif. Approximately 6,700 new cases of tongue cancer occur every year, says the American Cancer Society, and the disease kills about 1,700 people annually.
Tongue cancer is more common in people who smoke cigarettes, pipes or chew tobacco.
But the news isn't all bad. Treatment usually consists of surgery and radiation, and while the cancer can spread, there is a relatively low instance of metastasis. Nobody's sure what's causing the increase, Schantz says. And marijuana use may be a risk factor. The bad news is that the high incidence has been persistent over the past 15 years in young, white Americans.