Ever since the Trump administration has come in power, a lot has changed in the United States' health sector. Until recently, amid a lot of statements, including trying to find a link between vaccine and autism, banning fluoride from water, and more, the 47th US President Donald Trump also spoke on childhood cancer rates. He said that it was a priority of his administration to tackle this issue. What Did He Say?He said, "Since 1975, rates of child cancer have increased by more than 40%. Reversing this trend is one of the top priorities for our new presidential commission to Make America Healthy Again, chaired by our new secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr."He also highlighted a 13-year-old brain cancer survivor, whom he also invited as a special guest to attend his address. How True Is This Claim?The claim of 40% increase in childhood cancer has not found any ground, however data does show that the rates have increased in the past decades. As per the National Cancer Institute, in 2025, an estimated 2,041,910 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States with 618,120 people dying from the same. The rate of new cases of cancer is 445.8 per 100,000 in men and women per year, based on 2018-2022 data. The cancer mortality rate is at 145.4 per 100,000 in men and women per year, based on 2018-2022 data. The data also states that an approximately 38.9% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes. What Do Experts Say?According to a pediatric oncologist who spoke to ABC News, there is an important context that is missing in that statement. The pediatric mentioned that there were effects of advances in early detection and possible environmental factors. As per Dr Prensner, an assistant professor of pediatrics and of biological chemistry in the department of cancer biology at the University of Michigan School of Medicine, the rates have gone up because the diagnoses have also gone up. What The Data Shows?As per a study published in journal PLOS One, which was conducted by researchers in the US, Germany, and Jordan, it was found that childhood cancer rates in America have increased by 33% since 1975. The study also found that incidences of childhood cancer surged from 14.23 cases per 100,000 children between 1975 and 1979 to about 18.89 cases per 100,000 children between 2010 and 2019. The increase rate was specifically found in leukemias, lymphomas, brain tumors, hepatic tumors, and gonadal germ cell tumors. Another report by the US Environmental Protection Agency found that over the last 40 years, the number of children who were diagnosed with leukemia has also increased by 35%. Prensner says that this is because there is now better detection, all thanks to early screening of cancer. There are also improvement in medical tests and are now commonly used, which had not been the case some 50 years ago. Talking to ABC News, he said, "These include dramatic, dramatic improvements in the ways that we can image patients with CAT scans and MRI scans. This includes improvements in the way that we monitor and screen certain patients. We have much more information now about patients who may have what's called a cancer syndrome, meaning they are at a higher risk to develop cancer."He said that such patients are monitored actively so early diagnoses can detect cancer before they are able to spread.