That graph! It's like in 1991 someone flipped a switch and the line just drops.
Looks like they did flip a switch, but not a medical one, according to my AI friend:
Around 1990, several key shifts occurred in U.S around cancer:
- Federal Advertising Restrictions (1980s → 1990s trend)
- Cigarette ads were already banned from TV and radio since 1971, but by the late '80s and early '90s, there was increasing pressure to further restrict tobacco marketing, especially to youth.
- Synar Amendment (1992)
Required states to prohibit the sale of tobacco to individuals under 18.
States risked losing federal funding if noncompliant.
Late 1980s to early 1990s: many cities and states began passing clean indoor air laws restricting smoking in workplaces, restaurants, and public areas.
Examples: San Luis Obispo, CA (1990) banned smoking in all indoor public places.
States began exploring lawsuits against tobacco companies for Medicaid costs related to smoking-related illnesses.
CDC established the Office on Smoking and Health as a national anti-smoking effort.
American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation and other groups pushed for local ordinances.
Several states raised cigarette taxes as a deterrent and revenue tool.
EPA expanded its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), classifying substances based on carcinogenic risk.
Substances like benzene, formaldehyde, dioxins, and asbestos were formally assessed and increasingly restricted.
Major overhaul targeting hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), including 189 known or suspected carcinogens.
Mandated technology-based emissions standards for industries emitting these substances (Maximum Achievable Control Technology - MACT).
Examples: emissions from chemical plants, refineries, dry cleaners.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration tightened exposure limits for carcinogens (e.g., formaldehyde, cadmium).
Enforcement of hazard communication (HazCom) standards requiring MSDS labeling for toxic/carcinogenic workplace chemicals.
Expansion of EPCRA (Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act), empowering communities to track local industrial emissions via the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).
Helped spotlight local exposure to carcinogens.
CERCLA (Superfund) activity peaked; sites with carcinogenic contamination (e.g., PCBs, VOCs) were targeted for cleanup.
Public concern about cancer clusters near toxic waste sites gained visibility.
Required businesses to label products or areas with chemicals “known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.”
Influential beyond CA due to market pressure on manufacturers.
One of the best wins for longevity historically has been hygiene, safety design for products/places/processes, avoiding wars, and using fossil fuel to replace slavery. Medicine helped (particularly vaccines, antibiotics, and emergency surgery), but you can't offset society-level problems with it, especially since it's more expensive to scale.
So when I see such a graph, I always look for more general reasons first.
We'll see a similar drop once we tackle sugar, weight gain, and various legal and illegal addictive substances.