New York State’s Least Cancer-Prone Counties

  |  July 24, 2012

Some New York State counties have higher cancer rates than others, according to a new report by the American Cancer Society, which has some rather surprising and unpleasant findings, like this: “Cancer rates in upstate New York are generally higher than those found downstate.”

And this:

“Men living in the counties of Cayuga, Chemung, Clinton, Cortland, Franklin, Greene, Jefferson, Niagara, Oswego, Rensselaer, St. Lawrence, Schuyler, Steuben, and Washington experience the highest rates of lung cancer, exceeding the state average. Men in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Nassau, Queens, Rockland, and Westchester have the lowest incidence rates. Women living in Putnam have higher breast cancer incidence rates than women living in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Chenango, and Queens, who have the lowest rate.”

WGXC reported on rates for specific upstate counties:

• Greene 19.4 percent above state average
• Columbia .7 percent below state average
• Rensselear 16.6 percent above state average
• Albany 7.2 percent above state average
• Schoharie 1.4 percent below state average
• Delaware 1.8 percent below state average
• Ulster 5.3 percent above state average
• Dutchess .3 below state average

Folks, what’s going on in Greene County that’s making people sick? Or is it just that the population there skews older, with fewer younger, healthier folk moving in?

Read On, Reader...