Iton: Las políticas federales draconianas están cambiando la fisiología de los más vulnerables de Silicon Valley.

Cancer is on the rise in young people in the Bay Area.

Data from the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry shows that the rates of cancer in people under the age of 50 in the Bay Area has been on the upswing since 2018, increasing about 12% between 2018 and 2023. This alarming trend mirrors statewide and national data. Researchers are perplexed about the cause. Possible culprits including obesity, microplastics and ultra processed foods, but some researchers are now focusing on another potential cause: chronic stress.

Our work at The Health Trust puts us in close proximity to many Silicon Valley families who are contending with chronic stress as they struggle to make ends meet. High inflation, increased gas prices, exorbitant housing costs, skyrocketing health insurance premiums and increased food prices, among other things, have many families teetering perilously on the edge of insolvency.

A recent poll conducted by The Health Trust in partnership with Fairbanks, Maslin, Mullin, Metz and Associates discovered that the stress of making ends meet is in fact damaging the health of those most vulnerable in our community.

The poll respondents were evenly split between men and women, mostly renters, with an income of $64,000 or less. Half of the households include children.

The poll found that 63% of those living in the coverage area of The Health Trust, which is Santa Clara and Northern San Benito counties, are suffering from chronic stress. That equates to 6 in 10 low-income residents whose physiology is being negatively disrupted by our current economic and social crisis.

The fancy scientific term for chronic stress is allostatic load. Allostatic load describes the cumulative and persistent injury to the body’s organ systems caused by chronic stress. Chronic stress is dangerous because it keeps the body’s alarm system activated for long periods, causing a continuous release of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. Experiencing chronic stress increases the likelihood of a variety of bad health outcomes including infant mortality, low birth weight and maternal death, as well as heart disease, stroke, immune system dysfunction, chronic inflammation and now apparently early-onset cancers.

In the poll from The Health Trust, people pointed to the stressors as alto costo de vivienda, living expenses, gas, food and groceries. Nearly half stated they are just getting by, while 35% are really struggling. All respondents have felt the draconian federal cuts to SNAP and Medi-Cal benefits.

When asked “The food that I/we just bought didn’t last, and I/we didn’t have money to buy more” 66% stated this was true — that is nearly 7 in 10.

One must ask how does this suffering happen in what many consider to be the richest part of the world? The world sees Silicon Valley as a place where the roads are paved with gold, but the truth as you get a closer look and pull back the curtain is that many are hurting and struggling just to live each day.

We can and must do better. We cannot allow federal, state and local policies to leave so many of our neighbors in harm’s way. If we maintain the status quo, we can expect to see more early onset cancers, heart disease, stroke and infant mortality in our region. Our healthcare systems will be further strained, and the economic productivity of the region will likely decline.

The solution is to create local and state preventive policies that anticipate and invest in human needs and bolster human dignity. This includes policies such as universal healthcare, universal childcare, affordable housing and reliable access to affordable and nutritious food, among other policies.

Dr. Anthony Iton is CEO of The Health Trust, a health foundation supporting Santa Clara and Northern San Benito counties.  He is a public health expert, medical doctor and lawyer.