mysuru according to the data furnished in the ongoing lok sabha session karnataka is witnessing a steady increase in cancer cases this data was furnished on july 21 by the minister of state in the ministry of health and family welfare sp singh baghel as a reply to a question raised by mp rajveer dileraccording to the reply the estimated incidence of cancer cases in karnataka in 2020 was 85968 which increased to 88126 in 2021 in 2022 90349 cases were reported karnataka also recorded an increase in cancer mortality in the last three years in 2020 47113 deaths were reported which increased to 48290 in 2021 and 49516 in 2022 karnataka stands second highest in the southern states after tamil nadu in cancer cases and mortalitydr ramachandra former director of kidwai memorial institute of oncology informed that more cancer cases and mortality have been reported from districts bordering tamil nadu and andhra pradesh like kolar chikkaballapur vijayapura and kalaburagi late screening and diagnosis are resulting in more deaths he saidthe people from these border districts need to travel long distances for the screening delay in the screening and diagnosis may result in increased mortality he explainedhe also pointed out various reasons for the increase in cancer cases including tobacco consumption smoking obesity and alcoholism obesity is the main cause of cancers he addeddr bs ajai kumar executive chairman of healthcare global enterprises limited explained that breast and gastrointestinal cancer cases are on the rise prevalence of neck and head cancer remained the same while cervical cancer cases have come down he addedwhen i was studying we were told that cancer cases occur with the ageing process and it was reported among elder people in the age group of 7080 years but today it is being reported among people in the age group of 4560 years dr ajai kumar explainedhe also blamed pollution the use of pesticides herbicides and tobacco consumption for the increase in cancer cases