The White House had to issue a clarification after President Biden's speech about global warming in Somerset, Massachusetts, in which he said that he "has" cancer, for which he blamed emissions from oil refineries.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates took to Twitter to say that the president was referring to non-melanoma skin cancers that were removed long ago before he assumed office.
However, It’s unclear why Biden used the present tense to describe his personal experience with cancer.
“That’s why I and so damn many other people I grew up with have cancer and why for the longest time Delaware had the highest cancer rate in the nation,” the president said during his speech in Massachusetts.
Last year, amid regular media reports about Biden's gaffes during speeches and meetings, his physician, Dr Kevin O’Connor, released a report about the president's health which said that POTUS "had several localized, non-melanoma skin cancers removed with Mohs surgery before he started his presidency".
O'Connor added that Biden's skin cancer developed because of his frequent exposure to the sun throughout his youth. The physician did not say Biden had any cancer at present, even one that might have been caused by chemicals used by the oil industry.