MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Biden does not have cancer, despite confusing speech

Biden was referring to a non-life threatening form of skin cancer he had removed before taking office

US President Joseph Biden Wednesday delivered a confusing message which prompted listeners to wonder whether he had actually confirmed he had 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,” Biden said while addressing climate change in Somerset, Massachusetts.

The head of state made those remarks while announcing he would issue some executive orders in the absence of a concrete Congressional response to what he dubbed “a clear and present danger.”

Biden was speaking about the negative health effects of emissions from oil refineries near his childhood home in Claymont, Delaware.

According to the White House's press team, Biden was referring to non-melanoma skin cancers he had removed before taking office last year. Skin cancer is extremely common, especially among older adults and, usually, it is not life-threatening.

A Twitter account managed by a Republican National Committee group, quickly seized on his statement: “Did Joe Biden just announce he has cancer?” RNC Research posted, thus sparking a controversy that made the headlines worldwide, particularly among tabloids.

Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, issued a health report last year saying Biden’s skin cancer stemmed from time in the sun in his youth while he was a swimming pool lifeguard.

Biden, 79, is the oldest-ever US president and he reportedly intends to seek reelection in 2024.

“Climate change is literally an existential threat to the nation and the world,” Biden also said during his speech. “When it comes to fighting climate change I will not take no for an answer. I will do everything in my power to win a clean energy future.”

But Biden's son Beau did have brain cancer and died of it in 2015 aged 46. At that time, the then-Vice President pledged to sponsor several cancer research initiatives. “I committed to this fight when I was vice president. It's one of the reasons why, quite frankly, I ran for president. But let there be no doubt, now that I am president, this is a presidential White House priority. Period,” Biden had said during a Feb. 2 press conference.