A major health crisis may be rooted in an unlikely source. That’s according to new research out of Spain , which suggests a widely used weed killer could be fueling the alarming rise in early-onset colorectal cancer worldwide. In the US, roughly one in five diagnoses now occurs in Americans under 55 — and the disease has become a leading cause of cancer-related death in young people. A popular herbicide was linked to higher rates of early-onset colorectal cancer in a new study. Wutthichai – stock.adobe.com Past research has pointed to lifestyle and environmental factors like smoking , diet and gut health as possible drivers of the trend, but tracking those exposures over a lifetime has proven difficult. The new study takes a different approach, looking instead for clues embedded deep in our biology. The researchers focused specifically on epigenetic marks, or chemical modifications added to DNA that alter gene expression without changing the underlying genetic sequence.…