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President Biden said Wednesday that he has cancer, forcing the White House press office to quickly clarify that he was referring to skin cancer treatment that he had before taking office last year, New York Post reported.

The remark initially appeared to be a stunningly casual health announcement during a speech about global warming in which the president described emissions from oil refineries near his childhood home in Claymont, Del.

“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.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates referred The Post to a tweet from Washington Post columnist Glenn Kessler, who noted that Biden had “non-melanoma skin cancers” removed before he took office.

It’s unclear why Biden chose to use the present verb tense to describe his experience with cancer.

Biden, 79, is the oldest-ever US president and his mental acuity is frequently a matter of public debate.

He says, however, that he intends to seek a second term barring ill health in 2024 and his defenders note that he’s struggled for years with gaffes or inaccurate remarks.

Biden often misspeaks while attempting to demonstrate a personal connection to his audiences.