Cancer ‘myths’ thrive thanks to the internet
Large swathes of people have “mythical” beliefs when it comes to the causes of cancer, a new study suggests.
Members of the public incorrectly identify stress, food additives, genetically modified foods and electromagnetic fields as causes of cancer.
Meanwhile, people had poor awareness of a number of known cancer risk factors such as obesity, eating processed meat or drinking alcohol, according to the Cancer Research Uk-funded study.
Experts from University College London and the Univer- sity of Leeds said that the public’s endorsement of mythical cancer causes has risen over the last decade – possibly due to changes in the way people access information through social media and the internet.
Researchers surveyed 1,330 people, asking participants how much they agreed that items on a list – which included known risk factors and “mythical” factors – can increase a person’s chance of developing cancer.
The study, published in the European Journal of Cancer, found that a quarter of people incorrectly believed that using a mobile phone was a risk factor for cancer.