Is the Internet awash with Cancer misInformation with potentially tragic Consequences for Patients?

There are few stubborn myths about cancer

Six stubborn myths about cancer
Is the internet awash with misinformation about cancer, with potentially tragic consequences for patients?

There are few illnesses as terrifying in the public consciousness as cancer. With up to a third of us getting cancer at some stage in our lives, it is almost impossible to remain untouched by the disease. As an ominous reminder of our mortality, cancer scares us to the point that discussions about it are often avoided and the language we use is couched in euphemisms.

While it would be impossible to address all the legends on the subject, David Robert Grimes – physicist and researcher at Oxford University – dispells some of the more persistent misunderstandings:

  • Cancer rates are rising
  • Sharks don’t get cancer
  • Cancer is a modern disease
  • Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are poisons
  • There is a cure, but big pharma is suppressing it
  • Cancer can be cured by X

Read Six stubborn myths about cancer, TheGuardian, 30 Aug 2013

12 thoughts on “Is the Internet awash with Cancer misInformation with potentially tragic Consequences for Patients?”

  2. The link to the Guardian article is broken, but I just saw something germane to the “chemotherapy is poison” that was listed as one of the six myths in the article. There was a citation made by a website to a journal with an article about chemo triggering cancerous tumors to grow. The Guardian story would be of interest in this matter should you be able to repair the link 😉 Yes, the internet can be a dangerous place!
    mary

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