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By Dr. Karen Ilika Not a day goes by that a patient doesn't ask me about something that she heard somewhere, and wonders if it could be true. Some of these tidbits are medically correct, some have some basis in fact, and others are medical urban legends (myths). As for emailed medical scares, they are almost always authored by: Those who have honestly misheard or misremembered something and are genuinely motivated by a desire to protect others. Those who are looking to drum up business for their own products by driving the public away from a competitor's. Those who have convinced themselves a particular substance or product poses a clear and present danger even though the scientific community has dismissed this postulated connection as unfounded. Those just looking to have a good horse laugh at the expense of all those worried netizens they send scampering off to warn others. The following are some of the more popular rumors at this time which I have excerpted from various web pages (full text available at web addresses listed)... ANTIPERSPIRANTS AND BREAST CANCER The esteemed Mayo Clinic tackles the email rumor claiming that antiperspirants cause breast cancer. It's an 'unfounded health myth,' says a clinic doctor. 'The American Cancer Society states that no epidemiological studies suggest a link between the use of antiperspirants and breast cancer risk. The URL for the Mayo Clinic response is: http://www.mayohealth.org/mayo/askphys/qa000526.htm SCAREY STORY ABOUT A WOMAN WITH OVARIAN CANCER Claim: The CA-125 blood test is a reliable way to detect ovarian cancer in its early stages, and women should insist upon having one done with each yearly examination. Status: False. Origins: This message has been circulating on the Internet since November 1998. There's no way to tell if the author's story is real or not, but the test she's pushing women to get is. However, the test that was her salvation is unlikely to be all that useful others, so please don't rush off to pressure your doctor into ordering one for you. Neither physicians nor the American Cancer Society recommend CA-125 as a screen for ovarian cancer because it yields too many false positive results. Fibroids, pelvic infections, liver disease and endometriosis can cause a rise of CA-125. Even worse, the test will often fail to detect the cancer. A doctor's reluctance, therefore, to order up this test no matter how hard she's pressured has nothing to do with not wanting to incur additional charges or waste staff time -- it's purely a matter of not wanting to indulge in a test that is widely known to yield inaccurate results. Click to link with the full text and discussion of this page http://www.snopes.com/toxins/ca125.htm TAMPON TERRORISM Claim: Unscrupulous tampon manufacturers are using asbestos in their products to promote bleeding. Status: False. Example: [Circulated on the Internet, 1998] "I heard many tampon makers would include asbestos in the tampon. Why? Because asbestos makes you bleed more... if you bleed more, you're going to need to use more. Why wasn't this against the law since asbestos is so dangerous? Because the powers that be, in all their wisdom (not), did not consider tampons as being ingested, and therefore wasn't illegal or considered dangerous. " For a full discussion of the history of tampons in America and the presence or absence of chemicals, etc., please see the link below. The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/toxins/tampon.htm DOES SHAMPOO CAUSE CANCER? An email chain letter making the rounds claims that there is a substance in shampoo that causes cancer, blindness in children, and any number of other maladies. The first portion of the letter follows. Subject: FW: SHAMPOO ALERT!!! MUST READ!!! Importance: High Check the ingredients listed on your shampoo bottle, and see if they have this substance by the name of Sodium Laureth Sulfate or simply SLS. This substance is found in most shampoo, the manufactures use it because it produces a lot of foam and it is cheap. BUT the fact is that SLS is used to scrub garage floors, and it is very strong. It is also proven that it can cause cancer in the long run, and this is no joke. For a wonderful discussion of this topic, see the link: http://urbanlegends.about.com/science/urbanlegends/library/weekly/aa090998.htm |
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