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Americans Believe “Popular Wisdom,” Not Facts, About Cancer

by Kristen King on July 27th, 2007

According to the results of a recent telephone survey conducted by the American Cancer Society, Americans are very confused about what causes cancer and what a cancer diagnosis really means.

The survey included 12 inaccurate or unlikely statements about cancer risk, risk factors, and prevention, some of which frequently show up in email inboxes, and asked participants to identify the statements as true or false. While more than two-thirds of the participants were able to identify seven of the 12 statements as false, five of the 12 statements were endorsed as true by at least a quarter of the respondents, and for seven of the statements, uncertainty was higher than 15 percent. Among the survey’s findings:

• Nearly seven in ten Americans (67.7%) said the risk of dying of cancer in the U.S. is increasing.
• Nearly four in ten (38.7%) agreed that living in a polluted city is a greater risk for lung cancer than smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.
• Three in ten (29.7%) thought electronic devices, like cell phones, can cause cancer.
• About one in seven (14.7%) thought personal hygiene products, like shampoo, deodorant, and antiperspirants, can cause cancer.
• Six percent (6.2%) thought underwire bras can cause breast cancer.*

Read more in an article and press release from the American Cancer Society.

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