Artificial Sweeteners:
True, they have zero calories, and they are able to create things like diet sodas, however in the early 1950’s lab studies proved that ‘cyclamate’ caused cancer in rats during trials and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned its use. Currently saccharin, the artificial sweetener of choice, which also has shown to cause tumors in rats has not been banned, however until 2000 all products containing it were required to carry a cancer warning on the packaging. Aspartame is the newest sweetener under suspicion.
Cell Phones:
In 1993 a man sued a cell phone manufacturer claiming that is wife’s brain cancer was caused by her cell phone. Since that time millions of dollars have been poured into research to study this claim. A study in 2010 could neither confirm nor dismiss a connection between cell phones and cancer. There is currently a study in Europe taking place in the hopes of providing some answers related to cell phones.
There are many other claims to causes of cancers; some argue that deodorants could cause breast cancer in women; others claim that certain hair dyes were in some way related to an outbreak of bladder cancers; in the 1970’s it was thought that certain mouthwashes were causing types of oral cancer… the point is many of the common myths we hear are just that… myths, and have no science to back them up. Scientists continue to study these and other myths linked to cancer… some are true, others are simply urban legends.
Thoughts?