Cancer Myths: Power Lines
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Similarly to the cancer myths involving cell phones, our fear of power lines just comes down to the average person not understanding the nuances of the science involved.
Power lines produce both electric energy and magnetic energy, which taken together produce an electromagnetic field. The electric energy is blocked or weakened by walls, buildings, and other objects. The magnetic energy can indeed pass through surfaces and impact the human body. However, the magnetic energy associated with power lines (and other household appliances) is of a very low frequency, below the level that is harmful to humans. And, as is the case with cell phones, power lines are non-ionizing.
The research history on this matter is a little complicated, but the basic timeline is that one study in 1979 found an association between living near power lines and childhood leukemia. But, many, many more recent and thorough studies have simply not found this link to be true.
Sugar
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As far as cancer myths go, this one is a little more complicated. Because research shows that cancer cells consume more sugar than healthy cells, many believe that eating sugar will cause a cancer patient’s disease to spread and generally become worse. Even more dangerously, many believe the inverse — that a cancer patient’s disease could improve or even disappear were they to simply stop eating sugar.
Both of those notions are wholly false. Moreover, the National Cancer Institute will tell you that eating sugar doesn’t simply cause cancer, per se.
Now, the complications arise when you note that eating excess sugar can cause obesity (which itself depends on a number of factors), and that obesity is indeed a major contributing factor in the development of many kinds of cancer.
To be sure, the facts about obesity in America, and about obesity’s relationship to cancer, are terrifying (in short: over 60% of U.S. adults over 20 are overweight or obese, and obesity is projected to cause half a million new cases of cancer by 2030). That said, a big scare headline reading “Sugar Causes Cancer” is misleading at best, and untrue at worst.
