Half of Americans subscribe to medical conspiracy theories, with more than one-third of people thinking that the [b]US Food and Drug Administration[/b] is deliberately keeping natural cures for cancer off the market because of pressure from drug companies, a survey finds. [s]NPR[/s] reports that 20% said that cellphones cause cancer — and that large corporations are keeping health officials from doing anything about it. Another 20% think doctors and the government want to vaccinate children despite knowing that vaccines cause autism.
[i]People who backed the conspiracy theories were less likely to rely on a family doctor[/i]. Instead they looked to family and friends, the Internet and celebrity doctors for their health information. And people who relied on celebrity doctors, such as [b]Dr Mehmet Oz[/b] and [b]Dr Andrew Weil[/b], were most likely to favour conspiracy, with more than 80% agreeing with at least one of the theories, according to the survey, published in [s]JAMA Internal Medicine[/s].
[link url=http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/03/19/291405689/half-of-americans-believe-in-medical-conspiracy-theories?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email] Full NPR report[/link]
[link url=https://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1835348] JAMA abstract[/link]
[link url=http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/06/14/191540988/sorry-dr-oz-green-coffee-cant-even-slim-down-chubby-mice] Related ex NPR: Sorry, Dr Oz, green coffee can’t even slim down chubby mice[/link]