XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics, misc.health.diabetes   
   XPost: can.politics   
   From: omega@aclu.org   
      
   Misinformation about health remains widespread and popular.   
      
   Half of Americans subscribe to medical conspiracy theories, with   
   more than one-third of people thinking that the Food and Drug   
   Administration is deliberately keeping natural cures for cancer   
   off the market because of pressure from drug companies, a survey   
   finds.   
      
   Twenty percent of people said that cellphones cause cancer — and   
   that large corporations are keeping health officials from doing   
   anything about it. And another 20 percent think doctors and the   
   government want to vaccinate children despite knowing that   
   vaccines cause autism.   
      
   "One of the things that struck us is that people who embrace   
   these beliefs are not less health conscious," says Eric Oliver,   
   a professor of political science at the University of Chicago   
   who led the study. "They're just less likely to embrace   
   traditional medicine."   
      
   Oliver was studying political conspiracy theories when he   
   realized that quite a few of them involved medical care,   
   including vaccine avoidance and a vote rejecting water   
   fluoridation in Portland, Ore.   
      
   So he asked people what they thought about six common medical   
   conspiracy theories, including the ones about vaccines,   
   cellphones and natural cancer cures. They were the theories most   
   widely supported.   
      
   Three other theories were each supported by 12 percent of people   
   surveyed. They were that the CIA deliberately infected African-   
   Americans with HIV, that genetically modified foods are a   
   conspiracy to reduce population worldwide and that companies use   
   water fluoridation to cover up pollution.   
      
   And though the people who said they believed the conspiracy   
   theories tended to be less educated, poorer and members of   
   minority groups, they aren't conspiracy nuts, Oliver says. And   
   they aren't ignoring their health. Instead, they are normal   
   people trying to make sense of complex issues.   
      
   Corporations and government institutions are complicated   
   organizations with a lot of different motivations. "Public   
   mistrust is understandable," he says.   
      
   People who backed the conspiracy theories were less likely to   
   rely on a family doctor. 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   
   Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Andrew Weil, were most likely to favor   
   conspiracy, with more than 80 percent agreeing with at least one   
   of the theories.   
      
   "They think they are accessing a more reliable source of health   
   information than what traditional medicine is providing," Oliver   
   told Shots.   
      
   The survey polled 1,351 people online in August and September.   
   The findings were published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.   
      
   Conspiracy beliefs directly affect how people take care of their   
   health, the survey found.   
      
   People who are firm believers in medical conspiracies are less   
   likely to get regular physicals, at 37 percent compared with 48   
   percent of participants overall. And they were more likely to   
   buy organic or farm-stand foods, shun flu shots and sunscreen,   
   and use vitamins and herbal supplements.   
      
   That was true even after the researchers adjusted the results to   
   remove any influence caused by people's socioeconomic status or   
   their level of trust overall.   
      
   Interestingly, the pro-conspiracy people came from across the   
   political spectrum, with 35 percent saying they were liberal,   
   compared with 41 percent saying they were conservative.   
      
   "The world is a complicated place," Oliver says. "It's difficult   
   to make sense of it. A lot of these conspiracy theories are   
   intuitively compelling."   
      
   http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/03/19/291405689/half-of-   
   americans-believe-in-medical-conspiracy-theories   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)