An example of how lies and misinformation spread - Abortion/cancer link "studies" in uni classes

[Capitalocracy]

So I was transcribing a university class, no need to mention which one, and something happened that I think illustrates how lies and misinformation spread like a virus. As you probably already know, right-wingers like to fund very questionable studies to lend scientific "data" to their arguments. One example of this common activity is the attempt to link abortion to breast cancer. And in this case, because they had done those studies and because those studies were reported in the news and the like, and most likely with no ideological motive or bad intentions, the professor of a university sex education course basically told his students that abortion causes breast cancer.

Here's what happened. They were talking about breast cancer and possible risk factors, like family history, while discussing the female reproductive system. The professor of this class isn't particularly an expert in medicine or female anatomy... he admitted that he was teaching by the book on this chapter without too much to contribute himself. So during the discussion, a girl in the class says that she heard somewhere that there's a link between abortion and breast cancer, something to do with the hormones that come with pregnancy being abruptly cut off.

The professor didn't at any point question the validity of this student's contribution or ask for a source. He did ask whether it also applied to spontaneous abortion, the loss of the child for reasons other than surgical abortion. The student said no, and said something about the hormones again, and the professor filled in the missing piece with a completely non-scientific statement, something along the lines of: Oh, so the body knows what to do in that case, right.

And there you have it. Because some right-wing group (possibly a tax-exempt "charity") funded a questionable study (and many of these studies have been done but none of them ever had reproducible results and the American Cancer Society doesn't accept those findings) these ideas are propagated, turn into rumor, enter our dialogue, infiltrate even the university classroom, and in the minds of all of those students, become fact.

Too bad no one in the classroom called BS. But even though I got this job through an agency and shouldn't be contacting the client, I think he's going to get an email from me setting him straight. I can't just let it pass.

[demigoddess]

1. So why do so many men get prostate cancer, is that because

of all the dead sperm??

[Capitalocracy]

2. Soon they'll invent a link

They'll say the more your sperm makes contact with eggs and causes pregnancies, the less likely you are to get testicular and prostate cancer. But masturbation doesn't count. How is this possible once the sperm actually leaves your body? Well, there's a big man in the sky who might have something to do with it. More proof of intelligent design?

[Capitalocracy]

3. .