Health scare
Social phenomenon
A health scare can be broadly defined as a social phenomenon whereby the public at large comes to fear some threat to health, based on suppositions which are nearly always not well-founded.
In 2009, an ABC News article listed "The Top 10 Health Scares of the Decade": "Some of these threats turned out to be almost nonexistent. Others were arguably overblown. Some caused widespread harm." They listed the following scares:
- Swine flu (H1N1)
- Bisphenol A (BPA)
- Lead paint on toys from China
- Trans fats
- Bird flu (H5N1)
- Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
- Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
- Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
- Anthrax
- Cell phones.
Sources and credits
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