We've all heard about products that will give you cancer. But how many of them are true? KX News istelling you the truth about common cancer myths. Matt Stano has the story.

We hear all the time different household products will give us cancer. In fact, we hear it so much that we've been desensitized to the word "cancer." But these cancer tidbits have made people hesitant to drink tap water, use household pesticides, or even talk on their cell phones.

So what's the truth? As we learned in part one of this report, you're not going to get a brain tumor if you talk too much on your cell phone. A total cancer myth. And now it's time to debunk the others.

Cancer Myth #1 - Diet Sodas: This is perhaps one of the most common cancer myths. Kyle Darras of the Bismarck of the Cancer Center says studies have been going on since the late 1960's and there hasn't been any evidence or proof that diet drinks cause cancer.

"The artificial sweetners that we use today such as Apertaine and Saccrine have been studied extensively and have not been shown to increase a person's risk of cancer," said Darras.

And speaking of beverages: What about tap water? Bottled water profits have soared as many people have been led to believe that tap water is not safe and it might give you cancer. The truth?

Totally false. 50% of people drink tap water. Centers for disease control and prevention did a study to find any dangers of drinking tap water. They couldn't find any of the people who drank flouride had any increased risk of cancer. And experts say the benefits of fighting tooth decay should outweigh any small risk.

What about all the studies where animals get cancer from tests? In fact many household pesticides will have that reputation. And the answer is: everything's relative.

"If consumers come in contact with a pesticide, it's at a very low concentration add it cannot put that person at increased risk of getting cancer," says Darras. "However, farmers in our community who are in contact with high concentrations of pesticides for long period of time should take extra precaution."


So the amount of pesticides the average person comes in contact with is minimal. Animals who form cancer from these pesticides are given high concentrations and not the limited abount most humans do.

And the final myth is not what will give you cancer but of cancer itself. Most people believe that the risk of getting cancer is increasing. But it's actually going down. However, more being diagnosed because the population is growing and aging. But the percentages per age group it's going down.

"Now many people, up to 50% of those diagnosed of cancer are cured," said Darras. "And those who can't be cured surrvive for many years, good qualtity of life. And again, mainly because of very good treatment options we have right here in Bismarck."


It's good to take cancer seriously, according to the American Cancer Society, the disease is expected to claim the lives of 559,650 Americans this year. But urban legend isn't the way to solve the puzzle. Experts say the best way to prevent the diease is to get screened reguraly and to have a healthy lifestyle-aka-don't smoke, drink excessively, eat healthy foods, and exercise.

If you'd like more information on any cancer related topic you can go to the Bismarck Cancer's Website: http://www.bismarckcancercenter.com watch the video | save this article / add to your favorites list