to wish they would stop telling my DD nonsense

[macdoodle]

DD1 is 13, she has a friend whose mother seems to believe all sorts of rubbish. And they keep scaremongering. Ridiculous stuff.
The latest....if you keep your phone in your bra you get breast cancer . DD1 keeps all sorts in her bra
Before that it was if you tweak your nipples you get breast cancer. They seem deadly serious.
I am a GP and very scientific/evidence based, always very straight up an honest with my children.
This seems to throw DD1 and she rings to check! She is away on a school trip and has just texted to ask if its ok to keep her phone in her bra. I've told her she can keep the bloody thing wherever she likes and it wont give her cancer.

that would drive me MAD
however, she is phoning you to check, so she obviously isn't completely taken in. I agree it's really important YP have the skills to check any such claim. But there's a social issue too- does her friend believe all that stuff, and what happens if OP's DD says 'no, that's rubbish, my Mum says so and she's a DOCTOR'....may not go down too well for all kinds of reasons.
She may need to learn to smile and nod.
Or try 'that's interesting, I never heard that before, how does that work exactly? where is the research published?'

My best friend's Mum told me that Chinese ladies' vaginas, went from left to right

Can I ask where all the "this is complete nonsense" sayers are getting their information from?

I too am more worried about how badly fitted anyone's bra is, if they keep their phone in there. How incredibly uncomfrotable, and, I'd have thought somewhat inconvenient when you need to use it.

www.cancer.org/cancer/news/expertvoices/post/2014/05/13/cell-phones-bras-and-breast-cancer-risk.aspx Send her this link. :)

reminds me of what Ben Goldacre said about the DM (or was it the Express)- they are on a mission to divide all substances and activities into 2 classes - those that cause and those that cure cancer

Is the friends mum thinking of a study years back that linked high mobile phone usage to brain tumour incidence? I specifically remember that scare as my dad died of a brain tumour the year before mobiles were introduced - anything since mentioning braintumours 'sticks' FWIW.. I dont know if it got proved or disproved with other/more data since , but seem to remember it co-incided with people using headhones/earpieces more v shortly after ....?

good link, thumbwitch, shame that the evidence based advice is so BORING!

Peeling a touchscreen off sweaty boobskin isn't my idea of an attractive thing to do in public, I have to say.

With perfect imprint of nipple on front of touchscreen. Lovely

Obfus, there's no good evidence that it doesn't either so I don't really think anyone is in a strong enough position to say "that is complete rubbish" tbh. You coudl say "it's unlikely" or "no studies have shown blah blah" but as Steeleye says, it's a bit arrogant to assume we know everything.

From the summary in thumbwitch's link

"These cases may all be a coincidence. But, it is possible that some may be a coincidence and some may be linked. Nobody knows, because no systematic studies have been done."

The link seems sensible enough - no studies have been done, we don't really know, if it worries you then don't keep it there. It certainly doesn't dismiss it as bollocks or nonsense.

Most scientific evidence is written in a boring fashion, sadly, Shalli! it's a pity, but there it is.

there's no good evidence that it doesn't either

If we took the above to be true, we could just make up any old bollocks and claim it to be perfectly valid, because, you know, there's no evidence against....

I'll stick with the scientists on this one. :) They are happy to say that they don't know and aren't calling it rubbish or bollocks just yet.

I have very large very squishy breasts and a small phone so I think I could manage it without too much difficulty. I'm a bit worried my phone might suffocate though.

"I'm arrogantly assuming I know everything just because I don't avoid every activity that hasn't been conclusively proven not to cause cancer? "

There are entirely too many negatives in that statement - I'm not even sure if there are the right number!

no- what I meant is that the advice is boring-

don't be overweight
don't drink too much
move around a bit...

I mean, come on, (yawn) what about some great new super food or something ?

MInd you, it is gone 1am here so maybe my brain is just too tired to make sense of it...

Oh yeah, Shalli - sorry, misunderstood

I'll stick with the scientists on this one. smile They are happy to say that they don't know and aren't calling it rubbish or bollocks just yet

^^ yes. Nobody's claiming scientists know everything - just that they may have a better sense than many others when there's good evidence to support certain theories or not. I'd find it hard to take someone very seriously who claimed that tweaking nipples gave you breast cancer. I'm a GPs daughter - I always referred tall medical stories to my Dad and listened to what he had to say. Didn't matter that he was my Dad - I reckoned that with his medical experience and degrees he probably knew more than the woman who told me that wearing skinny jeans would make me infertile etc

Obfus, not sure how that could cause cell mutations but feel free to investigate further!