Myth :Cancer is contagious.

Fact:Cancer is noncommunicable. Cancer cannot be 'caught' by being in proximity to someone who is affected by cancer. It is caused by random changes in DNA, which causes the victim’s own cells to behave erratically which leads to the immune system trying to destroy them, essentially creating a civil war within the body.

Myth :Cancer is always terminal.

Fact:Cancer can be and has been cured. Advances in the medical field have led to better cancer survival rates, with early detection increasing them even further. A few common cancer treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, etc.. Additionally, new and emerging technologies like CRISPR may help increase cancer survivability rates substantially in the future.

Myth :Cancer is caused by cell phone usage or other electronic items.

Fact:There is no evidence that suggests cell phones or other everyday electronic devices like Wi-Fi routers cause cancer. Cancer can be caused by exposure to ionising radiation, which includes the part of the electromagnetic spectrum with a frequency higher than visible light, i.e. ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays. However, the electronics we use in our day to day lives utilise a much lower frequency such as radio waves and microwaves, which is categorised as non-ionising radiation.

Myth :Only old people get cancer.

Fact:Cancer can occur at any age. Age is just one of the risk factors due to the probabilistic nature of cancer. The longer we live, the more time our DNA gets to randomly mutate. Infact, these mutations happen quite frequently, but most of the time our immune system detects and destroys the mutated cell before the cancer has a chance to spread, and we don’t even notice.