Health scare

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.