Correction: Turning on the Light to Pee at Night Does Not Cause Cancer
A while back we alerted you to a study that the Daily Mail reported suggested turning on the light during a late-night trip to the bathroom causes cancer. Turns out, unsurprisingly, that this is complete bullshit! The Guardian today points out today that this has been debunked in a number of places on the Internet. The study's authors told AOL Health that:
A quick switch on of the light will have negligible effects — we are talking about prolonged bright light exposure at night... The 'switching on of lights causes cancer when you go to the bathroom at night' is an eye-catching fabrication of the press.
We probably should have known better, given that the Daily Mail calls 'cancer' so often that there's a whole Facebook group devoted to the phenomenon. Here are just a few samples from the really impressive alphabetical list compiled by this group:
Climate Change
Coca Cola
Cold temperatures & Lack of Sunlight
Coffee
Constapation
Contraceptive Pills
Cooking
Cordless Phones
Crayons
Curry
Deoderant
Dieting
Dogs
Eggs
Electricity
English Breakfast
Facebook
False Nails
Fatherhood
Fibre
Fish
Fizzy Drinks
Flip Flops
Fly Spray
Fruit
Fruit Juice
Gardens
Grapefruit
etc.!