Celebrities and science are often a dangerous combination. Many have the confidence that fame brings to make proclamations - on all sorts of subjects - but often without the necessary understanding to back it up.
Nowhere is this more obvious than with science. Sense About Science monitors questionable or incorrect statements by public figures and tries to explain the truth behind them.
It’s just released its annual review of 2009 and, as you might guess, there are some serious howlers.
Guess who said the following…
A. “There are even surveys suggesting that eating foie gras can lead to Alzheimer’s, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. In short, eating foie gras is a tasty way of getting terminally ill.”
B. “Locally produced food is better for your health because the ingredients are far more nutritious than something that has been shipped from thousands of miles away.”
C. “Meat sits in your colon for 40 years and putrefies and eventually gives you the illness you die of. And that is a fact.”
D. “I avoid carbonated drinks - they sap all the oxygen from your body and make your skin wrinkly and dehydrated.”
E. “Like many women, I was unaware of the dangerous chemicals antiperspirants contain, which have been linked to breast cancer.”
F. “I’ve come to realise that birth control pills weren’t safe because is it safe to take a chemical every day? And how could it be safe to take something that prevents ovulation?”
Give up? Ok, A. Roger Moore (raise eyebrow everybody) B. Anthony Worrall Thompson (who also encouraged us to eat somewhat dangerous weeds from the garden) C. Heather Mills (need I say more) D. Shilpa Shetty (Bollywood actress) E. Natasha Hamilton (she’s in Atomic Kitten and, “no”, I hadn’t heard of her either) F. Suzanne Somers (American actress, as before).
I fear the charity won’t run out of material any time soon…
Tags: Humour
