Fact checkers have raised the alarm about a number of myths that have begun circulating on social media since summer came into full swing in the UK.
Full Fact, a charity of fact checkers and campaigners, has now released a roundup of some of the misinformation circulating online.
Steve Nowottny, Editor at Full Fact, said, “Since the summer began, we have fact checked various misleading claims online which have ranged from unevidenced tips which could be harmful to people’s health if followed, to advice which could leave people at risk of being charged with criminal damage.
“Bad information ruins lives and we all play a role in stopping it from spreading. Be careful about what you share online. If you see something that looks too good to be true, or makes a claim that’s hard to believe, avoid sharing it.”
Full Fact has a free online toolkit which helps people spot misinformation online, which the charity is encouraging people to share when people spot what they suspect to be misinformation online.
Five summer myths circulating on social media, fact checked
Cancer-causing agent isn't ingredient in suncream
A men’s lifestyle coach with almost 180,000 followers, made a number of claims about skin health, generally discouraging the use of sunscreen.
The main claim was that most sunscreen products contain the cancer-causing chemical benzene, which is misleading.
Although benzene is cancer-causing, it is not used as an ingredient in sunscreens. While contamination is an ongoing issue, the evidence doesn’t show that most products contain it. One 2021 study found just over a quarter of the sunscreens they tested were contaminated, but most had very small amounts of benzene and did not contain enough to meet the FDA’s recall threshold.
The evidence does not support the claim that benzene is in most generic sunscreens, nor that this is causing a significant amount of skin cancer, and the evidence we do have shows that most contamination is at a very low level.
Police don’t advise smashing car windows to rescue dogs in cars in hot weather
Claims that “police say” you can smash a window to rescue a dog from a hot car after taking a photograph, calling the police and waiting five minutes have been shared almost 180,000 times on Facebook. This claim could potentially lead people to unwittingly break the law.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council told Full Fact that the information shared online is “not accurate”.
A spokesperson for the organisation added: “If you break a car window you could be charged with criminal damage.
“If you see a dog in a hot car that appears to be in distress and/or showing symptoms of heatstroke you should call 999 and ask for the police.”
Sunken ice isn’t a reliable way to spot if your drink’s been spiked
Social media posts warning people to watch out for ice sinking in their drink as a sign it may have been spiked have been shared tens of thousands of times.
This is missing context - experts have told Full Fact that although a drink with a very high concentration of ethanol may cause ice to sink, in most drink spiking cases ice will continue to float.
After Full Fact got in touch with researchers at Anglia Ruskin University, they conducted an experiment for the charity and found that none of the combinations of liquids and drugs they tested resulted in ice cubes sinking to the bottom of a glass.
Dr Lata Gautam, an associate professor at Anglia Ruskin University specialising in analytical chemistry and forensic science and crime, had her team test three different drugs—ketamine hydrochloride (a general anaesthetic commonly used as a party drug), amitriptyline hydrochloride (an antidepressant with sedative effects) and paracetamol plus.
None of these combinations caused the ice to sink.
Sunglasses don’t cause sunburn
An Instagram post liked almost 10,000 times claims that sunglasses increase the likelihood of getting sunburned. This is false.
The post caption says: “[Sunglasses] trick the brain into thinking that it’s dark due to their dark lens. This leads to a reduction in the production of melanin which is essential for vitamin D synthesis. Wearing sunglasses therefore increases your risk of low vitamin D and sunburn.”
Melanin is a pigment that affects the colour of your skin, hair and eyes. It protects skin cells against DNA damage caused by UV rays from the sun.
It also “competes” with cells producing vitamin D, meaning that people with darker skin (as a result of more melanin) generally need more sun exposure than lighter skinned people to make the same amount of the vitamin.
Melanin production is stimulated by sunlight hitting cells in the skin, and covering the eyes does not stop this.
In fact, exposing your eyes too much to UV rays from sunlight can cause irreversible damage and in some cases blindness, which is why the NHS recommends that people wear sunglasses that have been verified to filter out UV when outside in the sun, especially between March and October.
Sungazing is not recommended by medical experts as it can cause blindness
A Facebook video with over 31,000 likes promotes ‘sungazing’, saying that advice not to look into the sun is wrong and it won’t blind you. This could be dangerous.
Sungazing is a meditative practice that involves focussing on the sun and looking directly at it. However, this is not recommended by medical experts.
Excessive sun exposure without appropriate sunglasses can cause irreversible blindness as well as increasing cataract risk.
Exposure over time increases these risks, so sungazing every day as the video says would be expected to cause damage.
Sungazing can cause immediate damage to the retina (the back of the eye). There are many case reports of eye damage happening after single episodes of deliberate sungazing.
