Category
Public Health
Explore the 6 entries currently assigned to this category. These counts describe this curated catalogue, not the size or rate of change of the field itself.
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Not a fact anymore
Respiratory particles can be divided into “droplets” and “aerosols” using one fixed particle-size cutoff.
What we know now
Respiratory particles form a continuous range of sizes rather than two clean categories separated by one universal cutoff. Larger particles tend to settle faster and smaller ones tend to remain airborne longer, but their behavior also depends on evaporation, airflow, humidity, and how they are produced.
- Status
- Superseded
- Category
- Public Health
- Accepted for
- Not quantified
- Changed approximately
- 2024
Not a fact anymore
Babies should sleep face-down because this reduces choking and is the safest sleeping position.
What we know now
Healthy infants should normally be placed on their backs for sleep. Prone sleeping substantially increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
- Status
- Overturned
- Category
- Public Health
- Accepted for
- ≈45 years
- Changed approximately
- Late 1980s–1990s
Not a fact anymore
Tobacco smoke harms only the person actively smoking it.
What we know now
Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer, coronary heart disease, and stroke in adults who do not smoke, and causes serious respiratory and developmental harms in infants and children. No risk-free exposure level has been identified.
- Status
- Overturned
- Category
- Public Health
- Accepted for
- ≈36 years
- Changed approximately
- 1980s–2000s
Not a fact anymore
Lead exposure below the level that causes obvious poisoning is harmless.
What we know now
For children, no safe blood-lead level has been identified. Even relatively low exposure is associated with effects on learning, attention, behavior, and brain development. A child can therefore be harmed without showing the dramatic symptoms of acute lead poisoning.
- Status
- Overturned
- Category
- Public Health
- Accepted for
- ≈64 years
- Changed approximately
- 1970s–2010s
Not a fact anymore
Asbestos dust may irritate the lungs, but it does not cause cancer.
What we know now
Inhaled asbestos fibers cause mesothelioma and increase the risks of lung, laryngeal, and ovarian cancers. They also cause asbestosis and other pleural disease.
- Status
- Overturned
- Category
- Public Health
- Accepted for
- ≈50 years
- Changed approximately
- 1950s–1970s
Not a fact anymore
Cigarette smoking does not cause lung cancer.
What we know now
Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer. Risk rises with cumulative exposure, falls after quitting, and is supported by converging epidemiological, pathological, toxicological, and molecular evidence.
- Status
- Overturned
- Category
- Public Health
- Accepted for
- ≈35 years
- Changed approximately
- 1950s–1964
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