--- title: Half of Americans Believe in Medical Conspiracy Theories description: A University of Chicago study of 1,351 adults found that many believed at least one of six popular conspiracy theories canonical: https://time.com/29810/half-of-americans-believe-in-medical-conspiracy-theories/ author: Michelle Arrouas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-19T07:38:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T08:47:55.657Z article:section: Health og:title: Half of Americans Believe in Medical Conspiracy Theories og:description: A University of Chicago study of 1,351 adults found that many believed at least one of six popular conspiracy theories og:url: https://time.com/29810/half-of-americans-believe-in-medical-conspiracy-theories/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt909bbab0b36a54f3/698683e7cd6848543e0936da/hiv-drug-test.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3540 og:image:height: 1991 og:image:alt: Needle of Syringe og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Half of Americans Believe in Medical Conspiracy Theories twitter:description: A University of Chicago study of 1,351 adults found that many believed at least one of six popular conspiracy theories twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt909bbab0b36a54f3/698683e7cd6848543e0936da/hiv-drug-test.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Do You Think the CIA Infected African Americans With HIV? 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=de676f35-7e54-4132-affc-b1f0dcc884c3&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Study Says Half Of Americans Believe Medical Conspiracy Theories [Watch (HLS stream): Study Says Half Of Americans Believe Medical Conspiracy Theories](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YCDaUI40.m3u8) (2:16)  _Published 2014-03-19. A new survey from University of Chicago shows half of Americans buy into medical conspiracy theories. Regardless of your thoughts on the theories, researchers say their existence have a very real effect._ by [Michelle Arrouas](https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Mar 19, 2014 7:38 AM UTC A new survey from University of Chicago shows half of Americans buy into medical conspiracy theories. Regardless of your thoughts on the theories, researchers say their existence have a very real effect. by [Michelle Arrouas](https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Mar 19, 2014 7:38 AM UTC About half of the grownup population in the U.S. believes at least one medical conspiracy theory, [a new survey](http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1835348) from the University of Chicago shows. In the study, 1,351 adults were asked about whether they had heard of, and agreed or disagreed with, six popular medical conspiracy theories, such as those that hold that U.S. regulators prevent people from getting natural cures, that the U.S. government knows cell phones cause cancer but does nothing about it, and that the CIA infected a large number of African Americans with HIV. About 49% of the people agreed with at least one of the theories, which all had distrust of the government or large corporations as the common characteristic. According to the study’s lead author, J. Eric Oliver, the reason so many people believe in medical conspiracy theories is that they are easier to understand than science. He added that people who believe in one or more of these theories are more likely to use alternative instead of conventional medicine. \[[Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/18/us-medical-conspiracies-idUSBREA2H22K20140318)\] ## Transcript [00:00] A new survey from University of Chicago shows half of [00:03] Americans buy into medical conspiracy theories. So I had [00:07] horrible allergies as a kid. Was it because I was vaccinated [00:11] as an infant? I don't know. Maybe it was the mercury they [00:14] drilled into my teeth. Good example, Bill. The study authors [00:17] asked 1, 351 [00:19] adults if they were aware of six common medical [00:22] conspiracy theories and whether they believed in them. [00:25] About half of the respondents believed at least one of the [00:27] conspiracies presented to them, and more than half of the [00:30] group already knew about three of the six theories. So in [00:34] case you're curious, and of course you are, here are the [00:37] six theories participants were asked about. 1, The FDA [00:40] prevents people from receiving natural cancer cures. 2, [00:44] Health officials know cell phones cause cancer. 3, [00:48] Genetically modified food was purposefully designed to [00:51] shrink the world's population. 4, The CIA deliberately [00:55] infected many African- Americans with HIV. 5, Fluoride [00:59] masks all the chemicals companies dump into our water [01:02] supply. And finally, doctors know vaccines cause autism [01:06] and other problems but don't care. The most well known [01:10] and consequently, most believed of the conspiracies were [01:13] that the FDA prevents natural cures, cell phones cause [01:16] cancer, and vaccines cause autism. The most recognized [01:20] theory though was about the link between vaccines and [01:22] autism. 67 % knew about it, and 20 % believed [01:26] it. In a LiveScience article study, author Eric Oliver noted [01:30] the prevalence of conspiracy theories of all varieties in [01:33] American culture. He said, an obsession with the unknown [01:36] could be an evolutionarily driven trait, explaining, if you [01:39] hear a noise in the bush, it's much more adaptive to believe [01:39] that there's a predator there than not. But [01:44] researchers say the theories have very real effects. Those [01:48] who believed in conspiracy theories were more likely to [01:50] avoid traditional medical practices, including visiting a [01:54] dentist, using sunscreen, and getting flu shots. And [01:57] actually, some of the theories don't seem that far fetched in [02:01] light of several ethically corrupt moments in the U. S. 's [02:04] history. The most famous of which could be the [02:07] mid- century Tuskegee Syphilis Study, when several [02:09] hundred impoverished men were unknowingly given [02:12] syphilis and then not given treatment. I'm Megan Judy. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/29810/half-of-americans-believe-in-medical-conspiracy-theories/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/29810/half-of-americans-believe-in-medical-conspiracy-theories/"},"headline":"Do You Think the CIA Infected African Americans With HIV? 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