CANCER SITES: Survey Cites that Misinformation is No. 1 Surfer Concern
In a survey conducted by cancerfacts.com and released yesterday at the Internet Healthcare Coalition's e-Health Ethics Summit in Washington, D.C., Internet users who search for cancer information cite misinformation as their top concern. Michael Samuelson, head of cancerfacts.com's National Consumer Advisory Council and cancer survivor, said, "When I first learned I had cancer, I was shocked to find out how much misleading, misguided and simply wrong information there was on the Internet ... ." Fifty-eight percent of respondents stated that misleading or incorrect information beats privacy or security as their biggest worry when using the Internet to find health data. Despite the concern, those surveyed reported surfing the Web for cancer information an average of 3.5 days per month, visiting approximately 3.3 sites and spending about 19 minutes in each site. The survey also revealed that 50% of respondents take information gleaned from the Internet to their physicians. Samuelson continued, "The Internet is now an essential source for cancer patients and survivors to keep up with current developments that will impact the life-and-death decisions they have to make. The Internet Healthcare Coalition's e-Health Ethics Summit and the work we do with cancerfacts.com's National Consumer Advisory Council will help ensure that consumers get the information they need to deal with their conditions and that the information is timely and accurate" (cancerfacts.com release, 2/1).
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