Health scare is a campaign to scare the public into avoiding a food or chemical on the grounds that it might cause them to contract an illness or have some other negative effect on their health. Many such scares have been shown to be groundless, but in some cases it may involve very real threats to public health and safety.

In 2009 an ABC News

ABC News

ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...

 article listed "The Top 10 Health Scares Of The Decade": "Some of these threats turned out to be almost nonexistent. Others were arguably overblown. Some caused widespread harm." They listed the following scares:

• Swine flu
  Swine flu
  Swine influenza, also called pig influenza, swine flu, hog flu and pig flu, is an infection by any one of several types of swine influenza virus. Swine influenza virus or S-OIV is any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs...
  
   (H1N1)
• Bisphenol A
  Bisphenol A
  Bisphenol A is an organic compound with two phenol functional groups. It is used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins, along with other applications....
  
   (BPA)
• Lead paint
  Lead paint
  Lead paint or lead-based paint is paint containing lead, a heavy metal, that is used as pigment, with lead chromate and lead carbonate being the most common. Lead is also added to paint to speed drying, increase durability, retain a fresh appearance, and resist moisture that causes corrosion...
  
   on toys from China
• Trans fat
  Trans fat
  Trans fat is the common name for unsaturated fat with trans-isomer fatty acid. Because the term refers to the configuration of a double carbon-carbon bond, trans fats are sometimes monounsaturated or polyunsaturated, but never saturated....
  
  s
• Bird flu (H5N1)
• Severe acute respiratory syndrome
  Severe acute respiratory syndrome
  Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is a respiratory disease in humans which is caused by the SARS coronavirus . Between November 2002 and July 2003 an outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong nearly became a pandemic, with 8,422 cases and 916 deaths worldwide according to the WHO...
  
   (SARS)
• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
  Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
  Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. It is also called multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus...
  
   (MRSA)
• Hormone replacement therapy
  Hormone replacement therapy (menopause)
  Hormone replacement therapy is a system of medical treatment for surgically menopausal, perimenopausal and to a lesser extent postmenopausal women...
  
   (HRT)
• Anthrax
  Anthrax
  Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...
  
  
• Cell phones
  Mobile phone
  A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
  
  .

See also

• Aspartame controversy
  Aspartame controversy
  The artificial sweetener aspartame has been the subject of several controversies since its initial approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1974...
  
  
• Dental amalgam controversy
  Dental amalgam controversy
  The dental amalgam controversy refers to the conflicting views over the use of amalgam as a filling material mainly because it contains the element mercury...
  
  
• MMR vaccine controversy
  MMR vaccine controversy
  The MMR vaccine controversy was a case of scientific misconduct which triggered a health scare. It followed the publication in 1998 of a paper in the medical journal The Lancet which presented apparent evidence that autism spectrum disorders could be caused by the MMR vaccine, an immunization...
  
  
• Thiomersal controversy
  Thiomersal controversy
  The thiomersal controversy describes claims that vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thiomersal contribute to the development of autism and other brain development disorders...
  
  
• Water fluoridation controversy
  Water fluoridation controversy
  The water fluoridation controversy arises from moral, ethical, and safety concerns regarding the fluoridation of public water supplies. The controversy occurs mainly in English-speaking countries, as Continental Europe does not practice water fluoridation...