Claims that the U.S. leaving the WHO led to cancer cures are going massively viral—here’s what’s actually going on

Over the weekend, a slew of posts went viral across social media claiming that multiple cancers were suddenly cured in the weeks after the United States officially left the World Health Organization. But are they true?

Was there a sudden rush of cancer cures after America left the WHO? Not exactly

In early February, X (formerly known as Twitter) started lighting up with claims that various types of cancer had suddenly been "cured" in the short time since the U.S. left WHO, often citing other posts about cancer research.

A tweet from @Kendrickkumaaru on Feb. 8 racked up nearly 327,000 likes on X.com

As a result, half-formed conspiracy theories began rolling in, with some even claiming that the entire purpose of the U.S. being a part of the WHO to begin with had been to prevent medical breakthroughs.

"ok i’m getting suspicious and i’m not ignoring the conspiracy theorists this time," wrote @gbennylola.

@zcorxcc added: "My theory is the USA's presence in the WHO was merely just there to stunt the growth of medical science. And to keep a finger on the pulse of new and inventive medication, so that they knew what was being developed and could plan on how to monetize it before public knowledge."

"America having a global monopoly over the health industry, but the health industry being heavily privatized is what leads to a political interest in ensuring profits take precedence over health," wrote @KHAMCHANH. "When the world learns they can move on without the US, things change."

Old studies, reborn as "breaking news"

As incredible (and bizarre) as it would have been for a bunch of different cancers to suddenly be cured in the last few weeks, the reality is a little bit more boring (and sad).

The community note on one of the big posts going around, attributing these "cures" to specific dates in February, points out that what's actually happened is that promising research studies—not cures—from the past several years have been going viral all at once, thanks to World Cancer Day falling on February 4.

A tweet from @Kekius_Sage from Feb. 8 garnered over 210,000 likes.

Just to reiterate, a lot of the research being touted as "cures" genuinely is very promising. It also has a long way to go, from larger studies to human trials and beyond.

That hasn't stopped the misinformation from spreading, if only because it makes a shocking bite-sized piece of content that's just believable enough that people will buy into and share it without doing any research.

As far as conspiracy theories go, maybe a better one would question why a bunch of blue check accounts are pushing the false narrative that the U.S. leaving the WHO somehow resulted in multiple cancers being cured all at once.

Then again, maybe it's just the algorithm.

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