Fluoride in the water supply, electro-magnetic radiation, toxic chemicals in our homes, genetically modified food, vaccinations, air pollution – many people are concerned about threats – real and potential – that modern life may pose to their health. This isn’t a new phenomenon. New technologies have long been a source of anxiety.
When AM radio was first introduced, for instance, there was concern that invisible waves were making people sick. And in the 1980s, there were fears that looking at a computer screen for long periods increased a woman’s chance of miscarriage.
“There has always been suspicion about modernity and things changing and the negative effects that might have,” says Keith Petrie, a professor of psychological medicine at the University of Auckland.
Petrie started studying modern health worries more than 20 years ago, well before the internet was such an influence in amplifying them. Back then, his surveys of New Zealanders concluded contaminated water was the most common fear, with traffic fumes, antibiotics in food and bacteria in air-conditioning systems also very much on people’s minds. He found that those with higher modern health worries were more likely to experience symptoms and seek medical care.
Petrie’s interest in this area of research was sparked one day while chatting over lunch with members of a tennis team he belonged to. “I was surprised how many of them thought their health was influenced by these environmental factors. They had read about it in the media and were genuinely concerned. And I thought it was something health psychologists hadn’t picked up on before.”
In 2002, an aerial-spraying programme to eradicate the painted apple moth in areas of West Auckland provided Petrie with an opportunity.
“It was a good chance to see if people’s beliefs changed their interpretation of symptoms. So, we measured people’s modern health worries before they did the spraying, then went back afterwards and looked at their symptoms.”
As he had expected, the worriers were the ones who reported more symptoms. They also believed the health of their children and pets had been affected by the pesticide spray.
“If you’re concerned about something, you’re much more likely to interpret any symptoms you may get as coming from the source of that worry,” says Petrie.
Modern health worries aren’t necessarily based on unfounded conspiracy theories. There is evidence that breathing air pollution is damaging, that some chemicals in our environment have the potential to harm human health and that the overuse of antibiotics in food-producing animals has contributed to drug resistance.
“There is truth, or bits of truth, in all these things,” says Petrie. “But the point is you can get fixated on them when they are likely to be relatively minor in comparison to other factors that are going to influence your health.”
Recently, he collaborated with researchers in Sweden to look at data from individuals participating in the Västerbotten Environmental Health Study. The Swedes seem particularly energised about environmental illness. Amalgam fillings have long been banned and Petrie says there has been a lot of concern about sick building syndrome.
His most recent study found that in Sweden, having high levels of these sorts of modern health worries is not linked with adopting a particularly healthy lifestyle. The focus tends to be on avoiding exposure to whatever environmental factor is bothering people, rather than basic healthy lifestyle measures such as drinking less alcohol, being more active and not smoking.
As we age, modern health worries tend to increase, and women are slightly more prone to them than men. It becomes a part of the “nocebo effect” – when someone develops side effects and symptoms just because they think they may occur. Petrie links these sorts of worries with an increase in the use of alternative therapies that promise, for example, to have benefits for immune-system support and detoxification.
“The paradox is that the healthier we are, the more we worry about health,” he says. “And ironically, we get more concerned about factors that don’t really make much difference and forget about those that do, like smoking and excess drinking, which perhaps seem more mundane, so don’t attract the same interest.”
