What was claimed
Cancer is part of the healing response, and tumours are created by the body as a bag to collect toxins contaminating the bloodstream.
Our verdict
A biopsy does not burst a ‘bag’ or release toxins—because tumours are not bags of toxins. Biopsies involve removing a small sample of cells to determine whether they’re cancerous.
Social media posts featuring false and potentially harmful claims about cancerous tumours are again being shared online.
The posts include an image of what appears to be body tissue with the title “Cancer is trying to Heal not Kill” underneath, and text claiming that a “cancerous tumour is basically a bag the body creates to collect toxins that are contaminating the bloodstream” and that a biopsy “only splits open the bag releasing the toxic matter back into the body".
But these claims are not true. As we explained when we saw the same image being shared last year, cancerous tumours can be made up of millions of cancer cells, and do not serve any healing purpose. They are not protective bags of toxins, so biopsies do not release “toxic matter back into the body”.
Biopsies are when small samples of cells are taken from the body in order to be tested. There is an extremely small chance that needle biopsies, when a needle collects cells for analysis, can cause ‘tumour seeding’—when cancerous cells spread along the track of the needle. But overall, biopsies can lead to better outcomes and longer survival rates from cancer, according to a study by the Mayo Clinic.
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This image has been circulating online for at least five years, and has already been debunked by multiple outlets alongside Full Fact. Similar claims have also been widely shared, and we’ve fact checked these too.
False, misleading or unevidenced claims about cancer can cause harm if people make treatment decisions based on them. Delays in getting effective cancer treatment can have life-threatening results. Trustworthy information on cancer can be found from sources such as the NHS, Cancer Research UK and the World Health Organisation.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because cancerous tumours are not trying to “heal the body” by collecting “toxins that are contaminating” blood.
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