RUMOR #9: Pokémon causes cancer.
Source: The Web site for the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
The official story: Curiously, Nintendo's reps were all out of the office on Friday. (Suffering from Pikachu poisoning, perhaps?)
What we heard: Few things provoke as severe a love/hate reaction as Pokémon games. That said, even the most rabid Pikachu-basher wouldn't accuse the franchise of being carcinogenic (though the TV show based on the games was accused of causing seizures). However, in the purest technical sense, "Pokemon" does cause cancer. That's because "Pokemon" is also the name of a cancer-causing gene that was recently discovered. In a study published in the January 20 issue of Nature, researchers at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer outline how they isolated the POK Erythroid Myeloid Ontogenic factor--or POKEMON, for short. What's next? A leukemia gene called Dragon Ball Z? A terminal case of Yu-Gi-Oh! Syndrome?
Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus, but totally hilarious.
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