eli5: Why does it seem like everything is carcinogenic and does that mean if it is, it causes cancer?

Question

I feel like I am always hearing about how things are carcinogenic, like red meat or air conditioners or aspartame. Why does it seem like *so* many things are carcinogenic and does that mean they cause cancer? Because it’s starting to feel like everything causes cancer…

This is the type of thing that gets my anxiety going so I’d love if someone who understands this better than I do can explain it.

In: 354

Answer 1

There is also a high false positive rate because of a California law. They made a law requiring a warning any time something from a list of carcinogens is in a product. Some companies just apply the warning to everything just to be safe from liability