Among the more bizarre myths that young people believe are that cancer can be caught through kissing and that eating too much ketchup can cause the disease.
Out of 520 13- to 24-year-olds surveyed, more than half believe people are born with a cancer gene, more than a third believe that mobile phones cause brain tumours and a fifth think that eating red meat causes cancer.
Being kicked in the testicles was believed to be a cause of cancer among 12 per cent of those surveyed and four per cent believe large amounts of ketchup causes the disease.
Simon Davies, Teenage Cancer Trust chief executive, said: "Cancer is a complex and frightening disease so it is easy to understand why such strange myths exist. Sometimes people are even surprised to hear teenagers get cancer at all."
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