Is there a way to spot bogus medical warnings?

Yes, and I'm more than happy to spread the word. Typically, these bogus medical alerts spread from woman to woman via e-mail, the subtext being that the medical establishment is willfully withholding important information about scary things. Things like -- I kid you not -- flesh-eating bananas, antiperspirants that supposedly cause breast cancer, and my favorite: tampons containing asbestos and dioxin.

For the record, the first has been debunked by the Centers for Disease Control, the second by me (Boston Globe, Jan. 25, 2005), among others, the third by the US Food and Drug Administration.

To check out these e-mail hoaxes and urban legends, the Harvard Women's Health Watch suggests several websites. One is hoaxbusters.ciac.org run by the Computer Incident Advisory Capability of the Department of Energy. Another, truthorfiction.com is run by Rich Buhler, a journalist who says on the site that he has been debunking rumors and urban legends for more than 30 years. There's also www.cdc.gov/doc.do/id/0900f3ec80226b9c and urbanlegends.about.com/library/blxhealth.htm . I like all these sites and would add one more, quackwatch.org .

So, next time you get one of these crazy e-mails, do not pass it on without checking the information first on one or more of these sites.

JUDY FOREMAN

E-mail health questions to Foreman@globe.com.