Under fire. Kourtney Kardashian was slammed for promoting a face masks conspiracy theory amid the election.

The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star took to her Instagram Story on Saturday, October 31, with a photo of a blue surgical mask with the text: “Those Blue Masks Mandated at grocery stores & airplanes are made of PTFE, a carcinogen made from synthetic fluoride. According to Cancer.Org, it increases the risk of liver, testicle, pancreas, kidney and breast tumors + ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, preeclampsia and high cholesterol. High exposure can cause influenza-like symptoms and hemorrhaging in the lungs, leading to suffocation.” The accompanied the post with a shocked emoji and an exploding head emoji.

In short, Kourtney claimed that the blue face masks most of us have been wearing amid the COVID-19 pandemic causes cancer. However, it didn’t take long for Kourtney’s conspiracy theory to be debunked. Cancer.org, which Kourtney claims is the source for her conspiracy theory, is the website for the American Cancer Society (ACS). In an interview with the New York Post, Dr. William Cance, chief medical and scientific officer for the ACS, denied that blue surgical masks are linked to cancer. There is no evidence to support the claim that the presence of PTFE in a mask causes cancer.” Dr. Cance said. “As a surgical oncologist, I, along with thousands of colleagues in the health-care profession, have been wearing masks for years to protect patients from the spread of infections.”

Source: Instagram

Likewise, many social media users have slammed Kourtney for promoting an unfounded theory about face masks on her Instagram to her 102-plus million followers. “@kourtneykardash it is highly irresponsible of you to post this kind of content knowing the size of your platform, especially in this era where misinformation spreads like wildfire and there is already a problem with mask-adherence and a huge doubt in actual science,” tweeted user @loveacheesecake. User @drjoshuawolrich wrote, “It’s one thing for a random people on social media to claim that masks cause cancer… it’s another for @kourtneykardash to be doing so on her Instagram stories to >100 million followers. UTTERLY FUCKING UNACCEPTABLE.”

As for what Cancer.org actually says about face masks, a post about COVID-19 on the site encourages users to wear face masks to stop the spread of the virus. “The CDC recommends that you wear a cloth face cover (something that covers your nose, mouth, and much of your face) or a face mask if you go out in public, especially in places where you might be close to other people. The CDC does not recommend wearing a mask that has a one-way valve or vent because when you breathe out, it allows droplets to go through the mask and possibly spread the virus. Gaiters (cloth coverings that wrap around the nose, mouth, and neck) are also not recommended by the CDC at this time until more information is known about how effective they are in stopping the spread of COVID-19,” the site wrote.