A story in Indian Express cited a recent Lancet study which said that probability of death due to cancer in Punjab is much less than the national average. However, the reporter failed to notice that the data used for the study dated back to 2001–03. Instead, the story goes on comparing these results with a door-to-door survey conducted last year which put the cancer incidence in Punjab at 90 persons per one lakh, higher than the national average of 80 persons per lakh. Such mistakes show why we always need to verify the methodology of a scientific study before giving it prominence.