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Vaccines are a source of controversy in the US. Some believe that vaccines cause autism, albeit the CDC has rebuked that theory. (File)

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A new study from the University of Chicago revealed that a statistical sample of Americans believe in conspiracy theories.

According to an NPR interview, the Chicago study found that 19 percent of Americans believe the government had something to do with 9/11 and 11 percent of people believe the government is mandating a switch to compact florescent light bulbs because "the light bulbs make people obedient and easy to control."

NPR's social science correspondent Shankar Vedantam weighed in.

"A conspiracy theory is where you believe in a theory where no matter how much disconfirming evidence comes in, you somehow convert that disconfirming evidence into part of the conspiracy," said Vedantam.

He pointed to birthers as an example.

"So with Barack Obama's birth certificate, for example, the moment the birth certificate came out from Hawaii, the people who believe that Barack Obama was not born in the United States would say the Hawaiian hospital now is in on the conspiracy as well," he said.

The research also found that many Americans have qualms about medicine.

For instance, 69 percent of survey-takers had heard the theory that doctors and the government continue to push vaccinations even though they know they cause autism and other disorders; 20 percent said they believed it, according to AL.com affiliate Syracuse.com.

The CDC has rebuked any claims that vaccines cause autism.

The next step in research is to learn where conspiracy theories come from, according to the interview.