TMZ recently reported that Eddie Van Halen has been flying between the United States and Germany to get treatment for throat cancer, and that the Van Halen legend believes he contracted the disease from a metal guitar pick he used more than 20 years ago.

According to Insider.com, a doctor says this probably isn't true.

Van Halen was diagnosed with mouth cancer in 2000, and had a third of his tongue removed as treatment. But some of the cancer cells have made their way down his throat, so he has started new treatments to remove them.

Eddie had previously theorized about metal picks and cancer back in a 2015 interview with Billboard, stating: "I used metal picks they're brass and copper which I always held in my mouth, in the exact place where I got the tongue cancer. Plus, I basically live in a recording studio that's filled with electromagnetic energy. So that's one theory."

However, according to Dr Tom Micklewright, the medical officer at Push Doctor, plectrums are probably not the cancer's cause. Micklewright told Insider that neither copper or the metals in brass are considered carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

"Copper coils have been used as contraception in the human body for many years without evidence in increased cancer risk," Micklewright said. "In contrast, numerous chemicals contained within cigarettes have been conclusively proven to significantly increase cancer risk, and the more likely cause of his throat cancer."

Read more at Insider.com.