There are many other examples of beliefs like the Soviet one in abiogenic oil: Germans and low blood pressure, Japanese and blood types, Koreans and fan death, 19th-century Americans and the belief that masturbation causes insanity, Anglophones (or at least Americans and Brits) and the belief that eating carrots improves eyesight.
You do realize these beliefs have very different status. For example, I get the impression that modern Japan scientists don’t believe in the connection between blood type and personality, and I haven’t seen evidence that fan death was ever more than an urban legend that was never taken seriously by Korean scientists. Whereas abiogenic oil was a well-respected scientific theory.
The carrots and eyesight thing apparently started out as a WWII disinformation campaign to explain why a lot more German bombers were being shot down (really due to radar), in this respect it’s more comparable to the Soviet red mercury hoax.
You do realize these beliefs have very different status. For example, I get the impression that modern Japan scientists don’t believe in the connection between blood type and personality, and I haven’t seen evidence that fan death was ever more than an urban legend that was never taken seriously by Korean scientists. Whereas abiogenic oil was a well-respected scientific theory.
The carrots and eyesight thing apparently started out as a WWII disinformation campaign to explain why a lot more German bombers were being shot down (really due to radar), in this respect it’s more comparable to the Soviet red mercury hoax.
The Korean Wikipedia article starts by calling it a superstition, but then quotes Korean physicians on both sides.