I've seen this sort of pattern too many times. Many or most people X, a few people Y, therefore X is linked to Y. A scientist can almost generate these sorts of links any time you need to produce a paper. Just add a line at the end about more research being needed. They found a correlation in some data, but can't establish any reason for causation. Have any of these links ever been followed up?
There was one several years ago where the media was hyping up how dangerous Aleve (the NSAID painkiller) was to people - when you actually read it, high doses were given to very old people, and a certain percent died, but they were all so old and in poor health, and probably that many would have died regardless. This did not stop the media from distorting the story.