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10386 | Dialysis more often doesn’t help patients | This was a story about a recent study indicating that at least in the case of dialysis for individuals with acute kidney disease, more is not better. Although the story could have been clearer about the differences and definitions for chronic and acute kidney disease, it did a good job explaining that at least for the ... | true | "There was no cost information provided, but the story was about the results of a study that demonstrated that more dialysis did not provide additional benefit. The clinician quote near the end suggested that more dialysis may have benefit for certain patients but did not provide data. However – the story said that the... | |
11363 | Replacing Heart Device Found Risky | This article does a good job reporting the findings of several new studies of surgery to replace potentially defective heart defibrillators. Two of the studies looked at how often patients needed repeat surgeries to replace malfunctioning pacemakers or more-complex devices called implantable cardioverter-defibrillators... | mixture | There is no mention of the cost of the devices themselves, nor of treating complications related to their malfunction or replacement. The article includes actual numbers of people who had devices replaced and experienced complications as a result. As noted above, it would have been useful to know how many devices malfu... | |
9383 | Why You Should Get the New Shingles Vaccine | This New York Times story is a health column that’s unequivocally in favor of vaccination, and as such it presents information about the vaccine in a somewhat lopsided manner favoring the benefits of the vaccine and downplaying risk. For example, relative numbers that inflate the benefits of the vaccine are used to des... | mixture | shingles | The reporter noted that the “list price is $280 for the two-part shot without insurance.” Since Medicare Part D insurance covered it with a $40 co-pay for each part it is likely affordable for many people. The story provides relative numbers, noting that the previous shingles vaccine, Zostavax, “reduces the risk of sh... |
5835 | Maine stresses test as sexually transmitted infections surge. | The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is calling on residents to get tested for sexually transmitted infections amid a spike in cases of gonorrhea and syphilis in the state. | true | Sexually transmitted diseases, Health, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Maine | Tuesday is the final day of Sexually Transmitted Disease Awareness Month, and the state CDC says it’s recommending prevention, screening and treatment. The agency says Maine has seen “dramatic increases” in gonorrhea and syphilis in the last five years. Gonorrhea cases increased nearly 200 percent, to 686, from 2014 to... |
28374 | The Union County Sheriff's Department in Arkansas dressed numerous arrestees in Nike shirts for their mugshots as a jab at the company. | What's true: Multiple mugshots of persons booked by the Arkansas' Union County Sheriff's Department show the arrestees wearing Nike shirts. What's false: The county sheriff denied that the use of Nike apparel was intended at a jab at Nike over their promotional partnership with Colin Kaepernick. | mixture | Politics, nike | On 11 October 2018, activist Shaun King posted a series of mugshots purportedly taken by the Union County Sheriff’s Department in Arkansas showing various arrestees dressed in Nike attire. King reported, via a source, that the sheriff was dressing individuals in Nike shirts for their mugshots as a way to mock the compa... |
35106 | A traveler from Beijing was caught at Dulles International Airport with a suitcase full of dead birds that the person tried to disguise as pet food. | What's true: U.S. Customs and Border Protection confiscated a sealed package of dried, dead birds from a traveler's suitcase at Dulles International Airport in February 2020. What's false: However, the traveler made no attempt to hide or disguise this item and even declared it to customs officials. Also, while it may b... | mixture | Critter Country, COVID-19 | In February 2020, reports started to circulate about a traveler from Beijing who had a “suitcase full of dead birds” confiscated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) after he tried to “disguise” the item as pet food: These reports were based on a genuine incident that occurred at Washington Dulles International... |
10492 | That Must Be Bob. I Hear His New Hip Squeaking. | This is a well-reported news story about hip replacements that squeak. The story covers all the basics—including the availability, costs, novelty, harms, and benefits of the implants. It provides a reasonable description of the evidence and treatment options, and is loaded with sources and case studies. If there is a p... | true | "The article states that the costs are “generally … close to $45,000.” The news story notes in a sentence that hip replacement has a success rate of more than 90%, and defines “success” as “relatively pain-free mobility.” The article also clearly states why this new device was developed — to provide longer lifetime use... | |
38763 | Reports have gone viral that Chipotle is closing because of an E. coli contamination linked to its use of dog and cat meat. | Chipotle Uses Dog and Cat Meat, Will Close All Restaurants | false | Business, Food / Drink | Chipotle is not closing all its stores in the U.S. The rumor that Chipotle is closing every restaurant in the U.S. went viral in early November 2015 after Chipotle temporary closed a number of locations because of an E. coli outbreak. On November 3, 2015, Chipotle announced that it would temporarily close 43 restaurant... |
35128 | Eating bananas is a preventative against the COVID-19 coronavirus disease. | It is true that bananas, consumed in moderation, are fairly good sources of fiber, dietary potassium, vitamin B6, and vitamin C, all of which are important components of a healthy diet. | false | Medical, COVID-19 | Amidst the plethora of misleading preventatives and cures for the COVID-19 coronavirus disease offered online during the pandemic of early 2020 was a video posted to Facebook that suggested consuming bananas could ward off infection by the novel coronavirus: However, the video did not stem from any reputable news agen... |
34231 | "Ingesting ""a tablespoon"" of fruit syrup every 15 minutes for an hour can help someone dealing with vomiting or diarrhea." | According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), between 19 million and 21 million people in the U.S. contract a norovirus every year. To avoid spreading the virus to others, the CDC urges anyone dealing with it to thoroughly clean not only their hands, but also any affected clothing and any areas in which they suff... | unproven | Medical | One mother’s tips for dealing with “the flu” spread widely on Facebook in December 2018, but it is unclear whether it has any medical merit: The post which had been shared several hundred thousand times on social media at the time of this writing, stated: With the stomach flu going around, try this if your kiddos, spo... |
6199 | Rising sea levels threatening historic lighthouses. | Rising seas and erosion are threatening lighthouses around the U.S. and the world. Volunteers and cash-strapped governments are doing what they can, but the level of concern, like the water, is rising. | true | New Jersey, Rising sea levels, Science, Local governments, North America, Erosion, U.S. News | New Jersey’s East Point Lighthouse has been lighting up Delaware Bay for the better part of two centuries. But those same waters that the lighthouse helped illuminate might bring about its demise. With even a moderate-term fix likely to cost $3 million or more, New Jersey officials are considering what to do to save th... |
2769 | Lilly's quarterly sales largely offset Cymbalta slide. | Drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co’s quarterly revenue fell far less than expected, it reported on Thursday, as plunging sales of its Cymbalta depression treatment were largely offset by higher revenues for most of its other prescription drugs. | true | Health News | The company earned $728 million, or 67 cents per share, in the fourth quarter. That compared with $827 million, or 74 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter, when Lilly took charges for asset impairments and restructuring. “Company sales were stronger than thought, but a lot of that upside came from drugs that ar... |
26762 | YouTube videos Says President Donald Trump spawned the “Wuhan super virus outbreak under code name ‘zyphr.’” | There’s no evidence that President Trump had anything to do with the creation of the coronavirus. | false | Fake news, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, YouTube videos, | "As the United States preps for the spread of the coronavirus, a conspiracy video on social media makes claims that President Donald Trump helped create the virus. The video has been viewed around 6,000 times on a YouTube channel called ""stranger than fiction news."" Its title reads: ""BREAKING: TRUMP SPAWNED WUHAN SU... |
24150 | In Texas, schools do not even have to teach sex education. | Texas Eagle Forum says Texas schools don't have to teach sex education | true | Education, Texas, Pat Carlson, | "While making a case for abstinence-only sex education, the right-leaning Texas Eagle Forum recently declared that sex isn't a mandated topic in Texas schools. The group states in its March 11 ""News & Notes"" e-mail blast: ""In Texas, schools do not even have to teach sex education."" Teaching the birds and bees, opti... |
35702 | Dr. Anthony Fauci said the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was told to cancel a grant funding research for a study investigating how coronaviruses jump from bats to humans. | The exchange can be heard right after the 4:36 mark in this C-SPAN video. | true | Politics, COVID-19 | In late June and early July 2020, Snopes readers asked whether Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s foremost immunologist, had stated that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was told to cancel funding for research into how coronavirus infections emerge in humans. Fauci, who leads the NIH National Institute of Allergy a... |
10399 | Coffee may have perks for longer living | "This was a story about a new analysis of data from the Nurses Health Study and the Health Professionals follow-up study that scrutinized coffee consumption and the incidence of death, coronary disease or cancer. The study found that increasing coffee consumption did not result in more death or death from these specifi... | true | "There was no discussion of price, but coffee is a widely available beverage with a generally known price range. The story did not provide absolute risk reduction numbers for the benefit that one might hope to gain from drinking coffee. The real take home from the study was that coffee consumption did not appear to be ... | |
15476 | Currently, almost 40 percent of people with HIV are not diagnosed until they already have developed AIDS. And that can be up to 10 years after they first are infected with HIV. | The press release from Fulton County Health and Wellness promoting the week of testing for HIV states that almost 40 percent of people with the virus are not diagnosed until they already have developed AIDS. And that can be up to 10 years after they first are infected. That specific statistic reportedly came from a nat... | true | Georgia, Public Health, Fulton County Health and Wellness, | "The health departments in Fulton and Dekalb counties are hosting a week of free HIV screenings that ends on National HIV Testing Day, June 27. The immediate goal of the Test Atlanta campaign, which starts Sunday, is to encourage people from age 13 to 64 to know their HIV status by getting tested, officials with Fulton... |
2114 | China takes baby steps in narrowing gender imbalance. | China has taken its first baby steps in narrowing a gender chasm that has left the country with tens of millions more boys than girls, an official said on Thursday. | true | Health News | In 2009, there were 119.45 male newborns for every 100 females, down from 120.56 in 2008 and the first decline in years, said Li Bin, head of the State Population and Family Planning Commission. The natural ratio should be about 105 males per 100 females at birth, but the gap has widened in China since it introduced a ... |
5788 | Democrats roll out big health care proposals in the states. | Riding the momentum from November’s elections, Democratic leaders in the states are wasting no time delivering on their biggest campaign promise — to expand access to health care and make it more affordable. | true | Health, Campaigns, Business, California, Medicaid, Elections, Gavin Newsom, Access to health care, AP Top News, Washington, Politics, U.S. News, Jay Inslee | The first full week of state legislative sessions and swearings-in for governors saw a flurry of proposals. In his initial actions, newly elected California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to expand Medicaid to those in the country illegally up to age 26, implement a mandate that everyone buy insurance or face a fine... |
10554 | Brain sensor helps paralyzed people do tasks | For patients who are paralyzed, the hope for miracles that permit movement or at least more interaction with the world around them is likely to be quite strong. This article states the very limited success of a brain implant device. But it may portray false hope that this may be an option for current patients. The stor... | false | The story does not mention costs, which are likely to be astronomical. The story does not quantify the benefits of treatment. Moreover, the story overstates the benefits multiple times by saying that the technology can help “paralyzed people” and “paralyzed patients” – implying that there is more than one person involv... | |
5708 | Mooney and healthy teammates have Brey, Irish encouraged. | As long as John Mooney keeps putting up double-doubles and his teammates stay healthy, coach Mike Brey feels pretty good about Notre Dame’s chances this season. | true | Nikola Djogo, South Bend, Health, Robby Carmody, Juwan Durham, Rex Pflueger, John Mooney, Mike Brey, Mens college basketball, College basketball | “Johnny carries a lot of clout in our league when you hear the other coaches,” Brey said as he prepares for his 20th season at Notre Dame. “We take him for granted - he just rolls out of bed and goes 15 (points) and 12 (rebounds) like it’s nothing.” The 6-foot-9 senior Mooney averaged team highs of 14.1 points and 11.2... |
1377 | UK's William, Harry and Kate open up about emotional struggles. | Britain’s Prince William, his wife Kate and brother Harry have given their most public comments on their emotional struggles and how the siblings’ closeness helped them cope with their mother’s death. | true | Health News | The three have been speaking out this week as part of a high-profile “Heads Together” campaign, which aims to break stigmas around mental health issues and encourage people to speak openly about their emotions. In a six-minute film recorded at Kensington Palace in central London on Wednesday, the trio discussed the str... |
2545 | British shoppers saying nay to meat after horse scandal. | The discovery of horsemeat in products sold as beef has shocked many British consumers into buying less meat, a survey showed on Monday. | true | Health News | The furor, which erupted in Ireland last month and then spread quickly across Europe, has led to ready meals being pulled from supermarket shelves and damaged people’s confidence in the food on their plate. It also raised concerns over food labeling and the complex supply chain across the European Union, putting pressu... |
9666 | Mindful meditation may be the answer to relieving chronic back pain, study suggests | This story focuses on a JAMA study investigating whether mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is as effective as cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and standard treatment at helping patients reduce lower back pain. The story does a good job of quantifying the benefits and risks seen in the study. However, there were... | true | back pain,JAMA,meditation,mindfulness | The story doesn’t address costs for any of the treatment options discussed. Is MBSR comparable to CBT? Does insurance cover either treatment option? The story tells readers what percentage of study participants who got MBSR treatment reported improvement in pain, as well as what percentage of MBSR participants “reporte... |
30966 | Fentanyl-laced marijuana use is a real and growing concern in the United States. | To be clear, fentanyl is an extremely potent and dangerous drug whose presence is increasing in many areas in the United States and unequivocally caused numerous overdose deaths. However, as no incident has actually confirmed the presence of marijuana laced specifically with fentanyl, we rank the claim that such a mixt... | false | Politics, marijuana | At numerous times in 2017, local news stories reporting overdose incidents from “fentanyl-laced” marijuana have gone viral. Fentanyl, a relatively cheap opioid that is much stronger than heroin, is sometimes cut with other opioids to increase potency. On 8 February 2017, the Facebook page of Ohio’s Painesville Township... |
20454 | "An independent payment advisory board created by the health care reform law ""can ration care and deny certain Medicare treatments." | Pat Boone says health care advisory board can ration care and deny Medicare treatments | false | Ohio, Health Care, Medicare, Message Machine 2012, Pat Boone, | "Pat Boone gained fame in the 1950s with covers of tunes like ""Tutti Frutti,"" ""Long Tall Sally,"" and ""Ain’t That a Shame."" Now he’s helping the 60 Plus Association, an advocacy group that bills itself as ""the conservative alternative"" to the AARP, to recycle material. Boone is the pitchman in an ad that target... |
4245 | Firefighters study carcinogen exposure. | Firefighters in Virginia are taking part in a study aimed at finding ways to reduce their exposure to carcinogens. | true | Health, General News, Fires, Cancer, Virginia | WTOP-FM reports that the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department is partnering with the National Fire Protection Association Research Foundation on a four-phase study. Part of the focus of the study will be on how chemicals can cling to breathing equipment used by firefighters. Firefighters are exposed to toxic chemi... |
11079 | Study: Heart attacks not cut by B vitamins | This story reports on several recent studies that fail to find benefit in terms of heart attack and stroke risk from the consumption of B vitamins by people with established vascular disease. Though the article was factually correct, it missed a golden opportunity to educate consumers about the difference between a dis... | true | Since this story doesn’t make claims about efficacy, costs don’t seem applicable. We give this story a satisfactory score, but the story could have helped readers understand why measuring surrogate markers such as homocysteine levels can be different than tracking true outcomes such as heart attack or stroke. Here, the... | |
8589 | Italian doctors slam failings in Lombardy coronavirus response. | Doctors in Lombardy, the Italian region hardest hit by the coronavirus epidemic, have criticised local officials for their handling of the crisis and said the mistakes they made should be a lesson for everyone. | true | Health News | A total of 17,127 people have died from the virus in Italy, the most anywhere in the world, with Lombardy accounting for 55% of the tally. The region also accounts for 39% of the country’s 135,586 confirmed cases. The particularly large death toll in Lombardy, the wealthiest region in Italy, has raised eyebrows, with l... |
2027 | South Carolina scientist works to grow meat in lab. | In a small laboratory on an upper floor of the basic science building at the Medical University of South Carolina, Vladimir Mironov, M.D., Ph.D., has been working for a decade to grow meat. | true | Environment | A developmental biologist and tissue engineer, Dr. Mironov, 56, is one of only a few scientists worldwide involved in bioengineering “cultured” meat. It’s a product he believes could help solve future global food crises resulting from shrinking amounts of land available for growing meat the old-fashioned way ... on the... |
14671 | Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have the identical position on health care, which is they want to put the government in charge of you and your doctor. | "Cruz said, ""Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have the identical position on health care, which is they want to put the government in charge of you and your doctor."" While Trump, Clinton and Sanders have all proposed to reduce prescription drug prices, that one policy is a far cry from having ""the... | false | National, Health Care, Ted Cruz, | "One day before the Iowa caucus, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas slammed Republican rival Donald Trump on NBC’s Meet the Press by lumping him in with the Democrats. ""Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have the identical position on health care,"" Cruz said on Jan. 31. ""Which is they want to put the government... |
31081 | A worker at a Pepsi or Frooti plant has contaminated those beverage products by injecting HIV-infected blood into them. | Other ingestibles have previously been fingered as vehicles for the transmission of HIV-infected blood to the unsuspecting public, and these stories too were baseless: The 2004 scare about restaurant ketchup dispensers and the 2005-2006 scare about pineapples. | false | Food, Food Contamination, frooti, HIV | A warning about HIV-contaminated Pepsi products began spreading on the Internet and via cell phone text message in July 2011 (with a resurgence in September 2012), and it has also been echoed in recurrent rumors about Mango Frooti, a popular beverage in India: I am hearing that someone with HIV at a pepsi plant has inj... |
1663 | Cold case: scientists encounter prehistoric murder mystery. | This 430,000-year-old case may be the world’s oldest murder mystery. | true | Science News | Scientists on Wednesday said a fossilized skull discovered deep inside a Spanish cave shows telltale signs of homicide: two fractures inflicted by the same weapon. The skull, belonging to a primitive member of the Neanderthal lineage, was found in an apparent funerary site down a shaft in the appropriately bleak-soundi... |
41722 | First time in 53 years that drug prices went down last year. | One aim the president and Democratic 2020 challengers share is the desire to bring down the price of prescription drugs. But is that already happening, or are prices still climbing? The two parties disagree, and it depends on how they’re measuring drug prices. | mixture | drug prices, prescription drugs, | One aim the president and Democratic 2020 challengers share is the desire to bring down the price of prescription drugs. But is that already happening, or are prices still climbing? The two parties disagree, and it depends on how they’re measuring drug prices.President Donald Trump has claimed, “Last year, for the firs... |
27892 | A newborn child declared dead revived after being placed on his mother's chest. | In a literal sense, it is true that a child previously declared dead was recognized as being alive after having been placed on his mother’s chest. To what degree that revival was brought about by the mother’s actions is impossible to determine, however. | true | Glurge Gallery, miracles | On 25 March 2010, Australian mother Kate Ogg gave birth to twins Jamie and Emily just 27 weeks into her pregnancy. Although Emily survived the birthing process, Jamie was born in distress and was not breathing. After doctors spent 20 minutes trying to resuscitate Jamie and failed, they told Kate and her husband David t... |
3836 | Parents to get prescription lock boxes, disposal bags. | More than 800 New Hampshire families are getting lock boxes and safe disposal bags in hopes of keeping youth away from prescription drugs and making a small dent in a big problem. | true | New Hampshire, Medication, Opioids, Concord, Health, General News, Prescription drugs, Public health | Officials from the Capital Area Public Health Network and the Rx Abuse Leadership Initiative of New Hampshire said Tuesday they will be distributing the boxes and bags at community events and recovery-friendly workplaces in Concord and two dozen surrounding towns. Parents can request them directly from the organization... |
13247 | "Russ Feingold Says Ron Johnson ""has essentially done nothing"" to fight heroin addiction and opioid abuse." | "Qualifying his claim only slightly, Feingold says Johnson ""has essentially done nothing"" to fight heroin addiction and opioid abuse. Johnson has voted for a major bill aimed at confronting the heroin-opioids problem, introduced a bill aimed at curbing overprescription of opioids and held Senate committee hearings on... | false | Immigration, Candidate Biography, Drugs, Homeland Security, Wisconsin, Russ Feingold, | "Heroin and prescription painkillers were a topic in the second and final Wisconsin U.S. Senate debate on Oct. 18, 2016, three weeks before election day. It produced this exchange among Republican incumbent Ron Johnson, Democratic challenger Russ Feingold and moderator Mike Gousha. Johnson: ""I’ve been incredibly activ... |
26526 | “59 people die as pastor gives them dettol to drink in church to prevent coronavirus.” | There’s no evidence 59 people died from drinking the cleaning product Dettol to prevent the coronavirus. In 2016, a South African pastor had his congregation drink Dettol to heal their sicknesses, newspaper reports said. We found no news coverage of people dying as a result. | false | Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Viral image, | "We’ve debunked a lot of claims about ways to ward off COVID-19, and just to recap, here’s what we know now: hot lemon, silver solution, stomach acid, marijuana, cocaine and sunlight won’t kill the coronavirus. Neither will gargling with warm water and salt or drinking bleach — please don’t consume fish-tank cleaner — ... |
40252 | This is a short message which says to immediately delete a flashing “IM” (Instant Messaging). It claims that it’s a “password stealer” and that if after discovering it, you can’t sign on to AOL, you should call AOL. | Ancient British structures older than the pyramids are being threatened by climate change, experts have warned, as rising sea levels, heavier rainfall and severe weather events endanger Scotland’s archaeological treasures. | false | Computers, Warnings | The Orkney Islands, situated off the north coast of the Scottish mainland, are home to more than 3,000 historical sites. Evidence has been found of human habitation there going back 8,500 years. Some buildings on the islands date to the Iron Age, Viking rule and medieval times. But around 1,000 sites are situated on th... |
26334 | “Dr. Fauci sat on Microsoft’s board of directors.” | Microsoft says Anthony Fauci never served on the company’s board. | false | Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Viral image, | "Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, are both prominent voices in public discourse about the COVID-19 pandemic, and regular targets of misinformation. One recent attack focuses on both men. ""I bet you didn’t know Dr. Fauci sat on Mic... |
7340 | Tourists enter reopened Grand Canyon despite virus concerns. | Tourists appeared ready to roam Grand Canyon National Park again after it partially reopened Friday, despite objections from Navajo officials and others that it could hurt efforts to control the coronavirus. | true | Arizona, Health, General News, Parks, National parks, Travel, Virus Outbreak, U.S. News | By 7:30 a.m., more than two dozen people were enjoying viewpoints along the South Rim. Among them was Matthias Zutter, 35, who was traveling through Arizona with his wife in a camper van as part of a final adventure before moving back to their hometown of Stans, Switzerland. The couple have been living in the U.S. for ... |
27877 | For twenty-five years, two brothers-in-law traded the same pants back and forth between them as a Christmas gift, each time finding more inventive ways to wrap them. | The urn now graces the fireplace mantel in Kunkel’s home. | true | Holidays, christmas | The one present Roy Collette wasn’t looking forward to getting for Christmas 1988 was those damned pants. Yet he knew he was in trouble as soon as the flatbed truck bearing a concrete-filled tank off a truck used to deliver ready-mix rolled up. Sure as God made little green apples, those pants had to be in there. And h... |
9694 | Report: DASH Diet Best Overall Eating Plan The MIND, Mediterranean and Fertility diets also get high marks for health | For the sixth year in a row, the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet was selected by U.S. News & World Report as the “Best Overall Diet.” The DASH diet was developed by the National Institutes of Health following studies of different diet plans as a method to help treat or prevent high blood pressure. ... | false | DASH diet,diet plans | The article doesn’t address costs associated with maintaining a DASH diet or other diets. According to an analysis published study in JAMA Internal Medicine in 2013, adoption of the diet has been low, despite its favorable recommendations by nutritionists. The authors noted, “Its limited uptake might be explained by ec... |
31118 | A federal law prohibits U.S. citizens from having contact with extraterrestrial beings. | The “Extraterrestrial Exposure” law was removed from the CFR in 1991, NASA having determined that it had “served its purpose” and was “no longer in keeping with current policy.” That law is therefore no longer in force. | false | Legal Affairs, moon landing, UFOs | If the government has no knowledge of aliens, then why does Title 14, Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations, implemented on July 16, 1969, make it illegal for U.S. citizens to have any contact with extraterrestrials or their vehicles? On 16 July 1969, the United States of America (through the efforts of its N... |
14247 | We know that Saudi Arabia started al-Qaida. | "Graham said, ""We know that Saudi Arabia started al-Qaida."" Al-Qaida was started in an effort, largely backed by Saudi Arabia, to force the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan. The government did not, strictly speaking, create the organization. It was the product of jihadists wanting to continue the fight after the Sovie... | mixture | National, Terrorism, Bob Graham, | "Controversy is swirling over 28 pages from the congressional report on the 9/11 terror attacks that have been kept hidden from the public. There is a suspicion that they implicate Saudi Arabia, a United States ally in the Middle East. The Saudis have, for years, vigorously denied any involvement in the 2001 attacks on... |
8790 | U.S grapples with rising prescription drug addiction. | When Sarah Roisman was 11 years old, her doctors prescribed Klonopin, a muscle relaxant, for a psychiatric disorder that caused her to have seizures. She liked how the drug made her feel. Her seizures went away. | true | Health News | A pharmacist in a file photo. The issue of prescription drug abuse shot to prominence with January's death of 28-year-old Hollywood actor Heath Ledger after he took six different prescriptions. REUTERS/File But that’s where her trouble with addiction began. By age 14, the teen from an upper middle-class Philadelphia su... |
31667 | "Sweden was ""rocked"" by a massive terrorist attack in February 2017." | Although the incident was not terror-related and no information has been released regarding the identity or nationality of the suspect, the episode has nevertheless resulted in increased scrutiny over crime and migration trends in Sweden. | false | Uncategorized, donald trump, fake news, sweden | On 23 February 2017, a number of disreputable web sites, including PamelaGeller.com and TruthMonitor.com, posted stories reporting that Sweden had been “rocked” by a terrorist attack which involved a man throwing a fume-releasing canister into a train car. The stories were topped by headlines such as “MASSIVE TERROR AT... |
8155 | Swiss coronavirus cases surge, canton orders seniors to stay home. | Switzerland on Saturday reported 6,100 coronavirus infections, 25% more than a day earlier, and 56 deaths, the Swiss health ministry said, as the canton of Ticino that borders hard-hit Italy banned seniors over 65 from leaving their homes to shop. | true | Health News | “The situation in Ticino is very tense,” said Daniel Koch, head of the Federal Office of Health’s communicable diseases division. The latest count nationwide is up more than 1,200 cases in a day, while the deaths increased 13 from Friday. The local government in Ticino, with so far 918 reported coronavirus cases and 28... |
36003 | A photograph shows skeletal remains of an unidentified rodent found in a can of Allens Green Beans. | Allens Green Beans ‘My Wife Found This’ Facebook Post | unproven | Fact Checks, Viral Content | On November 21 2019, a Facebook user shared the following post, claiming the images showed the contents of a can of Allens Green Beans, namely an unpalatable dead creature:Norwood said his wife purchased cans of Allens Cut Italian Green Beans at Walmart, with the intent of using them in a dish for a Thanksgiving potluc... |
23580 | "About 106,000 soldiers had ""a prescription of three weeks or more"" for pain, depression or anxiety medication." | U.S. Army report documents problem of suicides in the military. | true | National, Health Care, Military, This Week - ABC News, Gen. Peter Chiarelli, | "Leaders of the U.S. Army need to take more active steps to prevent a growing number of soldiers from committing suicide, according to a major study released by the Army. Gen. Peter Chiarelli discussed the study on This Week with Christiane Amanpour. The study documented complex pressures -- including overly long deplo... |
9081 | Multivitamins in pregnancy may be linked to lower autism risk in children | This BMJ news release suggests that a new study found a correlation between multivitamin use and reduced incidence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We commend the release for noting that the study findings show a correlation, not causation, and for making a call for more research. However, the largest drawback of the... | mixture | autism,BMJ,dietary supplements | The news release did not mention costs of vitamin supplements. The news release did not describe the size of the benefit, saying only that multivitamin use “was associated with a lower likelihood of child ASD with intellectual disability.” How much of a lower likelihood? And what are the absolute numbers? We would like... |
3258 | Telehealth rises as medium increases in validity. | Jay Berger started by asking Patience Breckenridge how she was feeling. Breckenridge had had a rough night. The seizures continued, as they typically do. | true | Health, General News, Frederick | After hearing about a few more episodes Breckenridge had, Berger suggested she get a gate for the top of the stairs, in case Breckenridge were to fall. She then asked Breckenridge if she had set up Alexa, the virtual assistant developed by Amazon, which she had. They then discussed different exercises they had gone ove... |
34510 | A Mexican mother's young son was recently poisoned by topical application of Vicks VapoRub. | What's true: In 1988, an infant of unknown nationality died after ingesting 5ml of camphorated oil. What's false: We found no recorded deaths in or outside the United States attributed to topical application of Vicks VapoRub. | unproven | Medical, vicks vaporub, viral facebook posts, warnings | In November 2016, numerous blog posts claimed a baby died of camphor poisoning after his mother applied Vicks VapoRub to treat a fever: A Mexican mother tells her tragedy to warn other parents and avoid someone else going through what she’s living: the loss of her 2-years-old baby. When she came back from work, she cam... |
989 | 'Brain fever' blamed for India child deaths preventable: doctors. | Five-year-old Soni Khatun was playing in the midday sun last week when she began to vomit and lose feeling in her hands. Her mother, a poor laborer living in rural India, borrowed money to take her to hospital. | true | Health News | Five hours later, Soni was dead, one of more than 100 children to die this month from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), or ‘brain fever’, in one district of eastern Bihar state. “I still see her in my dreams,” said Sahana Khatun, Soni’s mother. “I can’t accept she is gone.” The deaths were preventable, doctors say, i... |
9693 | How stem cell therapy may help treat COPD | We were thrilled to see this story mention the costs of the treatment, its lack of FDA approval, and the fact that insurance won’t cover it. But that was just one sentence. The rest of the story is so heavily focused on the experiences of one patient who believes she was successfully treated through stem cells that rea... | false | anecdotes over evidence,stem cells | Costs are presented here as is the fact that the treatment Is not covered by insurance, and so we are marking this as a passing rating. But the cost information is framed as if it’s a bargain: “costs less than $8,000” and is “well worth the price.” That’s language that has no place in a story about an unproven treatmen... |
10654 | Scanner brightens cancer cells | In this story we learn of a new scanner, CT/PET, that could potentially improve the ability to correctly stage certain types of cancer. This technology would be most appropriate for cancers that spread to the lymph nodes first, such as lung, breast, and prostate cancer. CT/PET is an improvement on CT, MRI, or X-ray bec... | mixture | Although the story makes many claims about past and projected future revenues, there is no attempt to compare the costs of the new approach to existing ones. The story claims the new scanners are cost-effective and may even save money by preventing unnecessary surgeries, but there is no evidence presented to support th... | |
9552 | Powerful MS Drug Used Early May Reverse Some Disability | While most drugs are studied as a way to demonstrate benefit over other treatment, this trial of what could be described as a “last-ditch” drug–Lemtrada (alemtuzumab)–was studying optimal timing. Basically, is is better to give this drug more quickly, or only after trying other treatments? This is a very important ques... | mixture | monoclonal antibody drugs,Multiple sclerosis | No mention of costs, which we consider a major oversight. As a Boston Globe story explains: “Genzyme executives said Lemtrada will be priced at $158,000 for two courses of treatment over two years.” For MS patients, this enormous price tag was a major point of discussion when the drug was first approved. “My excitement... |
10787 | Blood Test for Lung Cancer in the Works | We would have liked to see more independent assessment of the specific results presented at this scientifiic meeting. Ideally, the story should have touched on the limitations of drawing conclusions from results presented at scientific meetings – results that have not been peer-reviewed. A validated non-invasive test f... | true | Costs are not discussed, as this is an investigational procedure. The article provides n values and quantifies the results from the first stage of the study. The potential benefits of the test have to do with its ability to rule out malignancy based on X-ray results; thus, the specificity and sensitivity data are parti... | |
16433 | "Social Security and Medicare are ""a Ponzi scheme." | "Curbelo said that Social Security and Medicare are ""a Ponzi scheme."" A Ponzi scheme is by definition an illegal crime and an unsustainable set-up that crashes very quickly. Social Security and Medicare, which have been around for decades, are not criminal schemes. Both programs face the massive challenge of fewer wo... | false | Medicare, Social Security, Florida, Carlos Curbelo, | "Congressional candidate Carlos Curbelo sided with Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s depiction of Social Security and Medicare as a ""Ponzi scheme"" in a talk with college Republicans. ""I speak about both of these programs as one because they both suffer from the same long-term insolvency, meaning that they won't be around for ... |
10215 | Will you have a heart attack? These tests might tell | This story touting the benefits of certain screening tests for heart disease concludes with a claim that is simply unbelieveable: that doctors practicing aggressive prevention techniques are seeing heart attacks and strokes “disappear.” Although the story includes a few cautionary comments, it low-balls the costs of sc... | false | CNN,heart disease,Screening | The story does discuss costs. However, it low-balls what people may be actually charged for the scans, which may include facility fees, reading charges and other costs. For example, one insurance company cost calculator (https://www.alegent.com/body.cfm?id=4735) estimates the cost of heart CT scan for calcium to be mor... |
23685 | "Recent data showed Nevada ranks 50th in the money received from"" the stimulus bill." | American Crossroads ad attacking Reid on stimulus uses out-of-date data | false | National, Federal Budget, Message Machine 2010, Stimulus, American Crossroads, | "One of the most closely watched U.S. Senate races of the year is the match-up between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Reid, the Senate's most powerful member, faces Republican Sharron Angle, a Tea Party favorite. In mid-July, American Crossroads -- a group that's the brainchild of top Republican officials in... |
23276 | Barbara Boxer voted to cut spending on Medicare benefits by $500 billion, cuts so costly to hospitals and nursing homes that they could stop taking Medicare altogether. | Ad against Barbara Boxer says hospitals might stop taking Medicare. We find that unlikely. | false | National, Health Care, Medicare, Message Machine 2010, Retirement, Crossroads GPS, | "Republicans are using the health care law as a springboard to attack Democrats on Medicare, the government-run health insurance program for seniors. But some ads leave out so many details that they seem intended to simply scare people with threats of lost care. Such is the case in an ad from Crossroads GPS, a Republic... |
11061 | Calcium scores and heart disease | This is a story about a method of screening for heart disease. Though the story mentioned that there are some experts who believe that the test is being overused, there was no direct comment about this to explain why overuse of a test is problematic. The story did mention that the test was for individuals who were at h... | false | "A graphic was presented of the average cost being $300 – $400 for the test. However – this does not include the cost of any testing that might follow (including heart catheterization) It would have been useful to provide information as to whether this test was or was not commonly paid for by insurance companies. This ... | |
9129 | Superior Protection by Flublok® Influenza Vaccine in Seniors Documented in New England Journal of Medicine | The news release, which comes from flu vaccine manufacturer Protein Sciences Corporation, highlights a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on the effectiveness of its vaccine in older adults. The news release does a fair job of describing the study, when the drug will be widely available, and ... | mixture | flu vaccine,Protein Sciences Corp. | Costs aren’t discussed at all. Given that this release comes from the manufacturer, and that the drug was approved by the FDA in October 2016, it’s not clear why this information isn’t available. This is very problematic. The release tells readers that “People who were given [the new vaccine] Flublok Quadrivalent were ... |
4101 | Virginia officials say deer deaths caused by viral outbreak. | The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has confirmed that a viral disease has killed a number of deer across the state. | true | Health, General News, Infectious diseases, Virginia | Hemorrhagic disease is a common infectious disease of white-tailed deer. Outbreaks occur annually in the Southeast. Virginia officials said they’ve received reports from 38 counties involving 180 deer. The worst hit area is in and around Bedford and Franklin counties. Outbreaks are characterized by otherwise healthy-lo... |
8982 | Robotic surgery as effective as open surgery for bladder cancer | This news release about a trial that randomly assigned people with bladder cancer to either robot-assisted or open surgery buried the real news under a weak lead that garbles the findings. The news here is that, contrary to assertions of many proponents of robot-assisted surgery, it is possible to randomize patients in... | true | bladder cancer,Loyola University Health System,robotic surgery | There is no discussion of cost in this release. The journal article says several institutions refused to provide their prices. Nevertheless, the high cost of robotic surgery is an important issue. The researchers wrote they were unable to say whether those high costs might be offset [or not] by certain potential benefi... |
17005 | Estimates for adopting Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion show it will cost Virginia taxpayers $902 million through 2022. | "Campaign for Liberty says estimates show Medicaid expansion will cost Virginia taxpayers $902 million over the next decade. One forecast indeed showed that: A 2012 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation offering broad estimates of the net cost expansion for each state. Kaiser stressed in the report that it did not exam... | false | Medicaid, State Budget, Virginia, Campaign for Liberty, | "An organization founded by former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, is urging Virginia House Speaker Bill Howell to stand firm against expanding Medicaid in the Old Dominion. ""Estimates for adopting Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion show it will cost Virginia taxpayers $902 million through 2022,"" says an online petition to ... |
14019 | "Robin Wright Says Apple products are currently ""90 percent conflict-free,"" and ""Intel is 100 percent conflict-free." | "Wright said Apple products are currently ""90 percent conflict-free,"" and ""Intel is 100 percent conflict-free."" The numbers are off. Intel says 100 percent of is processors are conflict-free, but couldn’t vouch for its other products. Apple reported that 100 percent of its supply chain was participating in audits, ... | false | Global News Service, Corporations, Human Rights, Technology, Robin Wright, | "As you’re texting away on that snazzy smartphone, you may be ""holding war"" in your hands, says actress and activist Robin Wright. Wright, known for her roles in House of Cards, Forrest Gump, and The Princess Bride, compared minerals extracted in the Democratic Republic of Congo for electronics to blood diamonds in a... |
23713 | "The Obama administration will give Pennsylvania $160 million to pay for health insurance plans that cover ""any legal abortion." | Abortions in Pennsylvania paid for with federal dollars? Not so. | false | Abortion, National, Health Care, States, National Right to Life Committee, | "Anti-abortion groups have long been warning that Democrats would sneak federal abortion funding through the back door into the health reform law passed earlier this year. Now they say in blogs and news reports around the Web that they're being proved right. A typical statement: ""The Obama Administration will give Pen... |
15634 | "Texas agriculture is ""at 98 percent efficiency"" in water use and ""just about maxed out as to what we can do on the conservation end of it." | "Miller said Texas agriculture is ""at 98 percent efficiency"" in water use and ""just about maxed out as to what we can do on the conservation end of it."" Farmers are not just about maxed out, experts told us, though those who use drip irrigation may be close. Growers using sprinkler methods may get 88 percent to 95 ... | mixture | Agriculture, Water, Texas, Sid Miller, | "Sid Miller, the Texas agriculture commissioner, said at a March 2015 symposium that farmers in the state have little room to save more water. Miller, responding to Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune, prefaced his claim by saying Texas is out of ""surplus water."" He went on to say that as much as the state has urbanized,... |
30104 | A photograph of a marine saluting a U.S. flag violates Twitter's rules and policies. | Despite claims that an image of a marine saluting an American flag was deemed offensive by Twitter, we found no evidence that it violated the company's rules. | false | Politics, james woods, twitter, U.S. flag | On 3 April 2003, Master Sgt. James E. Valrie saluted a United States flag flying over a desert airfield in southern Iraq at sunset. A photograph of the moment was captured by his wife, Marine Sgt. Tisha Carter-Valrie: I had two failed marriages before I met James. I thought I was destined to be single. We met through ... |
11205 | Study: Vegetables may keep brains young | This story presented the results from a recent study which found a slower decline in mental sharpness in older people who ate 2.5 or more servings of vegetables per day than in people who ate 0 – 1.1 servings of vegetables per day. The story said the effect came with “more than two servings of vegetables per day” – whi... | true | "There was no discussion of costs of vegetable consumption. Although this could be considered general knowledge, mention of typical costs for vegetables would have been a nice addition. The research on which this story was based compared increasing amounts of vegetable (or fruit and vegetable, or fruit) intake with int... | |
210 | Letterbox campaign helps Afghans cope with silent war of mental health. | Hundreds of Afghans, weary of war and unsure of the future, have joined a letter-writing campaign to share their feelings with the powerful few who will decide on peace with the Taliban and, with it, the fate of their country. | true | Health News | The letters from different parts of Afghanistan express a tangled mix of confusion, resignation and fear. “I live in grief but I smile. People think I am brave but I have no choice,” wrote one unidentified person. The letters, part of a project called Dard-e-Dil (a painful heart) are addressed to U.S. diplomats, the Ta... |
31627 | Under the LARK program, Gitmo detainees are being housed with liberals who disagree with the U.S. government's treatment of those prisoners. | The later cropping of the original closing paragraphs removed a key element from the piece, that of its writer’s indignation over the Gitmo’s decriers’ insistence that a team of observers not allied with or controlled by the U.S. military be tasked with supervising the conditions under which prisoners are housed at tha... | false | Politics War/Anti-War, guantanamo bay, terrorism | We first encountered this bit of Internet lore (collected in the Example link above) about the government’s offering to send Guantanamo detainees to live with “liberals” who complained about their treatment back in May 2002. It has since circulated in multiple versions, the most recent being cast as a letter sent by Ja... |
29238 | Parents in California are not allowed to pull their children out of sexual education classes. | What's true: Parents in California may not remove their children from instruction related to sexual orientation and gender identity due to non-discrimination laws. What's false: Parents in California may remove their children from the entire sex education curriculum as a whole, and they can specifically withdraw their ... | false | Politics, california, lifesitenews, sex education | In 2015, the California legislature signed off on the Healthy Youth Act, a new sexual education curriculum for children in kindergarten and first through twelfth grade. In April 2018, web sites reported on the parental consent provisions in the law. For example, in an article with the headline “California School Distri... |
4605 | TSA allows flyers to travel with drug derived from marijuana. | The Transportation Security Administration has changed its cannabis policy to allow passengers to travel with some forms of CBD oil and a drug derived from marijuana that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. | true | Health, North America, Politics, Travel, Marijuana | All forms of marijuana were previously prohibited in carry-on bags and checked luggage. On Sunday, TSA updated its “What Can I bring?” guidance under medical marijuana. The FDA in June legalized a drug called Epidiolex, which is used to treat epilepsy in children. The TSA said in a statement that it was recently made a... |
9381 | New Studies Show Immune Treatments Could Be Key in the Fight Against Lung Cancer | This story is one of two we reviewed about studies of drugs that activate the immune system to fight lung cancer. The studies involving Keytruda, Yervoy and Opdivo — known as checkpoint inhibitors — were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting. We also reviewed the Washington Post’s coverage. ... | false | immunotherapy,lung cancer | The $150,000-plus annual cost of these drugs isn’t mentioned. The story doesn’t give absolute data for two of the three studies it mentions. It says the two-drug combination of Opdivo and Yervoy found that after nearly a year, the lung cancer in people taking the immotherapy was “42% less likely to have progressed than... |
27098 | Video footage shows children at a Muslim school in Philadlephia singing a song whose lyrics contained violent imagery. | Several other national anthems contain violent imagery, either about patriotic self-sacrifice or the infliction of suffering upon enemies, as the Washington Post charted in 2016. The Italian national anthem, “Il Canto degli Italiani” (“the Song of Italians”) contains lines in which the symbolic eagle of the Austrian Em... | true | Politics | In the spring of 2019, video footage recorded at the Muslim American Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania engendered a degree of concern, particularly among right-leaning observers who claimed it showed young children singing songs whose lyrics contained violent imagery. The Daily Caller reported that the videos showe... |
34570 | "Individuals fleeing danger can request to be ""unlisted"" in a hotel so no one can find them." | "What's true: Some hotels have procedures in place allowing guests to register under the radar and avoid being found. What's false: ""Unlisted"" is not a code word used in hotels to render guests ""untouchable""; there is no indication any such privacy policies are universal." | unproven | Travel, hotel legends, hotels, Tourist Trap | In October 2015, a post began circulating on Tumblr holding that individuals running or hiding from an abuser could further protect themselves by asking hotel desk staff to register them as “unlisted,” a codeword rendering them “untouchable” and impossible to find: I have someone staying in my hotel tonight that made m... |
8103 | Panama imposes full-day curfew, Guatemala extends state of emergency. | Panama’s government said on Tuesday it would widen a curfew to slow the spread of the coronavirus and require people to be in quarantine at all hours beginning on Wednesday, as the number of cases again jumped and two more people died. | true | Health News | Panama’s health minister said the Central American country registered 443 cases of the virus, up from 345 the day before, and there were a total of eight deaths. President Laurentino Cortizo did not specify how long the curfew would be in place, but added there would be “logical exceptions,” including for health worker... |
8469 | 'Bigger than winning the war': WWII vet, aged 99, survives coronavirus in Brazil. | World War Two veteran Ermando Piveta, aged 99, became the oldest Brazilian to recover from the coronavirus on Tuesday. | true | Health News | Wearing an army cap and saluting from his wheelchair, Piveta left the Armed Forces Hospital in Brasilia to an ovation from medical staff and a soldier’s trumpet homage. “Winning this battle was for me bigger than winning the war,” he said of his fight against an invisible enemy. “In war you kill or live. Here you have ... |
5210 | New York to get federal funds for PFAS health study. | New York is one of six recipients of federal funding to study the health effects of a class of chemicals once used in nonstick cookware, firefighting foam and many other products. | true | Health, Charles Schumer, New York, Kirsten Gillibrand | The study will look at the potential effects of exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, collectively called PFAS. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand on Friday announced nearly $900,000 in funding to support a New York state health study of the chemicals. Drinking water in Hoosick Falls, Newburgh a... |
2606 | LA billionaire covets sports teams to promote health. | Bio-tech entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong, the richest man in Los Angeles, intends to make a bid for sports and real estate firm Anschutz Entertainment Group and wants to bring a National Football League team back to the second most populous U.S. city. | true | Health News | The 60-year-old sports fan, a surgeon who started and sold two pharmaceutical companies for a combined $8.6 billion, told Reuters in an interview this week that he wants to use Anschutz concert tours and sports events, and his NFL team’s players, to encourage L.A. school children to adopt healthier lifestyles. “The NFL... |
365 | Bayer shares slide after latest Roundup cancer ruling. | Shares in Germany’s Bayer’s fell more than 12 percent on Wednesday after a second U.S. jury ruled its Roundup weed killer caused cancer. | true | Health News | Tuesday’s unanimous jury decision in San Francisco federal court was not a finding of Bayer’s liability for the cancer of plaintiff Edwin Hardeman. Liability and damages will be decided by the same jury in a second trial phase beginning on Wednesday. Bayer, which denies allegations that glyphosate or Roundup cause canc... |
7044 | Nobel Peace winners urge global action vs. sexual violence. | The Congolese doctor who shares this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the use of rape and sexual violence as weapons of war called Monday for strong international action against the abuse, including reparations for victims. | true | Nadia Murad, Denis Mukwege, AP Top News, International News, Middle East, Violence, Africa, Health, Nobel Prizes, Stockholm, Iraq, Europe | Dr. Denis Mukwege, founder of a hospital in eastern Congo that has treated tens of thousands of victims of the country’s conflicts for two decades, and Iraqi activist Nadia Murad received the prize at a ceremony in the Norwegian capital, Oslo. They split the 9-million-kronor ($1 million) amount. In an address interrupt... |
13311 | "In about three weeks over a half million Floridians are going to lose their coverage again"" through Obamacare." | "Rubio said in the Senate debate ""in about three weeks over a half million Floridians are going to lose their coverage again"" through Obamacare. That’s a reference to more than 400,000 Floridians who are expected to lose their plans under the Obamacare exchange. However, Rubio omits that they will be offered another ... | mixture | Health Care, Florida, Marco Rubio, | "U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., continued his attacks on Obamacare during the first U.S. Senate debate against his Democratic rival, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy. Rubio said that Obamacare has ""enormous problems."" ""No. 1, it is running up our debt. No. 2, people are losing their coverage. In about three weeks over a hal... |
4195 | Government-funded study says red wolves are distinct species. | A panel of top scientists concluded Thursday that the endangered red wolf of the southeastern U.S. is a species unto itself, giving the beleaguered canine a scientific and political boost as its numbers plummet in the wild. | true | Wildlife, Animals, Coyotes, North Carolina, North America, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Durham, Science, Genetics, Wolves | The government-funded study by the National Academy of Sciences also found that the Mexican gray wolf of New Mexico and Arizona is a subspecies, which advocates say should support conservation efforts. Another wolf species, the Western gray wolf, is thriving in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes and could lose federa... |
30546 | Police in Seattle took a man's gun away from him without a warrant. | The legislation allows a court to intervene in potentially major and intrusive ways on a person’s liberty and property interests without any indication, much less suggestion, that the person has engaged in any criminal conduct – or even that he or she may do so imminently. In that regard, the bill places judges in the ... | false | Crime, gun grab, gun rights, guns | In March 2018, various right-wing blogs seized on a police encounter in Seattle to paint a state gun safety law as an example of “Nazi-Style” gun confiscations. The blog posts typically used language intended to evoke strong emotions: A man in Seattle has had his gun confiscated by police after breaking no laws. The po... |
15162 | Inspections of abortion centers around Virginia have found multiple violations of parental consent laws … but Gov. Terry McAuliffe and his administration have done nothing. | "Cobb said, ""Inspections of abortion centers around Virginia have found multiple violations of state parental consent laws but, because it’s the abortion industry, Governor McAuliffe and his administration have done nothing."" Inspections since McAuliffe took office in 2014 have turned up consent problems in two of th... | false | Abortion, Virginia, Victoria Cobb, | "At a recent protest outside Planned Parenthood’s office in Richmond, several hundred anti-abortion activists heard accusations that Gov. Terry McAuliffe is refusing to enforce many abortion laws. Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation -- a socially conservative lobbying and public interest group -- made the... |
2949 | Sanofi MS drug suffers setback in key U.S. market. | Sanofi’s Lemtrada multiple sclerosis treatment has failed to win approval from U.S. regulators, dealing a setback to a drug which was at the heart of the French drugmaker’s $20 billion takeover of biotech firm Genzyme. | true | Health News | The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) rejected Lemtrada for launch in the world’s biggest drug market on the grounds that Genzyme had not shown its benefits outweighed its “serious adverse effects”, Sanofi said on Monday. The FDA also demanded Sanofi carry out further clinical trials using different designs and met... |
31389 | Exercising is counterproductive because it expends more quickly the finite amount of energy a human has. | Because there is no quantifiable finite amount of energy that determines a person’s lifespan, and because numerous studies have shown that exercise increases longevity in humans. | false | Medical, donald trump, health, Medical | According to an account in the biography Trump Revealed by Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher, President Trump has rationalized his lack of physical exercise by saying he doesn’t want to deplete his body’s finite amount of energy. Here is the account provided in Kranish and Fisher’s biography: After college, after Trump m... |
5843 | Health experts alarmed by jump in STDs in Idaho. | A jump in reports of sexually transmitted diseases in Idaho has health experts worried. | true | Sexually transmitted diseases, Chlamydia, Health, Pocatello, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Idaho, United States | The Idaho State Journal reports that last year there were nearly 6,600 STD cases, including HIV, up from fewer than 6,300 in 2016. Cases are also up nationally, with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcing last week that nearly 2.3 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were diagnosed in the U... |
11076 | Study: You can chew gum and get well at same time | Any story with a clever headline announcing surprising results of a study involving a simple household item immediately raises concerns that the findings are being distorted, trivialized or sensationalized. But this report on a study suggesting chewing gum may speed recovery after colon surgery is responsible and infor... | true | "The story says gum costs ""a few pennies."" The study itself puts the cost at 4 cents per stick. The report does a good job of handling the statistics, with proper caveats. The story reports: The story does include a comment from a physician who warns that someone chewing gum after surgery may swallow air, which can c... | |
32616 | It was not physically possible for a single gunman at the Orlando nightclub shooting to have fired as many rounds in the time allotted as reported. | All of the math of the Orlando nightclub shooting holds up; it only fails to total accurately when, as was the case here, all the wrong numbers are input into the equation. | false | Uncategorized, mass shootings, omar mateen, orlando nightclub shooting | Rumors and conjecture fly after every mass shooting, mostly involving speculation that the shootings were faked (or what conspiracy theorists call “false flag” operations), with the end goal of taking away American guns. The theories are fed by the inaccuracies that can surface during breaking news reporting due to the... |
10111 | Say Aaa! Then Zzz: Tonsillectomy Helps Kids Sleep | The evidence is really weak on the claim made in the headline, as the story later acknowledges. We wish the story had spent a little more time on costs and quantifying benefits instead of paying so much attention to one anecdotal case where a surgery was done to alleviate snoring. The health care system needs to contin... | mixture | NPR | Oddly, the story mentions physician reimbursements for tonsil surgery but makes no mention of patient costs. “Rosenfeld disputes Obama’s claim, saying that insurers usually pay a surgeon $200 to $300 for tonsil surgery.” The benefits are never quantified, which is a big problem in this case because so much time is spen... |
9829 | Study Looks at Deep Brain Stimulation in Bipolar Patients | This solid story on a very small study of deep brain stimulation gives readers a lot of the information they need, but it also likely will lead to some confusion about what the study found. With a little more work clarifying the potential benefits of the treatment and a better discussion of the potential side effects, ... | true | bipolar disorder | We would have liked to have seen a little more information on costs, but we are glad that costs are mentioned up high. In the third sentence, the story says, “The surgery necessary to allow deep brain stimulation is extremely expensive” Later it says, “The cost of the surgery is about $50,000”. It would have been inter... |
1467 | Physics Nobel for laser pioneers includes first woman in 55 years. | A trio of American, French and Canadian scientists won the 2018 Nobel Prize for Physics on Tuesday for breakthroughs in laser technology that have turned light beams into precision tools for everything from eye surgery to micro-machining. | true | Science News | They include the first female physics prize winner in 55 years. Canada’s Donna Strickland, of the University of Waterloo, becomes only the third woman to win a Nobel for physics, after Marie Curie in 1903 and Maria Goeppert-Mayer in 1963. Arthur Ashkin of Bell Laboratories in the United States won half of the 2018 priz... |
11135 | Promising new antimicrobials could fight drug-resistant MRSA infection, study finds | This news release from Georgia State University reports on a study proposing a novel antimicrobial approach for combating methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The news release provides a thorough “big picture” overview of the underlying study and how it fits in with previous work in this area. But while ... | true | University news release | Even though it’s “early days” for this strategy we’d like to see some mention of costs, if not for the proposed therapy then a related one, or the societal costs of combating MRSA. The release didn’t shy away from forecasting potential treatment benefits based on this early research — so we’d like to see the same appro... |
22079 | On supporting the budget proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan | Did Newt Gingrich flip-flop on supporting Paul Ryan's budget? | false | National, Federal Budget, Medicare, Newt Gingrich, | "Jay Newton Small, Time magazine: ""But would you have voted for Ryan’s plan?"" Gingrich: ""Sure."" Small: ""Do you think it would actually save the health care system?"" Gingrich: ""No, I think it’s the first step. You need an entirely new set of solutions."" -- Time magazine interview with Gingrich, April 20, 2011 *... |
3938 | California Horse Racing Board elects vet as new chairman. | The California Horse Racing Board has chosen a longtime veterinarian as its new chairman. | true | San Diego, Health, Veterinary medicine, California, Gavin Newsom, Horse racing | Gregory Ferraro was elected Thursday during the board’s meeting at Del Mar racetrack north of San Diego. He was appointed to the governing body five months ago by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Ferraro noted the board has a mandate from Newsom’s office to focus on the health and safety of horses in the wake of 37 horse deaths at S... |
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