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6164
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Polish firm sued over tricking homeless into vaccine test.
|
Prosecutors in Poland are suing a private firm accused of tricking homeless people into unwitting participation in bird flu vaccine tests in 2007.
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true
|
Health, Poland, Bird flu, Flu
|
Prosecution spokesman Andrzej Kukawski said Wednesday that dozens of participants, including a pregnant woman, were denied information about potential health hazards in what he called a medical experiment. Last year, three doctors and six nurses were given suspended prison terms for misleading some 200 people, mostly homeless, in the town of Grudziadz, into taking part in the new vaccine tests. They had described the shots as free vaccination against regular flu, and falsified documents to conceal some facts about the test’s participants. Acting for almost 40 participants, prosecutors are now suing the private firm that commissioned the medics to carry out the vaccine tests.
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8862
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FDA calls Medtronic drug pump warning Class I.
|
Medtronic Inc said on Wednesday that U.S. regulators classified its move to inform physicians about an increase in the rate of inflammatory mass cases in patients receiving drugs through the company’s implantable infusion pumps as a Class I recall.
|
true
|
Health News
|
The medical device maker said no deaths have been associated with the problem and the recall classification does not change recommendations made to physicians in January. The Food and Drug Administration defines a Class I recall as a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that use of the product will cause injury or death. According to the FDA Web site, a medical device recall does not always mean that patients or doctors must stop using the product or return it to the company. A recall sometimes means the medical device needs to be checked, adjusted or fixed. Medtronic said in a statement that it sent an update on January 16 to inform clinicians of an increase in the rate of inflammatory mass cases reported in patients using its SynchroMed and IsoMed infusion systems. The masses developed near the tip of the catheter attached to the pumps, which are typically used to dispense opioids for pain. Medtronic said the risk of an inflammatory mass has been part of the product labeling since 2001. Medtronic shares, which fell 25 cents to close at $48.09 on the New York Stock Exchange, were not trading after-hours.
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36775
|
President Trump ordered the FBI to raid CDC headquarters in Atlanta in hopes of uncovering data that links childhood vaccinations to autism.
|
President Trump Orders FBI Raid on CDC Headquarters
|
false
|
Politics
|
There’s no truth to reports that President Trump ordered the FBI to raid CDC headquarters to uncover a possible link between vaccinations and autism. A report that appeared on notorious misinformation website What Does It Mean by equally notorious blogger Sorcha Faal sparked unsubstantiated rumors that the Trump ordered an FBI raid on CDC headquarters in Atlanta in the early morning hours of January 23, 2017. What Does it Mean frequently combines fact and fiction in a way that can make it particularly hard to separate the two. In the FBI raid of the CDC story, the site referred to an encounter between FBI Director James Comey and Trump the previous day, Trump asking Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head up a vaccination safety task force, an old report about a so-call CDC whistleblower from 2015, and unnamed high-level Russian sources (a common tactic of the site) that supposedly confirmed the FBI raid on CDC headquarters. Based on the What Does it Mean’s lack of credibility alone, this report that Trump ordered an FBI raid on CDC headquarters should be dismissed. However, the story was quickly picked up by a range of conspiracy theorist blog sites and YouTube channels. One such YouTube video that cited the What Does it Mean racked up more than 100,000 views within 48 hours. However, these stories provide actually no proof that the FBI raided CDC headquarters — and there’s no reason to believe that happened. It should be noted that in addition to successfully blending fact and faction, What Does it Mean also selects timely stories that have a great deal of public interest. There was a great deal of speculation and public interest in Trump’s stance on the link between vaccines and autism (which the scientific community says does not exist) in the days after his inauguration. As the false report noted, Trump has made his views on the matter clear over the years: Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn't feel good and changes – AUTISM. Many such cases! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2014 I'm not against vaccinations for your children, I'm against them in 1 massive dose.Spread them out over a period of time & autism will drop! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2014 Lots of autism and vaccine response. Stop these massive doses immediately. Go back to single, spread out shots! What do we have to lose. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2012 In response, there have been unfounded rumors that Donald Trump’s son, Barron Trump, is autistic and that the president blames mercury from childhood vaccines for that. A YouTube video that makes the case that Barron Trump suffers from autism has been posted on countless YouTube channels and has been viewed millions of times — but it’s based on pure speculation. And that’s not likely to change given that presidential children are rarely reported on by the media out of respect for the family’s privacy. In the end, rumors that Donald Trump ordered the FBI to raid CDC headquarters in Atalanta in search of a link between vaccines and autism should be viewed as completely fictional.
|
9243
|
Anti-inflammatory drugs could help treat symptoms of depression, study suggests
|
This news release summarizes a published review of 20 clinical trial studies of anti-inflamatory drugs used to treat conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. Data also was collected on the effects of these drugs on depression. The review found that drugs that affect cytokines in the body appear to reduce depressive symptoms more than would be expected simply from mitigation of the underlying primary disease being treated. The study authors suggest that these new drugs could be used to treat patients with depression who are not currently helped by anti-depressive drugs. The news release provides background information, but little data, on the suggestion that inflammation may play a role in depression, and emphasizes that anti-cytokine treatments might be useful in just a sub-set of patients. It includes a quote from an author cautioning about the “serious side effects” of these drugs, and that much more work needs to be done before the drugs can be used in clinical practice. (Note: We also reviewed a CNN.com story on this topic.) According to the researchers, “About a third of patients who are resistant to antidepressants show evidence of inflammation.” If these patients are not helped by existing anti-depressant drugs, but would be helped by drugs that reduced inflammation by reducing cytokines, then these patients could have improvement in their mental state. A new set of drugs to treat depression would provide hope for those who have currently untreatable depression.
|
mixture
|
Anti-inflammatory drugs,depression,University of Cambridge
|
There is no mention of the cost of any of these drugs. A Consumer Report article puts many of these drugs in the range of on average $2,000 a month when treating rheumatoid arthritis. It is unclear if the same doses would treat depression. This was also an issue in CNN’s story. There is no indication of how much these anti-inflammatory drugs help relieve depression because the anti-depressive effect was a secondary effect of these clinical trials. It would be nice to know how they rated the effects on depression, but that information is not included. The researchers note that “some existing drugs can have potentially serious side effects, which would need to be addressed.” Because each of these drugs differ, consideration of the side effects of each would be something a patient should consider based on the benefits and evidence. The side effects of anti-inflammatory medications can be serious. They may increase cancer risk and through suppression of the immune system, increase susceptibility to infection. The release would have been stronger had it offered more specifics about potential harms. The news release notes at the very beginning that the information comes from a review of 20 clinical trials. While the release could have done more to discuss the limitations as well as the strengths of the meta-analysis, it does include a pretty clear statement about what the study can and can’t tell us. “It’s too early to say whether these anti-cytokine drugs can be used in clinical practice for depression, however,” adds Professor Peter Jones, co-author of the study. “We will need clinical trials to test how effective they are in patients who do not have the chronic conditions for which the drugs have been developed, such as rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn’s disease.” We’ll reward that cautionary note with a Satisfactory grade. The release doesn’t engage in disease mongering. Untreatable depression is a mental disease that impacts quality of life as well as physical health. The funding of the review article are clearly stated in the release. However, the potential conflicts of interest among researchers involved in the studies included in the review are not mentioned. Some of the researchers received honoraria from drug companies. That should have been noted in the release. The release make clear that these drugs would be aimed at patients currently not helped by any existing drugs, so a comparison with those other medications would not be very helpful here. The release could have included some non-pharmaceutical alternatives. While this meta-analysis was done on clinical trials data, all of the drugs involved are currently available for treatment of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, and the release makes this clear. The implication is that the meta study is one of the first to look across the board at the secondary results of anti-inflammatories on depression. However, this has been an active area of research for at least a decade. There is no unjustifiable language used in the release.
|
3893
|
New York City expands mobile program to reach mentally ill.
|
New York City is expanding a program to use mobile units to reach hundreds of people who are mentally ill, the city announced Monday.
|
true
|
New York, General News, Bill de Blasio, Mental health, New York City
|
The city said in a release that it will spend $9.4 million to boost its mobile mental health treatment teams, which were launched in 2016. The city said the new money will be part of a $21 million investment that will lead to the hiring of more social workers, housing specialists and legal assistance employees. The additional workers will be needed to process the 20% increase in mental health referrals the effort is expected to generate, the city said, adding that it will likely reach 900 more people annually. In addition, the city said it plans to spend $11 million to create hospital-based outreach teams to coordinate care for people who frequent emergency rooms and acute care facilities. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the initiative will keep neighborhoods safer. “We have an obligation to address our broken mental health system and do all we can to connect people who are struggling to treatment,” de Blasio said. “That includes the small percentage of those with mental illness that, left untreated, are at risk of committing violence against themselves or others.” The city said its mobile units are in addition to a program that teams up mental health professionals with police officers who engage clients with serious mental health needs and a history of violence. The goal, it said, is to connect those individuals to professional treatment and support systems such as housing or family.
|
7902
|
Ford joins GE, 3M in speeding up ventilator, respirator production.
|
Carmaker Ford Motor Co (F.N) on Tuesday jumped into the emergency push by major U.S. manufacturers to produce thousands of ventilators and respirators needed to help combat the spread of the coronavirus under a partnership code-named “Project Apollo.”
|
true
|
Health News
|
By joining forces with General Electric’s (GE.N) healthcare unit and 3M Co (MMM.N), Ford is taking heed of U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for U.S. automakers to work across sectors in producing equipment needed for the pandemic. The rapid outbreak, which has killed more than 16,500 people globally, has strained healthcare systems around the world and led to a shortage of ventilators needed to treat patients suffering from the flu-like illness, which can lead to breathing difficulties and pneumonia in severe cases. “We’ve been in regular dialogue with federal, state and local officials to understand the areas of greatest needs,” Ford Chief Executive Jim Hackett said. Ford said its partnerships were code-named “Project Apollo” after the Apollo 13 launch in 1970 when a lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank failed two days into the mission, forcing the astronauts to improvise a fix. Ford and GE Healthcare will expand the production of GE’s ventilator design to support patients with respiratory failure or difficulty breathing caused by the pathogen. In addition, they are developing a simplified design that Ford could begin making at one of its plants. The plan is to get the new design approved quickly by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Tom Westrick, vice president and chief quality officer at GE Healthcare, said on a conference call. Ford also is evaluating a separate effort not involving GE with the British government to make additional ventilators. Hackett told CNN he believes the industry can produce “hundreds of thousands” of ventilators by early to mid-May. “There’s no higher sense of urgency.” Ford on Tuesday extended the shutdown of its North American plants beyond March 30 as originally planned, but a spokesman said the healthcare-related efforts are separate and continuing. Separately, Ford will work with 3M to increase manufacturing capacity of its air-purifying respirators by up to a factor of 10 to meet a surge in demand for first responders and healthcare workers, while also similarly developing a simplified design that Ford could build at one of its Michigan plants. Under the simplified design, Ford is looking at using fans from its Ford F-150 pickup’s cooled seats to make parts of the respirators. Additionally, Ford said its U.S. design team, working with the United Auto Workers union, was starting to test transparent full-face shields for first responders, which when paired with N95 respirator masks, could be an effective way of limiting exposure to the coronavirus. The company is targeting making more than 100,000 a week at non-vehicle manufacturing facilities in Michigan, including using 3D printers to help. Ultimately, Ford officials want to create an open-sourced design that others can adopt and use to make their own shields. “The teams are just getting scrappy. How do we use what we’ve got to get to something that’s capable and would meet regulatory requirements,” Jim Baumbick, the Ford vice president in charge of the automaker’s efforts, told Reuters. On Monday, No. 1 U.S. automaker General Motors Co (GM.N) said it was partnering with medical equipment maker Ventec to build ventilators at GM’s parts plant in Indiana. Meanwhile, Fiat Chrysler Automobile NV (FCHA.MI) (FCAU.N) told employees in an email that the Italian-American automaker would start converting one of its China plants to ultimately make over 1 million masks a month to help combat the coronavirus outbreak.
|
9485
|
Is it Alzheimer’s or another dementia form? Why doctors need to distinguish and how they might do so
|
Sample PET scan of the brain. Credit: Jens Maus/Wikipedia This Los Angeles Times story broaches the tricky terrain of improving dementia and Alzheimer’s diagnostics in a world where there are no treatments that effectively stop or reverse the disease. Still, researchers want to know how doctors and patients might change their treatment decisions with more refined knowledge that expensive PET scans can provide. The story explores three new studies within that frame with care. And yet, the findings were described only in very general terms, and the story doesn’t discuss the downsides of this screening test (such as the risk of a false positive result). The potential for more accurate diagnoses is important if there are treatments that vary according to the cause of dementia. This isn’t a settled issue–and news coverage needs to make that clear.
|
mixture
|
alzheimer's disease,dementia
|
A close call here. The story does discuss costs, but perhaps not adequately. It cites a range of costs early on — “$3,000-5,000” — but it’s not clear whether that’s for PET scans or transcranial magnetic stimulation or whether that range covers both. The story misleads the reader by citing 19,000 patients in the IDEA study. However the results described actually refer to 3,979 patients from whom data were analyzed. (The story does mention that these are preliminary results, but we think it could have been much clearer on this point.) The endpoint in the study was whether patients treatment plans changed after their PET scans were analyzed by doctors. The story says roughly two-thirds of patients “saw their medication regimens changed or were counseled differently by their doctors about what to expect.” We’d like to see the breakdown — how many changed medications? how many changed prognosis? Also, a change in prognosis might go in either direction — better or worse — and might be subtle or profound. The story does include a patient whose faced a worse prognosis after his PET scan, but it’s not clear whether he’s representative. It’s a compelling patient narrative, but was it a common result? The story discusses the frustration of having a diagnosis with no known treatments. However, when it comes to the intervention specifically–the PET scan–there are the risks of false-positives and false-negatives. As in, what’s the risk someone is diagnosed when they don’t have the disease, or they’re not diagnosed when they do indeed have the disease? Every screening test has these risks–it’s important to know how likely they are. And, PET scans themselves expose people to radiation and can cause allergic reactions to the tracer. There is not sufficient discussion of the details of the studies to help readers understand the quality of the evidence. No over-the-top language to describe Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia conditions. The one expert source quoted is chief scientific offer at the Alzheimer’s Association, which ran the study. Readers would have benefitted from hearing a perspective from an expert or researcher who was not involved with the study. The story discusses the rise of imaging technology in diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease, which used to be only definitively diagnosed post-mortem. It also mentions another new experimental technique — transcranial magnetic stimulation. We think the story could have better discussed the relative accuracy of each option, though. This was a close call. In general, PET scans are widely available, if costly. The story also made it clear that Medicare doesn’t cover this scan. But, the story could have gone a step further and explained without Medicare coverage, it’s unlikely to become widely available. This isn’t a new area of research–we reviewed a Wall Street Journal story on nearly an identical topic more than 10 years ago. This LA Times story could have made that more clear, and talked about how this newer effort adds (or doesn’t) to what’s already known. The story does not appear to be based on a news release.
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26908
|
“Cocaine kills corona virus, scientists is shocked to discover that this drug can fight the virus.”
|
This “breaking news” image is from an online news generator and not based on any real news coverage. There is still no vaccine or medical treatment for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus.
|
false
|
Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,
|
"The Novel Coronavirus has been surrounded by panic and misinformation since its discovery in December 2019. The most recent false claim is that cocaine is the cure. Images of breaking news stories claiming that cocaine is the newest remedy to coronavirus are being reposted on Twitter and Facebook. One Facebook post from Jan. 30 included an image of a bag of cocaine in the background of a news banner that says ""Cocaine kills corona virus"" and ""Scientists is shocked to discover that this drug can fight the virus."" No, this grammatically challenged image was not from a real breaking news alert. This image is made by an online news generator. There is still no cure for the coronavirus. This post was flagged by Facebook as part of efforts to combat false news and information on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) The breaking news format of this social media claim came from a website that allows you to create your own breaking news stories by uploading your own image and headline into a generator. The waterstamp ""breakyourownnews.com"" in the top right corner is blurred out in the Facebook post. In the original image of the bag of cocaine, which can be found on multiple stock image sites, there was no blurry white spot in the corner. This breaking news image is fabricated. If there were a cure for the Novel Coronavirus, we wouldn’t count on it being a stimulant like cocaine. Cocaine is a highly addictive drug that can lead to long-term respiratory problems and movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease, according to the National Institutes of Health. In 2017 there were a total of 13,942 drug overdose deaths in the United States that involved cocaine. There have been 1,016 deaths reported worldwide from the coronavirus as of Feb. 10, none in the United States. We wouldn’t recommend trying a highly addictive drug in hopes of fighting off a viral disease."
|
15941
|
"Ronald Reagan ""banned ownership of fully automatic rifles. He supported the assault weaspons ban."
|
"Lopez said, ""As president, (Reagan) banned ownership of fully automatic rifles. He supported the assault weapons ban."" Lopez errs in saying Reagan banned ownership of machine guns. Reagan, in 1986, signed a law that barred the private sale and ownership of machine guns that were not already registered on the day he signed the bill. The measure stopped new machine guns from entering the private marketplace, it did not ban the old ones. Lopez is correct on the second part of his claim. In 1994, after his presidency, Reagan signed a letter urging the House to pass an assault weapons ban."
|
mixture
|
History, Guns, Virginia, Alfonso Lopez,
|
"Del. Alfonso Lopez recently conjured the spirit of Ronald Reagan in an ill-fated attempt to convince the Republican-led House of Delegates to pass gun control legislation. ""In Virginia, we have a bad habit of defeating every single sensible gun violence prevention bill proposal,"" Lopez, D-Arlington, lamented in a Jan. 19 floor speech. ""By the standards of today, Ronald Reagan was a traitor to the Second Amendment,"" Lopez said. The delegate added about Reagan, ""As president, he banned ownership of fully automatic rifles. He supported the assault weapons ban..."" We wondered whether Lopez described the Gipper’s record correctly. We asked the delegate for proof of his claim and he sent an assortment of newspaper articles, two op-ed pieces Reagan wrote after his presidency, and a 2013 Truth-O-Meter by PolitiFact Georgia on a similar claim about Reagan. Let’s start by recalling that Reagan was shot in the chest in a 1981 assassination attempt that left his press secretary, James Brady, with a gunshot wound to the head and permanent brain damage. During the rest of his administration, which ended in 1989, Reagan ""often expressed opposition to national gun control laws,"" according to a 1994 article in The New York Times. Shortly after his shooting, he said he was ""a little disturbed"" that people were ""focusing on gun control as an answer to the crime problem today."" Lopez pointed out to us that in 1986, Reagan signed the Firearm Owners Protection Act. The bill provided a number of protections for gun owners. But it also barred the private sale and ownership of any fully automatic rifles -- machine guns -- that were not already registered with the federal government on the day Reagan signed the law. The provision, still in effect today, is not the outright ban that Lopez described. Private citizens remain free to buy and transfer machine guns that were registered prior to May 20, 1986 -- provided they pass a background check, receive signed approval from their local police chief or sheriff and pay a $200 federal tax. There are 512,790 registered machine guns in the United States, according to a 2014 report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Virginia was home to 31,825 of them, more than any state. Now, let’s move to the assertion that Reagan also backed a ban on assault weapons, which are often described as semi-automatic firearms with detachable magazines and pistol grips. They are capable of firing many rounds without reloading, but the trigger has to be pulled for each shot. Lopez referred us to a May 1994 letter signed by Reagan and former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter urging members of the U.S. House of Representatives to to support a pending bill banning assault weapons. They wrote, ""While we recognize that assault weapon legislation will not stop all assault weapon crime, statistics prove that we can dry up the supply of these guns, making them less accessible to criminals. We urge you to listen to the American public and to the law enforcement community and support a ban on the further manufacture of these weapons."" Reagan also sent a personal note that month to one of the fence sitters on ban: Rep. Scott Klug, R-WI. ""I know there is heavy pressure on you to go the other way, but I strongly urge you to join me in supporting this bill,"" he wrote. It must be passed."" The measure cleared Congress, with Klug’s support, and was signed by then-President. Bill Clinton. The assault weapons ban expired in 2004 when Congress refused to extend it. We should note that since Lopez’s speech, the General Assembly has killed a number of gun control bills, including legislation by Lopez that would have restricted the sale and ownership of high-capacity firearm magazines. Our ruling Lopez said, ""As president, (Reagan) banned ownership of fully automatic rifles. He supported the assault weapons ban."" Lopez errs in saying Reagan banned ownership of machine guns. Reagan, in 1986, signed a law that barred the private sale and ownership of machine guns that were not already registered on the day he signed the bill. The measure stopped new machine guns from entering the private marketplace, it did not ban the old ones. Lopez is correct on the second part of his claim. In 1994, after his presidency, Reagan signed a letter urging the House to pass an assault weapons ban."
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8746
|
Brazil to make generic version of key AIDS drug.
|
Brazil said on Wednesday it will start producing a generic version of a key AIDS drug, the latest step in the country’s long-running battle with pharmaceutical giants to bring down the cost of treatment for HIV patients.
|
true
|
Health News
|
A locally made generic version of Efavirenz, one of 17 drugs in the cocktail used by HIV patients, should be approved and ready for use in Brazil’s widely acclaimed AIDS treatment program by early next year, the Health Ministry said. “It’s a historical mark for Brazil’s pharmaceutical industry and Brazil’s public health,” Health Minister Jose Temporao said at a news conference in Brasilia, the capital. “This could be the basis for future innovative initiatives by (Brazil) in this field.” Brazil, which provides free treatment to all AIDS patients, declared Efavirenz in the public interest in 2007. That allowed it to invoke a clause in World Trade Organization rules and sidestep a patent held by U.S. pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co Inc. Since then, Brazil has been importing a generic version of the drug made in India, helping it cut costs significantly. Efavirenz now accounts for 4 percent of the Health Ministry’s AIDS drug budget, down from 11 percent in 2006. The cost of the Brazilian generic still has not been determined but Temporao said it would be well below Merck’s price and close to what the ministry pays for Indian generics. About 80,000 of the 200,000 Brazilian HIV patients take Efavirenz as part of their treatment. Brazil has a long history of butting heads with foreign pharmaceutical giants, often threatening to break patents if they refuse to lower prices on AIDS drugs. Earlier this month, Brazil rejected a patent request for another AIDS drug made by U.S.-based Gilead Sciences Inc, citing public health concerns. “What we want is that Brazil is treated and seen in a strategic way by the industry,” Temporao said. After climbing in the 1990s, Brazil’s HIV infection rate has steadied at around 0.5 percent and the number of new cases and deaths have been declining. Experts attribute the success to the government’s promotion of condoms, free treatment, and the use of generic drugs.
|
2824
|
Yellowstone managers reject vaccinating bison with biobullets.
|
Yellowstone National Park managers have rejected a plan to use air rifles to shoot the nation’s last herd of purebred bison with so-called biobullets containing a vaccine against a cattle disease, in a decision that has riled the U.S. livestock industry.
|
true
|
Environment
|
Roughly half of Yellowstone’s 4,600 bison are estimated to have been exposed to brucellosis, a bacterial infection that can sometimes cause cows and bison to miscarry. Worries that infected bison may endanger cattle in states such as Montana that border Yellowstone had prompted the powerful ranching lobby to endorse biobullets - absorbable projectiles packed with vaccine. They would cut disease rates among bison by as much as 35 percent over 30 years. The proposal was the latest decades-long efforts to ease conflicts between livestock interests and wildlife advocates over management of Yellowstone bison. Park officials said they decided against the remote vaccination program because of its $9 million price tag, questions about its effectiveness and the possible impact on the millions of visitors who flock to the park to view iconic Western wildlife like bison. The measure would have required shooting the animals once a year for three decades, raising questions about how increased human interaction could affect bison within the wild herd. “We have concerns about how that repeated contact might impact bison behavior and their visibility to park visitors,” said Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash. Nash said there was no documented case of wild bison transmitting brucellosis to cattle, which he said signifies the success of existing measures designed to separate the park’s herd from domestic livestock. Those practices include returning bison that leave the park, testing and vaccinating bison that leave Yellowstone, and slaughtering some infected animals. Errol Rice, executive vice president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association, said the threats posed by infected bison to Montana’s brucellosis-free certification, which protects the market value of cattle, warranted using biobullets. He said the program would have lessened the public outcry that erupts when wandering bison are corralled and shipped to slaughterhouses. “The capture and removal of bison has been a challenging issue for the park and Montana. Remote vaccination would have helped alleviate the public relations burden we have to deal with when bison migrate out of Yellowstone,” he said. Stephany Seay, spokeswoman for Buffalo Field Campaign, a bison advocacy group, applauded the park’s decision not to shoot bison with vaccine. “It was a mismanagement scheme based on a livestock model. We don’t vaccinate skunks against rabies or mosquitoes against West Nile virus,” she said.
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20068
|
"Suzanne Bonamici Says ""one in four women and one in seven men have been victims of domestic violence in their lifetime."
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Are one in four women and one in seven men victims of domestic violence?
|
true
|
Oregon, Crime, Women, Suzanne Bonamici,
|
"We live in a violent, dangerous world. Most people accept that information as real, though abstract. But when Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., spoke from the House floor May 16 during debate on whether to renew the Violence Against Women Act, she drove the point home. ""One in four women and one in seven men have been victims of domestic violence in their lifetime,"" she said. That’s not the least bit abstract. In a nation of 311 million people it’s also very large. But is it ? We asked Bonamici’s office for her documentation. Spokeswoman Leah Nelson said the statement was based on information from a Congressional Research Service analysis of the Violence Against Women Act. CRS is the nonpartisan research arm of Congress that provides detailed and rigorous analysis of issues and legislation for members of Congress. Nelson provided a copy of the May 2012 report. To find the answer you have to first understand what the term means. Research by the Justice Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and even the Department of Defense define domestic violence in a precise and similar way. It includes sexual violence, stalking, and ""intimate partner violence."" According to a landmark 2010 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- whose numbers are also used by the CRS -- sexual violence includes rape and sexual coercion, which is another way of describing a person ""pressured in a non-physical way."" In addition to what most people consider sexual violence involving physical acts, the CDC report said, there can also be ""non-contact unwanted sexual experience"" such as people exposing themselves and ""making a victim … look at or participate in sexual photos or movies,"" among other acts. CDC researchers considered a wide array of actions to fall within the definition of domestic violence. Stalking was included, as was psychological aggression and control of reproductive or sexual health. The CRS’ definition is similarly broad. With that background, it’s time to turn to Bonamici’s attention-grabbing claim - one-in-four women and one-in-seven men are victims of severe domestic abuse during their lifetime. Her comment focuses on a subset of the larger - and most damaging - behavior defined as domestic abuse. You don’t have to look long. On page 2 of the CDC report’s executive summary is this sentence: ""About 1 in 4 women (24.3%) and 1 in 7 men (13.8%) have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner (e.g., hit with a fist or something hard, beaten, slammed against something) at some point in their lifetime."" The numbers are repeated on page 43 of the 124-page report. Sprinkled throughout the report are detailed analyses of each segment of the claim. While the broader study includes behavior that many people would not normally associate with domestic abuse, Bonamici’s statistics refer directly to ""severe physical violence,"" acts that include rape and assault and violent behavior that easily falls within the common understanding of domestic abuse."
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40833
|
Four times as many black people are being detained as white people.
|
If you're black, you're about four times as likely to be detained than if you're white. Overall, more white people are detained, since they make up a larger portion of the population.
|
true
|
mental-health
|
Four times as many black people are being detained as white people. If you're black, you're about four times as likely to be detained than if you're white. Overall, more white people are detained, since they make up a larger portion of the population. The number of people detained under the Mental Health Act has increased by 47% in ten years. Correct in England between 2005/06 and 2015/16. Claim 1 of 3
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17099
|
Charlie Crist Says he hasn’t changed his view on abortion restrictions.
|
"Crist said in a TV interview that he hasn’t changed his view on abortion restrictions. We find that misleading -- unless you're talking about having views that have always been difficult to pin down. Even before he switched parties, Crist voted both for and against abortion restrictions: In the 1990s, he opposed a waiting period for adults but also backed restrictions that included a waiting period for minors and a ban on partial birth abortion. In 2010, he vetoed a bill to require women to undergo ultrasounds before they have an abortion. He's also called himself both ""pro-life"" and ""pro-choice,"" and he seems comfortable offering up his own personal definitions of the terms. If he's shown a kernel of consistency, it's that he often -- but not always -- talked about being personally ""pro-life"" but wanting to respect the right of women to make decisions with their doctors and without government interference. Interestingly, this is not a case of a politician changing his stance after switching parties. Crist has always been all over the map on abortion."
|
false
|
Abortion, Florida, Charlie Crist,
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"As Charlie Crist has been attacked for flip-flopping on an array of issues, he argued during an April 20 TV interview that one topic he has been consistent on is abortion. While Crist enthusiastically admitted he changed his view on gay marriage and now supports it, he argued with interviewer Michael Williams of WPTV about whether he changed his views on abortion. Williams: ""In the heat of the campaign you were once quoted ‘listen I’m pro-life, I’m pro-gun,’ on and on and on. You changed your view on abortion as well."" Crist: ""That’s not true. No. I am pro-life -- by my definition."" Williams: ""But you changed your mind on abortion restrictions in the state of Florida. That’s a matter of record...."" Crist: ""I am pro-life. And what I mean by that is I am for life. I think most of us are for life. And I think that’s very important to state because even though I am pro-life, which I mean for life, (it) doesn’t mean that I want to tell a woman what to do with her body, and I never have. Even as a Republican governor I vetoed the ultrasound bill on women ... "" Williams: ""The ultrasound bill, yes, but on the larger issue in the prior incarnation politically of Charlie Crist, you supported abortion restrictions outside of the ultrasound bill. That's a matter of record. You have changed the nuance or your view there."" Crist: ""No, I haven’t. That’s not true."" Crist then said he voted against a bill for a waiting period for women who wanted an abortion when he was a state senator in the 1990s. A couple of days later, at a meeting of the Capital Tiger Bay Club in Tallahassee, Crist repeated, ""I also don’t want to tell any woman what to do with her body. I never have."" Crist’s comments left viewers with the impression that he hasn't changed his views on abortion restrictions. But does his record back that up? Crist on abortion in the 1990s and 2006 race We’ve been tracking Crist’s views on abortion for some time now. Overall, he’s been all over the map on the issue, calling himself both ""pro-choice"" and ""pro-life"" in the past. In 1992, when he ran for the state Legislature, Crist said he was ""pro-choice"" but opposed state-funded abortion. Crist won that race. In 1995, Crist was a Republican state senator from St. Petersburg serving on a Senate health care committee. As he mentioned in the recent interview, Crist voted against a bill that would have required a 24-hour waiting period for women to obtain an abortion. The 3-3 vote meant that the bill failed. ""I generally don't like the government telling people what to do,"" Crist said, according to the Tampa Bay Times. ""I believe in individual rights and freedom. That's why I'm a Republican."" But in 1996, the health care committee approved a waiting period bill on a 5-3 vote, after an amendment offered by Crist to restrict the bill to women younger than 18. News reports at the time said Crist favored abortion rights but wanted minors to be adequately counseled. The bill failed in the House. In March 1998, Crist took a position against abortion when he voted to override Gov. Lawton Chiles’ veto of a bill that banned what opponents call a ""partial birth"" abortion, a late-term procedure. The House and Senate successfully overrode the veto. When he was running for the U.S. Senate for the first time in 1998, Crist said in a questionnaire for the Times: ""I am pro-choice, but not pro-abortion. I believe that a woman has the right to choose, but would prefer only after careful consideration and consultation with her family, her physician and her clergy; not her government."" When debating his Democratic opponent, incumbent Sen. Bob Graham, Crist was asked if he would support a constitutional amendment banning abortion. ""No, I would not,"" Crist said. ""I think this is a very personal decision. And I think it is a decision that a woman should make and have the right to make after consulting with her family, her physician and her clergy but not her government."" During Crist’s 2006 race for governor he again reiterated, ""I don't think that politicians ought to put themselves in the place of physicians."" However, he also told a priest in Pensacola that he would sign a bill outlawing abortions except when the mother’s life was at stake. But then he told an AP reporter that he would only sign such a bill if it included exceptions for rape and incest. As Crist and then CFO Tom Gallagher competed in a Republican primary, Crist launched an attack ad calling Gallagher ""pro-choice"" and referring to himself as ""pro-life."" Later, in the general election debate against Democrat Jim Davis, Crist said: ""I'm pro-life on this issue, but I also understand that it's very important to respect the views of others, and I do,""' Crist said. ""I don't think it's important to change the law. What I do believe is important is that we change hearts and not the law. . . . I'm pro-life and I'm proud of it, but I don't think that I should impose my will on other people as a result of it."" Crist on abortion 2010-14 In January 2010, Crist’s Republican U.S. Senate campaign released a statement saying he would ""fight for pro-life legislative efforts."" In April, as he lagged in a primary against Marco Rubio, Crist left the Republican Party to become a ""no-party affiliation"" candidate. Weeks later, he vetoed a bill that would have required women seeking abortions to get an ultrasound. He said he found the requirement that women pay for the procedure ""punitive"" and that the measure was ""almost mean-spirited."" Crist lost the Senate race in 2010 and left the governor’s office in January 2011. In November, he announced he would challenge Republican Gov. Rick Scott as a Democrat. Crist spokesman Kevin Cate told PolitiFact that ""Charlie Crist doesn't believe it's government's role to tell women what they can or can't do with their own bodies. That's always been his position and always will be."" On his campaign website, Crist states: ""Charlie supports a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions — as Governor, he vetoed a measure that required women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound, a law that Rick Scott signed. Charlie believes that government should stay out of personal health decisions between a woman and her doctor."" Our ruling Crist said in a TV interview that he hasn’t changed his view on abortion restrictions. We find that misleading -- unless you're talking about having views that have always been difficult to pin down. Even before he switched parties, Crist voted both for and against abortion restrictions: In the 1990s, he opposed a waiting period for adults but also backed restrictions that included a waiting period for minors and a ban on partial birth abortion. In 2010, he vetoed a bill to require women to undergo ultrasounds before they have an abortion. He's also called himself both ""pro-life"" and ""pro-choice,"" and he seems comfortable offering up his own personal definitions of the terms. If he's shown a kernel of consistency, it's that he often -- but not always -- talked about being personally ""pro-life"" but wanting to respect the right of women to make decisions with their doctors and without government interference. Interestingly, this is not a case of a politician changing his stance after switching parties. Crist has always been all over the map on abortion."
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34636
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Doctors believe an increased number of microcephaly cases in Brazil is due to the use of a Monsanto-manufactured pesticide.
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What's true: Multiple credible public health experts are investigating a concurrent outbreak of Zika virus and uptick in cases of microcephaly in Brazil. What's false: Any evidence suggested the larvicide pyriproxyfen was connected to microcephaly; that pyriproxyfen wasn't well studied or in use elsewhere prior to the cases of microcephaly in Brazil; that Monsanto was involved. What's undetermined: The specific relationship (if any) between Zika virus and microcephaly cases in Brazil.
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unproven
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Uncategorized, bad science, cdc, george takei
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"An outbreak of Zika virus and a rash of babies born with microcephaly (an abnormally small head) has led to the World Health Organization declaring a public health emergency, along with widespread speculation that the two conditions are linked. On 14 February 2016, Star Trek‘s George Takei shared the above-reproduced Facebook post linking to an article that claimed pesticides were responsible for the microcephaly births: // <! [CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = ""//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3""; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]> If this study bears out, we shall have much soul-searching to do indeed. Posted by George Takei on Sunday, February 14, 2016 Takei’s notoriety on Facebook meant that the study was shared widely, leading to even more widespread concern about the claims made in the item, which was originally published the day before on a web site called Second Nexus. Second Nexus doesn’t appear to be a site devoted to science or medicine. Its “About” page described it as “a New York City-based digital publication bringing newsworthy content in close conjunction with a powerful network of social media platforms.” Presumably, Takei’s extremely popular page constituted a “powerful … social media platform.” The article in question was not specifically bylined (attributed to “Second Nexus Staff”) and reported: The Zika virus has been blamed for thousands of cases of the birth defect microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with severely shrunken heads and brain damage. But now a medical organization is challenging that connection, saying that the chemical larvicide Pyriproxyfen is instead to blame. The Argentine organization Doctors in the Crop-Sprayed Towns says that most affected children live in areas in which the chemical was added in 2014 to local drinking water in an attempt to control mosquito populations. The larvicide is used to create malformations in mosquito larvae, in order to impair their development and reproductive abilities. Pyriproxyfen is manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical, a Japanese strategic partner of Monsanto. “Malformations detected in thousands of children from pregnant women living in areas where the Brazilian state added Pyriproxyfen to drinking water are not a coincidence, even though the Ministry of Health places a direct blame on the Zika virus for this damage,” said the doctors. Only one group was quoted in the story: an Argentinian advocacy group called “Medicos de Pueblos Fumigados,” called “Doctors [or Physicians] in Crop-Sprayed Towns.” No portion of the article cited any specific evidence that supported the inference that pyriproxyfen had anything to do with an uptick in microcephaly cases in Brazil. It only stated that the larvicide was present in water and included a quote that the births were “not a coincidence.” Medicos de Pueblos Fumigados is a group of doctors and activists critical of increased use of pesticide sprays in poverty-stricken areas in Brazil and Argentina, advocating “community-based” and multipronged solutions to address outbreaks of diseases such as dengue or Zika. However, the group’s statement (upon which the Second Nexus article was based) only stressed caution and an “urgent” need for more research into possible links between microcephaly and larvicide, not that there was an undeniable connection: On January 2016, the Brazilian Association for Collective Health (ABRASCO) published a Technical Note and Open Letter to the People of Brazil(1), questioning the linear analysis carried out by the Ministry of Health of Brazil, which linked the emergent congenital malformations to Zika, leaving aside other factors that can have an influence on the problem, and minimising the fact that the widespread epidemic in the Pacific and the current epidemic in Colombia, resulted in no cases of malformations, much less microcephaly. Above all, the role of the chemical model for vector control is ignored. This model, implying the mass usage of chemical poisons in order to reduce or eradicate the presence of mosquitoes, has been carried out in the most vulnerable areas of Northeast Brazil for 40 years, whilst the epidemics, poverty, social marginalisation, deforestation, and climate change have multiplied. Since the second half of 2014, the Brazilian Ministry of Health(5) stopped using temephos (an organophosphate agrotoxic to which Aedes larvae became resistant) as larvicide, massively incorporating the poison Pyroproxyfen, commercially known as Sumilarv and manufactured by Sumimoto Chemical, a Japanese company associated to or subsidiary of Monsanto in Latin America (1,5). The spatial distribution by place of residence of mothers of children born with microcephaly shows a higher concentration in the poorest areas of Northeastern Brazil, with poor urbanisation and inadequate sanitation…. Malformations detected in thousands of children from pregnant women living in areas where the Brazilian state added pyriproxyfen to drinking water is not a coincidence, even though the Ministry of Health places a direct blame on Zika virus for this damage, while trying to ignore its responsibility and ruling out the hypothesis of direct and cumulative chemical damage caused by years of endocrine and immunological disruption of the affected population. Doctors from the Brazilian Association for Collective Health (ABRASCO) demand that urgent epidemiological studies taking into account this causal link be carried out, especially when among 3,893 cases of malformations confirmed until January 20, 2016, 49 children have died and only five of them were confirmed to have been infected with Zika(1). A 16 February 2016 Grist reaction piece maintained that “‘caution’ — in this case, not using the pesticide — is more likely to cause more harm than the alternative,” adding: The origin of the pesticide theory was, surprise surprise, a small physicians’ group that campaigns against pesticides. The group hasn’t done any epidemiology to demonstrate that people exposed to the pesticide are more likely to have babies with microcephaly; it has simply laid out an argument. The mainstream groups, looking at this problem holistically, have said there’s much better evidence that mosquitoes are hurting people than the evidence (and there’s no evidence, really) that the stuff killing mosquitoes is hurting people. That item then pointed out what appeared to be a gaping hole in the unsupported pyroproxyfen/microcephaly link theory: Perhaps the biggest problem with the theory that this pesticide is causing microcephaly is that it’s used in lots of places where there has been no increase in microcephaly. Farmers use it in the U.S. Pyriproxyfen is one of the safer pesticides out there. It breaks down in sunlight. Its toxicity is low enough that the EPA allows farmers to spray it on crops just seven days before harvest. In South America, officials started using the pesticide more than a decade before the microcephaly surge. A 15 February 2016 statement issued by Australian pharmacology expert Dr. Ian Musgrave stated why he felt the claim didn’t wash: This claim is not plausible. The pesticide in question is pyriproxyfen … [t]he effect of pyriproxyfen on reproduction and fetal abnormalities is well studied in animals. In a variety of animal species even enormous quantities of pyriproxyfen do not cause the defects seen during the recent Zika outbreak. Pyriproxyfen is poorly absorbed by humans and rapidly broken down so even the minute amounts humans would be exposed to via water treatment would be reduced even further. As well, pyriproxyfen is relatively rapidly removed from the environment as well, so overall exposure will be low. The “Physicians in the Crop-Sprayed Villages” only evidence for the role of pyriproxyfen is that spraying began in 2014. While the evidence that Zika virus is responsible for the rise in microcephaly in Brazil is not conclusive, the role of pyriproxyfen is simply not plausible. Australian toxicology expert Andrew Batholomaeus issued a statement on the same date, underscoring why inaccurate media claims served to cause more potential harm than good. Batholomaeus first explained the previously described extant knowledge about pyriproxyfen toxicity before adding: All of this information is readily available to any genuine scientist looking dispassionately at the potential causes of the Zika virus outbreak or the rise in malformations in Brazil. Also readily available is the knowledge that the use of pyriproxifen is driven by WHO recommendations and not the marketing activity of any multinational or other corporation. The potential human health consequences of discouraging the use of pyriproxyfen in drinking water storage and other mosquito-reduction programs is catastrophic with potential deaths and serious disease from otherwise avoidable malaria, dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases numbered in at least the hundreds of thousands. If these reports and suggestions are motivated by anything other than ignorance and poor scholarship they are deserving of the most strident condemnation. Journalists covering this story would do well to research the background of those making and reporting the claims as the underlying story and potential public health consequences may be far more newsworthy than the current headlines. Additionally, Monsanto was not directly involved with the use of pyriproxifen in Brazil. On 13 February 2015, the agribusiness corporation issued a statement: Medical researchers were working to unravel the causes behind the increase in microcephaly births. A 10 February 2016 New England Journal of Medicine article reported that research remains ongoing: Although the disease is self-limiting, cases of neurologic manifestations and the Guillain–Barré syndrome were described in French Polynesia and in Brazil during ZIKV epidemics.5,6 Recent reports from the Ministry of Health of Brazil suggest that cases of microcephaly have increased by a factor of approximately 20 among newborns in the northeast region of the country, which indicates a possible association between ZIKV infection in pregnancy and fetal malformations. A 22 January 2016 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) article described on Zika-related microcephaly research: Although 37 infants with microcephaly were evaluated, only 35 cases are included in this report. Two infants with microcephaly were excluded from the original cohort of 37 babies: one had autosomal recessive microcephaly with sibship recurrence, and one had cytomegalovirus infection. Overall, 26 (74%) mothers of infants with microcephaly reported a rash during the first (n = 21) or second (5) trimester. Residence in or travel during pregnancy to areas where Zika virus is circulating was confirmed for all mothers, including women without a history of rash. Twenty-five (74%) infants had severe microcephaly (head circumference >3 SD below the mean for gestational age) … All 35 infants in the cohort tested negative for syphilis, toxoplasmosis, rubella, cytomegalovirus, and herpes simplex virus infections. CSF samples from all infants enrolled in the cohort were sent to a reference laboratory in Brazil for Zika virus testing; the results are not yet available. A 13 February 2016 statement from Brazil’s Ministry of Health (translated) echoed information published in medical journals and by public health authorities: There are no epidemiological studies showing the association between use of pyriproxifen and microcephaly. The Ministry of Health only uses larvicides recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Products undergo a rigorous evaluation process of the World Health Organization Pesticed Evaluation Scheme (WHOPES). The pyriproxifen is among the products approved by that committee and also is certified by ANVISA (National Health Surveillance Agency), which assesses the safety of the larvicide in Brazil. Unlike the relationship between the Zika virus and microcephaly, which has had its confirmation attested in tests that indicated the presence of the virus in samples of blood, tissue and amniotic fluid, the association between the use of pyriproxifen and microcephaly has no scientific basis. Importantly, some localities that do not use pyriproxifen were also reported cases of microcephaly. The Secretary of State of Rio Grande do Sul Health (SES / RS), as the local health authority, is empowered to use the product purchased and distributed the Ministry of Health or develop alternative strategies. A global effort to determine the exact causes of the 2015-2016 increase in microcephaly cases in Brazil remained underway at the time the pyriproxifen theory was floated. No credible, mainstream experts or public health groups lent any credence to that particularly theory, and largely leaned toward a yet-undiscovered link between Zika virus and microcephaly. Speculative reports connecting Monsanto and pyriproxifen as culprits had no basis in any accepted science or research and, at worst, served to exacerbate unfounded fears about larvicides during a mosquito-borne disease outbreak. To date, medical research hasn’t reached any firm conclusions about why a decades-old virus (Zika) potentially led to a sudden increase in microcephaly cases; however, the use of a similarly decades-old larvicide (pyriproxyfen) as the only cause was dismissed by experts across several related fields as improbable and without merit."
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8429
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Iran coronavirus death toll up as official warns of autumn rise in cases.
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Iran’s official coronavirus death toll rose to 4,869 on Thursday but a parliamentary report said the actual number could be much higher and a deputy minister warned the infection could spread further in autumn.
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true
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Environment
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Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur, speaking on state television, said the death toll had risen by 92, while the total number of cases of infection reached 77,995. However, a report by the Iranian parliament’s research centre suggested that the coronavirus tolls might be almost twice as many as those announced by the health ministry. “The assessment is that the actual mortality which has not been accounted for is 0.8 times the official figures. The number of infected cases could be 8 to 10 times the official figures,” the report said. The report said that Iran’s official coronavirus figures were only based on the number of deaths in hospitals and those who had already tested positive for the coronavirus. “To narrow the gap between the officially announced figures and the estimated figures, it is necessary to improve the laboratory capacity of the country,” it said. Iranian health ministry officials have not commented on the report, which was published online. The government is worried that measures to limit public activities could wreck an economy which has already been battered by sanctions. On Saturday, low-risk business activities resumed across the country, including many shops, factories and workshops, with the exception of Tehran. They will re-open in the capital from Saturday. Health experts have criticised easing of the limitations, warning about the new wave of the disease. Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi called on people to stay at home, saying: “We are expecting the epidemic to pick up in autumn”, state TV reported. On social media, Iranians posted pictures of busy streets, packed branches of banks and crowded buses in Tehran and other cities. Iran is the Middle Eastern country worst-affected by the COVID-19 respiratory disease and has one of the world’s highest death tolls.
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10603
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DNA allergy vaccine shows promise
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Hay fever, or allergic rhinitis, is an allergic reaction to pollen-producing plants, most commonly ragweed. It’s a common condition, inducing such symptoms as coughing, sneezing, runny nose and eyes, and wheezing. Treatments include avoiding exposure to allergens, over the counter and prescription medications, nasal sprays, and standard immunotherapy or “allergy desensitization”. This story reports on the results of a new study published in the New Enland Journal of Medicine on a new approach to treating hay fever – a ragweed vaccine. The story adequately describes the design of the current study, rightly pointing out that it was small and preliminary and that the study did not demonstrate effectiveness in an important outcome. The story accurately describes what is known about the harms of the vaccine at this time. However, the story should have mentioned that more research is needed to determine how safe the vaccine is. The story quotes two experts – the author of the current study and an allergy expert with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The story does mention alternatives, such as medications, nasal sprays and standard immunotherapy. The story did state that “a commercial product is still years away.” The story also states that further studies could “eventually lead to drug approval by the FDA.” That’s true, but they could also lead to FDA rejection. It’s almost a meaningless line and could have been deleted without losing anything from the story. The story states that the therapy could cost “thousands of dollars.” However, that’s a broad range and we wish the story had told readers whether that means two or three thousand or ten or twenty. We know it’s an early idea and cost projections are somewhat speculative. Overall, a well-balanced story.
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true
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The story states that the therapy could cost “thousands of dollars,” so we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. However, that’s a broad range and we wish the story had told readers whether that means two or three thousand or ten or twenty. We know it’s an early idea and cost projections are somewhat speculative. The story discussed benefits of the vaccine in relative terms only. It quotes a researcher saying “The magnitude of the effects are really impressive,” but never really quantified the magnitude of the effects. The story accurately describes what is known about the harms of the vaccine at this time. The story should have mentioned that more research is needed to determine how safe the vaccine is. The story adequately describes the design of the current study, rightly pointing out that it was small and preliminary and did not demonstrate effectiveness of the vaccine in an important outcome. The story does not appear to engage in disease mongering. The story quotes two experts – the author of the current study and an allergy expert at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The latter is not exactly an impartial source since NIAID helped fund the study, but he did caution about the signficance of the study, “limited by its small size and the vaccine’s failure to affect the primary immune system response it was designed to look for.” The story does mention alternatives, such as medications, nasal sprays and allergen immunotherapy. The story did state that “a commercial product is still years away.” The story also states that further studies could “eventually lead to drug approval by the FDA.” That’s true, but they could also lead to FDA rejection. It’s almost a meaningless line and could have been deleted without losing anything from the story. The story clearly states that vaccination is a new approach for treating hay fever. There is no way to know if the story relied on a press release as the sole source of information, although much of the information apparently came from the principal investigator at Johns Hopkins and from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which was one of the funders of the study.
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36210
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"'Ban gun' teenagers"" ought to protest cars and phones instead of lax gun policy because texting and driving kills 11 teens each day."
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Dear ‘Ban Gun’ Teenagers, 11 Teens Die a Day from Texting and Driving
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false
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Disinformation, Fact Checks
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Facebook status memes about guns in general consistently appear in the now nearly constant wake of mass shootings, but a February 2018 iteration (archived here) aimed at “‘ban gun’ teenagers” puts forth an insincere argument targeting texting and driving instead:Posted just eleven days after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, white text against a red background reads:Dear “Ban Gun” teenagers. 11 teens die a day from texting and driving. Let’s ban your cell phone too. Also, your car.This widely-shared post was shared at a time when the grieving and traumatized students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas had just begun speaking out about the events of the shooting before galvanizing one of the largest marches in American History. A March 2018 event known as March for Our Lives drew between one and two million Americans to Washington, D.C., calling for action in relation to the previous month’s massacre.Much of the context of this commentary aligns with a previous fact check of ours, in which a similar text-based status update image claimed to contrast gun deaths with drunk driving fatalities to argue against then-recent gun policies enacted by mega-retailer Walmart.As with our previous fact-check, this rumor employed whataboutism by pointing to another cause of death — texting and driving. According to the meme, eleven teenagers die each day due to texting and driving, thus the Parkland students ought to “ban” both cell phones and vehicles instead of guns. And as is commonly the case with Facebook posts of this format, a number of inaccuracies were crammed into a relatively concise statement without context or citation.The post begins by addressing “‘ban gun’ teenagers” — but the reforms sought by the Parkland teenagers were not accurately summarized as “ban guns.” They in fact proposed nine detailed changes to gun policy, not one of which was “ban guns.” One involved banning a specific class of firearms, but the remaining eight changes involved databases, background checks, loopholes, research, and various related policies:By inaccurately summarizing their position as “ban guns” the poster and sharers arguably engaged in a strawman fallacy, dishonestly framing their position to make it easier to attack. For some reason, “‘fund the CDC’ teenagers” doesn’t have the same rhetorical effect.Moving on, the post claimed eleven teenagers die each day due to texting and driving; presumably the total number of people killed in all texting and driving incidents would then be far higher in proportion to the total population. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) compiles statistics using ten age groupings [PDF] (<1, 1-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, and 65+), with all teenagers falling across two of the ten (10-14 and 15-24).Teenagers make up 13 percent of Americans as of February 2019, according to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) statistics; this means that 87 percent of living Americans were not teenagers. If the teenaged 13 percent of Americans who died in texting and driving accidents daily totaled eleven, then we could estimate 84.6 total deaths per day from the same cause, assuming all age groups are equally likely to be in scenarios in which a texting driver may cause an accident.However, according to the CDC, nine (not eleven) Americans in total of all age groups die each day in texting and driving related accidents. That number includes teenagers, parents, the elderly, and all others who are either in a vehicle with a driver texting or struck by a vehicle whose driver was texting. Consequently, the claim that eleven teenagers alone died from texting and driving is by any metric completely false and misleading. If we apply the 13 percent figure to determine how many of the nine Americans are teens, we arrive at a figure of 1.17 teenager deaths a day from texting and driving.Bringing the comparison into fair and broader context, 39,773 Americans died of gun-related causes in 2017, the most recent year for which complete statistics are available via the CDC. When we average that over 365 days a year, approximately 109 Americans in all ten age groups die each day of gun-related causes. If we once again break it further down to the 13 percent of the population who are teenagers, 14 teenagers died daily of gun-related causes on average — versus 1.17 in texting and driving accidents.The Facebook post makes no mention of gun-related deaths as it claims that an out-of-context, incorrect number of texting and driving-related deaths are a better focus for advocacy than gun policy for concerned teenagers. The post thus is now a form of cherry picking, because it omits the far higher number of annual gun deaths (39,773) in favor of solely presenting the number of deaths from an unrelated cause (texting and driving, actually nine total deaths).Overall, the meme was half purported statement of fact (“eleven teenagers die daily due to texting and driving”) and half opinion. We cannot fact-check the latter. People are free to support or oppose any and all gun control, but they need not misrepresent statistics or introduce red herrings to do so. In fact, in a one-to-one comparison based on available statistics provided by the CDC, 1.17 teenagers died daily due to texting and driving, while 14 died daily due to guns.Presented in its complete context, the post’s premise is far less compelling.
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36993
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Former Arizona senator John McCain inflated or lied about his military record.
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‘The True Military Record of John McCain’
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false
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Disinformation, Fact Checks, Government, Politics, War
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Claims about John McCain first surfaced during the 2008 presidential election then were resurrected July 2015 when Republican contender Donald Trump said McCain was only considered a war hero because he had been captured during the Vietnam War.McCain died of brain cancer in August 2018, but that did not stop Trump, now United States president, from attacking him and his legacy.The idea that McCain was inflating or lying about his military record first appeared in a blog post (which has since been removed, but can still be viewed here) titled, “The True Military Record of John McCain, Written By an Active Marine” in 2008. But the so-called “active Marine” that penned the blog is unnamed, so we can’t verify its authorship, nor does it offer citations. However, we were able to fact-check some of its claims.McCain Became Squadron Commander Because of Family ConnectionsFiction. It’s not true that John McCain was “promoted to squadron commander of the airfield named after his own grandfather immediately after crashing his third airplane.”McCain was promoted to squadron commander at Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1976 — after he spent five years in captivity at the “Hanoi Hilton” in North Vietnam. Also, the crash in North Vietnam was his fifth as an airman, not his third.The claim that Cecil Airfield was named after his grandfather is also false. McCain’s paternal grandfather’s name was John McCain Sr., and his maternal grandfather was named Archie Wright. However, McCain’s father and grandfather were both decorated airmen.McCain Was Awarded 28 Medals After Spending 20 Hours in CombatFiction. There’s no record of exactly how many hours McCain spent flying combat missions in the Vietnam War. He was, however, shot down and captured while flying his 23rd combat mission on October 26, 1967.Also, the Navy unsealed John McCain’s military record in 2008, and it revealed that he had received 17 awards and decorations during his career — not 28:McCain attended the U.S. Naval Academy from 1954 to 1958, and was commissioned as an ensign in June of that year. He retired in April 1981 with the rank of captain. In that time he received 17 awards and decorations. Besides the Silver Star Medal, McCain also received the Legion of Merit with a combat “V” and one gold star, a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Bronze Star Medal with a combat “V” and two gold stars.Several citations mention his achievements either as a prisoner or as a lieutenant commander flying bombing runs off the deck of the USS Oriskany. Some are signed by then-Secretary of the Navy John Warner, who would become a colleague of McCain’s in the Senate.The citation for his Distinguished Flying Cross sums up McCain’s misfortune the following day:Although his aircraft was severely damaged, he continued his bomb delivery pass and released his bombs on the target. When the aircraft would not recover from the dive, Commander McCain was forced to eject over the target.Years later, as his Navy career approached its end, McCain received the Legion of Merit Medal. By then, his missions were in the halls of Congress as a liaison to the Senate from the Navy’s Office of Legislative Affairs.He was praised for providing Navy leaders “with sage advice and sound judgment for enacting critical legislation during a period of severe fiscal constraint.”McCain Finished Near the Bottom of His Class at the U.S. Naval AcademyTruth. It’s true that John McCain graduated near the bottom of his class at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. Some reports say that he graduated 790th out of 795 students.But rather than attempting to cover it up or inflate his legacy, McCain alluded to his academic record there during a commencement speech in 1997:This is quite an unexpected honor for a Naval Academy midshipman who graduated fifth from the bottom in the Class of ’58. All those years ago, when I was a midshipman, I indulged in the normal daydreams of a young man about what kind of honors awaited me later in life.Everyone’s definition of a “war hero” varies, but the now-defunct blog post makes a number of direct accusations about McCain’s war record that can be easily fact-checked, which makes it all that much more puzzling that it is still being passed around as of 2019.
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6069
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Experts call for steps to stem increases in Legionnaires’.
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Top U.S. science experts are calling for stronger policies to combat the growing Legionnaires’ disease problem.
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true
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Health, General News, Legionnaires disease
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In a report released Wednesday, the experts said annual cases of Legionnaires’ jumped more than fivefold from 2000 to 2017, and that as many as 70,000 Americans get the disease every year. Legionnaires’ is caused by bacteria that can thrive in buildings with large water systems. About 20 outbreaks are reported each year, including recent ones at an Atlanta hotel and a hospital near Chicago. But there is no single set of widely accepted guidelines for preventing infections. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report pushes for requirements like minimum temperature levels for hot-water heaters, and registration and monitoring of cooling towers.
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4026
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Human toll of cold: more than 2 dozen dead, hundreds hurt.
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The dangerous cold and heavy snow that hobbled the northern U.S. this week has retreated, but not before exacting a human toll: more than two dozen weather-related deaths in eight states and hundreds of injuries, including frostbite, broken bones, heart attacks and carbon monoxide poisoning.
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true
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Chicago, Illinois, Poisoning, AP Top News, Hypothermia, North America, Health, Weather, Carbon monoxide poisoning, U.S. News, Injuries
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In Illinois alone, hospitals reported more than 220 cases of frostbite and hypothermia since Tuesday, when the polar vortex moved in and overnight temperatures plunged to minus 30 (minus 34 Celsius) or lower — with wind chills of minus 50 (minus 45 Celsius) or worse in some areas. Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis normally sees around 30 frostbite patients in an entire winter. It admitted 18 in the past week, spokeswoman Christine Hill said Friday. “I definitely saw more frostbite than I’ve ever seen in my entire career just in the last three days,” said Dr. Andrea Rowland-Fischer, an emergency department physician at Hennepin Healthcare. Most of those patients, she said, had underlying problems that made it difficult for them to take care of themselves: the developmentally delayed, the mentally ill, the very young and the very old. They also included people with injuries related to drugs and alcohol — people who passed out or did not realize they were cold or injured. “It’s heartbreaking when there are people who can’t take care of themselves and get exposed, just because they either escape from the care that they’re being given or because they’re not being supervised.” Others got frostbite on their way to work after being exposed to the cold for a short time, often on their hands, feet, ears and face. That included people whose cars would not start or who got stuck outside for other reasons, as well as those who just did not think they could get frostbitten so quickly and went outside without gloves or other protective gear. Several required “maximal treatment,” admission to the hospital’s burn unit for therapies that include drugs to restore circulation to try to avoid amputations. Some of them will probably still require amputations, a decision usually made by burn doctors four to 10 days after the injury. Many people decided to stay home even when they were sick to avoid slippery roads and subzero temperatures. In western Michigan, a health care system’s online service saw a major spike this week. More than 400 people over four days used Spectrum Health’s MedNow to see a nurse practitioner or a physician’s assistant about non-emergency issues, such as aches, rashes, cold and flu, said Joe Brennan, MedNow senior director. Most used an app on their phone. The usual four-day volume is 250. “We had soreness-and-sickness calls from people who were shoveling 2 ½ feet of snow,” Brennan said. “Instead of going to urgent care or an emergency department, they had an option to stay at home.” Another danger was from carbon monoxide. A family of nine in Wheeling, Illinois, about 30 miles northwest of Chicago, was taken to local hospitals after heating their home with a charcoal grill. In Rockford, Illinois, four people were treated because they had warmed up cars in a closed garage or because a furnace vent became blocked by ice and snow. The snow that accompanied the cold also caused problems. In Raymond, New Hampshire, the driver of a state Department of Transportation vehicle was struck in the head Thursday after ice and snow flew off a truck ahead and broke through the windshield. The driver was hospitalized with a laceration to the head and other possible injuries. In just a two-day period, Tuesday and Wednesday, Mercyhealth in Rockford treated 15 people for broken bones from falling on the ice, 10 people who were in car crashes caused by snow and eight people who complained of chest pain or shortness of breath from shoveling snow, hospital officials said. Rockford set a new record low of minus 31 degrees Thursday, but the hospital only treated two cases of frostbite, emergency physician Dr. John Pakiela said. “It was Antarctica there for a few days ... but I think people listened to professional advice and heeded warnings,” about staying indoors or bundling up, he said. By Friday, the deep freeze had mostly abated, with temperatures climbing as high as the low 20s (minus 5 or 6 Celsius) in Minneapolis and Chicago. In western North Dakota, the temperature in Dickinson climbed above freezing (0 Celsius) by midmorning — a jump of nearly 60 degrees compared with Tuesday’s low of minus 17 degrees (minus 27 Celsius). The weather was thought to be a factor in at least 27 deaths, including a 90-year-old Michigan woman who died of hypothermia after locking herself out of her home while feeding birds — one of at least nine people who were found outdoors. A motorist also died during a snowstorm Friday after striking a salt truck that had pulled off the side of Interstate 70 in central Indiana. Others died after freezing outdoors or in unheated homes or while shoveling snow. ___ Karnowski reported from St. Paul, Minnesota. Associated Press writers Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Blake Nicholson in Bismarck, North Dakota; and Ed White in Detroit also contributed to this story.
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24455
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"When it comes to aid, ""the United States is still about half as what European countries give as a percentage."
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Bono claims U.S. gives about half the aid as European countries, percentage-wise
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mixture
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National, Foreign Policy, Pop Culture, Bono,
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"With all due respect to the musical prowess of Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee, we think this is the first time we've checked a bona fide rock icon with our Truth-O-Meter. But U2's Bono is no ordinary rock star. He's also a political activist, using his pop status to advocate for African aid and AIDS relief. Which is how Bono came to be asked by an Associated Press music writer what he thought about President Barack Obama with regard to funding the fight against AIDS in Africa. ""The Obama administration is just getting going,"" Bono said. ""(He) has promised to double aid over the next years, because even though (President George W.) Bush tripled it ... the United States is still about half as what European countries give as a percentage, and I think he knows that's not right."" We decided to check whether Bono was right that ""the United States is still about half as what European countries give as a percentage."" This turned into a tricky fact-check because Bono appears to have interchanged two different funding issues in his comment: global HIV/AIDS relief and foreign aid. Bono says Obama has promised to ""double aid over the next years."" Obama has pledged to increase AIDS funding, but not double. He has, though, promised to double foreign aid by 2015. In the same sentence, though, Bono then says President Bush ""tripled it."" The ""it"" there is the U.S. commitment to global AIDS relief (not foreign aid). So when Bono said ""the United States is still about half as what European countries give as a percentage,"" is he talking about AIDS relief or foreign aid in general? The folks at ONE (the organization co-founded by Bono to fight extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa) said Bono was talking here about foreign aid in general — he has used this statistic in the past. And on that front, Bono is on pretty firm ground. The key qualifier there is ""as a percentage."" Because the U.S. government distributes more in foreign aid than any other country, by far. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, an international group of the world's 30 leading industrial countries, reports that in 2008, the United States distributed about $26 billion in net official development assistance. The next closest country was Germany, at nearly $14 billion, and the United Kingdom, with about $11.4 billion. But considered as a percentage of gross national income (which is essentially the more familiar gross domestic product plus or minus income from other countries), you'll have to go to the bottom of the list to find the United States. We note that none of the countries gives more than 1 percent of GNI. The U.S. gave 0.18 percent. By comparison, here's how some of the European biggies fared: United Kingdom, 0.43 percent; Germany, 0.38 percent; France, 0.39 percent; Spain, 0.43 percent. In other words, it's fair to say the United States is providing about half as much development assistance as European countries, as a percentage of GNI. There are a lot of other factors to consider when it comes to foreign assistance, though: debt reduction, trade, money from private foundations, to name a few. Suffice to say, you can look at this data in countless ways. And some groups that have attempted to quantify foreign aid on some of these various factors have found the United States to be on par with its European counterparts. But we think it's certainly fair for Bono to cite this statistic from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and had he been clear that he was talking about foreign aid, his statement would have been largely accurate. But that was not at all clear. In fact, based on the context of his comments, most people would probably conclude that Bono was talking about global AIDS relief , and that the United States only gives about half as much as Europeans ""as a percentage."" And that is not right. In fact, in 2008, the United States accounted for more than half (51.3 percent) of all the the global AIDs relief disbursed by governments around the world, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS. Even when standardized to account for the size of the countries' relative economies, the United States ranked fourth highest, well higher than most European countries. The only ones higher were the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Bono's homeland, Ireland. Again, some make strong arguments against the use of such rankings because, for example, they don't take into account private donations from foundations. When it comes to AIDS relief from foundations, the United States far outpaces Europe. That's because the United States provides generous tax incentives for such largess. So some argue the U.S. government ought to get credit for at least some of that funding. By any measure, though, Europe is not spending twice as much, ""as a percentage,"" on AIDS relief than the United States. The Bush administration deserves a great deal of credit for that. In 2003, Bush initiated a $15 billion plan to address global AIDS relief, mostly for countries in Africa where the AIDS epidemic is staggering. And then in 2008, Congress — Democrats and Republicans alike — more than tripled the HIV/AIDS relief budget to $48 billion over the next five years. Obama, meanwhile, pledged to provide at least $50 billion by 2013 for the global fight against HIV/AIDS. ""The Bush administration showed real leadership on global HIV/AIDS,"" said Eric Lief, a senior associate with the Henry L. Stimson Center. ""U.S. funding grew exponentially during the last eight years. Since 2001, the U.S. has funded a disproportionate share of global AIDS assistance. But global funding is still far short of anything close to global need. The Obama administration has committed to continuing the upward trend."" As for foreign aid, the United States remains the world’s largest funder in terms of dollars spent, said Lief, who served on the State Department's policy planning staff under President Bill Clinton and was once a senior adviser with the U.N. Joint Program on HIV/AIDS in Geneva. ""In other ways and by other measures, the U.S. falls short in terms of support for the developing world,"" he said. ""Single-index 'rankings' of governments are overused politically. What we’re buying with foreign aid dollars is a much more important question than how much we’re spending, and the U.S. record is mixed."" Now might be a good time to note that Bono appears to be doing wonderful work as a spokesman trying to draw attention to dire poverty and health issues in Africa. And one member of the PolitiFact team gives Bono's performance on the current U2 tour a big thumbs up. But our review of Bono's performance with this comment is more mixed. Again, if Bono had clearly switched gears and said he was talking about foreign aid when he said the United States only gives about half as much as Europe, as a percentage, he'd be right — at least according to one measure from the respected OECD. But in the context of the interview, Bono appeared to be talking about AIDS relief — in which case he'd be wrong. We checked with the AP reporter who did the interview, and it was her understanding that he was talking about global AIDS relief. At the least, by toggling back and forth between statistics on foreign aid and global HIV/AIDS relief, Bono left room for confusion."
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A meme provides information exonerating U.S. President Donald Trump from any connection with Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes.
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"What's true: Trump raised an issue with the Palm Beach City Council about segregated private clubs, eventually barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago, and voluntarily provided information to assist some of Epstein's victims build a case against him. What's false: Trump did not ""sue Palm Beach for being racist,"" nor did he ""out Epstein as a pedophile"" in 2002."
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mixture
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Politics
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On July 6, 2019, financier Jeffrey Epstein — who in 2008 had plead guilty to felony sex-related charges in Florida and was required to register as a sex offender as a result — was again arrested on felony sex trafficking charges. Although Epstein committed suicide in his jail cell several weeks later, rumors and accusations continue to fly about which high-profile persons who were friendly with Epstein may have known about, or even participated in, illegal sexual activities with minors taking place at Epstein’s so-called “Pedophile Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands (and elsewhere). One prominent celebrity who often socialized with Epstein beginning in the latter part of the 1980s was Donald Trump, who by the time of Epstein’s 2019 arrest had become President of the United States. Although Trump and Epstein apparently had long since ceased to remain on speaking terms by 2019, Trump’s name continued to be connected with Epstein’s illegal activities throughout the 2016 presidential campaign and beyond, due in large part to a lawsuit initially filed against Trump and Epstein in April 2016 by a woman who claimed that Trump had repeatedly raped her at several Upper East Side parties hosted by Epstein in 1994, when she was just 13 years old. (The first filing of the lawsuit was dismissed by the court; the second was voluntarily withdrawn by the plaintiff because, she claimed, her life had been threatened.) In mid-2020, a meme circulated via social media sought to defend Trump against such accusations by offering positive information about him, including claims that Trump had booted Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club for inappropriate behavior towards a teenager, had “outed Epstein as a pedophile” early on, and had voluntarily provided information to help Epstein’s victims build a case against the financier: This meme offers a mixed bag of factual and inaccurate or misleading information, as detailed below: The first part of the text, about Trump’s defying a Palm Beach ordinance and refusing to exclude Black people and Jews from his club Mar-a-Lago, has a kernel of truth to it, but the wording used is a bit misleading. It wasn’t the case, as the meme implies, that a local law required Trump to exclude “Blacks and Jews” from his club, but he refused to follow that law and “sued” to have it abolished. Rather (as we detailed in an earlier article), when Trump sought to convert Mar-a-Lago (which he had purchased in 1985) from a private estate to a club in the 1990s, he was disgruntled that the town council imposed a series of operational restrictions upon his plans that were more stringent than the restrictions placed on upon existing (segregated) clubs and vehemently criticized local officials over the matter. Trump was eventually successful in getting most of those restrictions overturned: The town council, seeing Trump as an ostentatious outsider, handed him a list of restrictions as he sought to transform the property in the 1990s. Membership, traffic, party attendance, even photography — all would be strictly limited. But Trump undercut his adversaries with a searing attack, claiming that local officials seemed to accept the established private clubs in town that had excluded Jews and blacks while imposing tough rules on his inclusive one. Trump’s lawyer sent every member of the town council copies of two classic movies about discrimination: A Gentleman’s Agreement, about a journalist who pretends to be Jewish to expose anti-Semitism, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, about a white couple’s reaction to their daughter bringing home a black fiance. The move infuriated council members, who said it was a distraction from their concerns that Trump’s club would spoil a quiet street. But, in time, Trump got most of the restrictions lifted. “He won in the court of public opinion,” said Jack McDonald, who was a council member at the time and who went on to be mayor and to join Mar-a-Lago. In 2002, Trump described Epstein as a “terrific guy and said he had known Epstein “for 15 years,” which would date their friendship as beginning around 1987. In 2019, after Epstein’s arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, Trump declared that he “was not a fan” of Epstein and asserted, “I had a falling out with him a long time ago, I don’t think I’ve spoken to him for 15 years,” which would date their friendship as ending around 2004. Trump didn’t publicly state what prompted his falling-out with Epstein, but the 2020 book “The Grifter’s Club” attributed it (via a second-hand source) to Trump’s kicking Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club after Epstein allegedly harassed another club member’s teenage daughter: Donald Trump severed ties with Jeffrey Epstein after the disgraced financier hit on the teenage daughter of a Mar-a-Lago member, threatening the Trump brand of glitz and glamour, according to a new book published about the president’s Palm Beach club. [A] new book titled “The Grifter’s Club” says the late sex trafficker was indeed a member [of Mar-a-Lago] and that the two stopped talking — and Epstein was kicked off the rolls and banned from Mar-a-Lago — following the incident with a club member’s teen daughter. Another club member explained that Trump “kicked Epstein out after Epstein harassed the daughter of a member. The way this person described it, such an act could irreparably harm the Trump brand, leaving Donald no choice but to remove Epstein,” said Sarah Blaskey, a Miami Herald investigative reporter who co-wrote the book with Miami Herald journalists Nicholas Nehamas and Jay Weaver and Caitlin Ostroff of the Wall Street Journal. “The Trump Organization did not respond to our requests for comment on this or other matters.” A July 2019 New York Times article provided a slightly different story, however, quoting a former Trump campaign aide as saying that Trump had banned Epstein from his club because Epstein “had tried to recruit a woman who worked” there: Sam Nunberg, a former campaign aide to Mr. Trump, said he raised concerns about the candidate’s involvement with Mr. Epstein before Mr. Trump officially began his presidential campaign. But Mr. Trump assured Mr. Nunberg that he had barred Mr. Epstein from entering his clubs after Mr. Epstein had tried to recruit a woman who worked at Mar-a-Lago. “Trump said, ‘I kicked him out of the clubs when this stuff became public, and I made sure NBC knew,’” Mr. Nunberg recalled.
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26508
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"Facebook post Says Donald Trump ""himself has a financial stake in the French company that makes the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine.”"
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Trump has a small stake through a mutual fund in Sanofi, a French company that makes hydroxychloroquine. The president’s holdings in Sanofi are valued at up to $1,500, meaning he would not stand to profit much from the company’s stock performance. Experts told us that Trump’s holdings do not violate federal conflict of interest laws.
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mixture
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Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,
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"Some Facebook users think President Donald Trump’s recent interest in a lupus and arthritis drug goes beyond its potential to treat COVID-19. ""Trump himself has a financial stake in the French company that makes the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine,"" reads one post published April 7. The image, which is a screenshot of a tweet from Ian Sams, the former national press secretary for Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., was shared in a group for ""center left pragmatic progressives"" called The 47ers. It was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) In the past few weeks, Trump has touted the potential of chloroquine and the related drug hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19. There is some preliminary evidence that the drugs could be effective in treating the coronavirus, but more rigorous tests have not been completed. There is currently no Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for COVID-19. We’ve previously reported on alleged financial ties between the Trump administration and hydroxychloroquine manufacturers, so we wanted to look into this claim, too. Trump does have a small financial stake in a French company that makes hydroxychloroquine. But the implication of the post, that Trump could stand to profit from that stake, is misleading. The New York Times reported on April 6 that the president has a personal financial interest in Sanofi, a French company that makes hydroxychloroquine, through a mutual fund from a firm called Dodge & Cox. At 3.3%, Sanofi is the largest holding of the firm’s International Stock Fund. But Trump’s stake in that fund is rather small. The president’s latest financial disclosure form indicates that he holds shares in the mutual fund through three different family trusts. The value of each of those holdings is between $1,001 and $15,000, which would put Trump’s stake in Sanofi at ""between about $100 and $1,500 in total,"" the Washington Post reported. ""That Sanofi investment would therefore constitute between 0.000003 and 0.00005 percent of Trump’s net worth,"" the newspaper wrote. ""If you were worth $100,000, it would be like worrying about the nickel in your pocket."" Since March 20, the day after the president first mentioned chloroquine during a press briefing, the company’s stock value has increased by about 17.3%. That would mean the value of Trump’s shares in Sanofi has increased by nearly $260. Given the president’s net worth, which Bloomberg estimates to be nearly $3 billion, $260 would be a comparatively small payoff for promoting the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19. Plus, it’s uncertain whether Trump’s remarks have affected Sanofi’s stock value; the company has performed about as well as the broader stock market. Legally, experts say Trump’s holdings in Sanofi don’t constitute a conflict of interest. Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University, said in an email that federal law prohibits executive branch officials from participating in matters in which they have a financial interest. But the law exempts diversified mutual funds like the Dodge & Cox International Stock Fund — and because he’s the president, Trump isn’t subject to the regulation anyway. ""When Congress amended the ethics laws in 1989, it exempted the president from the criminal financial conflict of interest statute. So the statute doesn’t apply to Trump at all,"" Clark said. ""And even if this statute did apply to the president, the regulation’s exemption would seem to apply here. So Trump’s touting of this drug does not violate the criminal conflict of interest statute."" Trump has a tiny stake in Sanofi through a mutual fund, but experts told us that Trump’s holdings do not violate federal conflict of interest laws. The post leaves out important context, so"
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10877
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New drug reverses the effects of blood thinner in patients with brain hemorrhage
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CT scan of brain hemorrhageThe news release focuses on research that found that the drug idarucizumab (marketed as Praxbind) can stop the anticoagulant effects of the popular blood-thinner dabigatran (marketed as Pradaxa) for patients who have intracranial hemorrhage, or bleeding in the brain. The findings are based on an interim analysis of an ongoing study, and the release offers a fuzzy description of the evidence — did only 18 patients receive idarucizumab while bleeding in the brain? Or was it 90? We’re not at all certain. There is also no discussion of cost or potential harms. The findings may be of interest to medical researchers and clinicians, which were presumably the audience for the conference where this research was presented. However, given the limitations of the study data, we are left to wonder why these findings were selected for a news release designed to reach a much larger audience. We don’t have firm numbers on how many people take dabigatran, but we know it’s a large number — a 2014 article in The BMJ reported that dabigatran “had achieved blockbuster status (where annual global turnover for a medicine exceeds $1bn)” by April 2012. We also know that dabigitran is widely prescribed for patients with atrial fibrillation, and that the drug can cause significant adverse side effects. The 2014 BMJ article notes that the FDA received reports of 542 patient deaths and 2367 reports of haemorrhage among patients taking dabigatran in 2011. If idarucizumab can help limit potential harms associated with a widely used drug, that’s interesting — and worth reporting. In fact, the FDA has already approved idarucizumab “for use in patients who are taking the anticoagulant Pradaxa (dabigatran) during emergency situations when there is a need to reverse Pradaxa’s blood-thinning effects.” (The release also makes note of the FDA approval.) So, presumably, the news value here is specifically focused on idarucizumab’s utility in reversing the effects of dabigatran in patients with intracranial hemorrhage. Given the small number of patients involved, and the fact that the relevant clinical trial is expected to continue until mid-2017, this finding carries limited news value. We think it would have been wiser to wait for a more robust data set and analysis before presenting the findings to reporters.
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mixture
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Association/Society news release,cardiovascular disease
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The release doesn’t mention cost at all. According to NEJM Journal Watch, the cost is reported to be in the ballpark of $3,500 per use, which we consider to be a very conservative amount. The benefit as described in the release is stopping dabigatran’s blood-thinning effects, and the release states that: “In patients who received two 2.5-gram of idarucizumab infusions in a 15-minute period, blood tests revealed that dabigatran’s blood-thinning effect was 100 percent reversed in all 18 patients with brain bleed.” Because the findings were presented at a conference, there is no paper for us to read (and we looked for — but could not find — the study abstract), so it’s impossible for us to compare the language in the release to any material written by the researchers conducting the study. We do have some concerns about the presentation of the benefits. How the reversal of dabigatron anticoagulant effect was measured is not described. The patients included in the study had all previously suffered an intracranial bleed. Their long term outcomes are unknown and we do not know if those treated with idarucizumab have better outcomes. We discuss some of these problems in more detail below under the “Evidence” criterion. The release notes that idarucizumab “doesn’t seem to carry with it any tendency to increase clotting,” but does not tell readers anything else about potential harms. Could idarucizumab contribute to other problems? Readers don’t know. Even if there are no health risks associated with idarucizumab, it’s important to tell readers that. And, according to the Praxbind website, there are potential adverse effects. This is very difficult to evaluate. The release, to its credit, notes that the findings stem from an “interim” analysis in an ongoing study. However, the release then gets confusing. On first reference to study size, the release states that: “An interim analysis of the first 90 patients in a study called RE-VERSE AD…showed that idarucizumab effectively reversed dabigatran’s anticoagulant effects.” Given that the release has already focused on intracranial hemorrhage, this might lead the reader to think that idarucizumab reversed dabigatran’s effects in 90 patients with “brain bleed.” In the following paragraph, the release refers to “the results of 90 brain hemorrhage patients enrolled in the REVERSE-AD study. This included 11 men and seven women.” That math doesn’t add up. And when we get to the next paragraph we read that “In patients who received two 2.5-gram of idarucizumab infusions in a 15-minute period, blood tests revealed that dabigatran’s blood-thinning effect was 100 percent reversed in all 18 patients with brain bleed.” And here’s the thing — what about the other 72 patients? According to the language in the release, they were also brain hemorrhage patients. Were they not taking dabigatran in the first place? Were they not given idarucizumab? Or did they receive idarucizumab, but in different doses? Or at different times? What were other important outcomes such as walking and talking? It’s impossible to tell what’s going on here, which makes it impossible to assess the quality of evidence. There’s no disease mongering here. However, we think the lack of clarity in one sentence could lead to confusion about the risks associated with brain hemorrhage: “Researchers say before idarucizumab was available, patients on dabigatran who needed emergency surgery were given purified clotting factors, which carry the risk of patients’ clotting systems forming dangerous blood clots.” What level of risk were they talking about? The release does tell readers that the study was funded by Boehringer Ingelheim, which markets both Praxbind and Pradaxa. However, it tells readers that study author disclosures (i.e., conflicts of interest) “are on the abstract.” Given that there is no link to the abstract, and we couldn’t find it when we looked (and we did look), that’s not very useful. We did look up Richard Bernstein, who is the lead study author, and his faculty page lists Boehringer Ingelheim under “Industry Relationships.” Readers shouldn’t have to hunt down an abstract (or look an author up online) to learn that. The release doesn’t name the three oral anticoagulants that are available including warfarin, which is the power player in this area. Warfarin (brand name Coumadin) is the main alternative and many prefer it to other anticoagulants in spite of the need to check international normalised ratio (INR) levels, which give an indication of clotting risk. That is why this new drug might be important and why the cost comparison we mentioned above is also important. Instead of talking about those other important alternatives the release notes that “Researchers say before idarucizumab was available, patients on dabigatran who needed emergency surgery were given purified clotting factors, which carry the risk of patients’ clotting systems forming dangerous blood clots.” The release notes that idarucizumab was approved by the FDA in October 2015, so readers can assume that it’s available (and it is). The release’s claim to novelty is that idarucizumab works to counteract the blood-thinning effects of dabigatran in patients with cranial hemorrhage. We agree it’s borderline novel since we would expect the drug to reverse the effects regardless of the underlying condition. It’s reasonably clear that we already knew idarucizumab countered the effects of dabigatran in other populations (given that the FDA has already approved it to do just that). The release doesn’t over-reach in this regard.
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8898
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FDA plans new post-approval drug safety effort.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is launching a new effort meant to strengthen its oversight of prescription drugs after they win approval, an agency official said on Tuesday.
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true
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Health News
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A customer leans against a pharmacy counter in a file photo. The FDA is launching a new effort meant to strengthen its oversight of prescription drugs after they win approval, an agency official said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi The plan, called “Safety First,” includes creation of a new database of possible side effects from medicines, plus clear schedules for following up on concerns about them. The effort was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. FDA spokesman Christopher DiFrancesco confirmed the information in the Journal’s story. The action is the FDA’s latest move to address charges that the agency has been slow to respond to potential side effects that emerge after a medicine reaches the market. The agency was sharply criticized for its handling of Merck & Co Inc’s arthritis pill Vioxx, which the company withdrew in 2004 after research found it doubled heart attack and stroke risk. The new plan will grant some new powers to the office that monitors the safety of medicines after their approval. Critics have said concerns from the safety office frequently get overruled by the office that grants approval to new drugs. The pre-market review office may have a bias in favor of a medicine it previously deemed safe enough to be sold, critics say. The drug safety office “will be playing an expanded role in the resolution of certain drug-related safety issues,” FDA Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock wrote in an e-mail to staff that was provided to Reuters. The safety group also will take the lead on epidemiological studies and medication error prevention, Woodcock said. But the effort will not give the post-approval safety office ultimate power to sign off on new warnings or recommendations to remove a drug from the market, the Wall Street Journal said. FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach told the Journal the agency was creating a new appeals process for cases of scientific disagreement that can take a dispute up to the office of the commissioner. The FDA is expected to testify about the plan at a congressional hearing on Wednesday.
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9563
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New Nuclear-Imaging Tests Show Promise in Locating Cancer
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This story summarizes the incremental benefits of two FDA-approved and relatively recent commercially available nuclear imaging tests designed to diagnosis prostate cancer and a rare neuroendocrine tumor earlier and more accurately. The imaging technologies in the piece have been the subject of recent corporate press releases and FDA announcements, and the article makes the most of the opportunity to fill in useful context about the comparative benefits of tweaked nuclear imaging capabilities vs other screening and diagnostic/prognostic testing. The story focuses mostly on the prostate cancer test, and generally avoids hyperbole and does an overall good job of keeping expectations for the new tests in check. That said, the story would have been strengthened by having a comment from a front-line prostate cancer clinician or general oncologist, especially to weigh in on what the data shows. That’s because the story was lacking in quantitative data from studies demonstrating the tests’ accuracy, benefits and limits. Earlier and better diagnostics for cancer is a holy grail in medicine, and any news about improvements and advances is likely to get attention from the sick and the worried well. Moreover, as with another gender-specific cancer — breast carcinoma — prostate cancer has been the subject and target of hot debates about the benefits and risks of screening, early detection, radical vs limited therapies, fear-mongering and statistical obfuscation. Coverage of research about prostate cancer diagnostics and treatments has been at times as murky, contradictory, controversial and confusing as has been the case with breast cancer. No surprise then that men (and, as one book subtitle put it, “the women who love them,” ) are intensely interested in any news about technologies that can improve their chances of finding and surviving this disease. Journalists and news organizations should feel a special obligation, then, to cover purported advances in prostate cancer screening, prognosis and therapy, but to put substantial amounts of context in their stories.
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mixture
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prostate cancer
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There is no discussion about the actual or anticipated added costs of the new nuclear imaging tests compared to current diagnostic tests. Nor is there a sense of the overall costs of treatment. The story offers good narrative explanations and opinions about the added value of the nuclear imaging tests, but no hard data to support the conclusions. The FDA approval processes certainly require data–both preclinical and clinical–and at least some of it should be cited. The story makes claims about earlier detection of recurrence, but provides no data on how much more likely this is compared to following PSA or other currently available tests, and whether this earlier detection leads to better clinical outcomes. We already have good tests to evaluate spread to bone (advanced cancers) and lymph nodes. We would need data to show whether the new technology is more accurate–and cheaper than current tests. The limitations and harms (from false positives, unnecessary biopsies, and unneeded surgery/radiation) from PSA screening and other current diagnostic procedures for prostate and other cancers are pretty well known. It’s unlikely that the newer nuclear imaging tests described in this article are without limitations and potential harms as well, including exposure to ionizing radiation, but there is no explicit/direct information about them. Also, finding low-risk cancers could pose psychological and physical harms from over diagnosis and over treatment. This was a somewhat tough call, because the article is not, strictly speaking, describing the research behind the newly approved tests. But the article needed at least some indication about the strength or weakness of evidence for the use of these tests; who the best candidates are for the test; how widely they should or could be used; and their limitations. Also, a big issue for prostate cancer screening is finding tests that better identify aggressive cancers–finding more cancers is not helpful given concerns about over diagnosis–especially low-risk cancers when PSA is <5. We found some of the discussion misleading: “Prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, is the common way to screen for the disease. But it isn’t entirely reliable because the PSA protein count also rises with age and disease of the prostate like inflammation, and it doesn’t help to determine the location of the tumor. That can be crucial in deciding on treatment.” When PSA is elevated and/or the prostate exam is normal, cancer will be found through a biopsy performed with ultrasound (or more recently in some centers with MRI). Yes, PSA has false positives, but you can determine that only by performing biopsy–not an imaging study. Depending upon the PSA level, the digital rectal finding, and the biopsies, clinicians have a reasonable idea of whether the cancer is confined to the prostate–potentially curable–so the added value of the new imaging in this scenario is quite unclear. No disease mongering. The story quotes two sources independent of the companies’ representative. There do not appear to be conflicts of interest. The article needed more information about where the clinical trials were/are underway. The article does a pretty decent job of talking about PSA screening, conventional (PET) nuclear imaging, and genetic testing, and ultimately defines the new nuclear tests as “complementary” by quoting an independent sources. However, the story ideally also would have discussed alternatives for staging and determining recurrence, such as bone scans, CT scans and MRI. The article provides no information about the availability of the new tests, either temporally or geographically. The article describes how the new tests wed radioactive tracing materials with an amino acid (in the case of the prostate cancer) and other molecules, and sufficiently explains how the new tests differ from current nuclear images. There were news releases issued recently by one of the companies involved in the commercialization of the tests, but the article does not appear to rely on them.
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Two lawmakers question EPA on asbestos after Reuters report.
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Two Democratic U.S. lawmakers have called on the Environmental Protection Agency to answer questions about asbestos exposure after Reuters reported that documents showed Johnson & Johnson knew for decades of the mineral’s presence in its popular baby powder.
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true
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Health News
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Whether asbestos in the talc supply in Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder caused cancer has been the subject of litigation for years. The lawmakers, Senator Jeff Merkley and Representative Suzanne Bonamici, did not mention Johnson & Johnson by name but expressed “deep concern” about Friday’s Reuters report, according to a copy of their letter dated Dec. 19 and reviewed by Reuters. Read the Reuters investigation reut.rs/2rAz2TO In their letter, the two lawmakers asked the EPA how it was regulating potentially unsafe asbestos-containing products. J&J has disputed the Reuters report, calling it a “misrepresentation.” The company says its talc is safe and has never contained asbestos, adding that decades of studies and regulatory assessments confirm the safety of its product. Representatives for the EPA did not be respond to an email or a telephone call seeking comment on the congressional letter. Asked about the lawmakers’ letter, J&J spokesman Ernie Knewitz declined to comment but said the Reuters report was “one-sided, false and inflammatory.” According to the Reuters report, documents as well as deposition and trial testimony showed that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s the company’s raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos. Most internal J&J asbestos test reports Reuters reviewed did not find asbestos. The company has defended its products in recent days with a series of full-page newspaper advertisements and a television interview with its chief executive. Shares of the company have fallen about 12.5 percent since the Reuters report on Friday. Merkley and Bonamici also asked the EPA to detail what steps it was taking to help prevent vulnerable populations such as pregnant women and infants from being exposed to products containing asbestos, including other products with talc, a mineral. Although baby powder is subject to regulation under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, other talc products sold to consumers would be within the purview of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and thus the responsibility of the EPA, they wrote in the letter. Democratic U.S. Senator Edward Markey separately called on the FDA to investigate the findings in the Reuters report in a letter on Friday. The FDA could not immediately be reached for comment. “Asbestos is a known carcinogen, and one for which there is no controlled use or safe level of exposure,” Merkley and Bonamici wrote. “Fifty-five countries have already banned asbestos. Unfortunately, the United States still permits the use of asbestos.”
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"U.S. global AIDS spending helped reduce ""political instability and violence"" by ""40 percent"" in recipient nations."
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"Daschle said that U.S. global AIDS spending helped reduce ""political instability and violence"" by ""40 percent"" in recipient nations. No one questions that the program did much to ease the burden of disease and helped many sufferers. But there are several reasons the argument that it led to political stability is difficult to make. As the report Daschle cited notes, many of the countries were on an upward path before PEPFAR began. On top of that, Washington carefully selected which nations to include in PEPFAR. Finally, experts knew of no study that shows a large scale health intervention reducing instability and violence. On the contrary, and specific to HIV/AIDS, no study has found that the disease causes instability. Daschle’s statement treats correlation as if it were causation."
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false
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National, Foreign Policy, Public Health, Tom Daschle,
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"President Barack Obama’s final budget plan includes $4.65 billion to continue the country’s long-standing program to combat HIV/AIDS worldwide. Launched by President George W. Bush in 2003, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, called PEPFAR, now reaches 65 countries. PEPFAR got some bipartisan love from two former Senate majority leaders, Sens. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Bill Frist, R-Tenn. In an op-ed in The Hill titled ""Big-hearted, self-serving and right,"" Daschle and Frist argued that global health aid is in the national interest. ""In a study for the Bipartisan Policy Center last November, we showed how the largest global health project in history, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), has not only saved millions of lives but also improved America’s national security,"" they wrote. Among PEPFAR’s achievements, they said ""our study found that in PEPFAR countries, political instability and violence have fallen 40 percent (compared to just 3 percent in equivalent non-PEPFAR countries), while economic growth has increased — and so has America’s reputation."" There are many fine reasons for America to promote better health overseas, but we wanted to explore whether the data prove that reducing political instability and violence is one of them. As it turns out, it’s tough to make the case. Correlation is not causation The report Daschle cited used World Bank data to make some comparisons. It included the table below to show how 12 PEPFAR countries in Africa made more gains than 12 other African nations. The methodology behind this comparison is murky, if only because it’s unclear precisely how certain African countries were picked to contrast with the PEPFAR ones. We duplicated the study’s selection criteria and came up with a slightly different list of nations. That could alter the results in the table above. That aside, there’s a bigger issue. It’s one thing to say that two changes overlapped (corellation) and quite another to say that one thing caused the other (causation). Along those lines, the report offered some significant caveats. It noted that ""a multitude of factors influence the quality of governance, making it impossible to assign causation."" It also highlighted that, ""PEPFAR was successful in Sub-Saharan Africa in part because it was launched during a decades-long period of development, whereby the quality of governance had been steadily improving in the region prior to and during PEPFAR’s introduction."" In short, the report took a more cautious stance than Daschle and Frist did in their op-ed. We would note that in one place, the Bipartisan Policy Center report actually was as forceful as Daschle and Frist. In its opening summary of PEPFAR’s accomplishments, it said ""PEPFAR has also played a role in security, stability, and governance."" So the report made both strong and more circumspect statements. We asked the center staff to help reconcile what Daschle wrote and what the report contained. We did not hear back. Rachel Robinson, an associate professor at the School of International Service, at American University, said you can’t claim that PEPFAR produced those changes because Washington did not randomly pick the participating countries. ""There were countries with high HIV prevalence not included in the original 15, Malawi, for example, and some of the original 15 had relatively low prevalence, such as Nigeria and Ethiopia, but were clearly of U.S. strategic interest,"" Robinson said. ""So, looking at how things came out in PEPFAR countries vs. non-PEPFAR countries is ill-advised from a research perspective."" Equally troubling, studies during the worst years of AIDS failed to find a connection between the spread of the disease and greater instability, said Bayard Roberts, a senior lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Conflict and Health. ""There was a lot of rhetoric from the academic, policy, and NGO sectors on how AIDS could pose a security risk to countries in sub-Saharan Africa, but this turned out to be vastly overstated and largely false,"" Roberts said. ""The claim that reducing AIDS is linked to greater stability seems equally incorrect."" Roberts questioned the fundamental logic behind Daschle’s claim. ""From an epidemiological perspective, it is not reasonable to conclude that reducing AIDS is causally linked to greater stability and less violence,"" he said. ""There are so many other, far stronger and more plausible reasons why political instability and violence decline."" Robinson’s colleague at American University, Carl LeVan, raised another issue with Daschle and Frist’s claim. ""It conflates security and governance,"" LeVan said. ""In countries such as Uganda, the level of democracy has arguably declined while the overall levels of violence have gone down, too. I single out Uganda because it is considered one of the cases par excellence of an illiberal ruler (Yoweri Museveni) leveraging his willingness to be a leader on HIV in return for some latitude from donors on how he rules politically."" Joseph L. Dieleman, assistant professor at the University of Washington’s Department of Global Health, said he knows of no study that shows PEPFAR or another large health intervention leading to greater stability and less violence. ""This would be very hard to prove empirically,"" Dieleman said. ""This doesn’t mean it isn’t true, just that these type of data make definitive proof very difficult to ascertain."" Our ruling Daschle said that U.S. global AIDS spending helped reduce ""political instability and violence"" by ""40 percent"" in recipient nations. No one questions that the program did much to ease the burden of disease and helped many sufferers. But there are several reasons the argument that it led to political stability is difficult to make. As the report Daschle cited notes, many of the countries were on an upward path before PEPFAR began. On top of that, Washington carefully selected which nations to include in PEPFAR. Finally, experts knew of no study that shows a large scale health intervention reducing instability and violence. On the contrary, and specific to HIV/AIDS, no study has found that the disease causes instability. Daschle’s statement treats correlation as if it were causation."
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3190
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Measles outbreak kills more than 4,000 in Congo this year.
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More than 4,000 people have died in Congo this year in the world’s largest measles outbreak, the United Nations children’s agency said Wednesday.
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true
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Access to health care, Immunizations, Health, Measles, Ebola virus, Africa, Senegal, United Nations, Central Africa, General News
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The Central African nation is also battling an Ebola outbreak that has killed about half that number since August 2018. Since January, more than 200,000 cases of measles have been reported across Congo, UNICEF said. More than 140,000 involve children under 5, who also make up nearly 90 percent of deaths. “We’re facing this alarming situation because millions of Congolese children miss out on routine immunization and lack access to health care when they fall sick,” said the UNICEF country representative, Edouard Beigbeder. “On top of that, a weak health system, insecurity, community mistrust of vaccines and vaccinators and logistical challenges all contribute to a huge number of unvaccinated children at risk of contracting the disease.” Health officials are facing many of the same challenges in the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo that has killed more than 2,000 people. Multiple armed groups have been fighting over the mineral-rich land for decades and threatening residents. The insecurity has led to mistrust of authorities, including health workers. UNICEF said health workers were rushing additional medical kits to help care for more than 110,000 people infected with the measles, a highly contagious and potentially deadly virus. More than 1.4 million children have been vaccinated this year. The U.N. agency said Congo’s government will launch a vaccination campaign at the end of October to make sure children in every province are vaccinated. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa
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4478
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Critics blast Oregon repeal of tsunami-zone building ban.
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With sunlight sparkling off surrounding Yaquina Bay, workers are putting up an ocean-studies building, smack in the middle of an area expected to one day be hit by a tsunami.
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true
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Legislature, AP Top News, Tsunamis, General News, Oceans, Oregon, Business, Science, Bills, Earthquakes, U.S. News
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Experts say it’s only a matter of time before a shift in a major fault line off the Oregon coast causes a massive earthquake that generates a tsunami as much as seven stories tall. Even as work on Oregon State University’s Marine Studies Building was underway in Newport, the Legislature went a step further and repealed a ban on construction of new “critical facilities” in tsunami inundation zones, allowing fire stations, police stations and schools to be built in the potential path of a tsunami. Passage of the bill in June was little noticed during one of the most tumultuous legislative sessions in Oregon history. But it has since been roundly criticized — including by Gov. Kate Brown, who told journalists the bill’s passage was one of her disappointments, even though she signed the measure and previously said it benefited economic development. Chris Goldfinger, an Oregon State University professor and an earthquake geologist, says putting the $60 million oceanography building in the path of a tsunami is “beyond ironic,” and allowing even more construction threatens lives in favor of development. “It’s foolhardy. In every other country in the world, best practice for tsunamis is avoidance, not building in a tsunami zone,” Goldfinger said at a symposium for journalists in Newport that included a tour of the construction project. Proponents of the university facility point out that the building will withstand strong earthquakes and be higher than the biggest tsunami. It will feature a rooftop evacuation site that can accommodate more than 900 people, accessed via an exterior ramp. Two days of supplies, including water, food and first aid, will be kept on the roof, said Cinamon Moffett, research facility coordinator for the marine center. Once the water subsides, survivors would be evacuated to a community college on a nearby hill, she said. An earthquake in the Cascadia subduction zone, which extends in the ocean off Northern California to Canada’s Vancouver Island, has a 37 percent probability of happening off Oregon in the next 50 years, with a slightly lower chance of one striking near Washington state, Goldfinger said. Cascadia earthquakes have an average magnitude of around 9, making them among the world’s biggest. Evidence of a Cascadia earthquake’s awesome destructive power is visible 30 miles (50 kilometers) up the coast from Newport. There, a “ghost forest” of Sitka spruces juts up from a beach in the tiny town of Neskowin. An earthquake 2,000 years ago likely caused the ground beneath the trees to plunge, and tsunami debris buried them. The remnants were partially uncovered by storms in 1997. Today, the barnacle-encrusted trees stand like sentinels, facing the Pacific Ocean with vacation homes and a motel nearby. The last time the ocean reared up from a Cascadia earthquake was in 1700. The estimated magnitude 9 quake sent a tsunami across the Pacific into the coast of Japan, where it flooded farm fields, damaged fishermen’s shacks and ascended a castle moat. In the Pacific Northwest and Canada, the impact was far worse, and is described in the folklore of indigenous peoples. One tale describes a struggle between a thunderbird and a whale that caused the earth to shake and the ocean to wash away people and homes. Oregon became a leader in tsunami preparedness when the Legislature, in 1995, banned construction of certain public facilities in inundation zones. Vancouver Island in Canada’s British Columbia province was slammed by the 1700 tsunami. But no law prohibits construction of public buildings in tsunami zones there, according to Emergency Management BC. Washington state requires municipalities and counties to establish rules to limit development in areas that are frequently flooded or could be hit by tsunamis, landslides or other calamities. California has no state-mandated development restrictions in tsunami zones, said Rick Wilson, senior engineering geologist with the California Geological Survey. But the state recently adopted new language in its building code requiring that certain types of buildings be constructed to withstand tsunami forces, Wilson said. Other states are moving to do the same, using standards from the American Society of Civil Engineers. Japan, reacting to a 2011 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 18,000 dead or presumed dead, passed a law allowing towns to set tsunami warning zones and make evacuation and reconstruction plans. The government is spending 1 trillion yen ($9 billion) to build giant seawalls around the northern coastline. Moving to higher ground is not required, though some coastal communities have done so. “Oregon has gone from sort of a leader in this to full reverse,” said Goldfinger, who was attending a seismology conference in Japan when the 2011 earthquake hit. Oregon lawmakers overwhelmingly repealed the 1995 construction ban in June, as tensions in the Capitol ratcheted up over Republican opposition to a bill addressing global warming. Few people attended hearings at which lawmakers from coastal districts testified in favor of the repeal. Democratic Rep. David Gomberg, one of its sponsors, told members of a House committee to imagine the impacts if the state banned new schools, parking garages and police and fire stations in their communities. “What would be the consequence of that, to your ability to get insurance on your home, your ability to attract a new business into a neighborhood that’s not safe enough for fire departments, your ability to resell your home in a neighborhood not safe enough for police departments?” Gomberg asked. He said the state geology department should “help us rather than to stop ... our communities growing, thriving or continuing.” Gomberg said his bill gives the department responsibility for advising where a new inundation line should be and how risks can be mitigated. He also said he will introduce legislation for Oregon to adopt the American Society of Civil Engineers’ tsunami and earthquake building standards. Republican Sen. Brian Boquist, who was at the center of a Republican walkout over the global warming bill, was the only senator to vote against the repeal. Boquist said in an email that it allows public entities to build, knowing full well the buildings will not survive a tsunami. It is too soon to tell if coastal cities will use the new leeway to build facilities in inundation zones. Some have been doing the opposite. The town of Seaside, 70 miles (110 kilometers) northwest of Portland, is moving schools out of the tsunami zone. Newport Mayor Dean Sawyer said his city has no plans to build critical facilities in the inundation zone. But he praised the Marine Studies Building for its rooftop evacuation site, which can fit the population of an entire neighborhood of his fishing town. “We consider it to be a unique solution,” he said. Meanwhile, the Corvallis Gazette-Times noted in an editorial that while it is possible to design a building that can survive an earthquake and tsunami, “that doesn’t answer the question of why we should take the risk in the first place.” The newspaper urged lawmakers to reassess the new law when they convene next year. ___ Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report. ___ Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky
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29163
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California Senate Bill 145 would shield pedophiles who rape children from having to register as sex offenders.
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What's true: Existing California law permits individuals convicted of having non-forcible vaginal intercourse with a minor (within certain age parameters) to seek discretionary relief in court from automatically having to register as sex offenders. SB-145 extends that exception to people convicted of having non-forcible oral or anal sex with a minor. What's false: The bill would not shield anyone from the requirement to register as a sex offender. Rather, it would leave that decision, in eligible cases, to the discretion of the presiding judge.
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false
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Politics, the washington pundit
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In January 2019, California state senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced a bill (SB-145) that would modify the state penal code to allow certain individuals convicted of sex offenses involving minors to apply for discretionary relief from having to register as sex offenders. Under current California law, all persons found guilty of having non-forcible oral or anal intercourse with a minor are automatically required to register after serving time. The revised statute would leave that requirement to a judge’s discretion “if, at the time of the offense, the person is not more than 10 years older than the minor, as measured from the minor’s date of birth to the person’s date of birth.” The aim of the bill, according to a press release from Wiener’s office, is to redress the disparity between how heterosexual and LGBT offenders are treated under the existing law: Currently, for consensual yet illegal sexual relations between a teenager age 15 and over and a partner within 10 years of age, “sexual intercourse” (i.e., vaginal intercourse) does not require the offender to go onto the sex offender registry; rather, the judge decides based on the facts of the case whether sex offender registration is warranted or unwarranted. By contrast, for other forms of intercourse — specifically, oral and anal intercourse — sex offender registration is mandated under all situations, with no judicial discretion. This distinction in the law — which is irrational, at best — disproportionately targets LGBT young people for mandatory sex offender registration, since LGBT people usually cannot engage in vaginal intercourse. For example, if an 18 year old straight man has vaginal intercourse with his 17 year old girlfriend, he is guilty of a crime, but he is not automatically required to register as a sex offender; instead, the judge will decide based on the facts of the case whether registration is warranted. By contrast, if an 18 year old gay man has sex with his 17 year old boyfriend, the judge *must* place him on the sex offender registry, no matter what the circumstances. A 21 February 2019 article on The Washington Pundit website put a decidedly different spin on the proposal. That article, entitled “CA Democrats Introduce LGBTQ Bill that would Protect Pedophiles who Rape Children,” claimed: SB-145 would allow a sex offender who lures a minor with the intent to commit a felony (i.e. a sex act) the ability to escape registering as a sex offender as long as the offender is within 10 years of age of the minor. SB-145 would add a section to the state’s penal code (Section 290.55) stipulating that as long as the offender is “not more than 10 years older than the minor,” they are not automatically mandated to register as a sex offender. There is no age limit or range specified, except for existing law which already excludes lewd acts with children under 14. SB-145 appears to allow adults to victimize minors by luring them with the intent to have sex, and then shields the predator from being automatically registered as a sex offender, as in the case of a 25 year old luring a 15 year old for sex, or a 22 year old luring a 12 year old. SB-145, as currently written, appears to allow certain sexual predators to live among the population without anyone being aware. These claims are at best misleading and at worst false, beginning with the headline. The bill does not, under any reasonable interpretation, “protect pedophiles who rape children.” Although the crimes addressed in SB-145 fall under the heading of statutory rape (given that the victims are under 18, the statutory age of consent), they do not include forcible sex crimes of any kind, as a spokesperson for Sen. Wiener, Victor Ruiz-Cornejo, explained in an email: Currently, there are several non-forcible, “consensual” sexual offenses involving minors which require lifetime sex offender registration. These cases involve minors who are having a sexual relationship with someone over the age of 18. Although minors cannot legally consent to sexual activity, the cases are viewed as “consensual” because the sexual activity is not forced and the minor is a willing participant. SB 145 does not apply for anyone 14 years or younger. Moreover, it is not the case that the new law would, per the article’s claim, “allow a sex offender who lures a minor with the intent to commit a felony (i.e., a sex act) the ability to escape registering as a sex offender as long as the offender is within 10 years of age of the minor.” The proposed law doesn’t allow anyone to “escape” registering. Rather, it allows people found guilty of unforced oral or anal intercourse with a minor 14 or older, if there is no more than 10 years’ age difference between them, to apply to the court for the same discretionary relief from mandated sex-offender registration that is already afforded to those found guilty of vaginal intercourse with a minor. That is to say, a court would decide whether the offender must register, based on the facts of the case. Also, according to Ruiz-Cornejo, “luring a minor” for purposes of sex is not one of the crimes covered in the bill. “Senate Bill 145 does not protect anyone from luring children (under 14 years old) or teenagers (above 15 years old) with the intent to commit sexual assault,” he told us. “Luring a minor is treated differently and does not fall under the consensual relationships this bill is addressing.” We asked Ruiz-Cornejo for further clarification on this, given that the text of the bill does state that it applies to Section 288.3 of the Penal Code, which addresses contacting a minor with intent to commit a felony (including certain sex offenses), but he didn’r elaborate. We followed up with Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Dan Felizzatto, who confirmed what Ruiz-Cornejo told us and explained that when a defendant is prosecuted for luring a minor (including children under 14) “they would be charged with [Penal Code] Section 272 because that is the luring section.” Conviction under Section 272 requires mandatory sex offender registration if it involves lewd or lascivious conduct (with no provision for discretionary relief). Additional charges are often filed in such cases, which could include, for example, a violation of Section 288.3 (contacting a minor with intent to commit a felony) or any substantive sex offense that would be appropriate, but any discretionary relief from mandatory registry provided for under Section 288.3 would not apply to the luring charge under Section 272. Nothing in SB-145 would preclude a district attorney from filing a case in such a way as to prevent an individual who commits a sex offense against a minor under 14 from taking advantage of the discretionary relief provision, Felizzatto said. “Those types of sex offenders are predatory and would not benefit from the changes in SB-145.” Given that the second quoted paragraph of the Washington Pundit piece references “existing law which already excludes lewd acts with children under 14,” the paragraph that follows contains a blatant falsehood, citing the example of “a 22-year-old luring a 12-year-old” to show how the proposed legislation supposedly “shields” child predators. “The bill does not apply to anyone under 14 years old,” Ruiz-Cornejo said when we showed him the passage. “Nor does the bill shield anyone, it simply grants the judge discretion.” (The Washington Pundit deleted the example and noted the correction after we contacted them to point out its inaccuracy.) Finally, the sentence “SB-145, as currently written, appears to allow certain sexual predators to live among the population without anyone being aware” simply repeats the erroneous claim that discretionary relief will be granted to sexual predators. We sought comment on the discrepancies in the article from The Washington Pundit’s publisher, who defended the website’s overall characterization of the bill. “By eliminating the different treatments for vaginal vs oral and anal assaults, it doesn’t change the nature of the bill,” he said in an email. “It actually expands on it and applies more protection to the pedophile. (Our definition of pedophile is an adult who sexually preys on children).” He also stood by the claim that the bill would “protect pedophiles who rape children,” citing California’s age-of-consent law as a reason to ignore the distinction between forcible rape and “consensual” sex acts such as those that fall under the heading of statutory rape: When an adult takes advantage of the innocence of a child, they are raping them. That’s why we don’t believe in having consensual sex with a drunk, adult woman. She may have consented but she wasn’t in the right state of mind to give actual consent. When a guy knowingly has sex with a drunk woman, he knows she isn’t in her normal state of mind. We believe any pursuit to engage in sexual acts that isn’t respectful and misleading the woman’s or child’s state of mind is immoral and equal to rape. Now, your definition of rape may be different. According to our definition, and the definition of our audience, it fits the description of rape. The title is not misleading. The title may be interpreted differently depending on who is reading it. On 4 March 2019, Wiener’s office issued an amended version of SB-145 to clarify its intent and allay public confusion about which types of offenses are and are not included in the bill. It was referred to the Senate Committee on Public Safety and a hearing was set for 2 April.
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30653
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Australian officials are deploying a genetically-modified vaccine aerially without consent from residents.
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The approval of Vaxchora represents a significant addition to the cholera-prevention measures currently recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for travelers to cholera-affected regions.
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false
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Junk News, australia, chemtrails, food and drug administration
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In March 2016 YourNewsWire.com, a regular purveyor of fake stories, rehashed a story from years earlier to push the claim that Australian officials were releasing an anti-cholera vaccine against peoples’ will: Australia have approved the license application from Big Pharma company PaxVax that will allow them to intentionally release a GMO vaccine consisting of live bacteria into Queensland, via chemtrails. Like other conspiracy-minded sites, YourNewsWire.comwas advancing a story that was already years old; it was based on a November 2013 story published by anti-vaccine web site PreventDisease.com, saying that Paxvax would be able to release “live bacteria into the environment.” It is true that Paxvax applied in 2013 to conduct clinical trials for the vaccine. But contrary to PreventDisease.com’s allegation, an April 2014 report by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (which is part of the national Department of Health) specified not only that the vaccine is taken orally, but that the trial would be restricted to 1,000 people who were already planning to travel to areas where the disease is prevalent — a far cry from an unsuspecting populace being sprayed from above. In June 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of the vaccine, Vaxchora, for use by adults to protect themselves against cholera during their travels. Peter Marks, who heads the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement:
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15113
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"There is not ""one of the Muslim nations"" that doesn't have ""discrimination against women, discrimination against gays, subjugation of other religious beliefs."
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"Ben Carson said there is not ""one of the Muslim nations"" that doesn't have ""discrimination against women, discrimination against gays, subjugation of other religious beliefs."" Carson has a point that many countries with a majority-Muslim population do have poor records on institutional discrimination against women, members of the LGBT community and religious minorities. However, his broad-brush statement glosses over the fact that such policies are not universal. Numerous Muslim countries offer freedoms in each category."
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false
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National, Corrections and Updates, Gays and Lesbians, Human Rights, Islam, Religion, Women, Ben Carson,
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"Muslim values are inconsistent with American values, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said recently. Carson has been on the defense for saying he doesn’t believe a Muslim should be president. A couple of days later, in a Sept. 22 interview with Fox’s Megyn Kelly, the former neurosurgeon justified his position by criticizing the governments of Muslim countries for their human rights records. ""If you look throughout the world at Muslim government, I see discrimination against women, discrimination against gays, subjugation of other religious beliefs,"" said Carson, a resident of West Palm Beach, Fla. ""And I would be very interested in somebody showing me one of the Muslim nations where that is not occurring. I haven't seen it."" We decided to help Carson out and look into whether there are Muslim countries -- that is, those with a majority-Muslim population -- with governments that don’t discriminate against women, members of the LGBT community and religious minorities. Carson does have a point that a majority of the 50-odd Muslim countries do have poor records in all three categories. However, he overlooks some important exceptions. Women’s rights To assess women’s rights in these countries, we turned to the World Economic Forum’s 2014 Global Gender Gap Index, as well as the 2014 Social Institutions and Gender Index report published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD. The Gender Gap Index ranks 142 countries based on gender disparities within each nation, including economic opportunity, educational attainment, political empowerment and health. The United States is No. 20, while Iceland is No. 1. By this measure, the 34 Muslim countries on this list don’t have a solid record on gender equality. Just eight crack the top 100 -- Kazakhstan (43), Kyrgyzstan (67), Bangladesh (68), Senegal (77), Albania (83), Azerbaijan (94), Indonesia (97) and Brunei (98). The OECD index instead measures how much gender discrimination a country’s institutions project. Although it isn’t ranked on the overall index list, the United States is listed as ""low"" or ""very low"" discrimination in all categories except ""civil liberties,"" for which it is labeled ""medium"" discrimination -- for reasons such as low numbers of female elected leaders and no national paid maternity or paternity leave. Of the 43 Muslim countries included in the report, most have ""high"" to ""very high"" levels of institutional discrimination in most categories. Just three are categorized as ""low"" discrimination across the board -- Kazakhstan, Morocco and Turkey. Labeled ""medium"" are Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Senegal and Indonesia. It’s also worth noting that multiple Muslim countries have had female heads of government or heads of state, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Turkey, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan and Senegal. Zakia Salime, an expert in gender and Islam at Rutgers University, also pointed out that numerous Muslim countries signed the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, while the United States did not. She added that abortion is legal in some Muslim countries, including Turkey. LGBT rights We had a little more trouble pinning down which, if any, Muslim countries have little institutional discrimination against the LGBT community. We did, at least, figure out which ones criminalize homosexuality, according to the Human Rights Campaign and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, both advocacy groups. Of 48 majority-Muslim countries, homosexual relations are legal in 13: Albania, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Tajikistan and Turkey. In some of these countries where homosexual activity is legal, there is still some institutional discrimination against LGBT people -- such as a ban on cross-dressing in Bahrain. In some other Muslim nations, homosexuality is legal in parts of the country. As for same-sex marriage, it is not legal in any majority-Muslim nation. Religious freedom As far as institutional challenges to religious freedom, we looked at democracy advocacy group Freedom House’s 2015 Freedom in the World report. In coming up with their overall freedom index, Freedom House scored each of the countries it assessed based on ""freedom of expression and belief."" The United States scored a 15 out of 16 in this category. Of the 47 Muslim countries included in the study, nine got a score higher than 10 out of 16 in ""freedom of expression and belief"": Tunisia (13), Sierra Leone (12), Senegal (15), Niger (11), Mali (11), Lebanon (11), Indonesia (12), Burkina Faso (13) and Albania (13). Notably, Senegal received the same score as the United States. But many Muslim countries got low scores in this category -- including seven nations that scored just a one or two. We also looked at Muslim countries in the State Department’s 2013 Religious Freedom Report. The department reported a vast majority of these countries as having some institutional restrictions on religious freedom. But the report said several Muslim countries had no significant restrictions -- mostly overlapping with the countries that received high scores on the Freedom House list. In sum While there are many majority-Muslim nations that do have a record of institutional discrimination against women, members of the LGBT community and religious groups, there are plenty of exceptions. These exceptions are enough to call into question Carson’s implication that none of the nearly 50 Muslim countries -- and by extension the world’s 1.7 billion Muslims -- respect these rights. Many Muslim countries have a longstanding tradition of democratic rule, particularly in the Far East, such as Bangladesh, said Ahmed Souaiaia, a professor of Islamic law and human rights at the University of Iowa. Souaiaia said he has conducted research in Tunisia, where religious minorities and women’s rights are protected in the country’s constitution. ""To reduce the actions, beliefs and views of 1.7 billion people to a stereotype is stunning,"" Souaiaia said. Our ruling Ben Carson said there is not ""one of the Muslim nations"" that doesn't have ""discrimination against women, discrimination against gays, subjugation of other religious beliefs."" Carson has a point that many countries with a majority-Muslim population do have poor records on institutional discrimination against women, members of the LGBT community and religious minorities. However, his broad-brush statement glosses over the fact that such policies are not universal. Numerous Muslim countries offer freedoms in each category. CLARIFICATION, Nov. 24, 2015: We've updated this article in response to a reader's suggestion, clarifying that the list of Muslim countries that have had female leaders includes both heads of state and heads of government."
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11546
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Strawberries Fight Cancer, Study Finds
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We don’t know who writes the headlines for online stories at WSJ.com, but the dissonance between the headline and the first sentence in this story is striking. Headline: Strawberries Fight Cancer 1st sentence: Strawberries have the potential to prevent esopageal cancer, according to a preliminary study. “Potential” and “preliminary” are key themes – yet they were never fully developed in the story. This is VERY preliminary work – so much so that its newsworthiness can be called into question. But if this is going to be reported, it requires far more caveats than what this story delivered. One could ask, “What’s the harm in a story about potential benefits from strawberries?” The potential harm is the loss of journalistic and scientific credibility. The study didn’t prove what the headline trumpets. There are serious limitations to this kind of research, conducted in only 36 people. The daily drumbeat of stories like this dulls the senses of readers, who become numb to the continuous thread of cures and scares. That’s a harm worth worrying about.
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false
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Cancer,Diet studies,Wall Street Journal
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Not applicable because the cost of strawberries is not in question. Insufficient. All we’re told is that “29 out of 36 participants experienced a decrease in histological grade of the precancerous lesion, or a slowing in the growth of the lesion.” We’re not told what the grade was to begin with nor what it decreased to nor how many of the 29 had what degree of decrease. And again, there was no discussion about what’s known at all about the potential benefits of treating precancerous esophageal lesions. Not applicable. We don’t know what the harms of strawberry consumption would be. This is the weak spot of the story. First, it was based on a talk at a scientific meeting. There was no mention of the limitations of drawing conclusions from such data which have not undergone rigorous peer review. See our primer on this topic. Second, it was a study of 36 people. The only caveat mentioned in the story was the researcher’s comment that “larger, randomized placebo-controlled studies are needed to confirm the results.” No kidding! The size of the study calls the newsworthiness of the story into question. Finally, the story only reported results on an intermediate endpoint – decrease in histological grade of the precancerous lesion. Think about that. 36 people – 29 of whom had a change in cells in a precancerous lesion. There was no discussion of what happens to precancerous lesions over time. No discussion that a small, short-term study like this can’t establish any outcomes like survival. Yet that glaring headline – “Strawberries Fight Cancer.” There is no disease-mongering about esophageal cancer in the story. No independent source is cited. Readers aren’t given any context about the diagnosis and treatment of precancerous esophageal lesions. From this story, some readers might guess that strawberries are the only hope. Not applicable. The availability of strawberries is not in question. The story notes that a strawberry-industry-funded agency supplied the fruit for the study. One online commenter on the WSJ site wrote, “If you need someone to ‘contribute’ strawberries for research .. you already know the outcome.” At least the story noted that “Previous work showed that freeze-dried strawberries were able to significantly inhibit tumor development in rats.” So there was no claim that this was first-in-its-field research. Not applicable. We can’t be sure of the extent to which the story may have relied on a news release. We do know this:
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9373
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NEW CURE FOR BALDNESS COULD BE FOUND IN EXISTING DRUG, SCIENTISTS SAY
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This news story hyped lab findings as evidence that a potential “cure” for baldness could be on the horizon. Researchers at the University of Manchester in the U.K. found that a substance called Cyclosporine A (CsA), which has been used to treat immune disorders and transplant rejection, affected a protein that stunts the development of hair follicles. They then identified an osteoporosis drug called WAY-316606 that has a similar effect on hair follicles in the lab, but could potentially have fewer side effects than CsA. The story didn’t say anything about the quality of the study and misleads readers about the implications and timeline. Hair loss is extremely common and can be distressing, but it’s not harmful. News stories that trumpet early findings on this topic should explain up front that potential advances are years away, if they come at all. The headline and early paragraphs may create false hope.
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mixture
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hair loss
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Arguably it’s too early to know anything about how much this treatment might cost. But, if it’s not too soon to speculate about a “cure,” it also could be argued that it’s not too soon to address cost impacts. This was a tough call, but we went with N/A because of how early the research is. Since WAY-316606 hasn’t apparently been tested on actual human heads, there are no benefits to quantify, but that didn’t stop the story from suggesting benefits, stating the drug “could hold the key to the cure for baldness.” The story stated that CsA “changed how the follicles expressed a protein called SFRP1, which stunts the development and growth of hair follicles and other tissue in the body,” and that WAY-316606 “has a similar effect” and “could therefore be used to treat baldness.” The story had no data on the size of the effect this drug had on hair follicles in the lab. The need to study the safety of WAY-316606 was mentioned, but should have been higher in the story. The story would have been stronger if it had mentioned whether the drug’s safety has been studied previously, and what the results if any showed. It was a missed opportunity to highlight known harms of a drug already on market. The story doesn’t say anything about the quality of the study and misleads readers about the implications and timeline (even “still some way to go” seems like an understatement). We take issue with the use of the word “cure” because it implies that hair loss is a lethal or seriously disabling medical disease that needs to be remedied. While hair loss can be distressing, it is not a disease. The story had an independent source — a “statement” from the British Association of Dermatologists. However, the story didn’t explain that the study was sponsored by Giuliani SpA, an Italian pharmaceutical company that makes dermatology products. An independent source knowledgeable about research and drug development–rather than a professional association’s spokesperson statement–would have helped here. The story said current treatments for hair loss “are limited to two FDA-approved drugs, mioxidil and finasteride, which have mixed results. The other option is minimally invasive hair transplant surgery.” The story made it clear that this is early research and human testing hasn’t even begun yet. The story quoted the lead researcher saying WAY-316606 “had never even been considered in a hair-loss context.” The story didn’t rely solely on a news release. (It did cite it, though.)
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146
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With a backup to the backup, insulin makers say they're primed for Brexit.
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For two men trained as scientists, the bosses of Britain’s major insulin providers have had to become experts in ferry schedules, trucking laws and warehouse capacity as they seek to guarantee the supply of life-saving drugs through a chaotic Brexit.
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true
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Health News
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With Britain set to leave the European Union within weeks, Pinder Sahota at the world’s biggest insulin maker Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi’s Hugo Fry have rebuilt operations to withstand the most turbulent of events. The two companies told Reuters they had spent millions of pounds, which they cannot recoup, stockpiling millions of packets of insulin - used to treat diabetes - inside Britain and building new shipping and air freight routes. Their plans, formulated over three years, show the lengths companies across the continent are having to go to overhaul long-standing supply chains that may not survive Britain’s biggest trade upheaval in half a century. “There is nothing comparable to this,” Novo Nordisk’s UK General Manager Sahota told Reuters of the Danish company’s preparation. “It’s unprecedented from a logistics point of view. We’re preparing for the worst-case scenario, the most extreme.” With two Brexit deadlines already been and gone, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to take Britain out of the EU with or without a deal by Oct. 31 - increasing the chance of a sudden departure that brings trade tariffs and customs checks with the continent for the first time in decades. The government’s own planning shows that, in a worst-case scenario, lorries seeking to enter Europe at the French port of Calais could face delays of two-and-a-half days, creating supply disruptions that could last for months. That poses a real risk for the pharmaceutical industry which imports 37 million packs of drugs from Europe a month. According to the government, three-quarters come via that route. While Britain’s GSK and AstraZeneca are world leaders in respiratory and cardiovascular treatments, Britain’s insulin is imported. “In the case of pharmaceuticals, you can’t just throw things onto a boat or a lorry, you have to test and validate these routes into the country,” Fry told Reuters in his office to the west of London, adding they had backups to their backup plans. Both Sanofi and Novo Nordisk have reserved space on ferries going the longer route to eastern English ports to avoid the main Calais-Dover crossing if needed, and also air freight if required. “We anticipate that route is going to become congested so what we’ve done is open up other routes,” said Sahota. “So two other routes that we’ve opened up are Denmark to Immingham (in north-east England) and Netherlands to Immingham.” SKY-HIGH STOCKPILES Novo Nordisk, Britain’s biggest insulin supplier, has tripled its warehouse capacity to hold 18 weeks’ worth of stock - 3.8 million packs that piled high would stand 12 times the height of the London Shard skyscraper. Eli Lilly of the United States and France’s Sanofi, the country’s second and third-biggest suppliers, have similar stockpiles. Frustration is growing that while they dedicate huge resources to such preparation, they are spending less time on their normal jobs. “When we’re doing this, we’re not doing other stuff,” Fry said. “We’re not working on projects that will bring our most innovative products to the market. “Although we are happy to do it, it is starting to weigh on our balance sheet, on our logistics, keeping all this additional stock in the country. It’s not an ideal situation.” The companies are confident they will be able to guarantee the British supply of insulin to the around 1 million diabetes patients who need it. But some patients like Georgina from London, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes more than 30 years ago, have become increasingly alarmed as the chances have grown of Britain leaving the EU without a deal to govern their trading relationship. “For me, I can’t tell you how worried I am about that. It’s life-threatening for me,” she said, declining to give her last name. She added that she also worried about older patients she encountered at clinics. The British government is organising a regular freight service reserved just for drugs as part of its preparations alongside industry for Brexit on Oct. 31. “We are doing everything we can to help ensure the supply of medicines and medical products remains uninterrupted, including insulin,” said the department of health and social care. The two drug companies did not say how much their Brexit preparations had cost, beyond many millions of pounds. With fixed contracts with Britain’s health service, they cannot raise prices. Both Fry and Sahota have had to delve into arcane areas of transport. As part of their planning, for example, they have had to factor in how many drivers are needed to avoid breaking legally mandated rest laws, how long refrigerated lorries can operate in one stretch, and what happens in the event of fuel shortages. “We’re doing everything we can,” said Fry. “I know more about ferry crossings now than I ever thought I would.”
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14022
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Nine million people have lower-cost HIV/AIDS medicine because of the work of the Clinton Foundation and my husband.
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Clinton said 9 million people have lower-cost HIV/AIDS medicine thanks to the efforts of the Clinton Foundation and her husband. Bill Clinton started the foundation and its first big project was the Clinton Health Access Initiative. The program focused on using market mechanisms to reduce treatment costs. Costs have fallen dramatically and the initiative remains a key global player in maintaining a steady supply of affordable drugs. If anything, Clinton understated the number of people who have benefited from the program.
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true
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Global News Service, Foreign Policy, Public Health, Hillary Clinton,
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"The Clinton Foundation might be committed to doing good around the world, but Hillary Clinton’s critics see it as a ripe target to bring down the presumptive Democratic nominee. Republican Donald Trump recently charged that some countries who gave money to the foundation received favorable treatment in return. For anyone who hasn’t heard about the Clinton Foundation, it’s the signature project to reduce poverty and improve global health created by former President Bill Clinton. It is part matchmaker, helping wealthy donors connect with doers, and part active participant, directly running programs, especially in health care. In an interview with Hillary Clinton, CNN’s Anderson Cooper quoted Trump and asked if her husband would break all ties with the foundation, should she become president. Clinton said she would cross that bridge ""if we come to it,"" and proceeded to give a full-throated defense of the foundation. ""I'm proud of the work that it has done,"" Clinton said in the June 8, 2016, interview. ""Nine million people have lower-cost HIV/AIDS medicine because of the work of the Clinton Foundation and my husband. We have women across the country, from Latin America and Africa -- across the world, I mean -- getting good jobs, and being able to support themselves for the first time."" We’ll focus on the first part of that statement and explore if the Clinton Foundation actually had a hand in making HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable for 9 million people? The foundation’s work on HIV/AIDS treatment dates back to 2002 with the creation of the Clinton Health Access Initiative. That was a time when some countries were paying $1,000 or more to treat each AIDS patient. The basic goal was to bring in bulk-buying to lower costs. The program consolidated both the supply of raw materials to make the drugs and the bidding to supply the finished product. The result was lower production costs and lower drug prices. Today, the initiative tracks the going price for a menu of treatments and posts them to help health departments around the world as they negotiate with drug companies. In 2014, the World Health Organization reported that by the end of 2013, more than 11.7 million people were on antiretroviral therapy in low- and middle-income countries. While the kinds of drugs have changed, the WHO said ""in the past decade the price of individual antiretroviral formulations has decreased considerably."" The treatments used in the early days have fallen from a median cost of about $600 in 2003 to about $100 a decade later. A more advanced drug combination introduced in 2005 saw a similar decline. Importantly, the WHO listed the Clinton Health Access Initiative as one of a handful of organizations collaborating on ensuring a steady supply of drugs. The partners in that effort include the biggest players, including several United Nations agencies, PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) and UNITAID, a project created by Brazil, Chile, France, Norway and the United Kingdom. UNAIDS announced at the end of May that the number of people under treatment is now closer to 17 million. Technically, the Clinton Health Access Initiative has been a separate nonprofit since 2010, but it is still integrated within the Clinton Foundation and the foundation press office still offers comments on its behalf. Clinton Health Access Initiative spokeswoman Maura Daley told us that Clinton used an old figure for the people being served by the initiative. ""The total number of patients benefitting is 11.8 million,"" she told us. Not everyone getting treatment is counted as benefiting from the initiative’s efforts. Beyond working to reduce drug costs, it also coordinates with nongovernmental organizations inside countries to distribute the drugs once they arrive. Clearly, the Clinton Health Access Initiative did not accomplish all of this on its own, but Clinton didn’t say that. Two experts in HIV/AIDS treatment, Jennifer Kates at the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Ellen ‘t Hoen call the initiative an important player. ‘t Hoen was the first executive director of the Medicines Patent Pool, a group that streamlines the production of generic antiretroviral drugs. ""Without the work of the MPP it would have been much harder for organizations like CHAI to access generic antiretrovirals,"" she said. The initiative has been faulted for failing to fully report donations from foreign governments and has filed amended returns for 2012 and 2013. Our ruling Clinton said 9 million people have lower-cost HIV/AIDS medicine thanks to the efforts of the Clinton Foundation and her husband. Bill Clinton started the foundation and its first big project was the Clinton Health Access Initiative. The program focused on using market mechanisms to reduce treatment costs. Costs have fallen dramatically and the initiative remains a key global player in maintaining a steady supply of affordable drugs. If anything, Clinton understated the number of people who have benefited from the program.
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10254
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Extract may help treat bladder infection
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"This is a story about some preliminary research in mice for a treatment that may increase the affectiveness of antibiotic treatment for urinary tract infections. The story made it clear that this was a preliminary study in mice. But the headline, ""Extract may help treat bladder infection,"" is misleading. This is an animal experiment, not a treatment. The story itself made clear that this is ""a long way from being used in patients."" But such headlines are problematic. Even in the realm of mouse research, the story should explain how big was the benefit seen. We're not told how many mice improved, if the experiment failed in any or how many, etc. If an international wire service is going to send stories of animal research all over the world, it should be clear about the nature of the evidence and the quality of the evidence. There was no discussion of possible harms of treatment. The story stated that forskolin is used in some places by some people. There is, however, an absence of evidence about either its saftey or harm and it is unwise to conclude from this that it is therefore 'safe'. The story could have also discussed the fact that there is no regulation of nutritional supplements such as this in terms of what they do and don't contain. The last third of the story had an appropriately cautious tone about the potential of forskolin to have utility for the treatment of recurrent urinary tract infections. While this story did contain some good background information about the compound it discussed, it failed to provide a clear picture for the reader about what is known about its use even in mice – much less in people."
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mixture
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"There was no discussion of the cost of forskolin. The story failed to mention the amount needed or the length of time it would need to be taken to obtain the effect described. First, this was a mouse study. The story was clear about that. But the headline, ""Extract may help treat bladder infection,"" is misleading. This is an animal experiment, not a treatment. The story itself made clear that this is ""a long way from being used in patients."" But such headlines are problematic. Even in the realm of mouse research, the story should explain how big was the benefit seen. We're not told how many mice improved, if the experiment failed in any or how many, etc. If an international wire service is going to send stories of animal research all over the world, it should be clear about the nature of the evidence and the quality of the evidence. There was no discussion of possible harms of treatment. The story stated that forskolin is used in some places by some people. There is, however, an absence of evidence about either its saftey or harm and it is unwise to conclude from this that it is therefore 'safe'. This was a story based on a mouse study. That was very clear. It stated this does ""absolutely not"" mean people should attempt to treat themselves with this extract. It said that the next step in research was experimentation in larger animals. And it ended with a strong statement that ""For now, this concept is a long way from being used in humans."" However, readers can't judge the quality of even this mouse research evidence because the story doesn't explain whether there were control groups of mice. Did all mice get the extract? Did all benefit? What was the failure rate? The story did not engage in disease mongering. Several sources were interviewed. Comments at the end of the story from an additional scientist not involved in the study tempered some of the enthusiasm in the rest of the story. The story did not provide information about usual treatment options for urinary tract infections. Readers can't judge the possible future impact of the current experiments without getting some context about current treatments. The story mentioned that the herbal extract forskolin was available in health food stores. The addition of forskolin to antibiotics for the treatment of bladder infections is not current practice and would represent a novel approach to the problem as suggested by the story. Does not appear to rely solely or largely on a press release."
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2603
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L.A.'s richest man ups the ante for city, cancer fight.
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As owner of 5 percent of the Los Angeles Lakers, Patrick Soon-Shiong could walk into the locker room of the storied basketball franchise any time for a chat with stars like Kobe Bryant. But the richest man in Los Angeles chooses to sit with the rest of his team’s fans.
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true
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Health News
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“He’s not one of those owners who wants to be seen everywhere. He’s just one of the fans,” said Bryant. The NBA star gives his owner a hug before every game for luck “and maybe some of the success” of the slender Los Angles surgeon who built a fortune exceeding $7 billion as a biotechnology entrepreneur. For all Soon-Shiong’s success, the South African emigre and son of a Chinese herbal doctor remains relatively unknown in Los Angeles, a city that thrives on status and celebrity. That’s likely to change soon. In recent weeks, he emerged as a likely bidder for fellow billionaire Philip Anschutz’s sports and entertainment unit AEG, owner of 100 venues worldwide and sports teams like the Los Angeles Kings hockey franchise and the L.A. Galaxy soccer team, not to mention a 20 percent stake in the Lakers. And on Wednesday in Washington DC, Soon-Shiong and his L.A.-based NantHealth will unveil a joint venture with Verizon, Intel, Blue Shield of California and others to create a nationwide system for doctors to share DNA and other data on cancer patients. It will enable doctors to do genetic analysis of a patient’s tumor in less than a minute — a job that now can take from eight to 10 weeks. “This is something the federal government should have done, but we waited and waited for them,” Soon-Shiong told Reuters in an interview. “It’s unconscionable that cancer patients get the wrong diagnosis 30 percent of the time and that it takes so long to treat them with appropriate drugs for their cancer.” Soon-Shiong emigrated to the United States more than three decades ago with his wife Michele Chan, an actress who had a starring role in 80’s show “Danger Bay” that aired on CBS and the Disney Channel and guest roles on “ MacGyver.” Since then, he has methodically climbed the ladder of success by adroitly mixing science and business. He created drugs to fight diabetes and breast cancer and then sold the companies that produced them for a combined $8.6 billion. In the four years since selling those companies, he quietly spent more than $400 million of his own money to build a national fiber optic network that would link cancer clinics throughout the country — the groundwork for the health superhighway. Soon-Shiong’s philanthropy was in evidence at his West Los Angeles office. The new superhighway was illustrated on a flow chart in a conference room where staffers edited a video of it on a nearby TV set. In the lobby was a model of the campus surrounding the Saint John’s Health Center, to which he has given $135 million to build a biotech research center and sports medicine clinic. “There are few Patrick Soon-Shiongs in this world,” said retired General Wesley Clark, who has served with him on non-profit boards. “A brilliant doctor, a great businessman and someone who is very patriotic. He understands what it means to give back to his country.” Elsewhere, Los Angeles bears the mark of Soon-Shiong’s largesse and his fixation on healthcare. He and his wife operate the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation, which last year endowed a chair at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering to support research in engineering and medicine. In 2009, after watching TV footage of a woman dying on the emergency room floor because doctors didn’t notice her, he guaranteed $100 million to underwrite efforts to reopen Martin Luther King Hospital. The hospital, which has since reopened, serves the city’s low-income population. The coming months may mark the public convergence of his private passions: health, sports, philanthropy and his adopted city. He wants to buy AEG in large part because he plans to build a $1.2 billion football stadium to return pro football to the nation’s second largest city. Owning a National Football League team, he said, would give him a platform to promote wellness by having players mentor younger fans on exercise and healthy eating, and sharing training and medical techniques with local doctors. Until recently, Soon-Shiong kept a low profile. He and his wife did not want their name in a press release when they first donated $23 million to Saint John’s in 2007 to build a biomedical facility, recalled medical center president Lou Lazatin. “Finally, they agreed when I told them it would help my marketing,” Lazatin said. Soon-Shiong’s business career started in the early 1980s with the help of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which gave him $2 million for stem cell research that could one day help treat injuries during space travel. At the time, he was a surgeon at a hospital affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles. With the money, he opened a small lab near a veteran’s hospital, where he developed treatments to reduce diabetes in pancreatic transplant patients and a cancer-fighting drug that doubled the response rate for the treatment of breast cancer. His climb was not without bumps. In 1999, his brother Terrence filed a complex suit claiming Patrick Soon-Shiong neglected work on a diabetes drug being developed by a startup in which Terrence had invested. But an arbitrator found in Patrick Soon-Shiong’s favor, and he declined to answer questions about the matter. By 2008, Patrick Soon-Shiong controlled 82 percent of APP Pharmaceuticals, the company he started to develop injectable drugs to treat cancer and other illnesses. Soon-Shiong sold the company for $5.6 billion to Germany’s Fresenuis Kabi Pharmaceuticals, netting him $4.6 billion. In 2010, he sold Abraxis BioScience, which he had spun off from APP in 2007, to pharmaceutical company Celgene Corp. for $2.9 billion. His 82 percent stake was worth $2.4 billion. Soon-Shiong paid Celgene $135 million for NantWorks, where he had begun the work of creating his planned high-tech health delivery network. He contacted potential partners for the venture, including meeting AEG owner Anschutz, with whom he spent a day in the Denver suburb of Aurora touring the Anshutz Medical Campus. Soon-Shiong also bought or provided seed money to small technology companies to aid in that effort. He paid $20 million to buy a controlling interest in KeyOn Communications, which provides wireless broadband service for rural markets, and another $10 million to a stake in Raptor Networks Technology, which makes switching equipment for high speed networks. “He watches every detail. I get emails from him at 2:30 in the morning, said Stephen Berman, CEO of toy maker JAAKS Pacific, which is licensing technology from one of Soon-Shiong’s companies to make interactive toys. He gives more than just money, says songwriter Burt Bacharach, whose son went to private school with Soon-Shiong’s daughter. Soon-Shiong showed up unannounced at Cedars Sinai Hospital one day, says Bacharach, to help doctors find the right combination of drugs to treat the musician’s son, who had a persistent staph infection. For L.A.’s richest man, that patient visit was a brief return to the role of physician that he insists he one day will resume.
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9970
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Exercise reduces heart disease risk in depressed patients
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This American Academy of Cardiology news release follows a well-trodden path in health news of promoting the benefits of regular exercise. We’re not complaining about yet another article telling us exercise is good. But that’s besides the point because, in fact, the news release fails to grasp that the study is observational in nature, rendering the title of the document — “Exercise reduces heart disease risk in depressed patients” — unsubstantiated. The study is much more cautious about drawing any conclusions from this non-randomized research but you won’t find any of those cautions in the release. The takeaway message of the study is not so much that “exercise is good for you.” Rather, the study seeks to establish whether physical exercise modifies the link between depression and cardiovascular risk. Cardiovascular complications are often observed in people with depressive disorders. The observational study behind this news release seems to suggest that physical exercise could be used to improve cardiovascular risk stratification. The researchers also seemed to be trying to determine the mechanism by which exercise or the lack of it impacts risk factors for cardiovascular disease such as inflammation, oxidative stress and arterial stiffness. The more we understand about connections between depression, exercise and heart disease the better. To what degree do depression and exercise alone or together impact heart health? The study — but not the release — offers some insight into understanding the relationship but doesn’t claim any definitive conclusions. A depressed person reading the release might find it counter-intuitive to say they may reduce their risk for developing cardiovascular disease by taking up exercise. Often, a key symptom of mild or major depression is fatigue and the inability to fully engage in activities, even if they know, as most do, that “exercise is good for them.”
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mixture
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Association/Society news release,cardiovascular disease,Exercise
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It’s hard to put a price tag on regular exercise as there are so many ways to get your physical activity on and many of them are free. So we’ll say this category doesn’t apply. Although the news release does provide some numbers on the association between cardiovascular risk and depression, it does not do enough to quantify the effect of exercise in modulating the relationship between the two. Stating that people who exercised regularly had less arterial stiffening and inflammation in general than those that didn’t exercise isn’t enough to show causation. Even if the goal was to show causation, numbers weren’t provided. It should also be pointed out that the patients enrolled weren’t clinically depressed as the title may indicate. They had not previously been diagnosed with depression and were evaluated with a symptom scale for two weeks, with most of them coming up with minimal to mild symptoms. As any person seeking treatment for depression learns there’s a wide spectrum of diagnoses and treatments falling under the broad heading of depression: general anxiety disorder, dysthymia, major depressive disorder and postpartum depression to name a few. Some, but not all, can be mitigated with exercise alone. The release doesn’t delve into harms but we’ll rate this Not Applicable since the release doesn’t give us any specifics on the types of exercise the study volunteers took up. Some exercises are riskier than others. The news release unfortunately makes a causal claim in the headline despite the study being observational in nature. For the title to work, the study design would have had to recruit a pool of depressed patients, randomly assign some of them to be sedentary and the rest to be physically active, and measure the surrogate outcomes associated with heart disease risk in each group. Of course that didn’t happen. The release also overstates a finding with this phrase: “the study found regular exercise seems to reduce the adverse cardiovascular consequences of depression.” But the study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Cardiology stated: “Physical exercise appears to prevent the adverse cardiovascular consequences of depression, but these findings need to be confirmed in a randomized trial.” The news release is good on this front. It does not commit disease-mongering of cardiovascular diseases. Neither the funding source nor any conflicts of interest are disclosed. The study is not a traditional treatment-versus-control study, rather it studies possible interaction effects between physical activity and depression for different cardiovascular disease indicators. A discussion of alternative treatments is not particularly relevant. With the “treatment” being physical exercise, availability is a given. There are countless ways to exercise and there need not be any cost involved. The novelty of the research lies in its effort to study how the association between depression and cardiovascular disease is moderated by the presence or lack of regular physical activity. If regular exercise were discovered to be a significant moderator, we could use the level of physical activity to further stratify depressive patients into finer categories of cardiovascular risk. This point is missed by the news release. The news release contains no sensational language promoting, say, exercise as the holy grail of curing cardio diseases.
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15697
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"In Wisconsin, a ""second arrest for carrying pot is a felony,"" but a second or subsequent arrest ""for carrying a gun illegally is a misdemeanor."
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"Flynn said that in Wisconsin, a ""second arrest for carrying pot is a felony,"" but a second or subsequent arrest ""for carrying a gun illegally is a misdemeanor."" A second arrest for carrying marijuana is classified as a felony offense, although depending on the circumstances, only a ticket might be issued. And generally a first or subsequent offense for carrying a gun illegally is a misdemeanor -- although for some people, such as convicted felons, a first offense is a felony. For a statement that is accurate but needs clarification. To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s web page."
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true
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Criminal Justice, Drugs, Legal Issues, Crime, Guns, Wisconsin, Edward Flynn,
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"Even in a city repeatedly scarred by senseless fatal shootings -- a 10-year-old girl caught in the crossfire at a playground, a toddler struck by a bullet aimed at the wrong house -- this case stood out: A man driving his van in Milwaukee late on a Sunday afternoon struck and killed a 2-year-old boy who had darted into the street. He jumped out of the vehicle immediately and was grieving as he stood over the body. Moments later, a gunman, apparently enraged about the accident, shot the 40-year-old driver to death. But he also fatally wounded a 15-year-old, the toddler’s brother, who had rushed to the scene. Reacting to the incident, Mayor Tom Barrett linked increases in fatal and non-fatal shootings in Milwaukee with gun laws. In turn, Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. criticized the mayor, saying Barrett was blaming concealed carry permit holders for more guns being on the street. Then, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn, while speaking to reporters on April 14, 2015, two days after the accident and double-shooting, responded to the sheriff. ""We're the only place I know,"" Flynn said, referring to Wisconsin, ""where it's a misdemeanor to carry a gun illegally, but a felony for a second rap for carrying pot. Would you tell me how that makes sense? ""Second arrest for carrying pot is a felony. Second, third, fourth, 10th arrest for carrying a gun illegally is a misdemeanor. Is it any wonder these knuckleheads out there with guns aren't learning a lesson from getting locked up by us? "" Is Flynn right about the Wisconsin laws? Except for some clarification, yes. Marijuana Carrying marijuana -- for a second offense and subsequent offenses -- is, in fact, a felony crime. But that doesn't necessarily mean a felony charge will be filed. Prosecutors generally have discretion in charging. So, while someone with a clean criminal record who is caught a second time carrying a marijuana joint technically has committed a felony offense, a prosecutor might decide to only issue a ticket. It’s also worth noting that carrying marijuana can be a felony on a first offense -- if you’re carrying with the intent to deliver, for instance. (Coincidentally, the day before Flynn made his claim, state Rep. Melissa Sargent, D-Madison, announced she would introduce a bill to legalize marijuana in Wisconsin. With Republicans controlling both houses of the Legislature, the measure has virtually no chance of passing.) Guns Wisconsin legalized the concealed carry of guns and other weapons in 2011. Carrying a concealed gun without a state-issued concealed carry license is a misdemeanor, for the first offense and for any subsequent offenses. It’s worth noting that someone convicted of any misdemeanor on three separate occasions within five years can be sentenced to more time behind bars. So, someone convicted of carrying a concealed gun illegally could be punished more if they are also convicted of two other misdemeanors, whether gun-related or not, within five years. In addition, for certain people, carrying a gun is a felony on the first offense. That includes convicted felons and people who are subject to an injunction such as a domestic violence restraining order. Our rating Flynn said that in Wisconsin, a ""second arrest for carrying pot is a felony,"" but a second or subsequent arrest ""for carrying a gun illegally is a misdemeanor."" A second arrest for carrying marijuana is classified as a felony offense, although depending on the circumstances, only a ticket might be issued. And generally a first or subsequent offense for carrying a gun illegally is a misdemeanor -- although for some people, such as convicted felons, a first offense is a felony. For a statement that is accurate but needs clarification, our rating is . To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s web page."
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23222
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Florida Democratic Party Says Rick Scott gave a deposition in which he invoked the Fifth Amendment 75 times about his dealings as head of Columbia/HCA hospital chain
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Rick Scott dodges answers by invoking Fifth Amendment, Democrats claim in ad
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true
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Health Care, Legal Issues, Message Machine 2010, Florida, Florida Democratic Party,
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"Democrat Alex Sink is airing a new ad that whacks Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott for alleged fraud at Columbia/HCA, and in particular, for refusing to answer questions about his role in any wrongdoing. The ad, which will air Oct. 13, 2010, is two minutes long and crafted to look like a TV news magazine segment. It's called ""Fraud Files,"" and pieces together the voice of a narrator with video news clips. ""Is Columbia/HCA putting profits ahead of patients?"" NBC's Brian Williams asks near the beginning of the ad. ""Did Columbia treat a patient for a mild disease, then bill Medicare for something more expensive?"" another reporter asks. A narrator and a Palm Beach County prosecutor help fill in the details. ""A whistleblower revealed that Scott's company was cooking the books. Refusing to cooperate, Rick Scott gave a deposition in which he invoked the Fifth Amendment 75 times,"" the narrator says. ""Which means a truthful answer to the questions that he was asked would incriminate him,"" adds Michael McAuliffe, Palm Beach County's Democratic state attorney, finishing the thought. The ad then cuts quickly to another news reporter ... ""The Medicare fraud that cost his former company, Columbia/HCA $1.7 billion in fines ..."" And then back to the narrator. ""The fine was the largest in the history of the United States. Rick Scott resigned in disgrace with a $300 million golden parachute."" We're dealing with McAuliffe's claim in another item. In this fact-check, we wanted to learn more about that deposition, and Scott's use of the Fifth Amendment. Columbia/HCA background First, a little bit of back story on Scott and Columbia/HCA. Scott started what was first called Columbia in the spring of 1987 by purchasing two El Paso, Texas, hospitals. He quickly grew the company into one of the country's largest publicly traded hospital chains, and in 1994, merged Columbia with Tennessee-headquartered HCA and its 100 hospitals. In early 1997, federal agents revealed they were investigating the Columbia/HCA chain for, among other things, Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Allegations included that Columbia/HCA billed Medicare and Medicaid for tests that were not necessary or ordered by physicians, and that the hospital chain would perform one type of medical test but bill the federal government for a more expensive test or procedure. Agents seized records from Columbia facilities across the country in Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, Utah and Florida. Scott resigned in the middle of the federal investigation in July 1997. Scott said he wanted to fight the federal government accusations; the corporate board of Columbia/HCA wanted to settle, and did. In 2000, the company pleaded guilty to at least 14 corporate felonies and agreed to pay $840 million in criminal fines and civil damages and penalties. The company agreed to further settlements in 2002, paying an additional $881 million in fines. Scott's deposition Scott indeed did give a deposition in 2000 in which he invoked the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 75 times. The amendment reads in part that no one ""shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself."" Scott's deposition, however, was not part of the criminal fraud case being pursued by the federal government. In fact, Scott was never officially questioned during the federal criminal investigation. Instead, the case in question was a civil case involving Columbia/HCA and Nevada Communications Corp. Nevada Communications alleged that Columbia/HCA breached the terms of a communications contract. Scott's lawyer interjected after an opposing lawyer began the deposition by asking if Scott was employed. ""Under normal circumstances, Mr. Scott would be pleased to answer that question and other questions that you pose today,"" Scott's lawyer, Steven Steinbach, said. ""Unfortunately because of the pendency of a number of criminal investigations relating to Columbia around the country, he's going to follow my advice, out of prudence, to assert his constitutional privilege against giving testimony against himself. Scott then went on to read the same answer to every question Nevada Communications lawyers asked, even when asked if Scott is a current or former employee of Columbia/HCA -- ""Upon advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer the questions by asserting my rights and privileges under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution."" The ad never clarifies, or tries to distinguish the deposition as being part of a civil case unconnected to the criminal investigation. It simply adds the claim into the middle of a series of claims about the criminal fraud case. On the other hand, Scott's reason for invoking the Fifth Amendment privilege was because of the criminal investigations surrounding Columbia/HCA, his lawyer said. During the Univision debate on Oct. 8, 2010, Scott said he pleaded the Fifth so many times because the opposing lawyers were on a ""fishing expedition."" But that's not what the Fifth Amendment should be used for, legal experts say. The Fifth Amendment is a way to protect yourself from prosecution, regardless of whether you committed the crime. ""The Fifth Amendment is not a shield against fishing expeditions,"" said Nancy Dowd, a UF Levin College of Law professor. ""If you want to cloak yourself in the protection of the Fifth Amendment, it has to be for the reason that your answer could result in criminal liability."" Added Bruce Jacob, a law professor at Stetson: ""You should not use the Fifth Amendment privilege if you don't think there's possible criminal liability."" Ruling Scott did give a deposition in 2000 where he invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege not to be a witness against himself 75 times (we counted). But that alone doesn't make the claim right. We think it's fair to look at the context of how the number's used, and what an average viewer will take away upon seeing the ad. The inference here is clear -- that Scott gave a deposition in the federal criminal investigation of Columbia/HCA and pleaded the Fifth Amendment 75 times. That's not true. Scott invoked the Fifth Amendment 75 times in an unrelated civil suit over a communications contract."
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15853
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Abortions account for 94 percent of the services provided for pregnant women by Planned Parenthood.
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"Bishop Thomas Tobin said that ""... Abortions account for 94 percent of the services provided for pregnant women by Planned Parenthood."" He cited as his source the Susan B. Anthony List, which arrived at that percentage using numbers that don’t represent all services provided to pregnant women by Planned Parenthood. Because Planned Parenthood says it doesn’t track that number, we don’t know what percentage of pregnant women seen by the agency receive abortions. But neither does the Susan B. Anthony -- nor Bishop Tobin."
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false
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Abortion, Rhode Island, Health Care, Human Rights, Religion, Women, Bishop Thomas Tobin,
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"Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin is an ardent and outspoken abortion opponent. He voiced his opposition recently in the Jan. 22, 2015 edition of The Rhode Island Catholic newspaper in a column entitled ""The ‘Throwaway Culture’ Has Arrived at Our Doorstep."" In it, he faulted Planned Parenthood as a ""destructive, immoral"" organization that should not be supported by federal tax dollars. He cited figures to support his position, including that ""... Abortions account for 94 percent of the services provided for pregnant women by Planned Parenthood."" In the column, Bishop Tobin identified the source of the information as the Susan B. Anthony List, a Washington, D.C.-based organization whose mission is to help elect anti-abortion candidates and pursue policies that will reduce and ultimately end abortion. We reached out to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, which Bishop Tobin leads, to see whether the bishop had additional information to back up his statement. Carolyn E. Cronin, director of communications for the diocese, referred us to a fact sheet put out by the Susan B. Anthony List -- which included the 94-percent figure -- as well as statistics from another anti-abortion organization, Life Issues Institute Inc. Mallory E. Quigley, a spokeswoman for the Susan B. Anthony List, referred us to numbers taken from page 18 of Planned Parenthood’s 2013-2014 annual report. ""There are 3 options/responses to pregnancy for Planned Parenthood,"" Quigley said in an email. Abortion services: 327,653 Prenatal referrals: 18,684 Adoption Services: 1,880 Quigley said the sum of those three numbers -- 348,217 -- represents ""total pregnancy services."" She said the total number of abortions -- 327,653 -- is 94 percent of that total. When we contacted Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, which encompasses Rhode Island, Susan Yolen, the vice president for public policy and advocacy, faulted that calculation -- and Bishop Tobin’s conclusion -- as misleading. Planned Parenthood health centers do not compile the pregnancy status of all their female patients, she said. Nor do they tally the number of pregnant women staff refers to outside obstetricians or other health-care providers, she said. In other words, the number of women receiving ""pregnancy services"" is not simply the sum of those getting abortions or receiving adoption or prenatal services. Other figures on page 18 of Planned Parenthood’s annual report show that the agency conducted 1.1 million pregnancy tests and another 3.7 million tests for sexually transmitted diseases (for both men and women). Presumably, there were pregnant women in each of those groups who aren’t represented in the Susan B. Anthony lists’ tally. It’s also important to note that the number cited by the Susan B. Anthony List for ""total pregnancy services"" does not appear in the Planned Parenthood report. Eric Ferrero, vice president for communications for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, also rebutted Tobin’s numbers. ""This meaningless and claim is part of a campaign to spread misinformation by a group whose sole purpose is to end access to abortion in America,"" Ferrero wrote in an email. Ferrero cited figures to support his position. ""One in five women in America relies on Planned Parenthood at some point in her life for the full range of reproductive health care,"" he said. ""In 2013, Planned Parenthood health centers provided more than 2 million birth control appointments, 1 million pregnancy tests, and 900,000 cancer screenings."" In addition, the agency informed us that in 2013, only 9 of Planned Parenthood’s 64 affiliates provided prenatal services at 45 health centers nationwide. Additionally, 14 health centers provided childbirth classes. In other words, the 18,684 cited by the Susan B. Anthony List as receiving ""prenatal referrals"" reflect only the numbers from those 45 health centers. We asked the Susan B. Anthony List about Planned Parenthood’s response. ""The fact that Planned Parenthood refers pregnant women to ob-gyns and other health care centers just underscores our point that they don’t actually provide care for pregnant women and their babies,"" Quigley said. ""They could track that number if they chose, just like they track adoption referrals. Perhaps they will someday."" Quigley is right that Planned Parenthood could track the number of pregnant patients it sees, if it chose. Planned Parenthood told us that its records would not indicate a patient’s pregnancy status unless it was specified as the reason for the visit. Also worth considering is that Planned Parenthood’s numbers are self-reported, as PolitiFact affiliates have noted in previous fact-checks on similar claims. (In 2011, PolitiFact Ohio ruled on a claim that 32 of every 33 pregnant women who visit Planned Parenthood get abortions. That same year, PolitiFact Florida ruled on a claim that abortion services are ""well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does"".) Without knowing how many pregnant women Planned Parenthood sees at all its clinics, it is impossible to calculate what percentage abortions make up of the overall services to expectant mothers. But that’s what exactly what the Susan B. Anthony List did, reaching a flawed conclusion. Our ruling Bishop Thomas Tobin said that ""... Abortions account for 94 percent of the services provided for pregnant women by Planned Parenthood."" He cited as his source the Susan B. Anthony List, which arrived at that percentage using numbers that don’t represent all services provided to pregnant women by Planned Parenthood. Because Planned Parenthood says it doesn’t track that number, we don’t know what percentage of pregnant women seen by the agency receive abortions. But neither does the Susan B. Anthony -- nor Bishop Tobin. (If you have a claim you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
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6739
|
South Carolina declares hepatitis outbreak.
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What began as a spike in reported hepatitis A cases in Aiken County has now spread to other parts of South Carolina, prompting public health officials to declare a statewide outbreak.
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true
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Aiken, Health, Hepatitis, South Carolina, Public health
|
Since Nov. 1, South Carolina has recorded 86 reported cases of the contagious disease. State Epidemiologist Linda Bell said Monday that’s more than four times what state officials normally expect to see. Over the last 10 years, South Carolina averaged 19 reported cases of hepatitis A annually. Most of the new cases have occurred in Aiken County, and almost half of all cases involve individuals who reported drug use, Bell said. Still, the general population needn’t be overly concerned, she said. “But we are seeing cases higher that what we expect to see,” Bell said. “And so it’s important for us to do our prevention efforts early to reach those high-risk groups, get them vaccinated ... so that we can prevent” a severe outbreak. The State reports the Department of Health and Environmental Control is offering no-cost vaccines to high risk groups including drug users, homeless, formerly incarcerated and sexually-active gay men. Additionally, health officials recommend all children get two doses of the vaccine as part of their immunization schedule. Of the 86 reported cases in South Carolina, 59 have led to hospitalization and one resulted in death, the DHEC said. Hepatitis is a disease characterized by inflammation of the liver. It comes in many forms, including hepatitis A, B and C. As a result, individuals with chronic liver disease, like cirrhosis, are at increased risk of complications if infected and should be vaccinated. The virus-borne infection can be prevented by vaccination and is usually transmitted person-to-person through consumption of contaminated food or water, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Antibodies produced in response to hepatitis A infection last for life and protect against reinfection. Infection usually results in sickness in two to six weeks after exposure. Symptoms include fatigue, loss of appetite, stomach pain, nausea, and yellowing of the eyes and skin. Symptoms usually resolve within two months of infection, according to the CDC. State public health officials in February declared an outbreak in Aiken County after an employee at a second restaurant in Aiken tested positive for the virus, the DHEC said. Bell, though, stressed transmission by food or beverage is uncommon. “Most transmission in the United States is through person-to-person contact,” Bell said. “Good hygiene - diligently washing your hands - is a good way to prevent hepatitis A, as well as not sharing personal items,” including drug equipment, she said, adding the state has received reports of hepatitis A from people using various drugs, “everything from marijuana to meth.” Residents can schedule an appointment for a vaccination at their local health department by calling 855-472-3432 or going to http://bit.ly/2HhEsM8 . ___ Information from: The State, http://www.thestate.com
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11586
|
Hands-only CPR greatly increases survival odds
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This article summarizes recent research and expert opinion about new guidelines on bystanders’ use of hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to treat victims of cardiac arrest. Overall, the story covers the topic well. However, it could offer readers just a bit more about the nature and strength of the evidence showing that hands-on CPR is as effective as standard CPR (which includes mouth-to-mouth resuscitation). The evidence comes from a mix of retrospective and prospective studies that are necessarily observational (not randomized controlled studies) and report the outcomes of bystanders’ attempts to revive someone suddenly stricken down. The studies are quite large, and involve hundreds and sometimes thousands of patients in different parts of the world. The news story could also fine-tune its discussion of the potential benefits of expanded use of hands-only CPR. Quantifying this benefit is surely tricky, but the current account provides inexact estimates without explaining the uncertainty surrounding them.
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true
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"The news story does not mention costs, but a discussion of cost is relatively unimportant in the context of this story. The article says that CPR in any form ""may double the rate of survival from cardiac rest."" According to a spokesperson for the American Heart Association, this means that “we can save tens of thousands of lives.” Later in the story the spokesperson is reported as saying that when more people use CPR in cities such as Seattle, survival rates have jumped to as high as 30%. An AHA scientific statement says cities such as Seattle have reported survival of “more than 15%.” It adds that hands-only CPR and other changes (e.g. dispatcher-assisted ""telephone"" CPR) could save ""thousands of additional lives"" every year."" This mix of relative and absolute estimates suggest there is surely some real benefit to increasing the use of CPR, but the precise amount of that benefit remains a bit fuzzy. The news article explains that when CPR is performed with chest compressions only (without mouth-to-mouth resuscitation) the main harm is rib fractures induced by energetic chest thumping. Although the story mentions that ""3 major studies published last year"" provide evidence to support the new AHA recommendations on CPR, it fails to discuss the quality of this evidence. The studies comparing survival after bystanders’ use of hand-only vs. standard CPR are necessarily observational. The story could have explained the possible limitation of such studies. The article explains that a tiny minority of people who need CPR actually receive it. It also reassures readers that untrained bystanders can perform CPR and potentially save lives. The story does not exaggerate the problem of untreated cardiac arrest. The article cites three sources, two of them associated with the American Heart Association (which developed the new guidelines) and one an apparently independent expert who supports the guidelines. The article discusses hands-only and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and explains that these are used while bystanders await other options—usually treatment by emergency medical personnel and/or automated external defibrillator and, ultimately, hospital medical staff. The news article makes it clear that virtually anyone can perform hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). It requires no devices or drugs. The major barrier to treatment appears to be fear–of harm to the victim or rescuer, and/or and fear of failing to perform CPR correctly. The article points out that CPR has been taught in first-aid classes for more than 40 years. There is no evidence that the story relied solely or largely on a press release."
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36949
|
The transcript of a speech that Hillary Clinton gave to Goldman Sachs in 2013 has supposedly been released.
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Transcript of Hillary Clinton’s Goldman Sachs Speech Released
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false
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Politics
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Hillary Clinton hasn’t released a transcript of her 2013 Goldman Sachs speech, and no credible sources have leaked the transcript, either. Copies of the so-called Hillary Clinton Goldman Sachs transcript began making the rounds in mid-February 2016 when a number of fake news websites published a satirical “transcript” of Clinton’s speech. The so-called transcript appeared at BSNEWS, Counter Punch and Dissident Voice, among other websites and discussion forums: It’s fair to say that you have transformed the solid, clunky, friction-laiden trading of traditional commodity speculation into responsive, intelligent, liquid flows, that have vaporized every barrier and turned into an expansive, responsive, endlessly expanding gas that fills every atom of our productive economic space which generates immeasurable value everywhere it goes, and everything it touches. Who cares that it’s a little chaotic or “unethical”? That it seems tied to every financial scandal and crisis in history? Not me. Some will say that you are simply parasitic on those who labor at menial physical production—these are people who still subscribe to 18 Century notions of value production–and that you skim off profit without doing anything meaningful or of value. Those people are misguided: we know that if money never sleeps, that’s because you keep it awake! You have—if I may use a metaphor–injected money with intelligence, with caffeine, Adderal, crack, meth, with LSD so that it can dance the crazy dance and grow a crazy thousand psychedelic feet tall in a rainbow minute! Money was a lazy b*tch, until you put it to work! And look how it works! Look how it grows! Materializes out of nowhere! (Waves check again, dances, cackles). Some people have said that it was irresponsible financial engineering, risk-taking, and profit-seeking, that led to the 2008 crash; that you shorted your own toxic mortgages in the most brazen securities fraud in financial history dynamiting the global economy; and that the exorbitant bonuses paid, the financial bailouts, the non-prosecutions created moral hazard, rewarded avarice, incompetence, corruption and vice. You and I know it is nothing of the sort. As leaders, innovators, captains of finance, you will always be subject of the jealous resentment, the petty tantrums of the unwashed masses, the insolvent, the irresponsible, the invidious, the losers. They will envy you, they will despise you, and they secretly want to be like you! Counter Punch added a “Satire Alert” to indicate that the post was not an actual transcript of Hillary Clinton’s Goldman Sachs speech, but rather a political parody that aimed to entertain, not inform, its readers. Other sites didn’t add the disclaimer, however, which led to widespread confrusion about whether the transcript was real or not. Hillary Clinton was reportedly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to give a speech to Goldman Sachs in 2013. She’s faced questions about the speech indicating a “close” relationship with Wall Street investment banks throughout her presidential campaign, and she has resisted calls to release a transcript of the speech. During a televised town hall, Hillary Clinton said she would be “happy to release anything I have whenever everybody else does the same, because everybody in this race, including Sen. Sanders, has given speeches to private groups.” On other instances, Clinton said that she would “look into” releasing transcripts, but she hasn’t done so. Politico reported that Clinton was paid $225,000 for her Goldman Sachs appearances, and that Goldman staffers remember her praising the diversity of Goldman’s workforce, and downplaying the bank’s role in the 2008 financial crisis: “It was pretty glowing about us,” one person who watched the event said. “It’s so far from what she sounds like as a candidate now. It was like a rah-rah speech. She sounded more like a Goldman Sachs managing director.” At another speech to Goldman and its big asset management clients in New York in 2013, Clinton spoke about how it wasn’t just the banks that caused the financial crisis and that it was worth looking at the landmark 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law to see what was working and what wasn’t. “It was mostly basic stuff, small talk, chit-chat,” one person who attended that speech said. “But in this environment, it could be made to look really bad.” But Hillary Clinton’s staffers dismissed those recollections as “pure trolling” and didn’t provide any further details about the speeches.
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15352
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By declaring that Pluto was no longer a planet, the (International Astronomical Union) put into place a planetary definition that would have even declassified Earth as a planet if it existed as far from the sun as Pluto does.
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"Other Space's petition claims, ""By declaring that Pluto was no longer a planet, the (International Astronomical Union) put into place a planetary definition that would have even declassified Earth as a planet if it existed as far from the sun as Pluto does."" Putting aside the fact that this could not actually happen, we heard very different opinions from scientists on whether the definition would really exclude Earth if it were in Pluto’s shoes. Pluto was demoted as a planet because it could not clear its orbital zone, a requirement established by the astronomers union. However, the IAU definition is ambiguous because no planet can ever completely clear its orbital zone. Absent a clearer definition, scientists disagree about whether Earth would be declassified in this far-fetched scenario, though it certainly would not do as good a job at ""clearing the neighborhood"" as it does now. The claim on the petition is partially accurate but leaves out important details — the main one being that we’ll never know for sure."
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mixture
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Space, PunditFact, Other Space,
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"The world’s best-ever glimpse of Pluto from the New Horizons spacecraft is giving the ""Pluto question"" new life: Should the icy orb be once again considered the ninth planet of our solar system? Images of the dwarf planet inspired a tide of Internet reaction last week, including memes, a funny interview between Pluto loyalist Stephen Colbert and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and a petition signed by more than 4,100 people to bring Pluto back to full planet status. The petition on Change.org, which was started by the producers of the Yahoo! web series Other Space, wants world astronomers to reconsider their 2006 decision to classify Pluto as a dwarf planet in its August assembly in Honolulu. ""Not long after New Horizons was launched in 2006, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of its planethood because it was different than the other eight planets that we committed to memory,"" the petition reads. ""By declaring that Pluto was no longer a planet, the IAU put into place a planetary definition that would have even declassified Earth as a planet if it existed as far from the Sun as Pluto does."" As crazy as it sounds, we wondered if the theoretical argument in the petition could really be accurate: Could Earth really be a dwarf planet in an alternate universe? (Assuming, of course, that Earth could form so far from the sun, which is not realistic.) The International Astronomical Union’s decision Ahead of Pluto’s demotion almost a decade ago, astronomers had been wrestling over what to do with the icy, diminutive planet as other bodies in the Kuiper Belt and elsewhere came to focus, including an even bigger world called Xena (renamed Eris). Should those bodies also be planets, or are they, like Pluto, something else? In 2006, the IAU came up with a resolution on how a planet ought to be defined. The IAU definition says a planet is a celestial body that meets the following criteria: Pluto passed the first two criteria, but it flunked the third about clearing the neighborhood around its orbit. We wondered if Earth would also fail to clear its neighborhood if it switched places with Pluto. And what in the heck does ""clearing the neighborhood"" mean anyway? Experts told us to think of it like a planet taking a broom to its orbit. "" ‘Clearing the neighborhood’ is like sweeping up and tossing out an accumulation of debris once and for all, where no outside source replaces it,"" said Steven Soter, a resident research associate at the American Museum of Natural History, who also proposed a method of measuring the cleanliness of a planet’s orbit. However, Soter says the IAU definition is misleading because no planet can ever entirely clear its neighborhood, as asteroids and comets often leak back into orbital zones from the outside, he said. ""The Earth even in its present location has not entirely ‘cleared’ its orbital zone,"" Soter said. ""Asteroids and comets clobber it every few million years."" Soter would rewrite the definition to say that a body must ""dynamically dominate"" its orbital zone in order to be considered a planet. This loosened definition means a planet could keep its neighborhood relatively clear in spite of constant debris coming in from the outside. Still, Pluto would not pass the planet test even under this term, Soter said. Pluto only dominates its own satellite system, and it has no influence on the rest of the Kuiper Belt that can be seen. If Earth were in Pluto’s position, Soter said it would still be a planet — but only marginally — based on its neighborhood-clearing abilities. Soter pointed to this wonky-looking graph to explain his point. The horizontal axis shows how far a planet is from the sun, while the vertical axis shows a planet’s mass relative to Earth. Every diagonal line on the graph shows how good a planet is at keeping its neighborhood relatively clear despite debris floating back in. Some planets (the larger ones at the top, such as Jupiter and Saturn) clear out more debris, and others (Mercury, Mars, the ones straddling the topmost diagonal line) clear out less. The farther a planet gets from the sun, the harder it is to keep its neighborhood clean. Right now, Earth does pretty well for itself. But move our planet right from 1 AU to 40 AU (Pluto’s location), and Earth is not as good as clearing its neighborhood. Again, hypothetically speaking. ""The Earth in Pluto's orbit would have about the same dynamical power as Mercury or Mars, so it would (only) marginally dominate its new orbital zone,"" Soter said. So, Earth would still be a planet, but it would be close, he said. There is also another way of looking at this definition. Soter proposed a way of defining planets by looking at how significant a planet-like body is compared to other space debris in its zone. (Think of comparing the mass of the broom you’re using to the mass of garbage still left behind.) Would Earth still be a significant object when compared to everything else in Pluto’s neighborhood? Maybe. There is no way to predict and compare masses, he said. Arguments that support the petition The equation behind the graph was proposed by planetary scientists Harold Levison and Alan Stern, who is the lead investigator for the New Horizons mission to Pluto. Stern’s advocacy for Pluto being a planet is well-known, and he stressed in a phone interview that he has a very different take on this question than Soter. As he has said for years, Stern thinks Earth would not be able to clear Pluto’s zone and therefore not be a planet under the IAU parameters. The farther a planet (or planet-like body) is from the sun, the larger an object has to be to clear its orbital zone — which means Pluto, 4.67 billion miles from the sun, has it pretty rough out there. ""The Kuiper Belt zone (the zone Pluto has to clear) is bigger than the zones from Mercury to Neptune,"" Stern told PunditFact. Mark V. Sykes, director of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Ariz., agrees with Stern that Earth would no longer be considered a planet if it were in Pluto’s location. Sykes went even further to suggest that Earth would no longer be a planet if it were placed between Jupiter and Saturn. ""The IAU definition is analogous to putting an apple in the middle of the table, then moving it to the edge of the table and declaring it is no longer an apple,"" he said. Both Stern and Soter faulted a time crunch at the 2006 meeting that resulted in a rushed set of criteria for planethood. When the IAU proposed its new definition, Stern said, it was done ""overnight"" and no specific calculations were used. One of the concerns among scientists there was that if Pluto were admitted as a planet, then so would other space bodies. Some attendees worried there would be ""too many planets to memorize,"" Stern said. The concerns were ""not scientific … (but) somewhere between personal preference and political,"" Stern wrote in the Space article. There are also other concerns about the IAU’s decision. Only about 16-25 percent of the registered astronomers at the IAU meeting voted on the definition. Other scientists have also pointed out that the IAU’s definition is limited to our solar system and does not consider planets that might exist outside the solar system. We reached out to a representative from IAU to comment but did not hear back. Our ruling Other Space's petition claims, ""By declaring that Pluto was no longer a planet, the (International Astronomical Union) put into place a planetary definition that would have even declassified Earth as a planet if it existed as far from the sun as Pluto does."" Putting aside the fact that this could not actually happen, we heard very different opinions from scientists on whether the definition would really exclude Earth if it were in Pluto’s shoes. Pluto was demoted as a planet because it could not clear its orbital zone, a requirement established by the astronomers union. However, the IAU definition is ambiguous because no planet can ever completely clear its orbital zone. Absent a clearer definition, scientists disagree about whether Earth would be declassified in this far-fetched scenario, though it certainly would not do as good a job at ""clearing the neighborhood"" as it does now. The claim on the petition is partially accurate but leaves out important details — the main one being that we’ll never know for sure."
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8009
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Italy's epidemic should stabilize soon, but vigilance needed: WHO.
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Lockdowns and stringent measures in place in Italy for the past two weeks should lead soon to a stabilization in its coronavirus epidemic, but vigilant follow-up will be required, a senior official of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
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true
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Health News
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Italy has registered more deaths than anywhere else in the world and accounts for more than a third of all global fatalities from the virus. In Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus emerged in December and which is now reopening after two months of lockdown, authorities have maintained physical distancing measures and continue to search for cases, Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergencies expert, said. “What we are likely to see, if you imagine the lockdown and stringent measures in Italy are now in place 2-3 weeks ... we should start to see stabilization because the cases we see today really reflect exposures two weeks ago,” he told journalists at a virtual briefing in Geneva. The death toll from the outbreak of coronavirus in Italy climbed by 812 to 11,591, the Civil Protection Agency said on Monday, reversing two days of declines in the daily rate. However, the number of new cases rose by just 4,050, the lowest amount since March 17, hitting a total 101,739 from a previous 97,689. Spain overtook China in the number of those infected with coronavirus on Monday, as the government tightened restrictions on a population entering its third week under one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe. But the daily increase in infections began to slow. “So we do hope that Italy and Spain are nearly there on that ... And going down (on case numbers) isn’t just about a lockdown and let go,” Ryan said. Regarding the use of masks by the public - amid a global shortage of supplies for health care workers - Ryan said: “In general WHO recommends that the wearing of a mask by a member of the public is to prevent that individual giving the disease to somebody else. “We don’t generally recommend wearing of masks in public by otherwise well individuals because it has not been up to now associated with any particular benefit.”
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12768
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"Donna Howard Says condoms ""used to be tax-exempt here in Texas."
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"Howard said condoms ""used to be tax-exempt here in Texas."" Under a tax-cut measure approved by lawmakers and Bush in 1999, condoms containing spermicide were exempt from the state sales tax starting in April 2000. Another change in law ended that exemption as of September 2007."
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true
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Health Care, Sexuality, Taxes, Texas, Donna Howard,
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"An Austin legislator talking up her proposal to exempt feminine hygiene products from the state sales tax asserted that condoms were sold tax-free in Texas for a spell. Democratic state Rep. Donna Howard, speaking to reporters for the Dallas Morning News during a Facebook Live presentation, brought up condom tax history just after suggesting that ever-costly diapers also should not be subject to the state sales tax of 6.25 percent; local governments are allowed to levy up to 2 percent more of sales tax. Condoms, Howard went on, ""used to be tax-exempt here in Texas until we changed something in the statute; the wording was such that it ... put them back out there where they were taxed."" We wondered about that, ultimately finding changes in law against a governor’s wishes resulted in a type of condom not being subject to sales tax for more than seven years--though no longer. To gauge this claim, we mostly relied on the Texas state comptroller’s office, which oversees state tax collections. By email, spokeswoman Lauren Willis pointed out that a tax-cut package signed into law by Gov. George W. Bush in 1999 included language exempting condoms from the Texas sales tax. Bush’s desire, comptroller’s ruling That’s what was reported at the time, we confirmed, though the tax details rest on a medical angle. Willis emailed us a web link to a March 2000 news story stating that contrary to Bush’s campaign-trail intentions, condoms would soon rank among products not subject to the state sales tax. Starting April 1, 2000, the Morris News Service story said, ""Texans won't have to pay sales tax on non-prescription medications, ointments to treat sunburns, laxatives or condoms."" Before his re-election in 1998, the story said, Bush had proposed a $400 million tax-cut package including a sales tax break on over-the-counter health items although Bush, an advocate of abstinence education for teenagers, had said the cut wouldn’t apply to condoms. Seeking re-election, Bush said in September 1998 that his proposed tax cut would not extend to nonprescription contraceptives, including condoms, the Morning News reported. ""The governor is being touted by some in the GOP has a potential presidential candidate in 2000,"" the story said, ""and some social conservatives have taken a strong stand against promiscuity and premarital sex."" But in March 2000, State Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander announced she had no choice but to include condoms among items made tax-exempt in the tax-cut measure passed into law the year before. Calling her decision a ""matter of law,"" Rylander pointed out the new law required a drug, medicine or health care product to be exempt from taxes if it has a drug code number issued pursuant to FDA regulations. National drug codes, or NDCs, are three-digit segments that serve as universal product identifiers, the FDA says. Condoms as medicinal A March 2000 Houston Chronicle news story said the legislated tax exemption would apply to all 100,000 nonprescription products carrying an NDC. That story noted that the original legislation, Senate Bill 441 by Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, would have exempted only children’s nonprescription medicines from the sales tax but was expanded in Senate-House negotiations to include adult over-the-counter medicines--with the FDA code limitation intended to preclude tax breaks for herbal and folk remedies not sanction by that agency. We confirmed, from SB 441 signed into law by Bush, the inclusion of language exempting from the sales tax any drug or medicine with an FDA-issued ""national drug code."" We suspect, though, that not all condoms had the codes. When we checked with the FDA about condoms having NDCs, spokeswoman Deborah Kotz replied by email that the agency considers condoms to be ""devices"" that don’t need NDCs, unlike medicines. Kotz later emailed that regardless, some condom manufacturers have put NDCs on condoms sold over the counter, ""often for reimbursement purposes."" Some condoms, Kotz said, still have the numbers. Meantime, Willis shared a December 2000 letter from Rylander to a Victoria resident outlining another reason condoms became tax-exempt. Rylander wrote that as agency staff pinned down what would be exempt from the sales tax due to the 1999 law, they recognized that some drugs and medicines didn’t have NDCs. So in building the list of exempt items, Rylander advised, agency staff relied on an FDA list of drugs and medicines and also included items, such as condoms, that fit the state’s statutory definition of a drug or medicine as ""an article or substance applied to, ingested, or inhaled by humans marketed for the use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease, illness, injury, or pain."" Rylander’s conclusion: The ""medicated prophylactic devices, which aid in the prevention of disease, qualify for the exemption. However,"" she wrote, ""prophylactic devices that are not medicated are not exempt."" Willis confirmed, when we asked, that only condoms containing medication ended up being tax-exempt. No longer Lawmakers didn't immediately restore taxation of all condoms. Willis said, and we confirmed, that the NDC language was removed by a 2001 law yet Senate Bill 1125 left spermicidal condoms tax-exempt by simultaneously adding language exempting products ""labeled or required to be labeled with a ‘Drug Facts’ panel in accord"" with FDA regulations. By email, Klot separately told us condoms, mostly regulated as devices and not medicines, might have ""facts"" panels, but the FDA hasn’t required as much. A 2007 change in law limited items exempt from the sales tax to products required to have the ""Drug Facts"" panels, Willis told us by email, which ended the condom tax exemption as of September 2007. In the fiscal year through August 2016, Willis said, the state sales tax on condoms yielded an estimated $7 million in revenue. Our ruling Howard said condoms ""used to be tax-exempt here in Texas."" Under a tax-cut measure approved by lawmakers and Bush in 1999, condoms containing spermicide were exempt from the state sales tax starting in April 2000. Another change in law ended that exemption as of September 2007. – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.
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4270
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Audit: A state environmental office has ‘failing’ IT systems.
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A state office in charge of environmental health programs is stuck with old technology that affects how it communicates with local health departments.
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true
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Technology, Health, Michigan, Environmental health
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That finding is in a report released Wednesday by Michigan’s auditor general. The Department of Environmental Quality says it could save a lot of money with an IT upgrade. The DEQ’s Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance works with health departments, which inspect campgrounds, pools and septage waste haulers. But the audit says there’s no shared database. The state must manually scan inspections, and paper copies can be lost during delivery. The audit says three IT systems “are in jeopardy of failing.” DEQ has proposed a $6.5 million IT improvement that could save $9.4 million over six years, including $350,000 just in mail handling.
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9781
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Study suggests overall benefit from antidepressants
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Reporters usually don’t write the headlines, but we wish someone would have changed the headline on this story. The body of the story conveyed important questions – about the number needed to treat – and about differences in treating the elderly – that perhaps were worthy of headline attention. The story tried to capture why this is important in its opening sentence: Despite recent debate about how well antidepressants really work in people with only mild or moderate depression, a new analysis of drug studies suggests they may have some benefit across the board. But there is a nuance here. The previous patient level meta-analysis (JAMA) included fewer studies, but across a broader spectrum of depression (minor depression to major depression), and some with longer followup The current study and more included trials (good) restricted their analyses to studies enrolling patients with major depression (also good – this is the group for whom it appears treatment is most indicated) but only have short-term results (not so good). Although this level of detail is probably beyond what is needed for a general circulation story, pointing out WHY these 2 studies may have found different results and specifically noting that the results apply to those with major depressive disorder would be helpful
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true
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antidepressants
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The costs of antidepressants weren’t discussed, but perhaps that is understandable in this kind of broad overview of a meta-analysis. Fluoxetine (prozac) and venalfaxine (effexor) are now both generic. So costs are pretty low. The story gave detailed breakdowns of percent improvement in scores on depression tests and provided an estimate of the number needed to treat in order for one to benefit. The difference in benefits between older and younger patients was highlighted. There was at least the acknowledgement that these drugs do carry side effects – but none was specified nor quantified. Several of the limitations of the meta-analysis were mentioned in the story. Of course, one key limitation in such cases is how they selected studies for the analyses (ones already available to them from the National Institute of Mental Health and from drug companies). This may not bias the results but may bias the interpretation (the authors say they only know these effects for prozac/effexor and can’t comment on other drugs; that could possibly lead a reader to incorrectly conclude that only prozac/effexor are shown to be effective.) No disease mongering about depression here. The story interviewed Irving Kirsch, frequently cited/quoted on antidepressant research issues. It also did a good job of noting potential conflicts of interest. The story at least noted alternatives including psychotherapy and exercise, but didn’t give information about the effects, pros/cons of these options. The availability of antidepressants was not in question. The story didn’t analyze the novelty claim that the researchers made: “To our knowledge, this is the first research synthesis in this area to use complete longitudinal person-level data from a large set of published and unpublished studies. The results do not support previous findings that antidepressants show little benefit except for severe depression.” The second point was made in the story, but perhaps the story should have explained a bit more about the methodological reasons for why this analysis was – or what made it – different or important. As to the first (questionable) part of the claim, what’s novel is this: more studies than the previous analysis, adolescents/adults/older adults included and analyzed by these groups. The story did not rely on a news release.
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9397
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Test risk of breast cancer from home with new FDA-approved DNA kit by 23andMe
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The story focuses on a recent decision by the FDA to approve a genetic test by the company 23andMe which screens for several gene mutations associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. The story is a brief one, yet does mention some of the caveats associated with the testing. However, the story essentially relies on news releases from the FDA and 23andMe to inform readers, offering little insight into the cost of the testing, the accuracy of the testing, or the extent to which testing positive for the relevant gene mutations may affect one’s risk of developing breast cancer. Other stories, like this skeptical take in the Philadelphia Inquirer and this piece from The Atlantic, are somewhat longer and offer additional information that provides valuable context. The CDC notes that–with the exception of some types of skin cancer–breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in U.S. women. In other words, breast cancer is something that many women worry about. Meanwhile, tests for mutations in the BRCA genes that can pose an increased risk of breast cancer have garnered widespread media coverage in recent years, thanks (at least in part) to Angelina Jolie’s highly-publicized decision to have a double mastectomy after testing positive for relevant mutations. Genetic testing is much more complicated and nuanced than getting a cholesterol level. Proper education and counseling by a physician with experience in cancer genetics and/or a genetic counselor is essential when deciding whether or not to be tested. It’s also important when deciding what test to perform, and for assistance in understanding the significance and implications of positive, negative or indeterminate test results. In this instance, the story doesn’t convey that complexity or offer much information that readers can use to make decisions about the use of the recently-approved 23andMe test. For example, what is the rate of false positive results? Or false negatives? What does that mean for actual risk of developing breast cancer? And how much does it cost?
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false
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breast cancer
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Cost isn’t mentioned. The BRCA testing appears to be part of the $199 “health + ancestry service” package provided by 23andMe — though the package description on the company website did not include BRCA at the time of this writing. While this is a significant out-of-pocket expense for most people, it is somewhat less expensive than some other genetic testing options. However, those other testing options are significantly more extensive. In other words, as one genetic counselor notes in a related article in The Atlantic, “[23andMe] is not an inexpensive way to get your testing done more cheaply.” The benefits in this context would, presumably, be an increased awareness of one’s risk for breast cancer; information that can be used to make informed decisions about monitoring and prevention. However, the story does not use numbers in a way that would help women choose the best course of action. For example, it does not explain how accurate the test is, nor does it tell readers how much their cancer risk is increased with a positive result. It also does not explain what women might do to mitigate that increased risk, and how much their risk would decrease as a result. While it might be too much to ask the story to include all of this information, providing at least some of these numbers would be necessary to meet our expectations for this criterion. There are questions about accuracy that will be discussed under quality of evidence, but we think it’s worth addressing potential harm associated with any screening test: false results. The Mayo Clinic notes that testing positive for a BRCA mutation can cause “Feelings of anxiety, anger, sadness or depression”; “Difficult decisions about preventive measures that have long-term consequences”; and “Feelings of inevitability that you’ll get cancer.” Those are serious stresses associated with accurate diagnoses. Those same stresses can occur if someone is inaccurately told that they have a relevant gene mutation — and that’s a potential harm that is worth mentioning. Another potential harm is if a patient is found to have a “VUS” – variant of uncertain significance. This is an abnormality in the gene which may or may not be harmful. When patients undergo genetic testing under the care of their physician or genetic counselor, the possibility and implications of a VUS are explained prior to and after testing. As the 23andMe testing kit is available to the consumer without a prescription and without a requirement for pre-test education or counseling, patients may be further confused if the results reveal a VUS. There is no discussion of the medical evidence behind this test. How well-tested it is? How much science supports it use? What kind of evidence is required for FDA approval? Let’s also talk about accuracy itself. In any medical test there are two types of accuracy: sensitivity and specificity. Sensitivity refers to how accurate the test is at detecting a problem in people who have that problem. Specificity refers to how accurate the test is at determining there is no problem. And these things tend to be a bit of a trade-off. i.e., tests with a high sensitivity have a low false-negative rate, but are likely to have a higher rate of false positives; whereas tests with a high specificity have a low false-positive rate, but are likely to have a higher rate of false negatives. What are the sensitivity and specificity for the 23andMe tests discussed in this story? The story doesn’t tell us. That said, the story does get credit for noting that the 23andMe test only tests for “three out of more than 1,000 known BRCA mutations” — and that those three mutations are found predominantly in people of Eastern European Jewish descent. That’s valuable context for highlighting the limitations of the testing. No disease mongering here. The story provides useful information from an FDA news release and clearly notes that the relevant testing is a test being marketed by a specific company. That said, the story lacks actual interviews with third-party expert sources not connected with the FDA or the gene testing company. The story may actually confuse readers on this count. The story says: “The prescription-free test is the first to report on three specific BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast cancer gene mutations, according to the FDA.” That’s awkwardly phrased. It would be more accurate to say that this is the first test you can get without a prescription that reports on these three mutations. 23andMe is not the only company that provides genetic testing for BRCA mutations, and the story does not make sufficiently clear to readers that there are other genetic tests available that evaluate a broader range of potential mutations. It’s just that these other tests aren’t made available directly to consumers. The story doesn’t make it clear when this test will be available. The company’s website notes that said testing results will be available “in the coming weeks.” The story does address the novelty here, but does so in an awkwardly phrased way. However, we addressed that under “Compare alternatives.” We don’t want to ding the story twice for the same thing, so we’ll let it pass here. 23andMe issued a release — and so did the FDA. As far as we can tell, all of the material in the story was drawn from these two releases.
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7889
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Exclusive: U.S. axed CDC expert job in China months before virus outbreak.
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Several months before the coronavirus pandemic began, the Trump administration eliminated a key American public health position in Beijing intended to help detect disease outbreaks in China, Reuters has learned.
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true
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Health News
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The American disease expert, a medical epidemiologist embedded in China’s disease control agency, left her post in July, according to four sources with knowledge of the issue. The first cases of the new coronavirus may have emerged as early as November, and as cases exploded, the Trump administration in February chastised China for censoring information about the outbreak and keeping U.S. experts from entering the country to help. “It was heartbreaking to watch,” said Bao-Ping Zhu, a Chinese American who served in that role, which was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2007 and 2011. “If someone had been there, public health officials and governments across the world could have moved much faster.” Zhu and the other sources said the American expert, Dr. Linda Quick, was a trainer of Chinese field epidemiologists who were deployed to the epicenter of outbreaks to help track, investigate and contain diseases. As an American CDC employee, they said, Quick was in an ideal position to be the eyes and ears on the ground for the United States and other countries on the coronavirus outbreak, and might have alerted them to the growing threat weeks earlier. No other foreign disease experts were embedded to lead the program after Quick left in July, according to the sources. Zhu said an embedded expert can often get word of outbreaks early, after forming close relationships with Chinese counterparts. Zhu and the other sources said Quick could have provided real-time information to U.S. and other officials around the world during the first weeks of the outbreak, when they said the Chinese government tamped down on the release of information and provided erroneous assessments. Quick left amid a bitter U.S. trade dispute with China when she learned her federally funded post, officially known as resident adviser to the U.S. Field Epidemiology Training Program in China, would be discontinued as of September, the sources said. The U.S. CDC said it first learned of a “cluster of 27 cases of pneumonia” of unexplained origin in Wuhan, China, on Dec. 31. Since then, the outbreak of the disease known as COVID-19 has spread rapidly worldwide, killing more than 13,600 people, infecting more than 317,000. The epidemic has overwhelmed healthcare systems in some countries, including Italy, and threatens to do so in the United States and elsewhere. During a press briefing on Sunday shortly after this story was first published, President Donald Trump dismissed the Reuters report as similar to other stories regarding the CDC that he described as “100 percent wrong,” without addressing whether the role had been eliminated. U.S. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield maintained the agency’s presence in China “is actually being augmented as we speak,” without elaborating. In a statement to Reuters before the report was published, the CDC said the elimination of the adviser position did not hinder Washington’s ability to get information and “had absolutely nothing to do with CDC not learning of cases in China earlier.” The agency said its decision not to have a resident adviser “started well before last summer and was due to China’s excellent technical capability and maturity of the program.” The CDC said it has assigned two of its Chinese employees as “mentors” to help with the training program. The agency did not respond to questions about the mentors’ specific role or expertise. The CDC would not make Quick, who still works for the agency, available for comment. Asked for comment on Chinese transparency and responsiveness to the outbreak, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred Reuters to remarks by spokesman Geng Shuang on Friday. Geng said the country “has adopted the strictest, most comprehensive, and most thorough prevention and control measures in an open, transparent, and responsible manner, and informed the (World Health Organization) and relevant countries and regions of the latest situation in a timely manner.” One disease expert told Reuters he was skeptical that the U.S. resident adviser would have been able to get earlier or better information to the Trump administration, given the Chinese government’s suppression of information. “In the end, based on circumstances in China, it probably wouldn’t have made a big difference,” Scott McNabb, who was a CDC epidemiologist for 20 years and is now a research professor at Emory University. “The problem was how the Chinese handled it. What should have changed was the Chinese should have acknowledged it earlier and didn’t.” Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Friday that his agency learned of the coronavirus in early January, based on Redfield’s conversations with “Chinese colleagues.” Redfield learned that “this looks to be a novel coronavirus” from Dr. Gao Fu, the head of the China CDC, according to an HHS administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Dr. Redfield always talked to Dr. Gao,” the official said. HHS and CDC did not make Azar or Redfield available for comment. Zhu and other sources said U.S. leaders should not have been relying on the China CDC director for alerts and updates. In general, they said, officials in China downplayed the severity of the outbreak in the early weeks and did not acknowledge evidence of person-to-person transmission until Jan. 20. After the epidemic exploded and China had imposed strict quarantines, Trump administration officials complained that the Chinese had censored information about the outbreak and that the United States had been unable to get American disease experts into the country to help contain the spread. Azar told CNN on Feb. 14 that he and CDC director Redfield officially offered to send a CDC team into China on Jan. 6 but still had not received permission for them to enter the country. HHS oversees the CDC. “Dr. Redfield and I made the offer on January 6th - 36 days ago, 60,000 cases and 1,300 deaths ago,” Azar said. “We made the offer to send the CDC experts in to assist their Chinese colleagues to get to the bottom of key scientific questions like, how transmissible is this disease? What is the severity? What is the incubation period and can there be asymptomatic transmission?” Days later, the World Health Organization secured permission to send a team that included two U.S. experts. The team visited between Feb. 16th and 24th. By then, China had reported more than 75,000 cases. On Feb. 25, the first day the CDC told the American public to prepare for an outbreak at home, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused China of mishandling the epidemic through its “censorship” of medical professionals and media. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since then, as Trump has labeled the coronavirus the “Chinese virus” - a description the Chinese have condemned as stigmatizing. Last week, the Chinese government announced that Americans from three U.S. news organizations, The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, would be expelled from China. The decision to eliminate Quick’s job came as the CDC has scaled back the number of U.S. staffers in China over the last two years, the sources told Reuters. “We had already withdrawn many technical public health experts,” the same expert said. The CDC, however, disputed that staffing was a problem or that its information had been limited by the move. “It was not the staffing shortage that limited our ability” it said. The U.S. CDC team in Beijing now includes three American citizens in permanent roles, an additional American who is temporary and around 10 Chinese nationals, the agency said. Of the Americans, one is an influenza expert with expertise in respiratory disease. COVID-19 is not influenza, though it can cause severe respiratory illness. The CDC team, aside from Quick, was housed at U.S. Embassy facilities. No American CDC staffer besides Quick was embedded with China’s disease control agency, the sources said. China in recent weeks has reported a dramatic slowdown in new cases, the result of drastic containment measures including the lockdown of Hubei province, home to 60 million people. Nevertheless, the infectious disease experts who spoke with Reuters said, the United States could use people like Quick with contacts on the ground, especially if fears of a second wave of infections materializes. Thomas R. Frieden, a former director of the CDC, said that if the U.S. resident adviser had still been in China, “it is possible that we would know more today about how this coronavirus is spreading and what works best to stop it.” Dr. George Conway, a medical epidemiologist who knows Quick and had served as resident advisor between 2012 and 2015, said funding for the position had been tenuous for years because of a perennial debate among U.S health officials over whether China should be paying for funding its own training program. Yet since the training program was launched in 2001, the sources familiar with it say, it has not only strengthened the ranks of Chinese epidemiologists in the field, but also fostered collegial relationships between public health officials in the two countries. “We go there as credentialed diplomats and return home as close colleagues and often as friends,” Conway said. In 2007, Dr. Robert Fontaine, a CDC epidemiologist and one of the longest serving U.S. officials in the adviser’s position, received China’s highest honor for outstanding contributions to public health due to his contribution as a foreigner in helping to detect and investigate clusters of pneumonia of unknown cause. But since last year, Frieden and others said, growing tensions between the Trump administration and China’s leadership have apparently damaged the collaboration. “The message from the administration was, ‘Don’t work with China, they’re our rival,’” Frieden said. Trump’s re-election campaign sent out a statement Sunday evening dismissing controversy about the CDC’S cut as a matter of politics. “Democrats are eager to politicize the coronavirus crisis and weaponize it against President Trump, the statement said. “In so doing, they’re siding with the Chinese and providing cover for Beijing’s cover-up.”
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8668
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World's worst air adds to Serbian capital's coronavirus woes.
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Belgrade’s residents on Friday isolated themselves not only from coronavirus but also from acrid smoke, which defied strong winds to transform the Serbian capital into the city with the world’s most polluted air.
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true
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Environment
|
The Air Visual API website, which compiles data from ground sensors worldwide, ranked the Serbian capital temporarily at the top of its global index of cities with the worst air pollution. Belgrade’s pollution level later fell to fourth, behind Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, Zagreb in Croatia, and Chiang Mai in Thailand. Local researchers say that domestic heating and industry, including decades-old coal-fired power plants which provide most of Serbia’s energy, emit almost three-quarters of the country’s polluting air particles. In January hundreds of protesters took to Belgrade’s streets demanding the government tackle severe air pollution throughout the European Union candidate country. In a statement, Ne Davimo Beograd (Let’s Not Drown Belgrade), a local rights and environment watchdog, said that the main cause of the latest pollution could be a smouldering fire at the sprawling Vinca landfill, about 20 km (12 miles) east of the city center. Radomir Lazovic, one of the organization’s leading activists, said that air pollution could aggravate the condition of people with pulmonary diseases, which are particularly susceptible to coronavirus infection. “According to estimates ... (by doctors), there are around 1 million of these people in Serbia,” Lazovic told Reuters. In a statement, the ministry for environmental protection said that along with small heating plants and domestic heating, dust was the main contributor to most recent pollution. “After melting of snow and drying of the surface (soil), a strong wind led to re-emission of the (dust) particles into ... the lower layers of atmosphere,” the ministry said. So far, the coronavirus infection in Serbia has sickened 528 and killed eight people. Officials from Belgrade’s waste disposal company and city hall who are responsible for the landfill could not immediately be reached for comment.
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28605
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Rape would be designated a pre-existing condition under the American Health Care Act.
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What's true: A constellation of symptoms associated with physical and emotional trauma could conceivably be used to deny health insurance coverage or health care. What's false: Rape and sexual assault are legally not allowed to be used as pre-existing conditions for health insurance.
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mixture
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Crime, American Health Care Act, Health Care, rape
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Prior to the passage of the American Health Care Act in the U.S. House of Representatives on 4 May 2017, critics warned that the bill would specifically put sexual assault and rape survivors at risk because it would list their circumstances as being “pre-existing conditions” subject to either price gouging or disqualification from healthcare insurance providers. After it was passed, those concerns only increased. Jodi Omear, a spokesperson for the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network survivor advocacy group released a statement: Sexual assault should never be considered a pre-existing condition. Every 98 seconds an American is sexually assaulted. The effects of sexual violence are long lasting and it’s important that we stay clear of any barriers that allow survivors to get help, report crimes, and receive medical treatment. We must create a system where more survivors feel comfortable and confident coming forward. Neither sexual assault nor rape were named in the legislation, which critics have dubbed “Trumpcare.” The concern stemmed in part from an amendment to the bill, which allows states to apply for waivers on an ACA mandate requiring insurers to provide coverage for several “essential” services. Author and freelance journalist Linda Tirado called the concern on the part of sexual assault victims a “visceral fear;” in a string of tweets after the bill passed, Tirado related an encounter with a woman who told her she had been raped but did not report it and was concerned about the potential effect on her health care: This is how quick that impact goes. Not even to the Senate yet and people are worried the state will find out about their vaginal abrasion. The amendment was crafted by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-North Carolina) and Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-New Jersey). Attempts to reach their respective Washington D.C. offices following the bill’s passage were unsuccessful. A spokesperson for the health insurer trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans, Kristine Grow, told us: Our position is, of course survivors of domestic abuse and rape should be covered. From a legislative perspective, both the Affordable Care Act and the NAIC Model Act prohibit discrimination against these survivors when making a coverage determination. Health plans comply with laws implementing both. The latter document Grow named was created in 1999 by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and prohibits “unfair discrimination by health carriers and insurance professionals on the basis of abuse status.” By February 2014, a majority of states had enacted provisions similar to the NAIC’s legislation. For example, Florida law says: A health insurer, life insurer, disability insurer, or managed care provider may refuse to underwrite, issue, or renew a policy based on the applicant’s medical condition, but may not consider whether such condition was caused by an act of abuse. For purposes of this section, the term “abuse” means the occurrence of one or more of the following acts: a. Attempting or committing assault, battery, sexual assault, or sexual battery; b. Placing another in fear of imminent serious bodily injury by physical menace; c. False imprisonment; d. Physically or sexually abusing a minor child; or e. An act of domestic violence as defined in s. 741.28. As of May 2017, 42 states had enacted provisions similar to those described NAIC model acts while another six (Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Tennessee) had outright adopted an NAIC model. Tirado told us the debate over whether the AHCA would turn rape into a pre-existing condition is a “linguistic” one: When you think about the fact that you don’t have all of those things happen — trauma and bruising and bleeding and also STD checks and also have to have a full battery [of tests], those things happen pretty rarely in the course of a day-to-day existence that doesn’t involve that kind of violence. The question is actually what is the effect going to be and not what is the stated intent. A 2009 Huffington Post report found evidence that rape victims were, indeed, being denied coverage in the wake of their assault: A 38-year-old woman in Ithaca, N.Y., said she was raped last year and then penalized by insurers because in giving her medical history she mentioned an assault she suffered in college 17 years earlier. The woman, Kimberly Fallon, told a nurse about the previous attack and months later, her doctor’s office sent her a bill for treatment. She said she was informed by a nurse and, later, the hospital’s billing department that her health insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield, not only had declined payment for the rape exam, but also would not pay for therapy or medication for trauma because she “had been raped before.” Fallon says she now has trouble getting coverage for gynecological exams. To avoid the hassle of fighting with her insurance company, she goes to Planned Parenthood instead and pays out of pocket. At the time, a different AHIP spokesperson said that insurers ordinarily would not know if an applicant had been sexually assaulted, but that if someone developed post-traumatic stress disorder in the wake of an attack, it “could be a factor” in their being denied coverage.
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4418
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A ribbit of hope: Panama frogs hop back after nasty disease.
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After years of silence, the rhythmic dee-dee-deeps of frogs and toads are returning in parts of Panama.
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true
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Frogs, Panama, Amphibians, Central America, Latin America, Nevada, Science
|
A deadly fungal disease devastated amphibians in Central America more than a decade ago, quieting some mountain streams. But new research shows evolution may have saved the day — and the frogs. In El Cope, Panama, at least four species disappeared including the red-striped Rio San Juan robber frog. Four other species lost at least 88 percent of their population from a disease-causing fungus that hit Panama hard from 2004 to 2007. The fungus has also been blamed for wiping out amphibian populations in California’s Sierra Nevada and parts of Australia. In the last few years, croaks have been heard in once quiet Panama streams. The critters are by no means recovered since they are still infected with the fungus, but they are alive and growing in numbers, according to a new study in Thursday’s journal Science . “It’s so easy to lose hope when you’ve walked the same stretch of stream year after year, hoping to see a hint of the amazing diversity you once saw there,” study co-author Corinne Richards-Zawacki, a University of Pittsburgh biologist, said in an email. “So you can imagine how good it feels to be able to report some good news from the field.” The recovery is not everywhere and it’s at best modest, cautioned lead author Jamie Voyles, a disease ecologist at the University of Nevada, Reno. One of the frogs making the most noticeable comeback is the hard-to-catch rocket frog, named because it is so quick, she said. Voyles and Richards-Zawacki wanted to find out why the amphibians survived. They initially figured the disease weakened. But after testing old and new disease samples on frogs, they found the disease was as dangerous as ever. To their surprise, the frogs and toads were fighting back better. The fungal disease attacks their skin secretions and recently the frogs showed a two- to five-fold improvement in the amphibians’ ability to limit the fungus’ growth. The disease is still there, but it does less damage, Voyles said. While this research is important, the findings aren’t too surprising because past studies have shown that as bad as disease outbreaks get, they play a tiny role in species extinction, said Andrew Blaustein at Oregon State University, who wasn’t part of the study. Evolution allows species to resist completely succumbing to the nastiest diseases. “So, yes there is hope,” Blaustein said in an email. ___ Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears . His work can be found here . ___ The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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11105
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Echinacea helps colds, major review shows
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This article does an excellent job of putting a new finding about the benefits of echinacea in context of previous research. Too often an article will report the new findings and only much lower in the story mention that it contradicts earlier work. From the first paragraph the reporter lets us know we’re getting only the latest news about a messy, unresolved area of study. The reporter also does a first-rate job of gathering a range of sources to put the findings in context. This article goes well beyond the minimum researcher-plus-one-outside-source requirement, with great benefit to readers. But the story falls short in the area of helping readers make informed decisions based on the findings. The article doesn’t provide enough information on the magnitude of the benefits, the costs of the treatment, or the alternatives. This may leave a reader informed but not well prepared to make a decision about how these findings apply to their own lives.
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true
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Since this article is about a treatment whose benefits are disputed, it should tell readers how much it costs. This would let them do a rough cost-vs.-benefit calculation as they consider whether to use echinacea. The reporter says the study showed a 58 percent reduction in cold risk, and some unspecified ability to shorten duration. It would be useful to know how likely an average adult or child is to get a cold each year, and how long it lasts. This would also help people understand the possible payoff of taking echinacea–and compare it to the costs. The article points out that the herb has some side effects, and quotes a physician mentioning the most common one (a rash, especially in children) and the most important contraindication (pregnancy). It also points out that the study did not take potential harms into account, alerting readers to the possiblity of others not mentioned here. The reporter does an excellent job of describing the technique of meta-analysis, the details of this study, and the benefits and limits of this research approach. He also provides context by describing earlier research into the same question. The article does not exaggerate the effects of colds or the value of the treatment. The reporter does an excellent job describing the rigor of the study and getting the author, an interested party, and a disinterested party to provide perspective. The article fails to mention other options for treating and preventing colds. Again, due to the disputed nature of the findings, this is a significant oversight. The reader will want to know: If echinacea doesn’t work, what else can I try? The article fails to say how widely the herb is used and where it’s available. But it’s probably safe to assume that most Americans know how to find it. The article makes very clear that this treatment has been studied many times before, with contradictory results. The reporter did a significant amount of original reporting.
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10046
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Menopause Study Disputes Herb Treatment
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This story clearly and accurately summarizes the results of the recent trial concluding that common herbal therapies are no better than placebo at relieving menopausal hot flashes and night sweats. Especially commendable is the inclusion of the actual difference in the number of hot flashes or night sweats women in each study group experienced per day. Readers can easily understand and use information about the absolute difference in outcomes. Failure to mention the costs and any side effects of the herbal therapies are relatively minor criticisms of this otherwise high quality story.
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true
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"No mention of costs, but given the comparison with other medications and acknowledgement of multiple sources to obtain the product, this is a relatively minor concern. The story clearly describes the impact of the therapies on a tangible outcome: the difference in the number of hot flashes or night sweats women in each group had each day. There is no mention of the possible harms of any of the herbal treatments; the statement by a researcher who led the study that they are 'safe' goes unchallenged. Story does a reasonable job of explaining the study that was done, but does not mention whether women knew which group they were in (that is, were they randomly assigned and blinded as to which therapy they received). None noted. The story identifies both the source of funding for the study and the two investigators who are quoted. An expert who was not involved in the study also commented on the findings. Other options for managing hot flashes and night sweats are mentioned, as well as how the role of traditional hormone therapies has shifted in recent years. The story says black cohosh is ""available in pill or liquid form and is sold over the counter in many health food stores and over the Internet."" It's clear from the context that the herbal remedies are not novel approaches. The story does not appear to have relied solely or largely on an a news release, and included input from an independent researcher."
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30917
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"Nightmare on Elm Street"" character Freddy Krueger was based on a real life serial murderer."
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Although Craven’s commentary was real, the circulating “Frederick Kruger” gravestone is entirely unrelated to a “real” Freddy Kruger, and instead was intended as a Halloween joke. Over time, however, the description was copied and pasted without its last line, spoiling the joke and confusing horror film buffs.
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false
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Fauxtography, 'true story' jokes, freddy krueger, halloween
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In mid-October 2017, readers began asking if Freddy Krueger (or “Freddy Kruger”) from the Nightmare on Elm Street films was based on a real-life serial killer: Seeing this start to go around. I can’t find anything about it and I’m sure I’m not the only one looking. The Freddy Kruger character was based on a real serial killer who lived in Cincinnati,OH in the 1800s. According to police files of the time, Mr. Kruger had killed at least twenty children within a three mile radius of where he lived. He reportedly murdered the children using only a gardening claw, and he lived inside an abandoned factory; having set up a small living area (and torture area) within the “mechanical room” of the facility. Oh…back then, a “mechanical room” was also known as a “boiler room”. Mr. Kruger was eventually caught, tried, and found to be criminally insane. He spent the rest of his life in Kings Park Psychiatric Hospital before dying unexpectedly in his sleep at the age of 72. To this day (and LONG before the Elm St. films) Kings Park Psych Hospital was said to be haunted by the ghost of Freddy Kruger! Iterations of the rumor placed the “real-life” Freddy Krueger murders (often misspelled “Kruger”) as local to Cincinnati, Brooklyn, and other areas. But copied and pasted versions elided the last line of what appeared to be the original share: Although the exact wording varied, the photographs of the “Frederick Kruger” gravestone (1838-1910) also had a brief note to the effect of: “Actually, I just found this picture and made all this shit up & you actually read it ???? … Happy October everyone????”. However, in October 2014 horror film creator Wes Craven disclosed that “Freddy Krueger” was based on a scary news report he read — not about a real human murderer: When asked where they actually got the idea for Freddy’s WTF-tastic dream powers, Craven recounted an old new story he’d read about a family trying to get their lives in order after escaping Cambodia. But the family’s son was haunted with post-traumatic stress that eventually killed him. From there, the genesis of Freddy Krueger was born: “I’d read an article in the L.A. Times about a family who had escaped the Killing Fields in Cambodia and managed to get to the U.S. Things were fine, and then suddenly the young son was having very disturbing nightmares. He told his parents he was afraid that if he slept, the thing chasing him would get him, so he tried to stay awake for days at a time. When he finally fell asleep, his parents thought this crisis was over. Then they heard screams in the middle of the night. By the time they got to him, he was dead. He died in the middle of a nightmare. Here was a youngster having a vision of a horror that everyone older was denying. That became the central line of Nightmare on Elm Street.”
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1931
|
Festival cheer rings diabetes alarm for Indians.
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It’s festival season in India, with the celebrations providing a perfect opportunity for family outings, late-night parties and customary feasting on sweets.
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true
|
Health News
|
Kashmiri people buy pastries and spices ahead of Eid al-Fitr festival in Srinagar September 20, 2009. REUTERS/Danish Ismail But health experts warn that the festivities, coupled with genetic predisposition and lifestyle changes brought about by the increasing prosperity of the middle class, is contributing to the country being called the world’s “diabetes capital,” with the highest number of diabetics in any nation. The string of festivals, starting with Durga Puja and Dussehra and ending with Diwali, take place in accordance with the Hindu calendar and the dates change every year. The first two were on Oct 6 and Diwali falls on Oct 26 this year. “For the next one month or so, it is all either festivals or outings,” says Anoop Misra, chairman at New Delhi’s Fortis-C-DOC, Center of Excellence for Diabetes, Metabolic Diseases and Endocrinology. “During this time, the rate of obesity goes up, sugar control of established diabetics goes down and those who are predisposed to develop diabetes also show diabetes.” Festivals in India are synonymous with eating and gifting sweets, and most food and confectionery shops are decked with an assortment of goodies in colorful wrappings meant for traditional presents. Two all-time favorites are rasgullas, a soft, spongy ball made from cottage cheese, and the conch-shaped samdesh, made from jaggery. A popular holiday treat is milk-based kaju barfi. But experts warn the festival fun — and, not least, the culture of sweet-eating that peaks then — can help trigger long-term health problems, with diabetes only the start. The disease is characterized by high levels of sugar in the blood and can lead to more serious complications such as heart disease and stroke, damage to the kidneys or nerves, and blindness. But the culture of consuming sweets is hard to shake off, especially during festivals. “Everybody (in India) has a sweet tooth, including me,” said Ramachandran, a man in his 50s polishing off a plate of sweets at a New Delhi restaurant. “(Diabetes) is not because of sweets. It’s because people are too lazy (to exercise),” he added. The majority of those with diabetes have Type 2, which is linked to obesity and lack of exercise. India, with 62.4 million cases, has the world’s highest number of diabetics. Misra said numbers are rising at an alarming rate because of a newly rich middle class that increasingly consumes junk food while adopting more sedentary lifestyles. “Their awareness about healthy eating is very low,” he said. Recent studies have shown the numbers of diabetics is also rising fast in villages, where people are traditionally more active and have not previously been exposed to fast food restaurants and refined snacks. Nutritionist Uma Gupta attributes it to increasing stress and people adopting city culture, among other causes. A recent study commissioned by the Indian Council for Medical Research found that in the last one year, the number of diabetics in India increased by 11.6 million, while another 77.2 million are pre-diabetics — a precursor to Type 2 diabetes where a person’s blood sugar levels are higher than normal. Experts warn that the country’s health infrastructure could soon be unable to deal with the burden. “(Diabetes) is a forerunner of multiple diseases including heart disease and cancer ... I don’t think our present health system can counter this pressure,” Misra said. The situation is made worse by a tendency for people to wait until they have a real health problem before doing anything, said Gupta. “Take measures now, improve your lifestyle. Otherwise, hospitals will not have space for you, doctors will not have time to treat you,” she added. “Treatment should start from your plate itself.”
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29359
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"Drug dealers are selling colored and flavored crystal methamphetamine known as ""Strawberry Quick"" to children. "
|
What's true: Police have sometimes seized colored versions of crystal meth that resemble candy. What's false: There's no credible evidence that drug dealers are manufacturing colored and flavored versions of meth (imitative of candy) with the intent of making them appeal to children.
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false
|
Medical, candy meth, drug legends, drugs
|
In early 2007, warnings began to circulate about sweetened and flavored forms of methamphetamine known as “Strawberry Quick” (or “Strawberry Quik,” named after strawberry Quik, a powder used to make flavored milk drinks). Various news accounts about Strawberry Quick first reported it appearing in western states in January 2007 and described it as resembling rock candy or Pop Rocks (a kid-favored confection that fizzles in the mouth), prompting fears that it might fool children and teens into mistakenly perceiving it as candy (or perceiving it as a drug far less dangerous and addictive than it actually is): Drug Warning – Beware and please inform your children I have been alerted by one of our EMT’s for our volunteer fire department that they have received emails from emergency responder organizations to be on the lookout for a new form of Crystalized Meth that is targeted at children and to be aware of this new form if called to an emergency involving a child that may have symptoms of drug induction or overdose. They are calling this new form of meth “Strawberry Quick” and it looks like the “Pop Rocks” candy that sizzle in your mouth. In it’s current form, it is dark pink in color and has a strawberry scent to it. Please advise your children and their friends and other students not to accept candy from strangers as this is obviously an attempt to seduce children into drug use. They also need to be cautious in accepting candy from even friends that may have received it from someone else, thinking it is just candy. ALL PARENTS PLEASE BE AWARE!! …There is a drug going around the schools ..Its known as Strawberry Quick …or strawberry meth …it looks like pop rocks kids eat & also smells like strawberries & also comes in other flavors like chocolate, etc. … Please tell your children not to take candy from ANYONE- even a class mate- because this drug that looks like pop rocks is actually crystal meth rocked up with strawberry flavor & can KILLl them :'( …PLEASE REPOST!!! so all parents are aware of this ..Thank You! This is happening all over the country.. As of September 2017 versions of the warning still circulated on social media, some appended with a new image of the purported “strawberry quick”: However, after those early warnings about Strawberry Quick worked their way to the public through police, schools, and the news media, federal drug enforcement officials began issuing corrections that described such rumors as unfounded. While colored versions of methamphetamine that somewhat resemble candy may have been found, the notion that drug dealers are deliberately targeting children by producing flavored versions of the drug intended to mimic the appearance and taste of candy appears to have been based on mistaken assumptions: When colored versions of meth turn up, the coloring of the drug is likely incidental to the manufacturing process (rather than a quality deliberately introduced to increase the appeal of meth), and since police labs don’t generally test drugs for flavoring ingredients, statements about seizures of flavored meth have probably been based solely on the drug’s brightly hued appearance and not on its actual taste. As a DEA spokesman observed in 2010, the rumor about “strawberry quick” had “nothing to it”: An e-mail is circulating — forwarded from one worried parent to the next — claiming that drug dealers are targeting children with a pink, berry-flavored methamphetamine known as “strawberry quick.” While the e-mail is composed of unnerving details, pleading with recipients to pass it along, authorities said its claims are little more than “urban legend.” “We checked with all of our labs, and there’s nothing to it,” U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Michael Sanders said. “It’s not a trend or a real problem; I think that this was maybe someone with good intentions but jumped the gun.” The e-mail scare started circulating around 2007, making its way from community to community, and eventually was picked up by newspapers and television stations across the nation. Even law enforcement bulletins and school officials ran with it. Still, Sanders said, the DEA has never heard of anyone adding strawberry flavoring to meth, and are not aware of any children admitted to hospitals in dire condition because of it. He noted that on at least one occasion they found colored meth, but determined that the person cooking it added the dye to skirt law enforcement rather than lure kids. The Partnership at Drugfree.org received similar responses from the DEA when they attempted to run the “strawberry quick” rumors to ground: Both the DEA and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy told Join Together that they have not been able to identify a single confirmed seizure of flavored meth.”There are a lot of people in prevention and law enforcement talking about it, but in terms of actual seizures we haven’t seen much,” said Tom Riley, a spokesperson for ONDCP. Rojean White, a spokesperson for the DEA, told Join Together that while local DEA agents have heard stories about flavored meth from local law-enforcement colleagues, they “haven’t had any” seizures themselves. Experts say that there’s a real possibility that local police are confusing colored meth — which is relatively common — with flavored meth. Tom McNamara, a meth trainer and special-projects coordinator for the Southern Illinois Drug Task Force Group, told Join Together that meth made from Sudafed or some generic versions of the drug will have a light-pink color because of the dye used in the pills. Moreover, he said, meth made from anhydrous ammonia treated with GloTell — a chemical marker designed to discourage thefts — will be bright pink. The drug also can appear greenish or blue. “We’ve had that forever,” said McNamara of colored meth, whereas his inquiries about flavored meth have yielded nothing. “The warnings are well-intended, but they have no substance,” he said. And, as many others have noted, rumors of illegal drugs produced in a form intended to appeal to young children have been circulating for several decades and make little sense, as young children do not generally have the disposable income necessary to purchase such products. Nonetheless, in April 2007, U.S. Senators Feinstein and Grassley responded to the “strawberry quick” rumors by introducing legislation aimed at increasing the criminal penalties for anyone who markets or makes candy-flavored drugs by imposing upon them the same enhanced criminal sentences handed down to drug dealers who knowingly sell to minors. In September 2018, this rumor circulated in the following form on Facebook: The accompanying pictures had nothing to do with meth use, but rather an HPV infection:
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36069
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"Part of a meme known as ""woman yelling at a cat"" has a tragic backstory."
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The Sad Backstory of the ‘Woman Yelling at a Cat’ Meme
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true
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Fact Checks, Viral Content
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On October 26 2019, a Facebook user shared a PSA involving the popular meme often called “woman yelling at a cat,” stating that the image’s ubiquity led them to research the origins of the image:After seeing this image on many different memes, I decided to research it. I had hoped there was some humor or ridiculousness behind it. Instead there is nothing but very serious tragedy. This is a woman named Taylor Armstrong from the show Beverly Hills Housewives defending herself against her “friends” about coming forward on the physical abuse she endured from her husband Russell. Her friends were claiming she lied. This transition happened soon after he committed suicide and while she was having a nervous breakdown. Until recently her hospital records were kept private, including the reconstructive surgery she had to have on her eye from an injury she sustained by him. Her friends attacked her honesty because he said he didn’t do it. Don’t they all. So an abused woman and a dead abuser, … and a child left fatherless. Sometimes we should be more careful of what we’re laughing at.According to KnowYourMeme, the image of the two women and the image of the cat came together to form one meme around May 2019. Prior to that, the image of the woman yelling circulated as a meme in its own right, as seen in a March 2016 Instagram post:A post shared by Betches Media (@betches) on Mar 24, 2016 at 2:29pm PDTThat same year — 2016 — the image of the women appeared in an USMagazine.com ranking of fights on various Real Housewives shows, identifying the image’s origin as an episode in the second season of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. The magazine identified the blonde woman in the image as Taylor Armstrong:In season 2 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, the ladies conducted an intervention for [Taylor] Armstrong over her allegedly abusive late husband, Russell. After the meeting didn’t go over so well, things got even worse at a Malibu bash, where Armstrong completely lost it.Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season two episode “Malibu Beach Party from Hell” originally aired in December 2011. Vulture recapped the episode, focusing more on the behavior of an ancillary character during the argument seen in all the memes. On YouTube, footage of the entire segment as it originally aired was uploaded in August 2019.Vulture‘s recap included Armstrong’s explanation for her dispute with castmate Camille Grammer, from the episode’s subsequent Watch What Happened Live. The clip was filmed after Armstrong disclosed her pending divorce from husband Russell Armstrong, and the argument in question was over Grammer’s risky gossiping about the events leading up to the filing for divorce.Before the argument and prior to Armstrong’s arrival, Grammer admitted her unease at facing Armstrong under those circumstances. That recap coupled the events of the show with the additional background provided by cast members:Camille … expressed her concerns about seeing Taylor, who had been dodging her calls since Camille said out loud to a group of their peers that her husband was beating her. And since Taylor has appeared on WWHL to clarify and spin the events accordingly, we now know that her official statement is that what she was angry at Camille about had more to do with Camille saying that Russell had abused her on-camera than anything else. And being as the women are not allowed to allude to the fact that they are being filmed throughout the course of the series, it’s a fair point of Taylor’s to have made. [Taylor] claimed, when talking to Andy Cohen, that when Camille said what she had about Russell she put Taylor in danger, because Taylor feared that her husband would see the footage and beat her up or kill her. And those claims are so terrifying and believable, despite what you may think of Taylor’s pathologies, that her meshugganah antics on last night’s episode actually seemed less despicable and more justifiable than her prior lashings-out.Immediately after “Malibu Beach House from Hell” aired, Taylor Armstrong confirmed to Watch What Happened Live‘s Andy Cohen that Grammer’s gossiping led her to fear that her husband “would see the footage and beat her up or kill her.” And once again, the episode aired on December 5 2011.On August 16 2011, E! News published a “timeline” of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills happenings after news that Russell Armstrong had died by suicide the day before:May 11, 2011: Taylor’s rep denies reports that she and Russell have split up, saying they are “both really committed to making their marriage work.”July 15, 2011: Taylor announces that she has filed for divorce, calling it a “difficult decision,” but one that’s in her family’s best interests. In her petition, she cites their date of separation as July 1, requests primary physical custody and joint legal custody of their 5-year-old daughter, Kennedy, and asks that her maiden name be restored.Aug. 15, 2011: Bravo sends out a RHOBH press release noting that one of Taylor’s plot points this season will be her continuing struggles with “a loveless marriage.” Taylor had told E! News that the coming season would include, for her, “a lot more tears and a lot more pain.”Aug. 15, 2011: Russell Armstrong commits suicide by hanging. He is survived by his wife, their daughter and two sons from previous relationships. An autopsy is expected to take place[. ]In a December 2011 People item on the episode, Taylor Armstrong was quoted reiterating her fears that the decisions of others to disclose the abuse endangered both Armstrong and her young daughter, Kennedy:Taylor explained that she was upset that her abusive relationship, which she had divulged to her costars off camera, had become a plotline on the show.“Admitting that I was being abused on national television was a step that I never though any of my friends would take,” she said. “I was so stunned and I felt so betrayed that I couldn’t get past it. And I was scared.”A November 2011 People item that only available in archived form quoted Grammer’s commentary from previous episodes in the season, specifically portions about Armstrong’s injuries:When Taylor returned [to a scene], she found her costars talking once again about her marriage to Russell. She suggested they should all start being completely honest and stop talking about each other behind their backs. […]“We don’t say that he hit you,” Camille said, as a mortified Kyle hid her face in her hands. “We don’t say that he broke your jaw, or that he beat you up, and he hit you.”In March 2019, Taylor Armstrong told BravoTV’s Daily Dish that the decision to file for divorce from her husband came after he fractured bones in her face to such an extent that she needed reconstructive surgery:The RHOBH alum said that she finally decided to file for divorce from Russell after he fractured her orbital floor and she had to undergo reconstructive surgery on her right eye. Kennedy was 5 years old at the time.It was on one of the days when Taylor was supposed to meet with Russell to discuss the custody of their child that she discovered his body after he died by suicide. “I went to go meet him one day, and his office was dark and he wasn’t there and he was a workaholic, so it was completely unusual for that to be the case. And I just had this sinking feeling that something terrible had happened,” she said. “And it had never crossed my mind in the past. He was very narcissistic and not someone you would ever think would take their life. But ultimately, I had found him hanging in the house that he had moved into.”Dedra Whitt, the redhead seen in the argument scene, told a different blog in 2012 that the events as they happened juxtaposed with the filming and airing schedule made re-watching the scene difficult:I really liked Taylor, and I really felt for Taylor. I could feel that she was in pain. I didn’t know to what extent. I didn’t know how truthful a lot of it was, because when someone tells you something that’s going on, you can’t even believe it. I was completely shocked. Completely shocked when Russell killed himself. I didn’t know him, I’d met him a couple of times. It definitely came as a shock to me. I knew they were separated, and I knew she was doing okay with the separation. I think it was probably a good thing for her to separate from him and to try and get her life together. I didn’t know anything that was going on with their financial situation. I just knew that she was having a hard time, and she got a separation from her husband. I thought that was a really good thing. And then when I found out that he killed himself, it floored me, and any feeling that I had negative about her at that moment completely went away. I felt really, really bad for her. You just don’t want anybody to have to go through that. That’s horrible. Just because she was separated doesn’t mean she didn’t love him. She obviously loved him. He was her husband, and she has a young child with him … Unfortunately, the problem with a reality show is now you’ve got to go back and watch all this crap you filmed six months ago. We’re all in a different place now. Every single person on that show is in a different place. But you have to go back and re-live it. It’s agony. I don’t feel that way now.Taylor Armstrong remarried in 2014. On October 27 2019 (right after the Facebook post was published), a Twitter user asked Armstrong if seeing the meme was upsetting to her:Genuinely curious if that photo is hard to see circulate so much? I remember how upset you were during that scene.— MarioKiki (@mariokiki) October 27, 2019Armstrong replied, telling social media users it was “ok to laugh” at the meme:Thank you – that is my past and I have moved on and am in a really healthy, happy marriage. It doesn’t seem like my life any longer. I work w domestic violence shelters and support victims. It’s ok to laugh at the images that have been created. https://t.co/Zup8szsDNb— Taylor Armstrong (@TaylorArmstrong) October 27, 2019A Facebook post shared in October 2019 focused on the “woman yelling at a cat” meme, which was a mashup of two previously unrelated memes, one of which featured a crying former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member Taylor Armstrong. The post was broadly accurate, explaining that Armstrong was confronting her friends (namely Camille Grammer) over their handling of abuse she suffered at the hands of her then-estranged husband Russell Armstrong. At some point not long after the party (before the show aired), Russell Armstrong died by suicide.After the post appeared, Armstrong said on Twitter that it was “ok to laugh” at the meme, but acknowledged that it depicted a very painful part of her life.
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2903
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CareFusion to pay $40 million to settle U.S. kickbacks lawsuit.
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CareFusion Corp agreed to pay $40.1 million to settle a federal government lawsuit accusing it of paying kickbacks to boost sales of a pre-surgical skin treatment, and marketing the product for unapproved uses.
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true
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Health News
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The accord announced on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice resolves allegations that CareFusion violated the federal False Claims Act by paying $11.6 million to a doctor to promote its ChloraPrep product to healthcare providers. That doctor, Charles Denham, received the kickbacks while serving as co-chair of the safe practices committee of the nonprofit National Quality Forum, which makes recommendations on healthcare practices, the Justice Department said. “Corrupting the standard-setting process through kickbacks can affect the healthcare treatment choices that doctors and hospitals may make for patients,” Stuart Delery, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil division, said in a statement. The lawsuit also claimed that CareFusion promoted ChloraPrep from September 2009 through August 2011 for unapproved uses. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved ChloraPrep to prepare patients’ skin for surgery or injections. CareFusion said on Thursday that it set aside funds for the settlement in the first quarter of 2013. Chief Executive Officer Kieran Gallahue said the San Diego-based company is pleased to settle, and has made “significant investments” to improve its quality and compliance practices, including in sales and marketing. Denham could not immediately be reached for comment. The accord resolved a whistleblower lawsuit first brought in September 2010 by Cynthia Kirk, a former vice president of regulatory affairs at a CareFusion infection prevention unit. She will receive $3.26 million through the settlement, which along with the lawsuit was unsealed this week by the federal court in Kansas City, Kansas. In afternoon trading, CareFusion shares were up 81 cents at $41.12. The case is U.S. ex rel. Kirk v. CareFusion Corp et al, U.S. District Court, District of Kansas, No. 10-02492.
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4456
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Last year it was dicamba, this year it’s 2,4-D.
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A volatile weed killer linked to cancer and endocrine issues will likely be sprayed on millions more acres of soybeans and cotton across the Midwest and South starting this year.
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true
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Global trade, Genetics, Cancer, Champaign, China, Science, Weeds
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In January, China approved imports of a new genetically modified soybean variety — Enlist E3 soybeans jointly made by Corteva Agriscience, a division of DowDupont and seed company MS Technologies — that can withstand the herbicide 2,4-D. “This is great news for U.S. soybean growers,” said Joseph Merschman, president of MS Technologies in a February press release. “This announcement clears the way for even more soybean growers to experience the high-yielding elite genetics and exceptional weed control offered by the Enlist E3 soybean system.” DowAgrosciences declined to comment for this story. ___ The nonprofit news outlet Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting provided this article to The Associated Press through a collaboration with Institute for Nonprofit News. ___ The herbicide — 2,4-D — was one of the active ingredients in Agent Orange and has been shown to drift miles away from where it’s applied. The U.S. used Agent Orange during the Vietnam War to eliminate crops and forest covers for enemy troops. The International Agency for Research on Cancer named the weed killer a possible human carcinogen. Studies have also linked 2,4-D to endocrine disruption, disturbing estrogen, androgen and thyroid hormones. Over the past two decades, a growing number of weeds have become resistant to glyphosate, the most popular weed killer in the world, sold as Monsanto’s Roundup. In response, agribusiness companies, like Dow and Monsanto, have introduced new genetically modified varieties of soybeans that can be sprayed with other herbicides that kill glyphosate-resistant weeds. The United States exports $14 billion worth of soybeans to China, or one of every four rows of soybeans, annually, according to the American Soybean Association, an organization of soybean producers. Trade tensions with China and higher import taxes on U.S. soybeans have thwarted imports recently. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has projected that increased 2,4-D use due to the Enlist system would likely increase the amount of the weed killer sprayed between 200 and 600 percent by 2020. Already, it’s one of the most commonly used herbicides in the United States, used in conventional agriculture including corn and is one of the most commonly used home and garden herbicides. In 2016, the USDA estimated that farmers used 44.4 million pounds of 2,4-D on crops across the U.S. “This is just going to absolutely be a disaster,” said Nathan Donley, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit organization that works to protect endangered species. The Enlist approval gives farmers looking to manage glyphosate-resistant weeds a new tool at a time when the dominant soybean system — Monsanto’s Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans — has caused widespread issues in the Midwest and South. Those soybeans are genetically engineered to withstand being sprayed by dicamba, a volatile herbicide that has drifted off target and damaged millions of acres of non-resistant soybeans, other crops and natural areas since the Environmental Protection Agency approved new versions of the weed killer for use on soybeans in November 2016. More than 90 percent of soybeans grown in the United States are genetically modified, but there are only three major systems that are commonly used to combat glyphosate-resistant weeds: Monsanto’s Xtend, DowDupont’s Enlist and BASF’s LibertyLink soybeans, which are resistant to glufosinate, another herbicide. Enlist soybeans can also be sprayed with glufosinate. The extent to which 2,4-d-resistant soybeans will be planted is unknown, largely because of the widespread market penetration by dicamba-resistant soybeans. Company officials estimated the product will have at least 10 percent market share by 2020, which would be about 9 million acres in the United States. In two years, dicamba went from being sprayed on zero acres of soybeans to more than 40 million acres. Aaron Hager, an associate professor at the University of Illinois, said many farmers have adopted Monsanto’s Xtend soybeans as a protection measure against drift from dicamba. “It’s going to be difficult for (Enlist) to gain market penetration partially because of how well entrenched dicamba already is,” Hager said. The main question for farmers considering Enlist is whether drift from dicamba will damage Enlist soybeans, said Charles Benbrook, a visiting professor at the University of Newcastle who has spent decades studying pesticides at various institutions. “One of the huge questions is, is there any cross resistance? Will they be any less vulnerable to damage from drifting dicamba and vice versa?” Benbrook said. Benbrook said they may be able to coexist. Though 2,4-D and dicamba are different pesticides, their similarities might allow some cross-resistance in genetically modified soybeans, Benbrook said. Both dicamba and 2,4-D have been used for decades on other crops but at a smaller scale. Both are broadleaf herbicides that kill plants in similar ways, mimicking natural plant hormones called auxins and causing abnormal growth. Like the new version of dicamba, the new 2,4-D strain approved for usage on soybeans is designed to be less volatile than past versions. If there is no cross-resistance, Benbrook projected that Corteva, a division of DowDupont, and Bayer, which owns Monsanto, will likely have to come up with a deal to put the resistant genes in both company’s systems, increasing the price for farmers. Donley said both herbicides, having similar modes of actions and a propensity to drift, will insert an element of doubt on what caused drift damage. States across the Midwest and South have received a record number of pesticide misuse complaints from farmers since dicamba was allowed on soybeans. Already, some scientists have speculated that 2,4-D is causing some of the alleged dicamba damage. “Industry is going to use this to say, ‘how do you know it’s our product?’” Donley said. “It’s going to enable the industry to do what they do best, which is sow doubt in the public.” Environmental groups argue the transition to 2,4-D-resistant soybeans, and the increased spraying that goes along with it, is indicative of the problems with industrial agriculture. Jennifer Sass, senior scientist at the Natural Resource Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group, has researched the human health effects of 2,4-D, and said that the herbicide can cause disruptions in the endocrine system. She said that the link to cancer isn’t quite as established. Though 2,4-D is considered a “possible carcinogen,” the research isn’t quite as strong, but that’s because of the difficulties in collecting data, she said. “Those are all data and red flags, but there’s so many reasons to get off this treadmill. Waiting for more confidence in the cancers means waiting for more farmers and pesticide applicators to get cancer, and I don’t think anyone wants to collect our data that way,” Sass said. In some places, some types of glyphosate-resistant weeds, like Palmer amaranth, are already becoming resistant to 2,4-D and dicamba. Bill Freese, a senior scientist at the Center for Food Safety, which is a nonprofit group focused on the environmental effects of food production, said, in addition to human health issues, more spraying will lead to environmental issues, like the killing of pollinators and wild plants, he said. Donley, at the Center for Biological Diversity, has documented those problems with glyphosate and dicamba, especially when it comes to monarch butterflies and milkweed. He said more spraying will lead to more resistance and new herbicides. “It’s a poor answer to a complex situation, and it’s going to be getting worse,” Donley said. “In five-to-10 years, we’re going to be looking for the next herbicide. History tells us what’s going to happen in this case. It’s kind of crazy we’re even considering going here.”
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35530
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A cellular service outage on June 15, 2020, enabled Apple and Google to covertly install COVID-19 tracking apps onto phones.
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What's true: In May 2020, Apple and Google launched a COVID-19 exposure notifications technology, which allows users to choose whether they want to use COVID-19 tracing apps on their phones. On June 15, 2020, many T-Mobile customers experienced network outages. What's false: However, the phone outage (which was mostly limited to one network) and the availability of COVID-19 tracking technology occurred at different times. Furthermore, Google and Apple's exposure notification technology is not functional without the user's consent. What's undetermined: Privacy advocates are still weighing the pros and cons of proximity-tracing apps that use Google and Apple's technology.
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false
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Technology, COVID-19
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A phone network outage coinciding with the coronavirus pandemic in the summer of 2020 became fertile ground for rumors in mid-June, when some cellphone users in the U.S. claimed they couldn’t send or receive calls and text messages. Soon after, Facebook posts claimed that the network outage enabled a suspiciously timed “COVID-19 Tracker” to be added to Apple and Android phones. Snopes readers sent us numerous posts with variations on the above rumor, but the reality was far less dramatic. We learned that the June network outage primarily occurred with T-Mobile customers, and the COVID-19 exposure notifications technology in iPhones and Androids had been rolled out much earlier. Also, that tracker technology cannot be activated unless users choose to turn it on. Here’s what we know: On June 15, 2020, T-Mobile and its subsidiary Sprint, along with some Verizon and AT&T users, reported service outages. AT&T and Verizon reported their networks were operating normally — Verizon, for instance, said the problems stemmed from “another carrier’s” network issues, which meant that their users’ calls to and from T-Mobile accounts were failing. Meanwhile, T-Mobile announced a circuit failure on its end was the root cause for the outage. The rumor in the meme displayed below began circulating a few days later connecting the outage to the COVID tracking: But the new tracker feature already appeared to be available, though not entirely functional, in cellphones, weeks before the outage. An Android user, for instance, shared a screenshot of what appeared to be an added feature in Google settings on May 12, presumably an early version of these so-called “trackers”: A verified Google employee responded to the query on the same forum: The exposure notifications is an application programming interface (API), not a phone application, that offers app developers a number of standardized operations they can use. Developers working for public health agencies around the world issue applications using this API created by Apple and Google. The Google employee emphasized that if the user opted not to download any application that used that notification, then the notification would not be turned on and would not be able to collect any data. If Android users click on the COVID-19 notifications feature, which is available through Google settings, they have to both install a participating app from their region to activate the exposure notifications and enable Bluetooth to use the feature. On May 20, Google and Apple announced the official rollout of the exposure notification API, which uses Bluetooth technology to help governments reduce the spread of COVID-19. Apple and Google barred authorities from using their technology to collect GPS data or require users to enter personal data. The companies are relying on encrypted Bluetooth metadata to identify person-to-person transmission of the disease. Snopes covered how Bluetooth technology traced COVID-19 transmissions here.
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27665
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Dogs and wolves are genetically 99.9% identical.
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These advances in genetic analysis have allowed scientists as well to pin down the probable timing of the split between these two canid lineages. A study published in 2015, which compared the whole genome sequence of dogs to a 35,000 year old Siberian wolf specimen, suggested the split likely occurred between 27,000 and 40,000 years ago, and that domestic dogs are likely themselves the descendants of a now extinct descendant of grey wolves.
|
true
|
Critter Country, dogs, wolves
|
The idea that the domestic dog descended from the grey wolf was originally established in 1993 using comparisons of wolf and dog mitochondrial DNA. This investigation showed that no other living animal was more closely related to the domestic dog than the grey wolf: “The domestic dog is an extremely close relative of the grey wolf, differing from it by at most 0.2% of [mitochondrial DNA].” Mitochondrial DNA is passed down by the mother (without any genetic contribution from the father) and changes only through random mutations that occur from generation to generation. Scientists use this much smaller and separate DNA sequence to estimate when populations of animals first diverged and to estimate the evolutionary relationships between organisms. By the mid-2000s, new technology allowed scientists to map the much longer DNA sequence found on the chromosomes of wolves and dogs — the genes that actually code for physical traits and behaviors. These studies demonstrated a 99.9% similarity (technically 99.96%) between dog and grey wolf, as covered in a 2007 review paper on the topic: In general, the domestic dog is an extremely close relative of the grey wolf, from which it differs by only ~0.04% in nuclear coding-DNA sequence, and no dog [mitochondrial DNA] sequences have been found that show closer kinship to other canid species. This similarity is so profound that hybridization often occurs between dogs and wolves. By the biological definition of species, this would mean that the domestic dog is a subspecies of the grey wolf (canis lupus familiaris). There remains some debate, however, as to what the appropriate classification for the domestic dog would be, with some arguing that the domestic dog should be its own distinct species (canis familiaris).
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3263
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Kentucky officials report probable vaping-related death.
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Kentucky health officials on Friday announced the state’s first probable vaping-related death.
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true
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Vaping, General News, Public health, Kentucky
|
The man who died was in his late 20s, said Kentucky Public Health Commissioner Angela Dearinger. The Centers for Disease Control website said as of Tuesday, 57 vaping-related deaths had been confirmed in 27 states and the District of Columbia. Kentucky has had 48 reports of possible vaping-related illness, including 13 probable cases, seven confirmed and 15 pending, the state said. Eleven were determined to be not related to vaping, and two were residents of other states treated in Kentucky. “We are saddened to announce the death associated with this outbreak,” Eric Friedlander, acting secretary of the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said in a news release. “To protect public health, we urge Kentuckians – especially young people -- to stop using all vaping products.” The state Department for Public Health has been investigating reports of vaping-related illness since September, the release said. A probable case means the person has a lung injury believed to be caused by vaping but may have other health issues, such as flu or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the department said. In a confirmed case, there is no other possible cause than vaping for the lung disease. The agency offers assistance to people who want to quit using tobacco products, including cigarettes and e-cigarettes.
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26516
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People are handing out masks “doused with chemicals which knocks you out cold” so they can rob you.
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This warning has surfaced in countries including the United States and the United Kingdom, but we found no credible reports to back it up.
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false
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Crime, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Viral image,
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"Amid a shortage of face masks, the Centers for Disease Control Prevention now recommends all U.S. residents wear face coverings in public places. So a government initiative to deliver masks to people’s homes would seem like welcome news, at least if the threat of a robbery didn’t loom behind it. ""WARNING,"" reads an image being shared on Facebook. ""A new thing circulating now. People are going door to door handing out masks. They say it’s a new initiative from local government. They ask you to please put it on to see if it fits. It’s doused with chemicals which knocks you out cold. They then rob you!! Please DO NOT accept masks from strangers. Remember friends, it’s a critical time and people are desperate, the crime rate will spike. Please be cautious & safe!"" This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) The cautionary tale is similar to others we’ve already debunked — there aren’t actually reports of people in Las Vegas pretending to be from the Census only to rob residents, nor are there reports of criminals posing as COVID-19 testers in Colorado Springs. One Facebook account sharing this new warning claims it came from someone connected to ""Chesapeake Law Enforcement."" The police department in Chesapeake, Va., did not immediately respond to PolitiFact’s call about the post. But Reuters, which fact-checked other posts with the same message, looked at posts claiming the thieves were prowling around the United Kingdom. The unfounded warning has spread globally as worried people share it online. In Jackson, Miss., the police chief posted on Facebook that ""apparently there are individuals going to citizens’ homes asking them to try on a mask."" ""THIS IS A SCAM!!! !,"" Chief James Davis said in the post. ""Do not answer your door for individuals asking you to try on (a) mask for protection against the coronavirus."" He didn’t mention robbery or say that the masks were doused in chemicals that would knock out the victims who tried them on. A spokesperson for the city did not immediately respond to PolitiFact’s phone call and email asking if that has happened in the community there. Searching for more information about robbers handing out compromised face masks, however, we found no other news stories covering such reports. We did find several fact-checks from news organizations debunking the claim. Certainly, there is criminal activity connected to face masks. The New York Post reported on April 8 that a businessman is accused of stealing and selling about 2 million masks. A New York Times story about ""coronavirus bandits"" details two armed robbers who stole as much as $270,000 from a racetrack in Queens wearing surgical masks. CNBC says people are stealing masks from doctors’ offices over coronavirus fears. Common sense advice would be not to try on masks offered by strangers. (And aren’t you supposed to be staying home anyway?) But we found no evidence would-be thieves were actually doing what the post says. There are no credible reports of people handing out masks doused with chemicals so they can rob passed-out victims."
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31845
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Symbols embossed on the exterior surfaces of Oreo cookies link the product to the alleged conspiratorial activities of the Knights Templar and Freemasons.
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While the notion that the world’s top-selling cookie is somehow a vehicle for powerful secret entities to exercise world domination makes for an exciting story, such evidence as there is suggests that, like so many other staples of modern life, the only real motive behind its invention was the desire to manufacture a good product and sell it at a profit. Sometimes (as Sigmund Freud ought to have said, but didn’t), a cookie is just a cookie.
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false
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Food, coded symbols, Hidden Persuaders, illuminati
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We do not know who first paused to ponder the ornate design of an Oreo cookie before eating it, but the decorative embossed pattern is considered integral to the Oreo experience and has inspired praise from such highfalutin sources as American architectural critic Paul Goldberger, who enthused on the occasion of its 75th birthday that the cookie’s form “leaps across stylistic boundaries” to epitomize modernism: The way in which the two chocolate wafers appear to float, held together only by a recessed inner layer of cream filling, seems to epitomize the modernist esthetic, while the richly decorated chocolate wafers are a celebration of the role of ornament. So, like a building that mixes sleek glass and gargoyles, this cookie does nothing less than transcend the gulf separating modernism and traditionalism. The ornamental pattern of the wafer itself, however, is the Oreo’s visual signature. Stamped out by brass rollers passing over sheets of chocolate dough, the pattern consists of a series of four-leaf clovers around the word ”OREO,” which is set within the traditional trademark of Nabisco, its manufacturer — that trademark being a horizontal oval with what looks like a television antenna extending up from it. Around the clovers, a broken line forms a broken circle. Beyond that, the outer edge of the cookie is slightly ridged, serving both as a visual frame for the ornamental center and as a means of grasping the cookie with comparative ease. While the cookie-in-itself may not be difficult to grasp, some find that the meaning of its elaborate embossed design nonetheless remains elusive. There is no official explanation of what the ring of four-leaf flowers, the segmented line with intermittent dots encircling it, the television antenna-like structure atop the name “OREO,” or the 90 evenly-spaced pillars adorning its outer rim are supposed to stand for (if anything). And despite there being no good reason to assume the pattern is anything other than decorative, there are those for whom the Oreo cookie’s design represents a deep, dark mystery to be plumbed. Do the symbols communicate a hidden message? An interesting theory summarized in a 2014 Reddit post links the “symbology” of the Oreo to the medieval Knights Templar and the fraternal order of Freemasonry, two organizations often implicated in grand-scale conspiracy theories: The symbol around the word Oreo on the center of the cookie was designed from the Knights Templar Cross of Lorraine, which is a symbol of quality. The “flowers” on the Oreo were rendered using the Knights Templar Cross Pattée. The dots, flowers and dashes represent the 3 degrees of Ancient Craft Freemasonry. The arranging of the dots around the cookie were strategically placed to form the 5 Pointed Star; the symbol of the Order of the Eastern Star. All of these symbols are still used throughout the Masonic bodies, including the Eastern Star, Knights Templar and the Scottish Rite. Think it’s just a coincidence? The inventor, who rapidly climbed from the mail room to design executive and was responsible for today’s look of the Oreo, was a Freemason. There’s a lot to unpack there, but we’ll forego the factual claims for a moment to address the burning question on the lips of anyone unaccustomed to swimming in the murky waters of conspiracism: So what? If, in fact, the Oreo’s designer was a Freemason, so what? If, in fact, there are esoteric symbols on the cookies, so what? If the presence of those symbols isn’t coincidental, what are we supposed to make of that? What’s the point of putting them on a cookie? To be frank, there are probably no rational answers to those questions, nor is it likely that all conspiracy theorists would offer up the same ones. These are folks who claim to find similar symbolism everywhere, including in classical art, popular media, religious texts, corporate logos, and on ordinary currency. They regard such symbols as emblems of a secretive, all-powerful organization — call it Freemasonry, the Order of Solomon’s Temple (aka the Knights Templar), the Illuminati, or the New World Order — that has conspired behind the scenes to rule every nation on the planet, like puppet-masters, for centuries. Beyond absolute world domination, it’s unclear what the secret society’s underlying raison d’être is supposed to be. Some say it’s religious (a Jewish or Catholic conspiracy), others say it’s occult or Satanic (e.g., a conspiracy to install the Antichrist), others say it’s political (e.g., Communism), and still others promote the notion that an evil race of humanoid reptiles is behind it all. So, why, if it’s such a super-secret conspiracy, are graphic symbols of this organization to be found everywhere, including on cookies? The various reasons ventured by conspiracy theorists include the following: As you ponder the above, also consider this: Oreos are the largest-selling packaged cookie in the entire world, with $2.9 billion in sales annually in more than 100 different countries. Mondelez International, the parent company of Nabisco, which manufactures Oreos, reports that more than 40 billion of the cookies are baked and consumed every year. Whether it’s for the purpose of mind control, covert communication, or mass Satanic conversion, their consumer reach is beyond compare. Indeed, if world domination is one’s goal, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that Oreos are, in fact, indispensable for that purpose. Unless, of course, the “symbolism” with which they’re embossed is, and always has been, nothing more than a decorative pattern. It’s time to take a closer look. The practice of molding or stamping decorative imagery on cookies (or biscuits, as they are also called) is quite old. In its simplest form, a method called “docking,” the dough is perforated with small holes to prevent it from puffing during baking. At its most complex, the technique entails “embossing” the surfaces of baked goods with intricate designs for aesthetic or ceremonial purposes. Innovations brought about during the industrial revolution ensured a future in which cookies would be mass-produced by the billions: The turn of the 19th century saw the birth of the industrial biscuit, and, with it, the marriage of these two morphologies — docking and decorating — into an automated production line. In the late 1890s, two cousins, both called Thomas Vicars, designed the first embossing and cutting machine, capable of punching holes, stamping decorations, and cutting out up to 80 biscuits per minute from a moving sheet of dough. The dies were necessarily hand carved until engraving machines were introduced in the early 1900s. … But the true golden age of biscuit engineering did not dawn until the invention of the rotary molder in the late 1920s. This technology, albeit updated with variable speed controls, advanced non-stick coatings, and quality sensors, is still used to make Oreos and most other thick embossed biscuits today. The cookie dough is forced into negative molds, which imprint patterns, brand names, and docker holes. A scraping knife (“D” in the diagram above) scrapes off any excess dough to give a flat bottom, and the formed biscuits peel away onto a conveyor belt to be baked. In 1908, one of the new industrial-scale baked goods companies created to profit from these rapidly improving production capabilities, Sunshine Biscuits, introduced a product called Hydrox, a creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookie with an embossed design on the top and bottom. It was a sensation, and four years later inspired Sunshine’s biggest competitor, the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco), to launch a knock-off: the Oreo (many assume that the Oreo came first and Hydrox was a copycat, but the reverse was true). The first thing to know about the Oreo’s design, then, is that it was modeled after that of another product, Hydrox, which also had an embossed pattern on its face. The second thing to know is that the design evolved over time. The pattern we’re familiar with today was implemented in 1952, and is a more complex version of the two designs that came before. “Interestingly, when the Oreo was first introduced by Nabisco in 1912,” writes Nicola Twilley in The Atlantic, “it used a much more organic wreath for its emboss, later augmented with two pairs of turtledoves in a 1924 redesign.” The third thing to know is that we’ve established the identity of the person who came up with the current design, a longtime Nabisco engineer named William A. Turnier, and although no one ever had a chance to interview him and inquire as to the meaning of the various elements in the pattern, his son has been quite forthcoming about his father’s thinking. Remember the rumor quoted above about the Oreo’s designer being a Freemason? Not so, says Bill Turnier of his father, who he claims scoffed when people asked serious questions about the design: “I read something on the Internet about some speculation about Masonic designs, et cetera,” Bill Turnier told me. “But my father was not a Mason. His father was, but he had no big enthusiasm for it. Some of this Masonic stuff, I can’t imagine the people who get into that and the numerological significance.” Nonetheless, cookie enthusiasts and numerologists often called his father. “Someone wanted to know the significance of there being 90 notches around the edge,” Bill Turnier says. “I think there’s 90, and my dad’s like, ‘I don’t know, is that how many there are? I bet I put my compass down and kicked every fourth degree. '” Bill Turnier recalls that his father also fielded complaints about the four-leafed flower. “Somebody called him up when he was 65 and said there were no flowers with four petals on them. My dad couldn’t care.” (There are, for the record, plenty of flowers, including the Western Wallflower and varieties of primroses, which bear four petals.) Turnier’s ring of four-petaled flowers was a stylized update of the “more organic” floral patterns used on earlier versions of the cookie. Claiming the shape is actually a version of the “Knights Templar Cross Pattée” does not make it so. Nor does a similarity between the “antenna” shape over the name “OREO” and the traditional Cross of Lorraine (which has also been identified with the Knights Templar in historical imagery) force one to conclude that it had a conspiratorial origin. The oval and cross in the center of the pattern is actually a variant of the Nabisco logo, which, according to the web site of the Bernhardt Fudyma Design Group, has been in use since 1900: At the end of the 19th century, the newly formed National Biscuit Company took its first step toward the creation of what would become one of the world’s most recognized logos. Adolphus Green, the baking giant’s first chairman, took charge of developing an entirely new brand-name cracker to be sold in a package specially designed to preserve its crispness. A symbol for this product, and the company itself, was needed for use on the package and in advertising. Mr. Green found a simple design – an oval crowned by a double-barreled cross – while looking through his collection of rare books. During the 15th century this design was used as a pressmark by the society of Printers in Venice. Prior to that, in the early Christian era, the mark symbolized the triumph of the spiritual over the worldly. Framed in the octagonal shape of the new ‘Uneeda Buiscuit’ and filled with the word ‘In-er Seal’ (the name given to the unique wax-paper-lined package), it became the company’s first official trademark in 1900. During the next five decades, the oval enclosed various combinations of the company’s initials, the Uneeda brand name and, finally, the current acronym ‘Nabisco’.
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31593
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The “Naked” line of juices and smoothies contain the toxic preservative formaldehyde.
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There were, certainly, some misleading elements to the Naked product line’s labels that prompted lawsuits. But those misrepresentations pale in comparison to the demonstrably false claim that Naked brand juices and smoothies contain formaldehyde.
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false
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Food, formaldehyde, pepsico
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On 14 March 2017, Facebook user Kelly Kluchins Underwood published a post titled “Friends don’t let friends drink formaldehyde” which (at publication time) had been shared over 150,000 times. Referencing a legal settlement over a lawsuit alleging that PepsiCo’s “Naked” brand of fruit juices and smoothies contained misleading labels, her post went on to make the unfounded claim that these products contain formaldehyde: Based on the $9 million sum cited above, Underwood was likely referring to a class action lawsuit settled in July 2013, although multiple similar lawsuits have been filed, including another one that was settled out of court on 21 February 2017. The former complaint did not mention formaldehyde at all and was not about Naked products supposedly containing dangerous or harmful ingredients; it addressed Naked’s use of allegedly deceptive product labeling terms, as described in the case’s settlement documents: In March 2012, Plaintiffs filed a Consolidated Class Action Complaint (“CAC”) alleging that Defendant, among other things, falsely marketed, manufactured and sold the [Naked] Products as “All Natural,” “100% Juice,” “All Natural Fruit,” “From Concentrate,” and/or “non-GMO” … Plaintiffs allege that Defendant’s product labels are false and likely to deceive reasonable consumers because they contain unnatural and synthetic non-juice ingredients, including ascorbic acid, beta carotene, biotin, choline biturtrate, cyanocobalamin, D-calcium panthothenate, Fibersol®-2, niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, among other ingredients. Plaintiffs further allege that certain of the ingredients in the products were made from genetically modified plants or organisms in contrast to Defendant’s representations that the products were “non-GMO,” and that Defendant did not adequately disclose that the Products were made from concentrate. The parties settled the case, with PepsiCo agreeing to a $9 million aggregate payout to consumers who had purchased Naked Juice products during a specified time period: Naked Juice Co. of Glendora Inc. has agreed to shell out $9 million to settle a consolidated putative class action in California alleging that it falsely advertised some of its juice and smoothie products as “all natural” and non-genetically modified. Under the deal the consumer plaintiffs lodged with the federal court, Naked Juice will continue to deny the allegations that its product labels were misleading or false but agreed shell out $9 million for a settlement fund and to redesign the labels to either eliminate or modify the representations at issue. A similar lawsuit was settled in February 2017. But again, that lawsuit was a dispute about the use of terms such as “no sugar added” and “only the best ingredients” on the labels of Naked brand products, not about Naked products’ supposedly containing dangerous or harmful ingredients: Consumer advocacy group the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) claims that statements like “no sugar added” and “only the best ingredients” lead customers to believe that Naked Juice is healthier than it really is. The class action is requesting that PepsiCo change its marketing practices and award damages to people who have bought the products in question. CSPI points to Naked’s Pomegranate Blueberry juice as an example. It’s labeled with “no sugar added,” which is true. However, the complaint asserts that the labeling leads customers to believe it contains less sugar than other drinks, which it says is far from true. As for taglines like “only the best ingredients” and “just the healthiest fruits and vegetables,” CSPI says Naked Juice is made predominantly of “cheap, nutrient-poor” juices like orange and apple juice. Neither lawsuit involved complaints about the use of formaldehyde in Naked products. This claim appears to be based on chemophobic language found on “alternative health” web sites regarding the chemical calcium pantothenate, as the language used in Underwood’s Facebook post is similar to this highly-shared post from livingmaxwell.com (emphasis theirs): The primary basis of the lawsuit stemmed from the company’s use of the words “All Natural” on products that contained Archer Daniels Midland’s Fibersol-2 (“a soluble corn fiber that acts as a low-calorie bulking agent”), fructooligosaccharides (an alternative sweetener), other artificial ingredients, such as calcium pantothenate (synthetically produced from formaldehyde), and genetically-modified soy. Calcium pantothenate is a synthetic calcium salt form of the naturally occurring and vitally important vitamin B5, according the National Cancer Institute’s online thesaurus: Calcium Pantothenate is the calcium salt of the water-soluble vitamin B5, ubiquitously found in plants and animal tissues with antioxidant property. Pentothenate is a component of coenzyme A (CoA) and a part of the vitamin B2 complex. Vitamin B5 is a growth factor and is essential for various metabolic functions, including the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, and fatty acids. This vitamin is also involved in the synthesis of cholesterol, lipids, neurotransmitters, steroid hormones, and hemoglobin. Nevertheless, it is true that calcium pantothenate’s chemical synthesis does include formaldehyde, as described in the Encyclopedia of Bioprocess Technologies: The conventional chemical process involves reactions yielding racemic pantolactone from isobutyraldehyde, formaldehyde, and cyanide, optical resolution of the racemic pantolactone to D-()-pantolactone with quinine, quinidine, cinchonidine, brucine, and so on, and condensation of D-()-pantolactone with b-alanine. This is followed by isolation as the calcium salt and drying to obtain the final product. This is a good place to point out that anytime the words “derived from” are used in relation to a scary-sounding chemical, it is almost certainly pseudoscientific fear-mongering hogwash. The fact that a chemical is used to synthesize another chemical does not mean that the new chemical carries the same risks as the old chemical. This is because — follow us here — the final product is not the same as the original chemical anymore. Formaldehyde, with the chemical structure CH2O, is a fundamental (albeit highly toxic) chemical building block. Theoretically, one could “derive” water from formaldehyde, but that water, H2O, would be no different than non-formaldehyde derived water. Formaldehyde is toxic, but calcium pantothenate is distinctly not formaldehyde and is not toxic.
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10949
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1 in 2 will have false alarm from yearly mammogram
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This article emphasizes the value of using the study results to inform an individual woman’s decision regarding when to begin screening mammography & whether screening should be done annually or biannually. Our first two reviewers were a researcher who specializes in health decisions and a breast cancer survivor trained in evidence by the Natiional Breast Cancer Coalition’s Project LEAD. The critical question is whether you can do less frequent screening, subject women to fewer harms and get similar results in terms of detection of “early stage” cancer. This study’s data seems to suggest that answer is yes.
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mixture
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Reuters Health,Screening,women's health
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While the article does mention the anxiety a patient experiences because of a recall mammogram, it fails to also mention other psychological, physical, & financial costs incurred because of false-positive mammograms & false-positive biopsy recommendations. By including several relevant quotes from the study’s Principal Investigator, Rebecca Hubbard, Ph.D, this article focuses its readers on using the information from the study to make an informed decision regarding individual screening. Because so many women fear receiving a breast cancer diagnosis, especially a late stage diagnosis, the writer should not have simply stated “…it (biennial screening) could result in catching cancers at a later stage…” The study makes it clear that the incidence of later stage diagnosis was statistically insignificant. The writer should have provided that crucial information or should have entirely omitted the brief reference to late stage diagnosis. The anxiety caused by a recall mammogram is mentioned several times but the article should also have noted the inconvenience of going back for a recall mammogram as well as the pain & scarring of a biopsy. The additional cost to the patient of a recall mammogram & a biopsy should also have been included in the article. Like the other stories we reviewed, this piece fails to include several important facts about the study. 1) This is a prospective cohort study of women screened between 1994-2006. 2) Most of the mammograms were film not digital. 3) Few women underwent screening for the entire 10-year period. 4) Recall rates are influenced by the skill of the radiologist reading the mammograms. There is no disease-mongering. But the statistics in the send-off final paragraph – while accurate – are not particularly relevant to the focus of this story. Our reviewers felt this threw the balance of the story out of whack – like loading the dice in favor of annual screening. if, instead, they reported the number of women getting annual mammograms in the US and the number diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the US then that might have been a little more balanced and relevant. Prior to that paragraph, the story maintained a focus on using these findings to inform one’s decision. Instead the story could have used that last paragraph to develop the idea of shared decision making for screening. There are no quotes from or references to any independent sources. In relatively few words, this article does a good job of emphasizing the value of the results of the study that looked at the cumulative probability of false-positive recall or biopsy recommendations after 10 years of screening mammography. The quotes from Dr. Hubbard, the study’s Principal Investigator, emphasize the higher probability of false-positives with annual versus biannual screening. Dr. Hubbard urges doctors & women to use these findings to help women make informed decisions regarding their individual screening. Screening mammography is widely available throughout the United States. This article is not about a new procedure. Because the article refers to a telephone interview with the study’s principal investigator and includes several quotes from Dr. Hubbard, it is clear that the writer did not rely solely on a news release.
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33594
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Bram Stoker's novel 'Dracula' features a titular vampire who cannot expose himself to sunlight and is killed with a wooden stake.
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You may be surprised by how Dracula is actually dispatched in Bram Stoker's iconic vampire novel.
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false
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Entertainment, books, horror movies, Literary Legends
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No two works have had a greater influence on the “monster” genre of popular culture than Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). The archetypal characters introduced in these novels — the Frankenstein monster and Count Dracula the vampire — have suffused popular culture through hundreds of films, television programs, books, and other media, featuring in works as diverse as the chillingly stark silent film Nosferatu to the cheerily silly sitcom The Munsters. It’s often the case, however, that aspects of such original works become obscured by the innumerable derivatives they spawn: Elements enter the popular “lore” of a genre not because they were present in the progenitor work, but because they were introduced somewhere along the line in films, plays, sequels, modern updatings, or other types of adaptations. Such is the case with Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Those who are familiar with the Count Dracula character of popular culture but are not well-acquainted with the original Bram Stoker version might be surprised to learn that two common elements of vampire lore are not to be found in Stoker’s novel. One element that is lacking in Stoker’s Dracula is the final dispatching of the titular Count through the medium of driving a wooden stake through his heart. Certainly this method of converting the UnDead into the really, truly dead (usually accompanied by a simultaneous decapitation) appears several times throughout the novel, such as when Professor Abraham Van Helsing writes to Dr. John Seward (in Chapter 15) that the latter must: Take the papers that are with this, the diaries of Harker and the rest, and read them, and then find this great UnDead, and cut off his head and burn his heart or drive a stake through it, so that the world may rest from him. Van Helsing repeats the need for staking and decapitation in Chapter 18: The branch of wild rose on his coffin keep him that he move not from it, a sacred bullet fired into the coffin kill him so that he be true dead, and as for the stake through him, we know already of its peace, or the cut off head that giveth rest. We have seen it with our eyes. In Chapter 25, Jonathan Harker details in his journal how he plans to help turn Count Dracula to dust: We have already arranged what to do in case we get the box open. If the Count is there, Van Helsing and Seward will cut off his head at once and drive a stake through his heart. Morris and Godalming and I shall prevent interference, even if we have to use the arms which we shall have ready. The Professor says that if we can so treat the Count’s body, it will soon after fall into dust. And also in Chapter 25, Mina Murray requests that this procedure be performed on her should she succumb to the world of vampirism: “Then I shall tell you plainly what I want, for there must be no doubtful matter in this connection between us now. You must promise me, one and all, even you, my beloved husband, that should the time come, you will kill me.” “What is that time?” The voice was Quincey’s, but it was low and strained. “When you shall be convinced that I am so changed that it is better that I die that I may live. When I am thus dead in the flesh, then you will, without a moment’s delay, drive a stake through me and cut off my head, or do whatever else may be wanting to give me rest!” This is indeed the method by which Van Helsing dispatches Dracula’s “brides,” and in Chapter 16 Arthur Holmwood follows similar instructions from Van Helsing in order to free his fiancée Lucy from the torment of the UnDead: Van Helsing laid a hand on his shoulder, and said, “Brave lad! A moment’s courage, and it is done. This stake must be driven through her. It well be a fearful ordeal, be not deceived in that, but it will be only a short time, and you will then rejoice more than your pain was great. From this grim tomb you will emerge as though you tread on air. But you must not falter when once you have begun. Only think that we, your true friends, are round you, and that we pray for you all the time.” “Go on,” said Arthur hoarsely. “Tell me what I am to do.” “Take this stake in your left hand, ready to place to the point over the heart, and the hammer in your right. Then when we begin our prayer for the dead, I shall read him, I have here the book, and the others shall follow, strike in God’s name, that so all may be well with the dead that we love and that the UnDead pass away.” Arthur took the stake and the hammer, and when once his mind was set on action his hands never trembled nor even quivered. Van Helsing opened his missal and began to read, and Quincey and I followed as well as we could. Arthur placed the point over the heart, and as I looked I could see its dint in the white flesh. Then he struck with all his might. The thing in the coffin writhed, and a hideous, blood-curdling screech came from the opened red lips. The body shook and quivered and twisted in wild contortions. The sharp white teeth champed together till the lips were cut, and the mouth was smeared with a crimson foam. But Arthur never faltered. He looked like a figure of Thor as his untrembling arm rose and fell, driving deeper and deeper the mercy-bearing stake, whilst the blood from the pierced heart welled and spurted up around it. His face was set, and high duty seemed to shine through it. The sight of it gave us courage so that our voices seemed to ring through the little vault. And then the writhing and quivering of the body became less, and the teeth seemed to champ, and the face to quiver. Finally it lay still. The terrible task was over. When he raised his head Van Helsing said to him, “And now, my child, you may kiss her. Kiss her dead lips if you will, as she would have you to, if for her to choose. For she is not a grinning devil now, not any more a foul Thing for all eternity. No longer she is the devil’s UnDead. She is God’s true dead, whose soul is with Him!” Arthur bent and kissed her, and then we sent him and Quincey out of the tomb. The Professor and I sawed the top off the stake, leaving the point of it in the body. Then we cut off the head and filled the mouth with garlic. We soldered up the leaden coffin, screwed on the coffin lid, and gathering up our belongings, came away. In the novel’s climactic scene, however, it is not a wooden stake but rather two knives — a kukri and a bowie — that serve as the instruments which finally turn Count Dracula to dust: I saw the Count lying within the box upon the earth, some of which the rude falling from the cart had scattered over him. He was deathly pale, just like a waxen image, and the red eyes glared with the horrible vindictive look which I knew so well. As I looked, the eyes saw the sinking sun, and the look of hate in them turned to triumph. But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan’s great knife. I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat. Whilst at the same moment Mr. Morris’s bowie knife plunged into the heart. It was like a miracle, but before our very eyes, and almost in the drawing of a breath, the whole body crumbled into dust and passed from our sight. Another element surprisingly absent from Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the notion that vampires cannot ever expose themselves to daylight; they must return to a safe enclosure (typically a coffin) before dawn and remain there until after dark. This isn’t the case in Stoker’s novel: Even though Jonathan Harker muses in his journal (in Chapter 4) that “I have not yet seen the Count in the daylight. Can it be that he sleeps when others wake, that he may be awake whilst they sleep?” he is clearly mistaken in his assumption, as he previously had a daytime encounter with Dracula: I had hung my shaving glass by the window, and was just beginning to shave. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder, and heard the Count’s voice saying to me, “Good morning.” And as author Elizabeth Miller noted in Dracula: Sense & Nonsense, several more instances of the vampire Dracula’s being out and about during daylight hours occur in the novel: Miller noted that successive film adaptations were responsible for introducing and promulgating this aspect of the Dracula story: The motif of destruction by sunlight was introduced in the 1922 silent film Nosferatu, loosely based on Stoker’s novel. Although this innovation was not adopted in the 1931 [Bela Lugosi film version of] Dracula, it resurfaced in the Hammer [Studios’ Horror of Dracula] production of 1958, in which Peter Cushing dramatically pulls open the drapes to expose Christopher Lee to the deadly rays of the sun. Another variation appears in 1979, when Dracula (Frank Langella) is hoisted into the sunlight where he disintegrates. The film most faithful to Stoker in this respect is Bram Stoker’s Dracula: the Count (Gary Oldman) moves about freely during daylight, but with reduced powers.
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11593
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Two studies in Africa link male circumcision to lower risk of HIV
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The story describes the design of the two similar studies of male circumcision and reduced HIV in African men who engage in heterosexual intercourse. The story provides both absolute and relative data; however, we are not told if there was a placebo group (sham operation) and/or blinding of evaluators. The story does not mention that the results of these studies have not yet been reviewed in a peer-reviewed journal, and material in this story is from press conferences and government press releases. The story mentions male circumcision as a method of reducing the transmission of HIV, but it appropriately notes safer sex practices such as condom use for greater protection against HIV. The story provides absolute numbers, but what is not mentioned is that the absolute number of avoided infections will be low in lower prevalence populations, so the risks of complications may outweigh the potential benefits for an individual at low risk. The story notes that this is a routine surgical procedure with few compilations and mentions potential harms of male circumcision such as mild infections, but there is no peer-reviewed data listed on rates of complications from this or other clinical trials. What is stressed in the press release, but not the article, is that this procedure should only be performed by a medical professional who can also provide appropriate post-operative care during the healing period. Availability of safe circumcision and safe postoperative care is far from certain around the world. The story does not mention the cost of adult male circumcision outside of a clinical trial, and it is not clear whether insurance companies cover this procedure for adult males in the U.S. when no acute problem exists. The story quotes an NIH official for perspective on the results of these studies. But since the NIH sponsored the study, he does have an interest in its outcome. There are experts who would disagree with public health-related mass circumcision programs, for reasons both cultural and related to quality of life.
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true
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The story does not mention the cost of adult male circumcision outside of a clinical trail. It is also not clear whether this is a reimbursible procedure for adult males in the USA when no acute problem exists. The story appropriately describes the design of the two similar studies and provides both absolute and relative evidence that male circumcision reduces a man's risk of acquiring HIV via heterosexual sex. The story also mentions that the trials were stopped early because the benefit of male circumcision so significantly reduced the risk of acquiring HIV that it would be unethical to continue a trial in which uncircumcised men were not offered this protection. What is not mentioned is that the absolute number of avoided infections will be low in lower prevalence populations, so the risks of complications may outweigh the potential benefits for an individual of low risk. The story mentions potential harms of male circumcision such as mild infections. These are treatable and rare, especially when the procedure is performed by a trained medical professional. However, it is difficult to assess the negative consequences of surgery as no publication of adverse events is reviewable. It is also possible that side effects or negative consequences in the real-world (rather than a clinical trial) would be more common. The story doesn't explain whether there was a placebo arm of the study. Was there a sham operation? If so, were patients and evaluators blinded regarding treatment? This is a key indicator of study quality that is not commented upon. (One could posit that there is a reduced frequency of sexual encounters after this surgery, and this is the critical predictor of reduced acquisition of HIV, not the surgery itself.) The story does not engage in disease mongering. The story quotes an NIH official for perspective on the results of these studies. But since the NIH sponsored the study, he does have an interest in its outcome. It also quoted representatives of the World Health Organization and the Global AIDS Alliance. There are experts who would disagree with public health-related mass circumcision programs, for reasons both cultural and related to quality of life. The story mentions male circumcision as one method of reducing the transmission of HIV. But the story also mentions safer sex practices such as using condoms for better protection against HIV. The story reports on two large studies of male circumcision and reduced HIV in African heterosexual men. We are not told if these studies have been reviewed in a peer-reviewed journal or where they will be published. The results of these studies may be applicable regardless of geography: While more male infants are routinely circumcised in the U.S. than in Africa, this surgery is available for uncircumcised adult men in the U.S. who wish to reduce their risk of HIV transmission from heterosexual sex. Other protection against the HIV is still necessary. The story does note that this is a routine surgical procedure with few compilcations. What is stressed in the press release, but not the article, is that this procedure should only be performed by a medical professional who can also provide appropriate post-operative care during the healing period. Availability of safe circumcision and safe postoperative care is far from certain around the world. It is clear from the story that the link between male circumcision and HIV prevention was noted as long ago as the late 1980s. The story used several independent experts for comment, so it appears unlikely that it relied solely or largely on a news release.
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11496
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40% of Gastric Banding Patients Have Complications
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This is a story reporting on a study detailing the long-term outcomes observed in a group of patients more than a decade after having gastric banding to help with weight management. The story provided some useful insight about how gastric banding and gastric bypass compare in terms of rates and magnitude of weight loss. It also informed readers about the fact that outcomes following banding surgery are highly variable. Obesity is an increasingly common and increasingly serious risk factor for disease and early death. Providing readers with realistic expectations about the benefits of gastric banding is useful for those making decisions about what approach to take to help manage their weight. While gastric banding may be less invasive and appealing in the short term, the long term outcomes of the approach are in question, especially for morbidly obese patients. This new study adds to our understanding of the limitations of this minimally invasive procedure.
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true
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HealthDay
|
Although not discussed in the study precipitating the story, the costs for gastric banding and appropriate follow-up care are readily available. The story reported the average long term loss of excess weight that was observed in the study along with an insight from a clinician indicating that there is some variability observed among practices. The story provided quantitative information about the harms observed in the study population who had had gastric banding surgery. It says, “However, 39 percent of the patients had experienced serious complications, including abnormal pouch expansion (9), band erosion (23) and band infection (1). Another 22 percent experienced relatively minor complications. Almost 50 percent had to have the bands entirely removed, while 60 percent needed to undergo subsequent surgery. The procedure “appears to result in relatively poor long-term outcomes,” the researchers concluded.” The story provided only hints about the study on which it was reporting. It should have provided better context and asked tougher questions about the study. The timeline in the story also may confuse readers. It says that gastric banding has been an alternative to gastric bypass since 2001, but then it says the study followed patients who received operations from 1994 to 1997. This appears to be before the band was approved. The story should have said that the 2001 date was when the FDA approved banding for use in the US and that the study population was in Belgium. It also should have mentioned that the pool of patients studied were treated at a single clinic. The story did not engage in overt disease-mongering. The story quoted an author of the study, the author of a critique on that study, and a surgeon who did not appear to have ties with the study. But the story missed a key fact that WebMD found in the study and reported, which is the conflicts of interest for the study’s lead author, who, as WebMD pointed out, “reports consultant work for Ethicon Endosurgery, which makes another gastric band, Realize, and for Covidien, a health care products company.” Not pointing out that the author has worked for a competing gastric band maker is a significant drawback to the story. The story relied on a critique published alongside the study from Dr. Clifford W. Deveney, a professor of surgery in the department of surgery at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, to provide readers some good comparison information between gastric bypass surgery and gastric banding. We would have liked to have seen a more detailed discussion of the evidence for both and also at lesat some mention of diet and exercise. The gastric banding procedure was appropriately described as an available treatment. It is clear from the story that the procedure is not new. The story does not appear to rely solely on a press release.
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9407
|
This UV Lamp Could Prevent the Flu Virus From Spreading in Public Places
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A scene from the promotional video Columbia University produced about the study. Researchers in this study wanted to know if “far-UVC” light might kill H1N1, a common strain of flu virus, and therefore be used as a potential disinfectant. In addition to this TIME Health story, we also looked at coverage of this study by HealthDay. We found Time’s headline to be a bit overreaching given that this study was performed in a small test chamber (smaller than a square foot) and it’s unclear whether the disinfecting results noted would even apply to a larger space. Most importantly, both the coverage by TIME and HealthDay would have been strengthened by including supporting data from the study, as well as a discussion of the limitations. It’s been a rough flu season. And there is no cure for the flu, just preventive measures and symptom management. So any research that suggests that one strain of the flu virus can be killed without side effects to humans is bound to get a lot of attention. This means news coverage — at the very least — needs to present supportive data and ask researchers directly about limitations. This is particularly true of controlled in vitro studies — studies like this small test chamber study which take place outside of living organisms — since they rarely correlate directly with complex living organisms in an uncontrolled and changing environment.
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false
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influenza
|
The lead author of the study is quoted as saying “The lamp we’re using at the moment costs less than $1,000, and you can imagine that if it were put into general circulation, the price would drop dramatically … we don’t see cost as being a limited factor here.” The first part of the quote gives a frame of reference, though “less than $1,000” is somewhat ambiguous. The second part also is speculative, so this is a barely passing satisfactory. We’re told: “… aerosolized particles of the H1N1 seasonal flu virus were released into a test chamber and exposed to very low doses of far-UVC light. The light inactivated the viruses with about the same efficiency as conventional germicidal UV light, while a control group of bacteria, not exposed to light, remained active.” We’re also told previous studies by the same authors have shown that far-UVC light “can kill MRSA bacteria, a common cause of infections after surgery.” However, it would be helpful to have data to support these claims, but that’s not provided. No harms of far-UVC light are mentioned; in fact, in the opening sentence we read: “researchers have developed an ultraviolet (UV) lamp that kills influenza virus but isn’t harmful to human skin or eyes….” But, again, we’re given no data regarding safety. We are not told if the previous skin or eye studies (which we’re told prove the safety of this approach) were done in the laboratory or on real humans. The limitations of this in vitro study are not discussed. We’re not told what percent of the viruses were killed. Nor do we get any sense of whether findings from a test chamber can be applied to large public spaces as the story headline implies. In the published study the lead author cautions that the results need to be “confirmed in other scenarios.” It would have helped readers to include this. No disease mongering. The lead author of the story is the only source cited, and we’re not told if he has any conflicts of interest. The HealthDay story we reviewed rated better on this criteria. No mention is made that there is no cure for any of the strains of influenza virus and, therefore, most interventions focus solely on prevention and symptom management. This is important information to include when both your opening and closing paragraphs imply the far-UVC light studied might prevent the spread of the flu in public places. This is a just passing satisfactory–it’s implied that the product is not available yet, because the story mentioned the lead author “is working with a company to develop a commercially available version of the lamp.” It is made clear the authors have studied this type of light in killing methicillin-resistant staph. aureus (MRSA), but it’s not clear if the current study is the first to apply far-UVC light to an influenza virus (in the published study the authors claim this is the first time far-UVC light has been assessed for inactivating aerosolized viruses). While the story didn’t offer much more than what was stated in the news release, it does appear to contain original quotes.
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27602
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"During the 19th and 20th centuries, some U.S. cities enacted so-called ""ugly laws"" banning people deemed ""diseased, maimed, mutilated or in any way deformed so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object or improper person"" from public spaces."
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That same year, 1974, saw the demise of ugly laws in America. The last city to repeal was Chicago. One of the alderman responsible for killing the law, Paul T. Wigoda, denounced it as “cruel and insensitive,” and “a throwback to the Middle Ages.” It had been in effect for 93 years.
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true
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Legal Affairs, chicago, disabled, ugly laws
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In 1990, Congress passed and President George H. W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which extended federal civil rights protections to people with mental or physical impairments: The ADA is one of America’s most comprehensive pieces of civil rights legislation that prohibits discrimination and guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else to participate in the mainstream of American life — to enjoy employment opportunities, to purchase goods and services, and to participate in State and local government programs and services. Modeled after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin – and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 — the ADA is an “equal opportunity” law for people with disabilities. More than a quarter-century on, and despite further work to be done, the ADA has so positively affected how people with disabilities are treated and perceived in America that the notion that laws once existed to keep physically and cognitively challenged people indoors and out of sight seems scarcely believable. But it was the case — and not so long ago. Beginning in the late 1800s, statutes known as “unsightly beggar ordinances,” aka “ugly laws,” were enacted in some American cities to rid public spaces of what Chicago Alderman James Peevey euphemistically referred to as “street obstructions”: By street obstructions, Peevey didn’t mean food carts, construction materials, roadblocks or potholes. He meant beggars, such as the ones described in the Tribune as “the one-legged individual who, with drooping eye and painfully lugubrious countenance, holds forth his hat for pennies” or “the fellows who yell ‘ba-na-naas'” and “the woman with two sick children who was drawn through the carding-machine in a woolen mill, and who grinds ‘Mollie Darling’ incessantly on a hurdy-gurdy on a street corner.” Following the example of San Francisco, which had pioneered the legislation in 1867, Peevey helped pass a law in 1881 imposing fines (or stints in the poorhouse) on all who were “diseased, maimed, mutilated, or in any way deformed, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object,” yet dared beg, panhandle, or otherwise make nuisances of themselves in public. Among other cities, Omaha, Columbus, Cleveland, and Portland, Oregon followed suit, all passing ugly laws using virtually identical language. In a discussion of Susan M. Schweik’s The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public (2009), reviewer Shannon Sommer encapsulates the social and economic developments leading up to these measures: Schweik discusses in detail several factors which combined to create the perfect storm for the emergence of ugly law in America at this time. These include: the formation of Charity Organization Societies, the rise or eugenics and state institutions, an increasing focus on using urban planning to create beautiful cities, increasing immigration at a time when there were few restrictions placed on immigration, the large number of soldiers injured in the Civil War which had ended just a few years earlier, temperance and prohibition, and the increasing industrialization of society with resulting industrial-related injuries. Schweik notes that though the passage of new ugly laws ceased by the beginning of World War I and enforcement of existing statutes dwindled thereafter, they remained on the books until well into the latter half of the 20th century: Schweik found that the last known arrest under an ugly law occurred in Omaha, NE in 1974 when a policeman wanted to arrest a homeless man but had no basis for arrest. After searching the city code and finding that Omaha’s Ugly Law was still on the books he was able to take the man into custody on the basis that the man had “marks and scars on his body.” Prosecutors refused to press charges in this case. Schweik recounts one prosecutor pointing out that “criminal prosecution under this law would require the impossible: courtroom proof “that someone is ugly.”
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33693
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Jordan Chandler admitted that he lied about having been sexually molested by Michael Jackson.
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Given that the sole source of this information was a single poorly-worded statement which was reproduced verbatim on multiple blogs, and that no mention of Jordan Chandler’s supposed confession (or any statement from Chandler) appeared in the news media despite the continuous crush of Michael Jackson coverage after the entertainer’s passing, we have to categorize this one as false.
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false
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Politics
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In 1993, Evan Chandler, the father of then-13-year-old Jordan Chandler, accused singer Michael Jackson of having sexually abused Jordan. Although Jordan Chandler refused to testify in criminal proceedings, and the police investigation of Jackson related to this accusation was eventually closed due to a lack of evidence, in 1994 Michael Jackson agreed to pay $22 million to the Chandlers to settle a related civil lawsuit. An article claiming Jordan Chandler had since confessed that his father coerced him into lying about the sexual abuse charges against Jackson first appeared a few days after the singer’s death on 25 June 2009: After the death of Michael Jackson, Jordan Chandler tells the whole truth. In 1993, Chandler told a psychiatrist and police that he (Jordan) and Jackson had engaged in sexual acts which included oral sex. Jordan gave detailed description of Jackson’s genitals. The case was settled out of court for a reported amount of US $22 million, but the strain led Jackson to start taking painkillers. Eventually he became addicted to these painkillers. Now after Michael’s death Chandler decides to tell the truth. “I never meant to lie and destroy Michael Jackson but my father made me to tell the lies. Now I can’t tell Michael how much I’m sorry and if he will forgive me.” Under the influence of a father who told his son to lie that Jackson had touched his genitals, Jordan Chandler subsequently told a psychiatrist and later on the police that he and Jackson had engaged in acts of kissing, masturbation and oral sex, as well as giving a detailed description of what he alleged were Michael’s genitals. “Now for the first time I can’t bare to lie anymore. Michael Jackson didn’t do anything to me, all was my father’s lies to escape from being poor,” Jordan said.
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23406
|
We will be the first party to elect a bald guy to governor.
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Would Rick Scott be Florida's first bald governor?
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false
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Candidate Biography, Elections, History, Florida, John Thrasher,
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"2010 is a historic election year in Florida. A gripping three-way U.S. Senate race that could decide the balance of power in Washington. Competitive races for the state Cabinet. A proposed constitutional amendment that could shape state growth for decades. Then there's the governor's race, where the Nov. 2 election will produce either Florida's first female chief executive or, a leading Republican says, its first bald one. (Cue screeching of brakes.) You read that right — bald. Republican Party of Florida Chairman John Thrasher made that claim about Rick Scott on Sept. 10 at a victory party in Scott's honor. ""Rick, we will be the first party to elect a bald guy to governor,"" was the exact quote, according to the Associated Press' Brendan Farrington. Editors note: Being serious fact-checkers, PolitiFact Florida immediately abandoned analyses about the future of Social Security, the extension of the Bush tax cuts and federal hurricane policy. The staff thought it that critical to see if Scott can make hair history. Because hair, after all, is a nonpartisan political issue. The Economist, in a recent piece, raced hair in politics back to the Roman Republic, telling the story of how enemies of an up-and-coming young general Publius Cornelius Scipio tried to derail his rise by implying that he grew his hair un-Romanly long, in a Greek style that seemed soft and suspicious. Then there's the modern-day stories of John Edwards' $400 haircuts during the 2008 presidential campaign and Marco Rubio having to explain that his $135 barbershop bill in Miami wasn't for a back wax. Scott, himself, already has poked fun at his (lack of) hair. ""Remember me, the handsome bald guy?"" Scott said during his primary night victory speech. Let the record show, Scott does have speckled gray and white hair around the sides and back of his head, but he is bald on the top and describes himself as bald. The official definition, let the record also show, is ""lacking a natural or usual covering,"" according to Merriam-Webster. Knowing all that, we turned to Museum of Florida History Senior Curator Lisa Barton to help our exclusive investigation. Barton, among other things, curates the exhibit of the official portraits of Florida's governors on display at Florida's Historic Capitol building in Tallahassee. She dutifully scoured the portraits, which you can see for yourself online. ""Check out the portrait of the 15th governor, Harrison Reed,"" she said. ""It looks like he was bald on top."" Reed served as the state's governor from 1868-1873. He's the 15th person to hold the title of governor, and the ninth after statehood. He was a Republican who faced two serious impeachment attempts from members of his own party, according to his biography. After leaving office, Reed became editor of the Semi-Tropical, a monthly magazine devoted to southern agricultural and economic development. He died in Jacksonville, where a street is named in his honor, in 1899. But none of that's really germane to this investigation. His head is. The bald top of his head. Just look at his official portrait. ""Reed was a little man, slightly built, with a big, bald head and a bushy beard -- almost goat-like -- the upper lip shaven clean,"" wrote William Watson Davis in the book The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida, Volume 53. ""A full fringe of hair on three sides of the bald spot, a high forehead, and heavy spectacles gave him an owl-like appearance, which accentuated his calm moderation and well-poised personal address."" Richard Nelson Current in Those Terrible Carpetbaggers had the same opinion, describing Reed as ""bushy-bearded, bald-headed, (and) bespectacled."" During our thorough investigation, we uncovered several governors with receding hairlines but we're hesitant to declare any other governor bald. William Dunn Moseley, the first elected governor of Florida post-statehood, was perhaps closest (he has no hair from his forehead to the crown of his head in his official portrait) — but far from a Shaquille O'Neal. Other contenders included George Franklin Drew (12th state governor, very high hairline), William Dunnington Bloxham (13th governor, widow's peak), and C. Farris Bryant (34th governor, balding. But bald?) To confirm the results of our investigation, we turned to Mike Mercado, a stylist for 11 years who has spent the past three working as an educator at the Aveda Institute in St. Petersburg. We showed him pictures of Scott, as well as the previous governors. He reached a stunning conclusion: He doesn't think Scott is bald at all. ""He definitely looks bald because he clips the hair on his side so short,"" Mercado said. But Scott calls himself bald, we said. Bald on top might be a more accurate description, Mercado said. And for the others? He singled out Reed and Moseley. If they clipped their remaining hair as short as Scott, they would look ""just as bald,"" Mercado said. So Thrasher said Scott would be a trailblazer for bald Floridians, being the first bald person elected governor. Thrasher — sorry, bad-pun police — is a hair off. First, there is a debate if Scott is truly bald. And even putting that aside, Reed was ""just as bald"" as Scott way back in 1868, and is described by historians as bald. Now back to digesting that report about the future of Social Security …"
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9992
|
Study: Prostate cancer surgery helps younger men
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This story did a good job describing the results of a recently published study which continues to follow a large group of men in Sweden who either had immediate surgery to remove their prostate or waited until they had evidence of that their prostate cancer progressed before undergoing treatment. Strong caveat in the fourth sentence. The story included information about how prostate cancer is commonly screened for in the US and that this differs from the approach used with the men in the study and that this could influence the outcomes. Well done! Helping men understand when there may be and when there may not be benefit from aggressive immediate treatment of prostate cancer is valuable for those diagnosed with early stage disease.
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true
|
Associated Press,Cancer
|
There was no information about the respective financial costs of the treatments for prostate cancer discussed. Costs would include treating the double digit rates of incontinence and erectile dysfunction in these younger men who do have surgery. The surgery may help them live longer, but many, especially since younger at time of surgery, live decades with these potential harms and folllowup costs of the surgical choice. This should get at least a line in such stories. The story did a good job of identifying those men (i.e. those younger than 65 at the time of symptomatic prostate cancer ) who reduced their chance of dying by having surgery to remove their prostate. Good use of absolute numbers. The story provided readers with insight that for men younger than 65 years of age at the time of diagnosis, there was a significantly greater chance of dying in the men who did not have immediate surgery to remove their prostate gland. The story also described that a substantial proportion of men who did have surgery to remove their prostate gland experienced sexual and/or urinary problems. Best job of the three stories we reviewed in quantifying harms. The story did a fine job providing information about where the study reported on had been published, the number of men and the length of time they had been studied, their age, the two treatments the men were randomly assigned to, as well as background information on the first indication that the men had prostate cancer. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. The story included quotes from the clinician who wrote the editorial which accompanied the study reported on as well as another clinician without direct ties to the study detailed in the story. The story provided some of the comparative information from the study reported on about surgery to remove the prostate and waiting to see if prostate cancer would progress before undergoing active treatment. In addition, the story included a list of the common utilized approaches to active treatment of prostate cancer. The story was clear about the fact that the overwhelming majority of men in the study had had their prostate cancer first detected because of symptoms which is means that they were in a different place in the prostate cancer timeline than men whose first inkling about prostate cancer is that they have an elevated PSA level in their blood. So it describes practices in Europe many years ago which are different than current care in the US. The story was clear the the men in the study reported on had been part of the investigation which started in 1989. The story did not rely on a press release.
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20069
|
There’s 400 more people working in health care today in New Hampshire than when we passed the budget.
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The health care industry was a bright spot during the recession, but job estimates show that it didn’t rebound from the state budget cuts the way O’Brien reported. The most recent state estimates show that jobs in the health care industry, combined with social assistance, have remained flat or even decreased – not gained – since April 2011, when the House initially passed the budget. And since the state budget took effect in June 2011, the industry has lost about 700 jobs. There is one measure that shows some growth, but it was only a snapshot and doesn’t cover the time period O’Brien was talking about. Based on the most authoritative numbers that include the most recent data.
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false
|
New Hampshire, Health Care, State Budget, William O'Brien,
|
"To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the demise of New Hampshire’s health care system have been greatly exaggerated – according to Speaker of the House William O’Brien, at least. Last year, the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed its $10.3 billion budget, which cut millions in funding for hospitals and health care providers. Funding to nursing homes was reduced by more than $30 million, according to administrators who decried the cuts, and hospitals lost $258 million over the two-year budget. But now, a year later, not only has the bleeding stopped, but the health care industry has even gained jobs since the budget passed, according to O’Brien, R-Mont Vernon. ""You know what’s interesting about those layoffs?"" O’Brien asked rhetorically during a May 7 meeting with The Telegraph’s editorial board. ""There’s 400 more people working in health care today in New Hampshire than when we passed the budget."" In recent years, health care has been one of few industries to grow despite the recession. But did New Hampshire’s health care industry not only rebound from the cuts, but grow to the tune of 400 jobs? We decided to crunch the numbers. When asked for the source of O’Brien’s figures, Shannon Shutts, a spokeswoman for the House of Representatives, pointed to the New Hampshire Employment Security agency. The office, which runs the state’s job centers and manages unemployment benefits, issues both quarterly and monthly employment reports estimating job growth in specific industries. According to the Employment Security office’s Current Employment Statistics report, 84,900 people worked in New Hampshire’s health care and social assistance fields in April 2012, the most recent numbers available. That number, based on employment surveys of selected hospitals, outpatient clinics, nursing homes and home care agencies, among others, is exactly the same as April 2011 and 100 fewer than March 2011. So that doesn’t show the gain O’Brien claimed. The House of Representatives passed its budget March 31, 2011, but it didn’t approve the final version of the budget for another three months, until June 22, 2011. According to the state jobs office, employment in the health care and social assistance sectors in June 2011 was 85,600. But it declined by 700 more by April 2012. In addition, at the time O’Brien made the claim May 7, the April 2012 unemployment numbers hadn’t been posted to the state’s website. If we calculate his claim using the March 2012 data that was available at the time, the numbers look even worse, since there were 400 fewer health care jobs in March than in April 2012. ""What you see in health care is really more of a slowdown,"" said Annette Nielsen, an economist with the economic and labor market information bureau within the employment security office. ""A couple of years ago, you would see 2 or 3 percent strong growth over the year, and then even through the beginning of the recession, that was really the only bright spot there was,"" she said. ""That is definitely slowing down."" The state’s health care employment numbers, as classified by the economic security office, include both health care and social assistance jobs. Health care jobs include those working in hospitals, medical centers, outpatient clinics and nursing homes. Meanwhile, social assistance is defined as child care workers and home care providers for the elderly and those with disabilities, among others. But even without considering the social assistance fields, O’Brien’s numbers are still off. Hospitals across the state gained 100 jobs from April 2011 to April 2012, rising to 28,300 last month, according to the state report. But ambulatory care services, including chiropractors, optometrists, podiatrists, mental health professionals and diagnostic technicians, lost 1,300 jobs during that period. Compared to figures from June 2011, ambulatory care jobs were down 1,500 in April 2012 and hospital jobs suffered 200 losses, according to the state data. Admittedly, the state’s monthly job estimates are not perfect, acknowledged Nielson, of the employment security office. The figures are based on surveys collected from a sampling of employers, which are often returned late, and they don’t always reflect new and emerging businesses, she said. For a more accurate measure, economists often look to the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages report. The report, released every three months, is based on actual employment data reported to the employment security office for unemployment benefits claims. But because the data takes time to collect and analyze, reports are released only every three months. The most report reflects employment data through September 2011. According to that data, from April 2011 to September 2011, six months after the House passed the state budget and the longest period of available data, the number of people working in health care in the state grew by 402 jobs. Yet when using the June starting date, when the state budget took effect, there was a loss of 178 jobs during the next quarter of a year. Either way, this data is now eight months old, and much can – and likely has – changed in that time, Nielson said. ""You can’t compare the two,"" she said. ""They’re two different time periods. … The trend is (that job growth is) really starting to flatten out."" Our ruling The health care industry was a bright spot during the recession, but job estimates show that it didn’t rebound from the state budget cuts the way O’Brien reported. The most recent state estimates show that jobs in the health care industry, combined with social assistance, have remained flat or even decreased – not gained – since April 2011, when the House initially passed the budget. And since the state budget took effect in June 2011, the industry has lost about 700 jobs. There is one measure that shows some growth, but it was only a snapshot and doesn’t cover the time period O’Brien was talking about. Based on the most authoritative numbers that include the most recent data."
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9296
|
Effective sleep apnea treatment lowers diabetes risk
|
This news release outlines a recent paper reporting that a treatment for sleep apnea, called continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), could help people with prediabetes who also have sleep apnea to regulate their blood sugar levels. (We have concerns about the release’s use of the term “prediabetes” that we discuss below in the review.) The release says that people with prediabetes and sleep apnea who use a CPAP device for 8 hours overnight have improved blood sugar control, lower levels of the stress hormone noradrenaline, and lower blood pressure. However, it did not, as the headline suggests, show that this approach had any actual impact on one’s risk of developing diabetes. The original study states the findings carefully, but the authors are less cautious when discussing the significance of the findings in the news release (examples below in the review). And while the release does a good job of explaining the study, it could do more to address costs and place its findings in context with past research that found little or no benefit for treating sleep apnea in people with prediabetes. Sleep apnea is a condition that is common in people with diabetes, since both conditions are linked to obesity. Diabetes is increasingly being understood as a condition that is worsened by stress, and with sleep apnea, low oxygen levels at night and disrupted sleep put extra stress on the body’s metabolic system. This study was designed to test the concept that treating sleep apnea could reduce risk factors for the development of diabetes over a short period of time. The study is important because previous research has generally shown little effect from treating sleep apnea in people with prediabetes. The treatment for sleep apnea, a CPAP mask device worn all night, is hard for many people to tolerate and they may not use it for a full night’s sleep. The researchers investigated whether using CPAP for a full 8 hours improved glucose metabolism and found, unlike earlier studies, that there was a positive effect. They also explored whether blood pressure and stress hormones were reduced by CPAP treatment, a secondary goal of the study.
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false
|
CPAP,Sleep apnea,surrogates,University of Chicago
|
The release doesn’t address costs at all. This is a significant oversight, since testing to see if a person with diabetes has sleep apnea and, if so, should use a CPAP machine to treat it, can cost from hundreds to thousands of dollars. The release is fairly vague on the benefits conferred on prediabetic patients using CPAP devices. For example, the release notes that “blood sugar control, as measured by an oral glucose tolerance test, improved for those in the CPAP group compared to the oral placebo group.” But this improvement is not quanitified. In addition, the study was not designed to show how likely it is that this improvement measured during a 2 week test period has a lasting impact on developing frank diabetes or, if so, how big that impact might be. And although the original study paper was clear to state the limits of the findings, the first author exaggerates them in the news release. Consider the following comparison: Paper: “In this proof of concept study, the CPAP treatment was limited to 2-weeks, and thus the study does not provide information on the potential effects of CPAP on glucose metabolism over a longer period of time. Importantly, in our study, CPAP was applied in the laboratory under continuous supervision, but 8-hour nightly CPAP use may be difficult to achieve in real-life conditions. Thus, our findings should be interpreted with caution, particularly in regards to CPAP recommendations to patients in clinical settings.” Author in release: “Our study showed that CPAP in patients with prediabetes can lower their risk of progressing to diabetes when CPAP is used for 8 hours, a full night’s sleep.” Benefits are further exaggerated (by implying that a population beyond that studied [everyone with sleep apnea, not just prediabetics with OSA] could benefit) in the following statement from the author in the release: “Our results should provide a strong incentive for anyone with sleep apnea, especially prediabetic individuals, to improve adherence to their treatment for cardio-metabolic risk reduction.” While the release does not mention any harms associated with CPAP, that is likely because there are no significant health risks associated with the use of CPAP devices. However, it would have been worth noting that CPAP devices can often cause significant discomfort for users (and their bedmates), particularly at first. Getting CPAP to work can also require a lot of tinkering with the device. The release does a good job of describing the study, addressing the overall number of participants (39), the number using CPAP (26), and those using placebo (13). The release also does a good job explaining the study’s methods and how it measured health effects in study participants. As noted above under Benefits, we thought the release failed to explain some important limitations to the research, but since we’ve already penalized the story for that shortcoming, we won’t do so again here. This release shows no awareness of the debate over the diagnosis of “prediabetes,” unquestioningly labeling it a “disorder” affecting 57 million people. But if prediabetes signifies that you are “at risk for developing diabetes,” as the release says, wouldn’t it be more appropriate to call prediabetes a “risk factor” rather than a “disorder”? As this BMJ analysis notes, labeling someone as “prediabetic” carries the potential for harm, so we question any news release that uses the term casually, as this one does. The release clearly identifies the sources of funding for the study, which were the National Institutes of Health and the University of Chicago’s Diabetes Research and Training Center and Institute for Translational Medicine. The release also quotes two researchers and makes clear that both researchers were authors of the paper describing the work. The release does refer once to “lifestyle interventions and the availability of many drug treatments.” However, the release does not say what any of these treatment options are, much less compare the potential effectiveness of those treatment options to the use of a CPAP device. It would have been relatively easy to note that treatment options include changes in diet, increasing exercise, losing weight, and the oral blood sugar-lowering medication metformin. The news release does not establish how easy or difficult it is to obtain treatment with a CPAP machine. Many people with prediabetes do not know they have sleep apnea. Diagnosis requires either an expensive overnight sleep study (not widely available) or sometimes, with a cheaper home sleep monitor (becoming more available). There are many insurance limitations on testing for sleep apnea. Once the condition is diagnosed, treatment is usually covered by insurance and provided by respiratory care supply companies in the home. Some discussion of this context would have been helpful. This is one of the main limitations of the release. An online search shows that a number of studies have been done on the impact of CPAP use on patients with prediabetes and on patients with type 2 diabetes. The news release does not make clear how this most recent paper expands on the previous work — and it is important for releases like this one to place the new study in context. If a release is going to include a headline that says, “Effective sleep apnea treatment lowers diabetes risk,” it should back that statement up with evidence. We believe the benefits of this proof-of-concept study are exaggerated in the release headline. This was not a randomized controlled study comparing 8 hours of CPAP in prediabetes for several months with a sham CPAP treatment, then looking at incidence of progression to diabetes months or years later — THAT would have justified this headline. The right headline would be something like, “CPAP can improve glucose metabolism.” Whether that leads to a decreased risk of future diabetes was not established by this study.
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4082
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Delaware probes 3 possible cases of vape-related lung issues.
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Delaware health officials are investigating three possible cases of severe lung disease related to the use of electronic cigarettes and vaping.
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true
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Health, Lung disease, General News, Delaware
|
News outlets report the state health department is urging residents to stop vaping as cases of lung disease possibly linked to e-cigarettes pop up across the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there have been 450 possible cases of lung disease related to vaping reported in 33 states. As many as five cases have ended in death. The agency says no evidence of infectious diseases have been identified, meaning the illnesses are likely associated with chemical exposure. It says no specific substance or product has been linked to all cases, though many cases involve people who reported vaping THC, marijuana’s high-inducing chemical.
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15283
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"Hillary Clinton Says Scott Walker's defunding of Planned Parenthood ""left women across the state stranded with nowhere else to turn"" for cancer screenings, breast exams and birth control."
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"Clinton said Walker's defunding of Planned Parenthood ""left women across the state stranded with nowhere else to turn"" for cancer screenings, breast exams and birth control. Walker in 2011 eliminated all state funding to Planned Parenthood, which in turn closed five clinics over the next three years. The loss of those clinics meant women were referred to other facilities, in some cases a considerable distance away, in order to continue getting services. But Clinton’s statement goes too far in that Walker’s move affected only some parts of the state and it’s wrong to say women in those areas have ""nowhere else to turn."" For a statement that is partially accurate, we give Clinton a Half True."
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mixture
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Abortion, Families, Health Care, Public Health, Sexuality, State Budget, Women, Wisconsin, Hillary Clinton,
|
"Well before the release of videos that ignited debate about the sale of fetal body parts, Republican Gov. Scott Walker boasted about defunding Planned Parenthood in Wisconsin. In a video of her own released Aug. 3, 2015, Hillary Clinton attacked Walker’s move. ""When politicians talk about defunding Planned Parenthood, they're talking about blocking millions of women, men and young people from life-saving, preventive care, cancer screenings, breast exams, birth control. They're talking about cutting people off from the health care provider they know and trust,"" Clinton said. ""Unfortunately, these attacks aren't new; they're more of the same. We've seen them in Wisconsin, where Governor Walker defunded Planned Parenthood and left women across the state stranded with nowhere else to turn."" The claim by the leading Democratic contender for the White House runs counter to statements made by Walker, who has said during his presidential campaign that he simply transferred money from Planned Parenthood to other organizations. What we found is that when it comes to cancer screenings, breast exams and birth control, women in some parts of the state -- particularly those with lower incomes -- lost their local health care provider and might have to travel much farther for services. That’s because Planned Parenthood shut down five facilities after losing the state funding. At the same time, the closures were done in only certain parts of the state. And it goes too far to say the former Planned Parenthood patients have ""nowhere else to turn,"" given that they were referred to other providers -- albeit, in some cases, providers outside their home community. Defunding in Wisconsin Clinton’s campaign cited a number of news articles that detailed the defunding as well as the fallout. We went to a Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin leader to fill us in further. Nicole Safar told us the group was getting public funding for family planning services (but none for abortion services) from three sources: a direct federal grant and from Medicaid, both of which continue; and from the state, in the form of an annual grant. Walker ""defunded"" Planned Parenthood by taking aim at the only source he controlled. In his first state budget, for 2011-’13, Walker proposed eliminating $1.9 million per year in state grants for family planning activities such as contraceptive services and supplies, pregnancy testing and cervical cancer screening. About $1 million of that had been going to nine Planned Parenthood clinics, with the rest given primarily to other private organizations and county health departments. In analyzing Walker’s proposal, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the state’s nonpartisan budget scorekeeper, said the potential effects were unclear. The clinics losing the state funding would have to replace those dollars or change their operations. On the other hand, most of the revenues generated for the services that those clinics provided came from sources other than the state. Before adopting the 2011-’13 budget, the Legislature rejected Walker’s proposal to eliminate the $1.9 million in grants. Instead, it reduced the amount to $1.7 million. But it also changed state law so that any agency that provides abortion services could not receive the money. That meant Planned Parenthood lost its $1 million-per-year allocation. Over roughly the next three years, Planned Parenthood closed five of the nine clinics that had been receiving the state money -- in Fond du Lac, Beaver Dam, Johnson Creek, Chippewa Falls and Shawano. (Currently, Planned Parenthood has a total of 22 health facilities in Wisconsin.) Safar told us that some 3,000 patients who had used the clinics that were shut down were referred to other facilities, but those women typically had to travel farther to get services. For example, women using the Planned Parenthood clinic in Shawano, which had been open for 34 years, were referred to a facility in Green Bay -- nearly 40 miles away. Most of the patients received discounted services because of their income. ""There just aren’t providers on every corner willing to take low-income patients,"" Safar said. Kim Mueller, director of the Fond du Lac County Health Department, told us that lower-income women seeking birth control or treatment for sexually transmitted diseases were particularly affected by the closure of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Fond du Lac. ""Planned Parenthood was amazing -- you could walk in and get care right away,"" she said. Though there still are Planned Parenthood facilities in neighboring counties, and some local physicians accept low-income patients, some women are less likely to get birth control or STD treatment if they have to travel longer distances and start relationships with new providers, Mueller said. It’s important to note that the reduced amount of state funding for family planning services -- $1.7 million -- was still allocated for family planning and the other services Clinton cited. And Walker’s campaign pointed out that the state has continued to fund another program that pays for mammograms, Pap tests and other health screenings. Our rating Clinton said Walker's defunding of Planned Parenthood ""left women across the state stranded with nowhere else to turn"" for cancer screenings, breast exams and birth control. Walker in 2011 eliminated all state funding to Planned Parenthood, which in turn closed five clinics over the next three years. The loss of those clinics meant women were referred to other facilities, in some cases a considerable distance away, in order to continue getting services. But Clinton’s statement goes too far in that Walker’s move affected only some parts of the state and it’s wrong to say women in those areas have ""nowhere else to turn."" For a statement that is partially accurate, we give Clinton a ."
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9417
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Scientists Edge Closer To A Blood Test To Detect Cancers
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This story is an overview of a preliminary, experimental test to screen for eight types of cancer. Not only does this story use clear language in discussing the relevance of both false positives and false negatives in screening, it also thoughtfully includes independent sources that provide important clinical context for readers interested in understanding the limitations of cancer screening. The search for noninvasive, accurate, and affordable cancer screening is an important, emerging focus in cancer research. It’s a topic that will likely continue to generate significant media attention and, therefore, careful reporting is essential.
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true
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cancer test
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The story makes it clear that cost of the test is currently speculative (“could cost about $500”) and goes even further to caution that: “Johns Hopkins holds the patent and has not licensed it as yet to a company that would ultimately set the price.” The story makes the two key results of the test quite clear. First, that the 1,005 people tested already had been diagnosed with one of eight common cancers, and the blood test was able to detect cancer in about 70 percent of them. Second, the test was also given to 812 people without cancer and only a false reading for cancer less than 1 percent of the time. Including the additional finding that the test was only able to detect cancer in about 40 percent of the patients with early cancer (ie. stage I) was a thoughtful way of introducing the relevant issue of falsely negative tests. The story does an excellent job of finding an independent source who explains that one of the potential risks of cancer screening tests is either identifying cancers that are not there, or are benign, and can lead to “pointless and potentially dangerous treatments.” The opposite harm is also mentioned; that is, a screening test that erroneously gives a negative result, leading providers to falsely reassure a patient that cancer is not there. Cautious language is used at many points in the story and it does three things quite well. First, it lists the most important limitation of the study: The screening test studied was unable to identify the type of cancer. Second, the implications of both falsely positive and falsely negative tests were explained succinctly and placed in a clinical context that would matter to those undergoing screening. Finally, we were very encouraged by the inclusion of this sentence: “… the researchers will still have to demonstrate that the test improves and extends the lives of cancer patients.” There is no disease mongering in this story. The two independent sources cited provide important context for understanding the strengths, limitations, and clinical context of the screening test. This was a tough call, but ultimately we felt the story would have been stronger had it mentioned the performance of current screening methods for some of the cancer types, such as Cologuard for colon cancer. That said, we were glad the story included some of the pitfalls of screening for prostate and breast cancer, as well as the long struggle to develop more blood tests for cancer. It’s mentioned the authors of the study are “hoping their idea would eventually lead to a $500 test … but they have a long way to go.” Future studies of the screening test are also discussed, so it seems clear this test is not currently available. It’s made clear that “there have been many attempts over the decades to develop blood tests to screen for cancers … but these methods don’t give reliable results.” It’s also pointed out that what makes this screening test unique is that it combines two previously used methods (screening for proteins and for DNA) into one test. This story does not appear to rely upon a news release.
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2838
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U.S. FDA approves Medtronic heart valve replacement system.
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Medtronic Inc’s non-invasive systems for replacing diseased heart valves won U.S. approval for use in patients deemed too frail to endure traditional open heart surgery, the U.S. medical device maker said on Friday.
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true
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Health News
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The Food and Drug Administration approved Medtronic’s CoreValve system based on U.S. clinical trials in which it was shown to be safe and effective while demonstrating low rates of stroke and valve leakage, the company said. CoreValve, in which the replacement valve is threaded into place through an artery using a catheter, spares patients chest-cracking surgery. The system has been available since 2007 in Europe, where it is not uncommon for medical devices to win approval several years ahead of the United States.
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34210
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Miriam Adelson was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom for donating to a fund created to help Trump associates who were prosecuted in the Russia investigation with their legal bills.
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What's true: Miriam Adelson was bestowed with the Presidential Medal of Freedom after she and her husband, Sheldon, donated $500,000 to a fund to helps Trump associates with legal fees associated with the Russian interference probe. What's undetermined: Whether the decision to recognize Adelson with a Medal of Freedom was influenced by her donations to the legal defense fund (and other political contributions to Trump and Republican causes) is unknown.
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unproven
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Politics, donald trump
|
On 1 February 2019, the website ThinkProgress.org reported that “Miriam Adelson was awarded the Medal of Freedom after donating $500k to Trump aides’ legal expenses.” Readers took note of that headline and asked whether it could be believed. What is true is that Dr. Miriam Adelson, a physician, and her Republican mega-donor husband, Sheldon Adelson, gave millions of dollars to President Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016 and other GOP candidates in 2018. The Adelsons poured $113 million into Republican causes during the 2018 midterm-election cycle after donating $20 million to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and $5 million toward his inauguration ceremonies. According to IRS documents available online, the Adelsons also donated to the Patriot Legal Defense Fund Trust, launched in 2018 for the purpose of helping Trump associates who were prosecuted in an ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election with their legal fees. The fund “was formally established in the State of Delaware on February 27, 2018, operating as a tax-exempt political organization under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code.” Whether Dr. Adelson was given the Medal of Freedom as quid pro quo for her family’s massive political contributions and gift to the legal defense fund is unknown. It is true she received the honor on 16 November 2018, about a month and a half after she and her husband gave the Patriot Legal Defense Fund Trust, LLC, a total of $500,000 on 1 October 2018: According to the White House, President Trump awarded Dr. Adelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s “highest civilian honor” for her philanthropic efforts: Miriam Adelson is a committed doctor, philanthropist, and humanitarian. She has practiced internal and emergency medicine, studied and specialized in the disease of narcotic addiction, and founded two research centers committed to fighting substance abuse. With her husband, Sheldon, she also established the Adelson Medical Research Foundation, which supports research to prevent, reduce, or eliminate disabling and life-threatening illness. As a committed member of the American Jewish community, she has supported Jewish schools, Holocaust memorial organizations, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, and Birthright Israel, among other causes. The award caused a stir among some of President Trump’s critics. In an opinion piece for NBC News, columnist Robert Schlesinger wrote: “The fact Miriam Adelson has also made the cut, however, perfectly captures the crassly transactional nature of Donald Trump and his presidency. Because despite whatever adulatory nonsense Trump conjures about Adelson (the White House press release notes her financial support of medical research and Jewish causes), the $133 million [$20 million to Trump’s 2016 campaign and $113 million to GOP candidates in the 2018 midterms] elephant in the room is going to make [the] ceremony feel very crowded indeed.” The other Medal of Freedom recipients honored at the ceremony comprised Utah senator Orrin G. Hatch, former Minnesota Vikings football star (and current Minnesota Supreme Court justice) Alan Page, singer Elvis Presley (posthumous), New York Yankees baseball star Babe Ruth (posthumous), U.S. Supreme Court justice Anton Scalia (posthumous), and former Dallas Cowboys football star Roger Staubach.
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18163
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"Upwards of 90 percent"" of women seeking an abortion decide not to have an abortion after seeing an ultrasound."
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"Campos-Duffy said ""upwards of 90 percent"" of women seeking an abortion decide not to have an abortion after seeing an ultrasound. Research indicates that some women seeking an abortion change their mind after having an ultrasound. But, while one anti-abortion organization claims a figure of nearly 90 percent for its ultrasound program among a certain group of women, there is no solid evidence to back Campos-Duffy’s sweeping claim."
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false
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Abortion, Children, Families, Health Care, Women, Wisconsin, Rachel Campos-Duffy,
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"The same day the state Senate approved a bill requiring women to get an ultrasound before getting an abortion, Rachel Campos-Duffy appeared at a Wisconsin Right to Life gathering in Appleton. The controversial bill drew striking comments from some senators. One Republican said abortions ""became the thing to do"" in the 1960s and a Democrat said the bill was government trying to ""find its way into a woman’s vagina."" Meanwhile, Campos-Duffy -- a conservative pundit, occasional host of ""The View"" TV show and wife of U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Hayward -- made her own eye-catching statement about ultrasounds and abortion. In connection with the June 12, 2013, Right to Life event, she did a video interview with the Appleton Post-Crescent newspaper, saying: ""So, it really doesn’t make sense to me when people who purport to be advocates for women suddenly say, ‘Oh, we don’t need those pesky ultrasounds, you don’t need all of that information,’"" Campos-Duffy said. ""It seems very dubious, their motivation, because we always want the patient to have as much information as possible. ""Now, it's true that once a father or a mother who are seeking an abortion see an ultrasound, it's true that upwards of 90 percent of them decide not to have an abortion. Our opposition may not like those results, but those are what people decide after they have all the facts in front of them."" Do more than 90 percent of women seeking an abortion decide not to get one after seeing their ultrasound? The law Gov. Scott Walker signed the bill July 5, 2013. Besides ultrasounds, the law requires doctors who perform abortions to have hospital admitting privileges. A judge has temporarily blocked the requirement on doctors, but the ultrasound provision remains in effect. Before a woman can get an abortion, an ultrasound must be performed. There are exceptions for a medical emergency or in cases in which the pregnancy is the result of incest or sexual assault, if those crimes have been reported to police. The person performing the ultrasound must describe what is being shown and provide the woman an opportunity to see the ultrasound images. But the woman can't be required to view the images. Eleven other, mostly southern states have adopted laws that require an ultrasound before abortion although the laws are in effect in only nine of the states, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group focusing on reproductive health issues. The states are Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia. However, North Carolina’s law is temporarily unenforceable pending a court decision and Oklahoma is permanently blocked by court order. Campos-Duffy’s evidence As for Campos-Duffy’s claim that ""upwards of 90 percent"" of women seeking an abortion decide not to have one after seeing an ultrasound, she told us her source was the Knights of Columbus. She cited a page on the Catholic group's website that describes how the group helps bring ultrasound machines to ""pro-life pregnancy help centers."" ""Reports indicate that up to 90 percent of women considering an abortion choose to have their baby after seeing an ultrasound image,"" the website said. ""They hear their baby’s heartbeat, they see their baby’s head and fingers. They know it is a child, not a ‘choice.'"" But that's merely a statement similar to Campos-Duffy's, not evidence that her statement is correct. Joe Cullen, of the Knights of Columbus’ national office in New Haven, Conn., told us his group based its 90 percent statement on statements by two other organizations -- Focus on the Family and ICU Mobile. Like the Knights of Columbus, both groups help supply ultrasound machines for anti-abortion pregnancy centers. Interestingly, the Knights removed the 90 percent statement from its website after we heard from Cullen. Let’s see what the other two organizations have to say. Focus on the Family Focus on the Family is a multi-faceted organization in Colorado Springs, Colo., founded by evangelical Christian Dr. James Dobson. It provides grants to pregnancy centers for ultrasound machines. Focus on the Family claims that since its ultrasound program began in 2004, ""the estimated number of babies saved"" is more than 201,000. But the group told us it doesn’t claim that any particular percentage of women seeking an abortion change their minds after seeing their ultrasound. ICU Mobile ICU Mobile, based in Akron, Ohio, makes a claim similar to Campos-Duffy’s, saying on its website that ""86.9 percent of women considering an abortion who see their baby aboard an ICU Mobile choose life."" The website says the statistic is for 2010 and breaks down this way: The mobile units provided ultrasound images to 1,389 women; 613 were ""abortion minded or abortion vulnerable""; and 533 of them, or 86.9 percent, ""made a decision for life."" That statistic, though unverified, helps Campos-Duffy’s claim a little, but it applies to a relatively small number of women and there are some other caveats. The women are categorized by ICU Mobile as being undecided but leaning toward having an abortion. And the group does not indicate how it determines whether a woman, after receiving an ultrasound, ultimately gave birth or had an abortion. Indeed, ICU Mobile’s claim is much lower for women who had decided to have an abortion before they saw an ultrasound. Just over half of those women change their mind after the ultrasound, the group claims. Other sources Other sources do not support Campos-Duffy’s contention -- at least not for the 90 percent claim she made. University of California, San Francisco: Researchers interviewed 20 women who received an ultrasound ""as part of their abortion care"" and published a study in November 2012. The women’s responses ""offer support for anti-abortion claims that ultrasound viewing can dissuade women from abortion, as well as support for abortion rights claims that viewing an ultrasound can cause emotional difficulty for a woman planning to abort."" But in a separate article, one of the researchers, Tracy Weitz, director of the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health at the university, said ""no peer-reviewed empirical data has supported this proposition that viewing an ultrasound image discourages women from abortion."" University of British Columbia: In a study published in 2009, researchers gave questionnaires to 350 women who came to two abortion clinics, asking if they wanted to view an ultrasound. Nearly 73 percent got the ultrasound and 86 percent of them described it as a positive experience. But none changed their minds about having an abortion. University of Texas at Austin: Researchers there and from the University of Alabama at Birmingham gave surveys to 318 women who sought abortions at clinics in six Texas cities in 2012; 72 percent looked at their ultrasound. Before their consultation and ultrasound, 92 percent of those women said they were sure of their decision, or that abortion was a better choice for them. Afterward, the percentage was unchanged. We’ll also note that the conservative Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. cites on its website various statements indicating that women are more likely to opt not to have an abortion after seeing an ultrasound; one pregnancy center director in Baton Rouge, La., is quoted as saying that ""98 percent of women who have ultrasounds choose to carry to term."" But the council makes no claim and provides no evidence indicating that on a national level upwards of 90 percent of women seeking an abortion change their minds after seeing an ultrasound. Our rating Campos-Duffy said ""upwards of 90 percent"" of women seeking an abortion decide not to have an abortion after seeing an ultrasound. Research indicates that some women seeking an abortion change their mind after having an ultrasound. But, while one anti-abortion organization claims a figure of nearly 90 percent for its ultrasound program among a certain group of women, there is no solid evidence to back Campos-Duffy’s sweeping claim."
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96
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J&J says new tests find no asbestos in same baby powder bottle that sparked recall.
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Johnson & Johnson said on Tuesday that 15 new tests found no asbestos in a bottle of baby powder that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says tested positive for trace amounts of asbestos, a finding the agency stands by.
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true
|
Health News
|
The tests are the latest effort by J&J to prove the safety of its widely used consumer product after a test by the FDA prompted J&J to undertake a nationwide recall of one lot of its Johnson’s Baby Powder. FDA officials, in an interview with Reuters, said the agency continues to support the company’s voluntary recall. “They would say the product is free of asbestos based on their testing, and we would say the opposite for that sample,” said Steve Musser, deputy director for scientific operations in the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Nutrition. Earlier this month, J&J recalled around 33,000 bottles of baby powder in the United States after the FDA found trace amounts of asbestos in samples taken from a bottle purchased online. “Rigorous and third-party testing confirms there is no asbestos in Johnson’s Baby Powder. We stand by the safety of our product,” J&J said in a statement. The company did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment on the FDA standing by its test result. The different test outcomes could have resulted from the fact that contaminants are not uniformly dispersed throughout talc and there is no standard test for asbestos in talc, FDA officials said. The voluntary recall was limited to one lot of Johnson’s Baby Powder produced and shipped in the United States in 2018, the company said at the time. That move marked the first time the company recalled its iconic baby powder for possible asbestos contamination, and the first time U.S. regulators have announced a finding of asbestos in the product. Asbestos is a known carcinogen that has been linked to deadly mesothelioma. J&J will not reverse the recall of those 22-ounce containers, but its baby powder remains available to consumers in stores, a company spokesman told Reuters. The recall had been the latest blow to the more than 130-year-old U.S. healthcare conglomerate that is facing thousands of lawsuits over a variety of products, including baby powder, opioids, medical devices and the antipsychotic Risperdal. J&J faces more than 15,000 lawsuits from consumers claiming its talc products, including Johnson’s Baby Powder, caused their cancer. (This version corrects spelling of powder in headline)
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9246
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Modified cast instead of surgery results in similar functional outcomes for ankle fracture in older adults
|
This news release reports on the results of a randomized trial of older adults (average age 71) who had ankle fractures that were either treated with “close contact casting” or with surgery. While the outcomes after six months were similar in both groups the close contact casting was superior in terms of reduced infections and additional operating room procedures as well as being a lot safer. Yet many patients who received casting as an an initial treatment subsequently required repeat casting or surgery. The release covers most of the bases and reported fairly on the essentials of the study, while not exaggerating either the benefits or risks of the surgical option. Readers might benefit from a definition of a ‘stable’ versus an ‘unstable’ ankle fracture and of “radiologic malunion.” The term sounds threatening but does not necessarily result in pain or functional impairment. Ankle fractures are extremely common, and perhaps more common in older people so if one type of lower-tech procedure (close casting) can be proven to be safer, equally effective and less costly than the current standard of care (surgery) this could be a major plus to the healthcare systems around the world. Even though some of the patients in the study (about 20%) who received the casting option first had to go on to have a surgical intervention or a recasting, this study reinforces the view that surgery should be the second resort in most cases. Proof that a simpler closed intervention works well and should be tried first for these fractures stands to change the treatment of this common fracture.
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true
|
ankle fracture treatment,JAMA
|
The release notes that casting instead of surgery as an initial treatment would result in “reduced intervention costs” but that’s not very helpful if you’re unsure of the base cost of surgery. Estimates of a cost differential would have been helpful. Close contact casting would be much cheaper than open surgery for these fractures. The release includes a list of benefits of the modified casting method, with some quantification, mostly in terms of reduced complications. It says, “At 6 months, casting resulted in measures of ankle function equivalent to that with surgery. Infection and wound breakdown were more common with surgery (10 percent vs 1 percent), as were additional operating room procedures (6 percent vs 1 percent).” A release devotes a fair amount of space to harms from casting as compared with surgery: “Radiologic malunion (abnormal healing of a fracture) was more common in the casting group (15 percent vs 3 percent for surgery). Casting required less operating room time compared with surgery. There were no significant differences in other secondary outcomes: quality of life, pain, ankle motion, mobility, and patient satisfaction.” This large randomized study with high rates of completion suggests a high quality of evidence, all noted in the news release. The release would have been better if it had noted that the outcome was blinded, a very important marker of quality as it is likely to reduce the risk of bias. No signs of disease mongering. These fractures are actually quite common, especially in the elderly, so it would have been appropriate to discuss the high disease burden from these fractures. No funding sources and conflicts are mentioned in the news release. Instead, readers are referred to the published study for details on “financial disclosures, funding and support.” However, the study is only available to JAMA subscribers. The release aptly compares this new treatment with traditional surgery, which has largely been abandoned due to high rates of malunion resulting in functional deficits in displaced ankle fractures. The release also briefly mentions traditional “hard” casting. The release quotes an accompanying editorial stating that “close contact casting may be unfamiliar to some orthopedic surgeons.” Although that’s a vague statement, we can assume it’s not in widespread use. In the U.S., most orthopedists are not trained in close contact casting nor do they feel comfortable using it. Most patients will not be offered this treatment as an option for their fracture care. This treatment is not novel, but the results of this study are new. It appears to be the first to compare these treatments and show the results in a well done randomized study. The release does not rely on sensational or exaggerated language.
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8639
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South Korea extends intensive social distancing to reach 50 daily coronavirus cases.
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South Korea said on Saturday it will extend its intensive social distancing campaign scheduled to end on Monday by two weeks in a bid to curb the rate of coronavirus infections to around 50 a day.
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true
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Health News
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The country has largely managed to bring under control Asia’s largest epidemic outside China with around 100 or fewer new daily cases. But smaller outbreaks in churches, hospitals and nursing homes, as well as infections among travelers, continue to emerge. This week, the government has been gauging whether it should extend a 15-day intensive social distancing policy it implemented on March 21, under which high-risk facilities were urged to close and religious, sports and entertainment gatherings were banned. But it is “too early to be at ease,” Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said, citing a recent spike in imported cases and small cluster infections which also prompted the government to cancel the re-opening of schools next week. “Our goal is to be able to control infections in a way that our health and medical system, including personnel and sickbeds, can handle them at usual levels,” Park told a briefing after an government meeting on the coronavirus. “If the number goes down to 50 or lower, stable treatment of the patients including the critically ill will be possible without much pressure on the system.” The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 94 new cases on Saturday, taking the national tally to 10,156. The death toll rose by nine to 183, while more than 300 recovered from the virus for a total of 6,325. Of the new, 32 were repatriated cases, mostly Koreans, while 31 were from the greater Seoul area and 26 from the hardest-hit city of Daegu, KCDC data showed. Social distancing played a role in restraining domestic group transmissions by some 70% during the first 11 days compared with the last 11 days before it took effect, Park said. But there are signs that people restarted going out and socializing as fatigue about isolation grew and the weather improved, he said. “We are well aware that many citizens are feeling exhausted and lethargic under continued social distancing,” Park said. “But if we get loose, the strenuous efforts that the government and the people have made so far might come to nothing.”
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10604
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Aspirin May Cut Prostate Cancer Deaths
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This story, like the Health Day story we reviewed on this study, reports that aspirin may cut the risk of death for some prostate cancer patients; a claim not supported by the study, which simply reported an association, not any cause-and-effect relationship. And the headline and lead don’t tell readers that the study is relevant only to certain men with localized prostate cancer. But at least this story alerts readers right away that the findings are preliminary and should not prompt men to start taking aspirin in hopes it could reduce their risk of prostate cancer death. It also includes a standard caution about medical meeting presentations not having gone through the type of peer review used by leading medical journals. An observational study, especially this sort of analysis of past medical records, can only suggest associations. It takes an experiment that follows patients (some who get the drug in question and some who don’t) to try to demonstrate cause-and-effect and largely rule out other potential explanations. News stories should avoid wording that implies cause-and-effect before such experiments are done.
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mixture
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Cancer,WebMD
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Cost was not mentioned in this story. Now you might say that the focus is on aspirin, which readers are likely to already know is relatively inexpensive. However, the story should have highlighted the cost differential between aspirin and some of the other drugs included in the study, such as warfarin and Plavix, since those on the inexpensive aspirin derived the most benefit. And it should be noted that even drugs that cost little for each pill may cost the nation a substantial amount if long-term use is recommended for many millions of individuals This story would have met this criterion if not for the headline and lead claiming that this study suggested aspirin may cut the risk of cancer death. Other than muddling the distinction between an association and a cause-and-effect relationship, the story does a generally good job of giving readers details about the study and its results. Although the lead highlights the difference in relative risk, the body of the story includes the absolute risk figures (10-year prostate cancer death rates of 10 percent vs. 4 percent). That said, the story should not have implied that the study proved the anticlotting drugs could clearly claim credit for the observed differences. The story mentions that the drugs carry risks, including bleeding. However, the story should have been clear that such bleeding can be lethal in some cases and that these drugs also raise the risk of prostate cancer patients suffering complications during treatments. On most counts, this story does a good job describing the study, including an alert near the top that the findings are preliminary and shouldn’t prompt men to stat taking aspirin. It also alerts readers that the results are being announced at a medical meeting and so the findings have not been scrutinized by peer reviewers to the degree required by leading medical journals. However, by saying in the headline and the lead sentence that aspirin may cut cancer deaths, the story implies evidence of a cause-and-effect relationship when all this study could do is identify an association between the use of aspirin or other anticlotting drugs and prostate cancer death rates. Readers should have been told about the limitations of this kind of retrospective analysis of medical records, including unknown differences between the patients who took aspirin and those who didn’t… and the possibility that some unidentified third factor plays a role in explaining the findings. The story did include the now-boilerplate (and laudable) WebMD language for stories coming from presentations at conferences – “This study was presented at a medical conference. The findings should be considered preliminary as they have not yet undergone the “peer review” process, in which outside experts scrutinize the data prior to publication in a medical journal.” But that caveat doesn’t cover the issue we raise above. The body of story is clear about who these results are relevant to. It points out that the study involved the records of men who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer that had not spread. However, the headline and lead imply that aspirin could lower the risk of prostate cancer death for all men, not just those diagnosed with localized tumors of a type likely to spread. It was easy to meet the basic requirement of this criterion, because the news briefing was moderated by an expert who was not involved in this study. Also, the researchers did not declare any conflicts of interest. However, it is possible that the moderator (who is also the president of the medical association sponsoring the meeting) may have had some role in selecting or shaping this study presentation and so it is hard to know for sure how independent he is. The researchers say it would be premature to recommend the use of anticoagulants in prostate cancer patients, because the benefits and risks have yet to be clearly identified… and so it is also premature to expect comparisons to alternatives. The study looked at the use of available anticoagulant medications. The story notes that this study builds on clues from clinical experience as well as lab and animal experiments suggesting there may be a relationship between blood clotting and how cancer spreads. The story includes quotes from a news conference.
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28601
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In 1926, the federal government poisoned alcohol to curb consumption during Prohibition; by the time Prohibition ended in 1933, an estimated 10,000 people had died from this poisoning.
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What's true: When the manufacture and sale of alcohol was illegal between 1920 and 1933, regulatory agencies encouraged measures making industrial alcohol undrinkable, including the addition of lethal chemicals. What's false: The government did not poison supplies of alcohol meant for human consumption, nor did it intentionally aim to kill those who drank the tainted products.
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mixture
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History, alcohol, conspiracy, Government
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As if Americans hadn’t accumulated enough dark suspicions about their government over the past 50-odd years, along comes an Internet factoid holding that the United States government intentionally (and fatally) poisoned more than 10,000 of its own citizens between 1926 and 1933: The alarming claim is that the U.S. government added poison to alcohol to discourage people from drinking it during Prohibition, the period from 1920 to 1933 in which it was illegal to produce, transport, or sell alcoholic beverages anywhere in the United States. That didn’t mean people stopped making, buying, and drinking booze — they just did it illegally. As noted in virtually every U.S. history textbook ever written, one of the many negative unintended consequences of Prohibition was a booming black market in alcohol that law enforcement was never able to subdue. To the question at hand: Did the federal government really add poison to alcohol to discourage people from drinking it? It did, in fact. The government did purposely add poisonous substances to alcohol, and this did result in thousands of deaths during Prohibition. The story of how that came to pass is longer and more nuanced than the Internet meme suggests, however. And it began well before the passage of the 18th Amendment, which made Prohibition the law of the land. According to Deborah Blum, author of The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York (Penguin Press, 2010), the practice was called “denaturing”. It consisted of adding noxious chemicals to alcohol sold for industrial purposes to make it unfit for human consumption. The process, long used in Europe, was introduced in the United States in 1906 as a means of exempting producers of alcohol used in paints, solvents, and the like from having to pay the taxes levied on potable spirits. Mainly, this was done by adding some methyl alcohol (“wood alcohol”) to grain alcohol, rendering it poisonous. Some formulas also contained substances that made the product taste too awful to drink. One of the ways crime syndicates tried to flout Prohibition, Blum explained in a 2010 Slate article, was stealing industrial alcohol and finding ways to make it potable. The government, in turn, resorted to making it more poisonous: To sell the stolen industrial alcohol, the liquor syndicates employed chemists to “renature” the products, returning them to a drinkable state. The bootleggers paid their chemists a lot more than the government did, and they excelled at their job. Stolen and redistilled alcohol became the primary source of liquor in the country. So federal officials ordered manufacturers to make their products far more deadly. By mid-1927, the new denaturing formulas included some notable poisons—kerosene and brucine (a plant alkaloid closely related to strychnine), gasoline, benzene, cadmium, iodine, zinc, mercury salts, nicotine, ether, formaldehyde, chloroform, camphor, carbolic acid, quinine, and acetone. The Treasury Department also demanded more methyl alcohol be added—up to 10 percent of total product. It was the last that proved most deadly. TIME magazine’s 2008 Prohibition retrospective described the horrendous consequences of an unregulated — and, in many instances, purposely adulterated — black-market liquor supply: It wasn’t just the violent Prohibition-era gang wars that were dangerous to Americans drinking homemade moonshine and bathtub gin. According to the Dec. 26, 1922 edition of the New York Times, five people were killed in the city on Christmas Day from drinking “poisoned rum.” That was only the beginning. By 1926, according to Prohibition, by Edward Behr, 750 New Yorkers perished from such poisoning and hundreds of thousands more suffered irreversible injuries including blindness and paralysis. On New Year’s Day 1927, 41 people died at New York’s Bellevue Hospital from alcohol-related poisonings. Oftentimes, they were drinking industrial methanol, otherwise known as wood alcohol, which was a legal but extremely dangerous poison. One government report said that of 480,000 gallons of liquor confiscated in New York in 1927, nearly all contained poisons. Although it is inaccurate in the sense that none of this deadly business began in 1926, the factoid we set out to investigate wasn’t entirely wrong in citing that year as a pivotal one. Blum points out that the spate of alcohol-related poisonings that culminated in so many fatalities on New Year’s Day 1927 actually commenced a week earlier, on Christmas: It was Christmas Eve 1926, the streets aglitter with snow and lights, when the man afraid of Santa Claus stumbled into the emergency room at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital. He was flushed, gasping with fear: Santa Claus, he kept telling the nurses, was just behind him, wielding a baseball bat. Before hospital staff realized how sick he was—the alcohol-induced hallucination was just a symptom—the man died. So did another holiday partygoer. And another. As dusk fell on Christmas, the hospital staff tallied up more than 60 people made desperately ill by alcohol and eight dead from it. Within the next two days, yet another 23 people died in the city from celebrating the season. As for the claim that some 10,000 people died of alcohol poisoning during the course of Prohibition through its repeal in 1933, that, too, is a figure we can source to Blum (who did not, in the Slate article, specify where this estimate came from): Frustrated that people continued to consume so much alcohol even after it was banned, federal officials had decided to try a different kind of enforcement. They ordered the poisoning of industrial alcohols manufactured in the United States, products regularly stolen by bootleggers and resold as drinkable spirits. The idea was to scare people into giving up illicit drinking. Instead, by the time Prohibition ended in 1933, the federal poisoning program, by some estimates, had killed at least 10,000 people. In sum, federal attempts to reduce the palatability of industrial alcohol came well before Prohibition, and efforts to intensify the risks of consuming it were both well-known and controversial at the time. Such evidence as we’ve seen does not support the the implication that the government set out to purposely kill drinkers of alcohol, although Prohibition-era lawmakers and public health experts decried what they described as a callous disregard for those who died as result of drinking denatured alcohol.
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28867
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"An ""abortionist"" strangled an infant following a failed saline abortion, while other clinicians failed to intervene."
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What's true: Dr. William Waddell was tried twice, but never convicted following a failed abortion during which the fetus initially survived. What's false: Waddell was found to have strangled the infant; the incident was recent in 2016. What's undetermined: The reasons for which the abortion was unsuccessful; what caused the premature infant's death.
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mixture
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Medical, abortion, abortion horror stories, lifesitenews
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In April 2016, multiple Facebook pages shared links to articles with titles claiming an “abortionist strangled [a] baby” following a botched abortion. The tendency of social media users to share items without clicking through to the content led many to believe that the link described a current event. Most of these links led to a 9 May 2013 LifeSiteNews article, which was three years old at the time of its April 2016 Facebook circulation. Nearly all versions included the same exact photograph of what appeared to be a full-term infant crying, an image dated to 2014, was in no way related to abortion, and depicted a healthy baby boy, Karson Hanson. How Karson’s photograph came to be linked to the story wasn’t clear. Even the 2013 article didn’t describe anything recent. The events described were from 2 March 1977, and involved a saline abortion that reportedly resulted in a live birth: In 1977, abortion was legal throughout the country during all nine months of pregnancy. When an obstetrician/gynecologist told teenager “Mary W” that she was 28 weeks pregnant, he suggested that she give the baby up for adoption, as few doctors in the area were willing to perform abortions that late. But Mary was determined, and she managed to find an abortionist – Dr. William Baxter Waddill. On March 2, 1977, Mary arrived at Westminster Community Hospital for a saline abortion. Saline abortions are seldom performed today because of the danger to the mother and the possibility of live births, but in the 1970s and ’80s, they were very common. They were generally used to end pregnancies towards the end of the second trimester … The abortionist injected the saline and then left, leaving the nurses to tend to Mary. It was common for abortion doctors to inject their patients with saline and then leave, forcing the nurses to bear the emotional brunt of the abortion procedures and to dispose of the dead babies. In this case, however, Mary gave birth to a living 2-lb., 8-oz. baby girl. The story goes on to describe the doctor arriving at the clinic, angrily chasing chased all the nurses out of the room and making a call to another physician, Dr. Ronald Cornelson. (At that time, two doctors needed to be present to pronounce a premature baby dead.) The article presented many of its claims in a first-person, eyewitness style of reporting. Towards the end, it cited a separate anti-abortion blog as a source for its claims, saying the baby could have lived: Could the little girl have survived if she had not been strangled? In the 1970s, neonatology was not as advanced as it is today. In the 1990s, over 90% of babies born at 27 weeks were able to survive. The number is even higher now. Statistics from the 1970s are harder to come by, but an article in The Sydney Morning Herald claims that these babies had about a 71% survival rate if given medical attention promptly. So it is possible – if not very likely – that the baby would have survived if she had continued to be treated in the ICU. The November 2006 blog post from which the article was sourced made no effort to clarify how information about the failed 1977 saline abortion was obtained (such as medical records, court documents, or individual accounts). Most mentions of the case were versions of the same original blog post written in 2006, citations for which were either too vague to lend clarification or long-since dead. Very little accessible material remained, including details of what was an eventual criminal case against Waddill; a summary was published by the Orange County Register in 2009: Dr. William Waddill, a prominent Huntington Harbour obstetrician, was charged with strangling a fetus delivered after an unsuccessful abortion on an 18-year-old high school student. The frightened young woman had to push her way through throngs of protesters and glaring camera lights outside the Santa Ana courthouse to testify against Waddill in two headline-making trials that focused public attention on the abortion debate raging across the country. Twice, Waddill was tried on murder charges. Twice, the jury deadlocked. Orange County Judge Byron K. McMillan ultimately dismissed the case against Waddill in 1979 after the second hung jury. The trials pertained to complications that arose during a long-retired procedure known as a saline abortion. It bears mentioning that none of the details of the 1977 incident were relevant to the discussion of abortion in 2016, as saline abortions fell out of favor in the 1970s (and along with them, complications that could lead to a surviving fetus). Without this relevant context, readers were left with an impression that such an outcome was likely (or even possible) in 2016, which was misleading at best. A 6 April 1979 editorial in the Chicago Tribune weighed in on the merits of the case, and several local newspapers covered two trials associated with the failed abortion. The most detailed accounting came from a February 1993 article in the Los Angeles Times. That article (itself published more than a decade after the trial) indicated that crucial details such as the fetus’ developmental stage and ultimate cause of death were never determined: Waddill, a successful Huntington Harbour obstetrician, was accused of strangling to death a baby who had survived the abortion he had performed on the 18-year-old. He eventually was tried twice for murder, but never convicted in connection with the baby’s death … Neither jury in the Waddill trials could reach a unanimous decision and the charge was finally dismissed after the second jury in 1979 voted 11 to 1 for acquittal … Aside from the allegations that Waddill strangled the infant, the prosecution contended that the doctor failed to try to save the baby and could be convicted for that alone. The Waddill case began the morning of March 2, 1977, when Mary Weaver, an unwed Huntington Beach teen-ager and daughter of an area high school principal, underwent a saline abortion at Westminster Community Hospital, which no longer exists … About 10 that night, the baby–estimated to be anywhere from 20 weeks to 30 weeks old–was born alive. When Waddill arrived at the hospital and viewed the baby in the nursery, he would later testify, “The abortus looked absolutely lifeless . . . for all intents and purposes, dead.” Later, he said he did see the infant make some gasps. But he insisted they were associated with the baby going through the final throes of death. He still believed the infant had no hope for survival after being bathed for hours in the deadly saline solution. Waddill then ordered everyone out of the nursery, except for pediatrician Ronald J. Cornelson. What happened next to the baby has ultimately come down to Cornelson’s word against Waddill’s. According to Waddill, the baby died from the massive exposure to the saline solution. But a few days after the incident, Cornelson told police that he had watched in horror as Waddill tried three times to strangle the infant before it finally succeeded on the fourth attempt. Experts differed on whether the baby was even alive outside the womb and its age. Even the prosecution’s experts acknowledged that the baby could not have lived for any real length of time. Reports from February 1978 attributed the claims of strangulation and a version of the quoted remarks to the attending pediatrician’s testimony, and the trial by all accounts was a function of lack of medical protocol: The later popular focus of the incident (Waddill’s purported strangulation of the fetus) came not from forensic evidence, but testimony: The decades-old incident was ideal for purposes of editorializing precisely because so much time had passed, leaving details obfuscated and difficult to check. Social media users exposed to the item in 2016 could easily be led to believe that the story was recent; not only was the item circulating at that time published in 2013, it was sourced from a 2006 blog post. Even then, nearly 30 years had passed between the failed saline abortion and the story’s emergence on anti-abortion blogs. It’s true that an obstetrician-gynecologist named Dr. William Waddill performed an unsuccessful saline abortion on a young patient on 2 March 1977. It’s also true that the abortion may have failed due to a later gestational age than anticipated. A witness and fellow doctor testified that Waddill strangled the dying fetus; Waddill maintained he was checking for a pulse. Even those condemning the doctor conceded that there was virtually no chance the fetus would have survived had care been rendered. The doctor was twice tried over the infant’s death, but was found not guilty, and later resumed his practice. However, the circumstances under which that abortion went terribly wrong have long since been made exceedingly unlikely due to advances in medicine. Saline abortions were almost never used after the 1970s (due to risk to the mother), and today, updated diagnostic devices ensure that both patients and doctors receive a much better idea of how advanced a pregnancy is before proceeding with its termination.
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6940
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Side of seagrass please: Scientists find omnivorous shark.
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Ruining the reputation of sharks as bloodthirsty predators, California researchers said they have found a shark that enjoys a side of seagrass with its prey.
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true
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Sharks, University of California, Fish, Squid, North America, California, Science, U.S. News
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Bonnethead sharks not only eat grass while chomping fish and squid — they also digest the plant and gain nutrition from it, scientists at the University of California, Irvine announced Wednesday. It turns out bonnetheads have high levels of enzymes that break down fiber and carbohydrates, compared with the low amount carnivores typically have. That makes the bonnethead the first known omnivorous shark, researchers said. Laboratory video posted online shows a small bonnethead devouring a meal of 90 percent seagrass and 10 percent squid. It was previously believed that bonnetheads unintentionally consumed the grass in shallow areas where the species lives along some coastlines in the U.S., Central and South America. The smallest of the ten hammerhead species, bonnetheads are typically about 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) long. Samantha Leigh, who headed the four-year study at UCI’s School of Biological Sciences, said she hopes the discovery will help protect seagrass ecosystems that are at risk from climate change. “The fact a highly abundant kind of shark feeds on the grasses is yet another indication of why we need to preserve this vegetation,” she said. Dr. Sandy Trautwein of the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach called the findings “unique, but not surprising, given bonnetheads’ niche in tropical ecosystems.” She said she hopes the study “opens up the door for additional research” about seagrass communities and sharks in general.
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10472
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Drug combination slows breast cancer spread
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This news release describes findings from a study published in Lancet Oncology that found that a combination of drugs slowed cancer progression an average of nine months in women with HER2-negative breast cancer, the most common type of breast cancer. The release provides data on the drug combo’s effect on time to progression, which may be a clinically important measure. But women also want to know if it will help them live longer, and this news release doesn’t address that. The release has some strong points, including clear reporting and useful information on how the drug combination compares with alternative therapies. Its main weaknesses were downplaying the side effects and omitting the cost of these very pricey drugs. [Editor’s Note/Correction: Following publication of this review, a public relations representative that works with AstraZeneca pointed out that the drugs are co-administered, not combined into one drug. That wasn’t made clear in the news release which referred simply to “the combination” or a “combination of two drugs.” We’ve since revised the summary text to read that the study refers to a combination of drugs rather than a combination drug. In addition, the news release didn’t include the drugs’ costs, so we did an online search in order to give readers a sense of the price. We provided reputable sources for the cost information. AstraZeneca’s representative disputed the cost estimate of $11,899/month and said the wholesale cost for fulvestrant 500 MG is $1,845/month. That cost appears to be accurate whereas the source we referenced was incorrect. We’ve updated that section of the review accordingly. Cost to patients will vary according to their insurance coverage. We’ve also revised the cost section to reflect that a source noted that palbociclib could “potentially” be one of the top 10 most expensive drugs, not that it currently exists on such a list.] A diagnosis of breast cancer is stressful to bear. Many women turn to news about current therapies and new trials to try to make sense of their options. For that reason announcements on treatment advances for hormone-receptor-positive, HER2-negative cancer, representing the vast majority of breast cancers, are newsworthy. This news release is important because it suggests that some women with this type of breast cancer may benefit from delayed progression from a treatment that comes with fewer side effects. It needs to be pointed out, though, that time to progression is not the same as survival.
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mixture
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Academic medical center news release,Breast cancer
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The news release does not mention cost. The wholesale cost for fulvestrant 500 MG is $1,845/month and palbociclib is approximately $9,850. A 2015 report on palbociclib’s cost by a pharmacy benefits manager stated it could potentially be one of the top 10 most costly cancer drugs. The news release clearly lays out the advantages of the drug combination over the alternative of fulvestrant with placebo. The primary endpoint of time to progression is reported accurately. The benefits are summed up with these statements: “Some 67 per cent of the 347 women in the palbociclib plus fulvestrant group showed clinical benefit – either a reduction in tumour size or control of disease for at least six months – compared with 40 per cent of the 174 women in the placebo plus fulvestrant group.” “Some 19 per cent in the palbociclib plus fulvestrant group had a decrease in tumour size compared with 9 per cent in the placebo plus fulvestrant group.” The news release downplays a number of side effects named in the journal article. According to the news release, the drug combination apparently has few severe side effects. The news release identifies a drop in white blood cell count as a common, but non-severe, side effect. But when we looked at the study’s table of side effects we found a considerable number of grade 3 or 4 (more serious) adverse events. Some of this is confusing to interpret. For example, the study says that grade 3 or 4 adverse events occurred in 251 (73%) of 345 patients in the fulvestrant plus palbociclib group and 38 (22%) of 172 patients in the fulvestrant plus placebo group. The most common grade 3 or 4 adverse events were neutropenia [low white blood cell count] (223 [65%] in the fulvestrant plus palbociclib group and one [1%] in the fulvestrant plus placebo group), anaemia (ten [3%] and three [2%]), and leucopenia (95 [28%] and two [1%]). The study later says, “Serious adverse events (all causalities) occurred in 44 patients (13%) of 345 in the fulvestrant plus palbociclib group and 30 (17%) of 172 patients in the fulvestrant plus placebo group.” The study may be drawing a distinction between “serious” and “severe” events and including or not including grade 3 events in these different tallies. Regardless, the release misleads by omission when it calls severe side effects “rare” while not mentioning these relatively common less-severe effects. And that’s leaving aside the issue of grade 1 and 2 side effects that appeared to be quite common and more frequent in the experimental treatment group. The study notes, for example, that “Infections, fatigue, nausea, anaemia, thrombocytopenia, alopecia, rash, and stomatitis, among others, were also more common in the palbociclib group.” The news release provides a nice summary of the parameters of the randomized controlled trial. However, there are a few important caveats to the research. Notably, the news release fails to note the difference between surrogate outcomes — which this study focused on — and overall survival. There’s ongoing discussion among oncology experts that stalling progression is one goal, but it’s not the most important goal for patients, which is survival. Some question whether delaying progression in metastatic disease for short periods is truly an advance for patients, especially with drugs that carry numerous risk for side effects and huge price tags. In a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “Side Effects” column, investigative health journalists John Fauber and Elbert Chu describe the trend of drug companies introducing therapies that may increase “progression-free survival” for a few months but don’t extend life. In many cases, writes Fauber, “The FDA does not routinely push companies to do studies that prove a drug can extend or improve life as a condition of approval. When the agency does, drug companies sometimes ignore it.” The news release does not commit any disease-mongering related to the specific type of breast cancer considered in the study. The release clearly states that Pfizer funded the study. Pfizer produces palbociclib, one of the drugs studied in the trial. Throughout the news release, comparison between the drug combination is made with the alternative of taking only one of the drugs, fulvestrant, plus placebo. Several clinical endpoints are reported, all showing the clear advantage of the drug combination. The release doesn’t say whether fulvestrant and palbociclib are available or FDA approved. The news release appropriately gives the context of the current study as related to previous studies on palbociclib. The novelty established is the new drug combination proves more potent than just one of the drugs alone. The news release uses appropriate language throughout.
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1930
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Many cancer survivors struggle with trauma stress: study.
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A cancer diagnosis can leave lasting psychological scars akin to those inflicted by war, with the impact in some cases lasting for years, U.S. researchers found in a study.
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true
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Health News
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"More than a decade after being told they had the disease, nearly four out of 10 cancer survivors said they were still plagued by symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, said lead researcher Sophia Smith from the Duke Cancer Institute in Durham, North Carolina. Those symptoms included being extra jumpy, having disturbing thoughts about the cancer and its treatment, or feeling emotionally numb toward friends and family. One in 10 patients also said they avoided thinking about their cancer and one in 20 said they steered clear of situations or activities that reminded them of the disease, a situation that could potentially become a medical problem. “You worry if the patient is avoiding medical care, you worry they might not be getting follow-ups,” Smith told Reuters Health. “We don’t have data to support that, but we worry about it.” The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, is based on a survey of 566 patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a relatively common kind of cancer. Smith’s team had surveyed these patients for PTSD symptoms once before, estimating that about one in 12 had full-blown PTSD. The diagnosis involved a trio of symptoms, including avoidance, arousal and flashbacks. Many more had one or more PTSD symptoms, however. The newest survey also showed they often persist. Overall, half of the patients had no PTSD symptoms 13 years after their diagnosis. The problems had disappeared in 12 percent, but had remained or worsened in 37 percent. “This study found that people seemed to have worse PTSD later on,” said Bonnie Green, a trauma expert at Georgetown University who pioneered the study of PTSD in breast cancer survivors, but was not linked to the latest study. “It’s just very stressful for people to be told that they have cancer. You can’t just assume that they feel bad now, but it will go away.” She stressed that it’s only a minority of patients who develop full-blown PTSD, but added that depression is common after a cancer diagnosis. The new survey shows that low-income people are extra vulnerable to the psychological impact of living with cancer. “I am particularly concerned about the patients who are poor or have less resources, said Smith, adding that doctors have to be better at recognizing distress in patients. ""Each time they come in you are asking not only if they're having pain, but also if they are having stress."" SOURCE: bit.ly/n1pJMg"
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35844
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Thousands of fake driver’s licenses smuggled from China and Hong Kong and seized in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport since early 2020 were linked to voter-fraud operations, and could produce millions of illegally cast votes in the November 2020 U.S. general election.
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A NASS spokesperson told us that for mail voting, signature matches, driver’s license numbers, and other identifiers must match with voter-registration records already on file. Security mechanisms also help prevent double-voting. For example, ballot envelopes are barcoded for individual voters, with election officials only accepting one ballot per voter.
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unproven
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Politics, Editor's Picks
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As the coronavirus pandemic struck the U.S. in spring 2020, states planned to expand voting by mail ahead of the November presidential election as a safer alternative to in-person polling places. Right-wing media and groups have continued to highlight alleged instances of voter fraud in numerous forms over the last few years, and regardless of the veracity behind their claims, this time was no different. U.S. President Donald Trump heavily criticized the use of mail-in ballots, arguing it would result in voter fraud. A similar claim emerged from a report that more than 19,000 fraudulent driver’s licenses had been seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at Chicago O’Hare International Airport from early 2020 until June 30. Conservative websites latched onto this story and shared the same post, arguing that the fraudulent licenses would be used to enable record numbers of illegally cast votes through mail-in ballots. One article on the conservative website of David Harris Jr., said: Fake ID’s have been around for decades, made by local criminals, but the timing for these IDs coming out of China at the same time Democrats are demanding no ID required universal mail-in voting, should send up red flags everywhere. If the progressives are successful, the mail-in ballot system might produce millions of illegally cast votes for Democratic candidates on November 3rd, 2020! Snopes readers asked us to investigate claims that these fake driver’s licenses could result in millions of illegally cast votes for Democrats in the November election. But the answer was not as obvious, nor as definitive, as these articles claimed. The airport’s CBP confirmed that it seized a total of 19,888 counterfeit U.S. driver’s licenses from the beginning of 2020 to June 30 in a Chicago airport. The majority of these shipments arrived from China and Hong Kong. The licenses were for various people in different states, and largely for college-aged students. Some licenses shared the same image, but with different biographical data. In a news release, the CBP said fraudulent documents like these often “lead to identity theft, worksite enforcement, critical infrastructure protection, fraud linked to immigration-related crimes.” But while reports of the fraudulent documents were accurate, a CBP spokesperson told Snopes that officials had “no evidence” that these fake IDs could be used by individuals to register to vote, and added they were “not able to speculate on this hypothetical situation.” The CBP was also concerned that bar codes — which contain a digital record of an individual’s personal information — on fake Michigan IDs had been made in such a sophisticated manner that they could successfully pass through a scanner at an establishment such as a bar or restaurant. The spokesperson told us: The fake IDs flooding the market today are so sophisticated that they are fooling high tech scanners […] In regards to the bar code on the back, during the manufacturing process, the machine readable zone on the reverse of the license is encoded with the same information on the face of the license, ensuring a positive check should the license be scanned at a bar. Bar codes are easy to make with off the shelf software. Snopes reached out to the Michigan secretary of state, which manages the voting process, regarding concerns over these IDs. Their spokesperson, Tracy Wimmer, highlighted that reproducing a real person’s license, with the exact signature and bar code information was “virtually impossible,” and voters were validated through many avenues, including contacting the department of state to verify photographs and the driver’s license number. A voter’s signature must also match the signature the government has on file when they apply for a ballot. Wimmer told us: The data elements all need to match between the Qualified Voter File (Ed. Note: also known as the voter registration database maintained by the secretary of state) and license/ID in order for a ballot to be issued plus signatures must match. If a person provides fake document information when registering to vote, the Qualified Voter File would not accept the information and it would require additional review. Because there is no requirement to show a Michigan driver’s license or State ID on Election Day to vote, it is not clear why an individual would use a fake document for that purpose. However, poll workers are trained to issue a provisional ballot if a voter shows ID that leaves the voter’s identity in question. She added that they were not concerned about the possibility that such licenses could be used for voter fraud. We highlight the likelihood of such licenses making it through the registration process across the country in more detail in the next section. Given that it is difficult to prove whether these falsified documents were intended to be used for a future event — the November election, for example — we assessed the likelihood that such documents could even pass muster in the voter-registration process. In order to vote in the U.S. elections, all citizens have to register in every state — with the exception of North Dakota — with online registrations available in 39 states and the District of Columbia. According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), in order to register by mail, first-time voters have to present some form of ID, which could include driver’s licenses, or paperwork proving their residence. Individuals registering online to vote may also need some form of state-issued ID. The registration information is validated by the state by comparing information provided in the registration forms by each individual against the information provided when the individual received a driver’s license or other state-issued ID. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL): The signature already on record with the state becomes the signature on record for voting. When the information does not match, the application is sent to officials for further review or action. A spokesperson for the National Association of Secretaries of States (NASS), a body comprised of secretaries of states who carry out election administration for different states, told Snopes that individuals attempting to vote using a fake driver’s license or state ID would be flagged, since they wouldn’t match the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) records. Voter ID laws vary by state, with a total of 36 states requesting or requiring some form of identification at the polls, 35 of which are applying these laws in 2020, with the exception of North Carolina. Other states use other methods at the polls, including most frequently verifying voters’ signatures with ones they have on file. Many argue that these ID laws prevent in-person voter impersonation, even though examples of this kind of fraud are extremely rare. Thus, it appears to be highly unlikely that the information on a fake license would match exactly with all the other information the government has on file for individuals. The above claim posited that these fake licenses would result in millions of votes for Democrats through mail-in ballots, an argument that is both far-fetched and difficult to prove in advance of the election. Voting by mail and absentee ballots have stringent verification procedures that are similar to those used in the registration process.
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3122
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Prince Harry, Oprah work on mental health program for Apple.
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Kensington Palace says Britain’s Prince Harry will be partnering with Oprah Winfrey to create a documentary series on mental health for Apple’s new streaming service.
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true
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Mental health, Health, Entertainment, Steven Spielberg, Prince Harry, Oprah Winfrey, Prince William, Jennifer Aniston
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The documentary builds on Harry’s work on mental health issues, which included work with brother Prince William and his wife Kate in their Heads Together campaign. Harry says the series will share “global stories of unparalleled human spirit fighting back from the darkest places” and the “opportunity for us to understand ourselves and those around us better.” Earlier this year, Apple enlisted Winfrey, together with Jennifer Aniston and Steven Spielberg, to try to overcome the TV and movie streaming service business dominated by Netflix and Amazon. The service, dubbed Apple TV Plus, will feature Apple’s original shows and movies.
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7065
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Trump: Texas mass shooting is about mental health, not guns.
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Responding to a U.S. mass shooting for the second time in six weeks, President Donald Trump said Monday that it wasn’t “a guns situation” that was behind the slayings of more than two dozen worshippers at a Texas church a day earlier.
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true
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Shootings, New York City, Bike Path Attack, Islamic State group, Politics, Asia, North America, New York, Mental health, Health, Religion, Texas, Donald Trump
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As he did following last month’s Las Vegas massacre of 58 people, Trump resisted any discussion of gun control during a news conference in Tokyo, where he was beginning his first presidential trip to Asia. Instead, Trump characterized the shooting as a “mental health problem at the highest level.” Yet White House officials said Trump is unlikely to call for a specific policy response, as he did after last week’s Islamic State group-inspired truck attack, which killed eight people in New York City. Devin Kelley, the Texas gunman, was discharged from the Air Force several years ago for assaulting his spouse and a child, the Air Force said. “This was a very — based on preliminary reports — a very deranged individual. A lot of problems over a long period of time,” Trump said when asked about the shooting as he and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a joint news conference. Trump’s more muted response to gun violence contrasts with his swift call for legislative and military action following the Oct. 31 truck attack in New York City. Within hours of a rental truck ramming through a crowded bicycle path and into a school bus, Trump called for Congress to “immediately” repeal the diversity visa lottery program that suspect Sayfullo Saipov, an Uzbekistan citizen, used to enter the country in 2010. Trump also claimed that the U.S. had already stepped up its retaliation against the Islamic State group after the attack. “We are hitting them 10 times harder,” he said Friday. After the Las Vegas shooting, Trump and aides said it was inappropriate to consider a policy response while people were still grieving. Despite days later suggesting openness to outlawing the bump stock device that allowed Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock to fire at near-automatic rates, the Trump administration has shown no signs of urgency. “He has asked that that process be reviewed, and we’re waiting on some of the details of that to take place,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Oct. 27 when asked about bump stocks. “But a decision hasn’t been finalized on that. ” Trump, who supported gun control before reversing his position to enter the Republican presidential primary, courted the National Rifle Association’s endorsement in 2016, and earlier this year became the first president in three decades to speak at the gun group’s annual convention. In February, Trump signed legislation reversing an Obama-era regulation that would have made it harder for Americans with mental illnesses to buy a gun. Under the Obama rule, the Social Security Administration would have been required to send in the names of beneficiaries with mental impairments who needed a third party to manage their financial affairs. The rule would have affected an estimated 75,000 beneficiaries who would have been added to the national background check database. The attack happened in South Texas on Sunday morning when a man dressed in black tactical-style gear and armed with an assault rifle opened fire inside a Baptist church in a small community, killing 26 people and wounding 20 others in the deadliest mass shooting in state history. As Kelley left the scene, authorities said, he was confronted by an armed resident. Kelley later was found dead in his vehicle. Trump said, “Fortunately somebody else had a gun that was shooting in the opposite direction, otherwise it (wouldn’t) have been as bad as it was. It would have been much worse.” Investigators believe Kelley shot himself. ___ Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Catherine Lucey and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
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