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2121 | WHO to tackle alcohol misuse, binge drinking. | Health ministers agreed on Thursday to try to curb binge drinking and other growing forms of excessive alcohol use through higher taxes on alcoholic drinks and tighter marketing regulations. | true | Health News | A waiter carries beer mugs on the opening day of Schweizerhaus beer garden in Vienna March 15, 2010. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader The global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol was adopted by consensus at the annual assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO). Its 10 main policy recommendations, drawn up aft... |
3567 | Nutrition Hub starts a nutrition bar craze in Memphis area. | Salted Caramel, Reese’s, Blueberry Muffin, Cinnamon Toast and Strawberry Cheesecake. The menu at the new Nutrition smoothie bars reads like an ice cream shop or bakery, not a health food shop. | true | Health, Nutrition, Memphis | While the flavors may be sinful, the shakes are not. Each protein shake has just 200 calories and only 11 to 15 grams of carbs. As an added bonus, each shake offers 24 grams of protein and 21 vitamins and minerals. “It’s everything you need in a healthy meal,” said Seth McMurry, Nutrition Hub and Nutrition Bar co-owner... |
25997 | Viral image Says Anthony Fauci “is married to Ghislaine Maxwell’s sister.” | Anthony Fauci isn’t married to Ghislaine Maxwell’s sister; he’s married to Christine Grady. | false | Crime, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Viral image, | "Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has become a favorite target of social media misinformation. With the recent arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was charged in connection with the sexual abuse case against the late, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, we find another... |
21755 | State agencies have not identified one single instance where groundwater has been damaged due to hydraulic fracking. | State Sen. Kris Jordan says 'fracking' hasn't contaminated Ohio groundwater | true | Environment, Ohio, Energy, Kris Jordan, | "As public debate across the country has bubbled up in recent months over environmental concerns related to hydraulic fracturing — or fracking as it’s becoming widely known — proponents of oil and gas drilling have come rushing to its defense. The process involves pumping millions of gallons chemical-laced water and sa... |
393 | Sanofi and Regeneron cut list price of cholesterol drug by 60 percent. | Sanofi SA and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Monday that they will slash the U.S. list price of their potent but expensive cholesterol fighter Praluent by 60 percent, as the drugmakers follow a similar move by rival Amgen Inc in hopes of increasing use of the drug. | true | Health News | The new list price for Praluent will be $5,850 a year, matching the price Amgen set when it lowered the list of its competing drug, Repatha, in October. Sanofi and Regeneron said they expect the lower-priced Praluent to be available for pharmacies to order in early March. They said the new price should improve patient ... |
31395 | DNC staffer Seth Rich sent 'thousands of leaked e-mails' to WikiLeaks before he was murdered. | NBC News identified the “third party” who hired Wheeler to investigate Rich’s murder as Ed Butowsky, a Dallas-based financial adviser, who is also a Fox News contributor. | false | Politics Conspiracy Theories, DNC, fox news, murder | On 16 May 2017, Fox News published an explosive report linking the death of murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich to tens of thousands of e-mails allegedly found on his laptop computer. Fox reported that the e-mails were internal Democratic National Committee messages Rich transferred to Gavin McFayd... |
25681 | “... in 2013 Obama determined Social Security would not send checks through the USPS, because it was not secure” | A law shifted Social Security benefits and statements to primarily paperless, electronic delivery by March 2013, but some recipients can choose mailed checks. The shift to a paperless system was promoted as cost-saving and eco-friendly. Hundreds of thousands of Americans still receive their Social Security checks by ma... | false | Social Security, Facebook Fact-checks, Facebook posts, | "President Donald Trump has made a target of the U.S. Postal Service by raising spurious concerns about the security of mail-in ballots. And now misinformation targeting the Postal Service is gaining traction on social media. One Facebook post claims that there were concerns about the security of U.S. mail service when... |
8252 | Johnson tells UK: Stay apart or face tougher coronavirus measures. | Britain may need to impose curfews and travel restrictions to halt the spread of the coronavirus if people do not heed the government’s advice on social distancing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Sunday. | true | Health News | Pubs, clubs and gyms have already closed, but social media on Sunday was awash with pictures of people congregating in parks and food markets, apparently ignoring advice to stay two metres apart. Parks in London are already closing down as authorities struggle to slow the advance of coronavirus through the population, ... |
8918 | The shadow of SARS: China learned the hard way how to handle an epidemic. | The emergence of a new virus in central China has brought back painful memories of another virulent respiratory disease that wreaked worldwide havoc and left the country’s health authorities struggling to rebuild public trust. | true | Health News | But global health experts said China has come a long way since 2003, when it was accused of trying to cover up a major outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), a previously unknown virus believed to have emerged from the wet markets of Guangdong province before spreading into major cities. As many as 774 p... |
22242 | The costs of cancer and all affiliated issues are over $20 billion a year to this state. | Texas Rep. Jim Keffer says costs of cancer and related issues are over $20 billion a year in Texas | true | Health Care, Texas, Jim Keffer, | "Opposing a proposal to reduce the amount of money that the state puts toward cancer research, Republican state Rep. Jim Keffer of Eastland focused on the financial impact the disease has on Texans. Addressing the measure’s author, GOP Rep. Rob Orr of Burleson, Keffer said in House debate April 3: ""Do you know … that ... |
9422 | Gene therapy for rare retinal disorder to cost $425,000 per eye | Getty Images This CNN story covers the FDA’s third-ever approval of a gene-editing treatment — Luxturna, which treats a rare eye condition that can lead to blindness — from the angle of its exorbitant cost. Treatment costs aren’t covered as often as they should be in the popular press, even though they can drive insura... | mixture | gene therapy | The price tag of this new treatment is the focus of this article. The story also discusses the models of treatment proposed by the manufacturer. Well done. Two things, though: It wasn’t clear from the story if the patients in the trial had both eyes treated, which would make the more accurate price tag $850,000 vs the ... |
13990 | For the amount of money Hillary Clinton would like to spend on refugees, we could rebuild every inner city in America. | "Trump said that Clinton wants to spend hundreds of billions on refugees and for that money, ""we could rebuild every inner city in America."" Trump’s campaign provided no supporting numbers. Clinton has not said how much she would spend on refugees, but the Obama administration request for FY 2017 is about $2.2 billio... | false | Immigration, National, Urban, Donald Trump, | "A day after Hillary Clinton gave her list of Donald Trump’s many flaws on the economy, Trump returned the favor. In a speech from New York, he called her a ""world-class liar"" who has ""spent her entire life making money for special interests."" Trump delivered a broadside on Clinton’s immigration policies — to him, ... |
21861 | "The WIC program ""is an incredibly cost effective program, serving nearly 10 million Americans each year and costing less than $100 per person. In my district, more than 18 percent of residents suffer from food insecurity and depend on WIC to make ends meet." | Rep. Cicilline says WIC costs $100 per person and 18 percent of people in his district depend on it | false | Rhode Island, Children, Federal Budget, Health Care, Poverty, Women, Taxes, David Cicilline, | "Democratic U.S. Rep. David Cicilline has been arguing against cutbacks in social programs proposed by the Republican majority, a campaign he has highlighted in a YouTube video posted on June 15 and available on his website. It shows him speaking on the floor of the House a day earlier opposing a reduction in funds for... |
14527 | "There have been multiple media reports about (Donald Trump's) business dealings with the mob, with the mafia." | "Cruz said, ""There have been multiple media reports about Donald's business dealings with the mob, with the mafia."" While it’s important to note that these connections were not atypical in the real estate and casino businesses in the 1980s, Cruz’s statement is accurate. Media reports have linked Trump to mafia bosses... | true | National, Candidate Biography, Crime, Ted Cruz, | "Donald Trump ""seems terrified to release his taxes"" because they may reveal his net worth, his donations to liberal causes, or something even seedier, Sen. Ted Cruz suggested on Meet the Press. ""There have been multiple media reports about Donald's business dealings with the mob, with the mafia,"" Cruz said Feb. 2... |
31701 | 'Family Matters' star Reginald VelJohnson died of a heart attack in February 2017. | Headlinen News is a satire site. We use real people to make real funny stories. Chill folks, its all for fun. | false | Uncategorized, bowling green massacre, celebrity death hoaxes, headline news network | On 13 February 2017, the web site HeadlinenNews.com reported that Reginald VelJohnson (best known for his role as Carl Winslow on “Family Matters”) had died of a heart attack: Reginald Vel Johnson, the actor best known as Family Matters‘ Carl Winslow, has died after suffering a heart attack. He was 64. He was loved by ... |
2886 | Merck's anti-blood clot drug should be approved: FDA review. | Merck & Co Inc’s experimental blood clot-preventing drug vorapaxar should be approved, based on “robustly positive” clinical trial results, according to a preliminary review of the data by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. | true | Health News | The review, posted on the FDA’s website on Monday, comes two days ahead of a meeting of outside medical experts who are expected to recommend whether it should be approved. The FDA usually follows the advice of its advisory panels. The drug, which would be sold under the brand name Zontivity, is designed to prevent hea... |
11195 | Hormone therapy may damage hearing | For the millions of women who take hormone replacement therapy to treat menopausal symptoms, the news that the therapy may damage their hearing may be alarming. Other women who take birth control pills that contain progestin may also be wondering if they are also putting themselves at risk. However, by no means is this... | mixture | This criterion is not applicable in this story. The story does not quantify the harms of HRT in terms of hearing loss. Furthermore, the story does not explain whether the amount of loss is significant to the individual. The story does not mention the other harms of HRT such as heart attack, stroke or blood clot. The st... | |
1094 | Trump says he is holding big Pharma accountable in opioid fight. | U.S. President Donald Trump touted progress in the fight against opioid abuse on Wednesday and promised to hold drugmakers accountable for their part in the crisis, a day after his administration brought its first related criminal charges against a major drug distributor and company executives. | true | Health News | America’s opioid epidemic, especially damaging in rural areas where Trump is popular, has been a focus for the Republican president. On Tuesday, the government charged drug distributor Rochester Drug Co-operative Inc and company executives for their role in fueling the epidemic. The company agreed to pay $20 million an... |
15315 | The law says ... when a police officer stops you, do whatever he says and then deal with it later. | "Houck claimed that ""the law says … that when a police officer stops you, do whatever he says"" during a stop. Reasonable suspicion justifies an officer’s increased authority during a stop or an arrest, though the definition of ""reasonable"" is often unclear. Applied generally, however, the claim is incorrect. Even t... | false | Corrections and Updates, Crime, PunditFact, Harry Houck, | "Dashboard camera footage of the traffic stop of Sandra Bland spurred contentious, if not always accurate, cable news debate about a person’s rights when dealing with law enforcement. Bland, a 28-year-old woman from Chicago, was found dead in her jail cell three days after Texas state trooper Brian Encinia stopped her ... |
5449 | Missouri bill would bar discrimination for not vaccinating. | A panel of Missouri lawmakers on Monday considered enacting a ban on discrimination against unvaccinated children, an effort that comes as other states look to increase immunization amid disease outbreaks. | true | Immunizations, Health, Discrimination, Missouri, Jefferson City, Disease outbreaks | Parents testified to lawmakers that their unimmunized children were turned away from daycares and doctors. Republican Rep. Lynn Morris, a pharmacist from southwest Missouri, said parents are being pressured to vaccinate their children. “Parents are getting bullied,” Morris said. “They’re getting bullied by county healt... |
10357 | Bone drug staves off breast cancer | Though tamoxifen and raloxifene were found to have similar efficacy in terms of reducing the incidence of invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women at increased risk of breast cancer, the article failed to distinguish between differences in side effects that were and were not statistically significant (i.e. that t... | mixture | Cost of raloxifene as well as tamoxifen were provided. This article portrayed raloxifene as being as effective as tamoxifen in reducing the incidence of invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women and as having decreased risk of uterine cancer and blood clots. The results of the study found that the difference in th... | |
37663 | "The World Health Organization advised social media users against ""unprotected sex"" with farm animals in response to a coronavirus outbreak that appears to have originated in China." | No, You’re Not Being Told to Avoid ‘Unprotected Sex with Farm Animals’ Over the Coronavirus | false | Disinformation, Fact Checks | As the World Health Organization (WHO) tried to disseminate health advisories amid a growing coronavirus outbreak, at least one “jokey” graphic blunting that message was spotted online in January 2020.The WHO’s original graphic, posted on January 27, 2020, recommended that social media users “avoid unprotected contact ... |
9657 | Using Vegetable Oils to Lower Cholesterol May Not Improve Longevity | This story is about new evidence that may diminish the importance of limiting animal fats in people’s diets to reduce risk of deaths from heart disease. A new group of researchers re-examined a 45-year-old randomized controlled study of 9,000 people who were put in two groups: one group replaced animal fats with corn o... | true | British Medical Journal,heart attacks,prevention,saturated fats | Since this is about affordable and widely available cooking oils, this is N/A. The story does not quantify. We are told the 45-year-old data showed a “lowering” of cholesterol for study participants who swapped animal fats for vegetable fats. But we aren’t given any numbers for by how much or even by what percentage. I... |
1795 | Big pharmacies knock on door of oil-rich North Dakota. | North Dakota’s oil boom has fueled a construction bonanza for new supermarkets, restaurants and clothing stores. But try finding a Rite Aid, Walgreens or other national pharmacy chain in the state, the fastest-growing economy in the nation, and you’ll be largely out of luck. | true | Health News | That could all change with a controversial Nov. 4 ballot initiative in which voters will get to decide for the first time whether to abolish a 1963 state law designed to protect small businesses. The law requires North Dakota pharmacies to be owned by local pharmacists or run by hospitals with a local pharmacist on sta... |
30293 | "Mark Twain said, ""Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life. It is far better that you fear the media, for they will steal your HONOR." | There are some excellent virtues in newspapers, some powers that wield vast influences for good; and I could have told all about these things, and glorified them exhaustively — but that would have left you gentlemen nothing to say. | false | Questionable Quotes, Journalism, journalists, mark twain | The reputation of the fourth estate has waxed and waned over the course of American’s history, sometimes thanks to the criticisms of public figures — including members of the press itself — complaining of its shortcomings and, according to them, undue influence on the electorate. Novelist, humorist, and sometime newspa... |
33655 | The gold ball atop a military flagpole contains a razor, a match, and a bullet. | Rob Dalessandro, of the U.S. Army Center for Military History at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., says noncommissioned officers take this legend so seriously that at promotion boards, soldiers are asked how far the pistol is buried from the flagpole: “In some they’re pretty specific: It’s six paces, the pistol from the... | false | Uncategorized, american flag, ASP Article, flag customs | The importance of the flag in military culture would be difficult to overstate. Its importance extends far beyond its function as a symbolic representation of the land, people, and principles for which one fights — the flag is a marker of territory, a symbol of resistance, and a proclamation of victory, and its capture... |
10564 | Medimetriks announces the results of a successful Phase 2 trial of MM36 in Atopic Dermatitis; Study results and design published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (JAAD) | This news release describes the results of a somewhat small (121 patients) phase 2 safety and efficacy trial of a topical non-steroidal treatment for mild-to-moderate symptoms of eczema (atopic dermatitis). The release is based on a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, and offers subs... | mixture | industry/commercial news releases | The release discloses the total 2015 sales of Otsuka, the drug maker, but offers not a penny’s worth of information about the costs of current therapies or whether the new product would be more or less expensive. Although there is no pricing for an investigational new drug still in clinical trials and not yet FDA-appro... |
21680 | Active duty males in the military are twice as likely to develop prostate cancer than their civilian counterparts. | Cliff Stearns, in pushing for research funding, says military men twice as likely to get prostate cancer | true | Health Care, Military, Florida, Cliff Stearns, | "War, needless to say, is fraught with danger — bullets flying, bombs exploding. But one Florida congressman recently targeted a silent killer that attacks soldiers from within. Rep. Cliff Stearns recently sought — and received — House approval to shift $16 million in Pentagon funding to beef up research for prostate c... |
17753 | Texas Governor Rick Perry’s voter ID law is a blatant effort to defeat Wendy Davis by disenfranchising tens of thousands of women voters. | "The Democratic governors group said the voter ID measure signed into law by Perry is a ""blatant effort to defeat Wendy Davis by disenfranchising tens of thousands of women voters."" In addition to its timeline gulf--the ID proposal passed into law two years before Davis emerged as a serious gubernatorial prospect--th... | false | Elections, Women, Texas, Democratic Governors Association, | "An Oct. 24, 2013, email blast from the Democratic Governors Association opened: ""BREAKING: Texas Governor Rick Perry’s voter ID law is a blatant effort to defeat Wendy Davis by disenfranchising tens of thousands of women voters."" The email, urging donations to Davis’ gubernatorial campaign, went on to say that Perry... |
31570 | The creator of Breaking Bad announced the series will return for a sixth season. | Reports that the creator of 'Breaking Bad' has announced the series will return for a sixth season are fake news. | false | Media Matters, better call saul, breaking bad, Not Necessarily The News | On 25 August 2014, the National Report published an article positing that the creator of the popular AMC TV drama Breaking Bad had announced the series would be returning for a sixth season of new episodes: Breaking Bad fans around the world are celebrating the stunning, glorious and amazing news announced today: Walt... |
3766 | Vaping illness death count surpasses 50 in US. | The death toll in the vaping illness outbreak has topped 50, U.S. health officials said Thursday. | true | U.S. News, Health, General News, Marijuana, Vaping | The 52 deaths in 26 states are among the 2,409 hospitalized cases that have been reported across the nation this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Hospitalized cases have been most common in the Midwest, with some of the highest rates in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. The median age of the p... |
41642 | When the UK leaves the EU we won’t be sending vast amounts of money to the EU every year. | Our net contribution to the EU budget is typically £9-10 billion a year. We will no longer contribute to it from 2021 onwards, but other costs and economic effects associated with leaving are expected to more than offset that saving. | false | health | No longer sending money to the EU means we will have money to spend on priorities like the NHS. There is no guaranteed extra money to pay for increased NHS funding from stopping our payments to the EU budget. Other costs associated with Brexit are expected to outweigh the savings. When the UK leaves the EU we won’t be ... |
15079 | "Iran’s ""regime is responsible for more than 1,000 American casualties during the Iraq war"" and ""has plotted a terrorist attack here in our nation's capital." | Cash-strapped WeWork, the office-sharing company that is trying to negotiate a financial lifeline, has a new problem that may prove costly. It has closed about 2,300 phone booths at some of its 223 sites in the United States and Canada after it says it discovered elevated levels of formaldehyde. | true | Iraq, Foreign Policy, Terrorism, Texas, Michael McCaul, | The company, which abandoned plans for an initial public offering last month after investors questioned its mounting losses and the way it was being run, said in an email to its tenants on Monday that the chemical could pose a cancer-risk if there is long-term exposure. After a tenant complained of odor and eye irritat... |
2733 | As quality control violations rise, FDA chief heads to India. | The commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, plans to visit India for the first time in an official capacity next week as the agency works to keep sub-standard food and drugs from entering the United States. | true | Health News | The FDA’s Wednesday announcement of the visit, planned for February 10-18, comes less than two weeks after the FDA banned products from a fourth facility owned by Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd due to manufacturing violations, effectively shutting the company out of the U.S. market for the foreseeable future... |
9036 | Medical cannabis significantly safer for elderly with chronic pain than Opioids | The study summarized in this release relied on questionnaires about pain and quality of life in 901 people over age 65 who have used medical marijuana for 6 months for a variety of conditions (about two-thirds for either nonspecific or cancer-related pain). The news release uses unjustified language and relative number... | false | Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,chronic pain,medical cannabis | Cost is not mentioned in this news release. The study involves several different methods of taking cannabis (smoking, infused oils, vaporization) which all involve a wide range of pricing. Moreover, it isn’t clear whether insurance pays for this or whether it represents out-of-pocket payments by patients. The study abs... |
10161 | Fecal transplant effective against immunotherapy-induced colitis | “It’s safe, quick, and the effect is durable – from one treatment.” We challenge the news release’s ability to make this claim after a look at just two patients. While immunotherapy has taken the cancer treatment world by storm, the use of “immune checkpoint inhibitors” can produce debilitating side effects. In about 4... | false | Academic medical center news release | Although the use of fecal transplants to soothe severe colitis in cancer patients (caused, in this case, by immunotherapy) has yet to be tested clinically, the treatment itself is increasingly popular for other gastrointestinal issues and typically costs in the $1000 to $2000 range. Alas, we learn nothing about that co... |
35863 | A seller submitted a photo of a tea kettle with a revealing reflection to an online auction site. | This is an actual photo that was put in the classified ads for someone selling a dining room set. There’s a pretty strong clue in here suggesting that it was taken by a man. | true | Fauxtography, Risqué Business | One of the many trends spawned by the internet is a phenomenon known as Reflectoporn — the deliberate posting of photographs of items with reflective surfaces to online auction sites, with those pictures “accidentally” capturing reflected images of the sellers/photographs in various states of undress. The photograph th... |
9899 | Roche Drug Shrinks Tumors in Study | This story presents the early findings of a new drug shown to reduce tumor size in two rare cancers: advanced basel cell carcinoma and medulloblastoma. While the drug showed good response rates, the story reminds the reader that this is a new drug in the early stages of testing and its true efficacy is currently unknow... | true | "The drug has only been tested in a phase I trial and a discussion of cost is not applicable at this time. The story indicates that 55% of patients (or 18 out of 33) with advanced basel cell carcinoma responded to the treatment. Only one person with medulloblastoma was enrolled in the study and the story adequately des... | |
3532 | MD lawmakers, officials, union meet on staffing shortages. | State union employees told lawmakers Tuesday they are concerned that staff shortages — of about 2,600, according to a 2018 study — are causing safety issues, including some injuries, for employees at certain agencies. | true | Appropriations, Health, Annapolis, General News, Maryland, Injuries | Maryland lawmakers, state officials and union members gathered in Annapolis to address the shortage during a joint hearing before the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee and the House Appropriations Committee. Hogan Administration officials said during the hearing that they are aware of the safety concerns and are wor... |
3082 | Budget deal advances VA private care program backed by Trump. | President Donald Trump’s expansion of a program aimed at steering more veterans to private health care is getting an $8.9 billion boost as part of the massive government spending bill approved by the House, setting up a potential battle over the direction of the Veterans Affairs Department. | true | Government spending, Health care reform, General News, Politics, Health, Business, Bills, Veterans, Veterans affairs, Donald Trump | The deal provides $81 billion for VA medical care to treat 9.3 million veterans, including the $8.9 billion for private care under a law passed last year expanding the Veterans Choice program. Another $11.3 billion is on tap for private care in 2021. Major veterans groups have cautioned against “cannibalizing” VA progr... |
1826 | If your friends feel like family, there's a good reason for it. | The truism that friends are the family you choose may be more accurate than you might suppose. | true | Science News | A study published on Monday found that people are apt to pick friends who are genetically similar to themselves - so much so that friends tend to be as alike at the genetic level as a person’s fourth cousin. The findings were based on an examination of about 1.5 million markers of genetic variations in a group of nearl... |
5759 | Medical marijuana user, 78, evicted from subsidized housing. | A 78-year-old man who relies on medical marijuana for back pain finds himself homeless after being evicted from federally subsidized housing in a case complicated by conflicting state and federal marijuana rules. | true | Medical marijuana, Health, Marijuana, North America, Niagara Falls | John Flickner was staying at a Niagara Falls shelter Thursday, after an hourslong eviction ordeal Tuesday that ended with him steering his electric wheelchair in freezing temperatures to a center about a half mile away. “Cold, wet, windy,” Flickner recalled of the trip, which was photographed by The Buffalo News . “All... |
33 | Shipping industry sails into unknown with new pollution rules. | Faced with imminent new global marine pollution rules, shipping companies and insurers are puzzling over the risks. | true | Environment | To reduce emissions of toxic sulphur that cause premature deaths, shipowners who have long relied on the dirtiest residues of oil extraction will have to either switch to low-sulphur fuel or install exhaust gas cleaning systems from Jan. 1. Neither option has been fully tested for long, and some problems have already b... |
26306 | “It’s not that there’s a virus shield between Canada (4,500 deaths) and the U.S. (80,000 deaths). What exists is a difference in leadership.” | The U.S. has nearly twice as many confirmed COVID-19 deaths per capita as Canada. Leadership is one explanation for the gap. But there are others, including differences in the two nations’ health care systems and New York City being hit hard early in the outbreak. | mixture | Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts, | "A Facebook post claimed that a difference in leadership explains why the United States has so many more COVID-19 deaths than Canada. ""It’s not that there’s a virus shield between Canada (4,500 deaths) and the U.S. (80,000 deaths),"" the post said. ""What exists is a difference in leadership."" The post was flagged as... |
3568 | Less beef, more beans. Experts say world needs a new diet. | A hamburger a week, but no more — that’s about as much red meat people should eat to do what’s best for their health and the planet, according to a report seeking to overhaul the world’s diet. | true | Health, Nutrition, AP Top News, Agriculture, Environment | Eggs should be limited to fewer than about four a week, the report says. Dairy foods should be about a serving a day, or less. The report from a panel of nutrition, agriculture and environmental experts recommends a plant-based diet, based on previously published studies that have linked red meat to increased risk of h... |
14706 | In reality, gas produced by fracking is worse for the climate than coal. | "The Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island asserts: ""...in reality gas produced by fracking is worse for the climate than coal."" The chairman of the University of Rhode Island’s geosciences department, David Fast-Ovsky, agrees with Pierrehumbert and shares many of Howarth’s concerns, too. But without appropria... | mixture | Rhode Island, Climate Change, Public Health, Environmental Justice League of R.I, | "The Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island asserts that a new liquefied natural gas facility at Fields Point would accelerate climate change. The league’s position paper, posted at RIFuture.org, predicts that the storage facility proposed by National Grid would increase emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse ... |
9572 | The water workout trend health experts are gushing over | This story offers a general overview of the potential benefits of running or walking underwater, either using a specially-designed underwater treadmill or in a pool. The story notes that this reduces stress on a patient’s joints, and refers to a relatively recent study showing possible cardiovascular benefits for strok... | false | exercise | Cost is not discussed, which is a significant oversight. At least some idea of what the out-of-pocket costs are for this kind of therapy is important. While we wouldn’t expect the story to necessarily address all the following issues, these are the kinds of questions people have when considering what kind of therapy to... |
34306 | "Jimmy Coyne's grandson"" was assaulted for refusing to take part in March 2018 walkouts to protest lawmaker inaction over school shootings." | A third report confirmed that an altercation occurred, but did not discuss the claims. Although the fight does not appear to be in dispute, the only information reported about the basis of the claim appears to contradict the rumor. According to a local news source, the young man injured in the dispute supported the sch... | unproven | Inboxer Rebellion, #notonemore, gun control, national school walkout | On 18 March 2018, Facebook page “Newly Press” shared a text-based image with the claim that the grandson of a man named Jimmy Coyne was assaulted for refusing to participate in walkouts against school shootings: Please keep Jimmy Coyne and his family in your prayers. His grandson was beat at school yesterday for NOT ... |
4285 | US doctor who survived Ebola honored for service in Liberia. | Almost five years have passed since he nearly died of Ebola in Liberia, but Richard Sacra has never wavered from his commitment to the struggling West African nation. | true | Liberia, Epidemics, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Africa, Monrovia, West Africa, U.S. News, Health, Massachusetts | The 56-year-old family doctor from Massachusetts was among a handful of Americans treated and cured of Ebola during West Africa’s deadly epidemic in 2014, which was the worst ever outbreak of the virus, claiming more than 11,000 lives over two years, primarily in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Sacra contracted the v... |
2104 | Experts demand European action on plastics chemical. | Scientists and international health organizations from around the world called on Europe’s food safety watchdog on Wednesday to regulate against exposure to a potentially harmful chemical found in plastic containers. | true | Environment | In an open letter to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), a group of 60 scientists and health campaigners from 15 countries said they feared exposure to the chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA) could damage health, particularly among vulnerable groups such as babies and pregnant women. BPA is a mass produced chemical used ... |
18356 | Rick Perry Says Sam Houston opposed slavery and as governor said Texas should not leave the union over slavery. | "Perry said his long-ago predecessor ""was against slavery, and he stood up and very passionately said, you know, ‘Texas does not need to leave the Union over this issue of slavery.’ "" Houston’s personal views are unclear; politically, he took actions that were viewed as anti-slavery as well as actions that were pro-s... | mixture | Gays and Lesbians, History, Texas, Rick Perry, | "As the Texas-headquartered Boy Scouts of America moved closer to a vote on allowing openly gay members, Texas Gov. Rick Perry revisited his opposition to such a change, while calling for leadership that hews to principles even when they are unpopular. Speaking May 6, 2013, via video as part of the national, conservati... |
16345 | "Jeanne Shaheen Says Scott Brown ""co-sponsored legislation to let employers deny women coverage for birth control." | "Shaheen said Brown ""co-sponsored legislation to let employers deny women coverage for birth control."" The amendment, which Brown supported, was written loosely enough to allow a religious-conscience opt-out for birth control -- an issue about which there has been a longstanding policy debate on religious and moral g... | true | New Hampshire, Health Care, Legal Issues, Women, Jeanne Shaheen, | "The U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire has been awash in claims about abortion and women’s health issues in recent days. One claim by incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen caught our eye. Shaheen is facing a challenge from former Republican Sen. Scott Brown. In a news release from her campaign, Shaheen said: ""I hav... |
26280 | Facebook post Says Gov. Tony Evers “is proposing a new plan, a 150 day shutdown of the state (5 MONTHS!) followed by a 120 day extension.” | A Facebook post shared by the Republican Party of Kenosha County and other conservative groups claimed Gov. Tony Evers wanted to shut down the state for 150 days, plus a 120-day extension. Put simply, this is incorrect. Evers’ administration never suggested such a plan. | false | Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Wisconsin, Facebook posts, | "Wisconsin’s coronavirus response has been in a state of flux since the state Supreme Court threw out Gov. Tony Evers’ safer-at-home order on May 13, 2020. Absent statewide rules, counties implemented a patchwork of policies, some of which were quickly dropped. Other local orders remain, but expire on different dates. ... |
17836 | "Rick North Says Oregonians for Food and Shelter ""proudly features board members from Monsanto and Syngenta and the (Oregon) Farm Bureau also receives funding from biotech companies." | Do two state agriculture groups have ties to biotech firms? | true | Environment, Agriculture, Oregon, Rick North, | "During the Oregon Legislature’s most recent special session, one bill stuck out as an oddity. Four of the five bills dealt solidly with fiscal policy -- taxes and the Public Employees Retirement System. The fifth, though, addressed whether local governments could regulate genetically modified crops. The bill was throw... |
10746 | Train The Brain: Using Neurofeedback To Treat ADHD | The story did accurately portray the overall state of the evidence on neurofeedback for ADHD and emphasized the lack of well controlled studies supporting its effectiveness. It also provided useful information about how to avoid untrained therapists, and was generally good in its approach to the other criteria that we ... | true | NPR | The story sidebar estimates that a full course of treatment can cost $3000 or more. It could have added that this treatment is unlikely to be covered by many insurance companies. This was the biggest hole in an otherwise reasonably solid story. The article claims that there is “growing evidence” that neurofeedback can ... |
11716 | The Legionella bacteria is in most water systems in Illinois. | "Rauner says news reports about his administration’s response to recurring incidents of Legionnaires’ disease at the Illinois Veterans’ Home in Quincy leave out a key part of the story: ""The Legionella bacteria is in most water systems in Illinois."" The governor’s statement glosses over the reality that any such cont... | mixture | Environment, Public Health, Illinois, Bruce Rauner, | "In 2015, during Bruce Rauner’s first year as governor, a virulent outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at the state-run Illinois Veterans’ Home in downstate Quincy killed 12 residents and sickened dozens of others. Since then, according to recent news reports, the facility has been plagued by more illness and deaths from... |
1903 | Vow of chastity and the pill may keep nuns healthy. | Nuns should be offered the contraceptive pill, on health grounds, since it would cut their risk of getting cancer, two Australian doctors said on Thursday. | true | Health News | A nun attends a mass led by Pope Benedict XVI at the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem May 12, 2009, where it is believed Jesus had his final prayer before he was betrayed and arrested. REUTERS/Baz Ratner The vow of chastity taken by the world’s 95,000 Catholic nuns carries with it an... |
7252 | Judge: Carnival must fix ocean pollution issues faster. | A federal judge pushed top Carnival Corp. executives on Wednesday to work faster to fix ocean pollution problems caused by the world’s largest cruise line. | true | Miami, Oceans, Micky Arison, Business, Science, Courts, U.S. News, Pollution | At a hearing in Miami federal court, U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz said she expects more concrete action and fewer promises from Carnival. “We’re not there. And we should be,” Seitz said. The cruise company is about halfway through a five-year probation sentence for a 2016 criminal pollution conviction. Chairman M... |
19819 | "Multnomah County Says ""Your kid just ate 16 packs of sugar." | Did your kid just drink 16 packs of sugar? | true | Oregon, County Government, Public Health, Multnomah County, | "In recent days we’ve heard a revival of an age-old question that highlights our nation’s shared love of sugar yet calls out our regional differences: Is it pop or is it soda? Or maybe it’s just Coke? While in bubbly debate over what to call soft drinks -- your PolitiFact Oregon staff does not agree on this -- a collea... |
12356 | Actually, on some procedures, you're more likely to die if you're on Medicaid than if you're uninsured. | "Needham said, ""Actually, on some procedures, you're more likely to die if you're on Medicaid than if you're uninsured."" Needham points to a 2011 op-ed that cited studies about the outcomes of patients on Medicaid for certain types of procedures. We were able to reach the authors of three of those studies who dispute... | false | Health Care, Medicaid, Florida, Michael Needham, | "In his defense of the Republican Senate health care proposal, Heritage Action for America CEO Michael Needham argued that some patients on Medicaid are more likely to die than those without insurance. Needham, who heads up the conservative organization, questioned the effectiveness of Medicaid in an interview on Fox N... |
5351 | Nonprofit has given $25M to Wyoming health care. | The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has given more than $25 million for mammogram machines and other medical equipment to Wyoming hospitals and clinics since 2010. | true | Health, Wyoming, Medical equipment, Casper, Mammography | The organization is a national nonprofit that works to improve rural health care. Program director Shelley Stingley tells the Casper Star-Tribune (http://bit.ly/2veibqx ) that more than $10 million of its contributions in Wyoming has gone to better care in cancer treatment centers. That includes putting eight new digit... |
8923 | Data suggests virus infections under-reported, exaggerating fatality rate. | Fatalities from the coronavirus epidemic are overwhelmingly concentrated in central China’s Wuhan city, which accounts for over 73% of deaths despite having only one-third the number of confirmed infections. | true | Science News | In Wuhan, the epicenter of the disease, one person has died for every 23 infections reported. That number drops to one on 50 nationally, and outside mainland China, one death has been recorded per 114 confirmed cases. Get our full coverage on the coronavirus: here Experts say the discrepancy is mainly due to under-rep... |
26421 | "The Gates Foundation ""tested a polio vax in India between 2000 & 2017 and paralysed 496,000 children." | The Gates Foundation has long supported polio vaccination efforts in India. There is no evidence that 496,000 children were paralyzed due to a polio vaccine. Numbers from the WHO show that there have been 17 cases of vaccine-derived polio in India since 2000. | false | Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts, | "A popular conspiracy theory on Facebook digs into Bill Gates’ past to try to discredit his current efforts to speed up the development of a coronavirus vaccine. An April 13 post claims the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ""tested a polio vax in India between 2000 & 2017 and paralysed 496,000 chlidren."" ""Fact!"" th... |
26346 | Don Pridemore Says Gov. Tony Evers “has never had a real job.” | GOP candidate for Wisconsin Senate Don Pridemore says Democratic Gov. Tony Evers ‘never had a real job’ The governor’s earliest jobs include scraping mold off of cheese at a factory in his hometown of Plymouth and working as a caregiver in a nursing home. Evers’ professional resume includes stints as a teacher, princ... | false | Jobs, States, Wisconsin, Don Pridemore, | "The pushback against Gov. Tony Evers’ safer-at-home order aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus has included a lawsuit filed by Republican leaders and rallies at the Capitol. One such gathering, an Open Wisconsin rally on April 24, 2020, attracted about 1,500 people according to Capitol police. Among them: fo... |
8484 | Malaysia turns to coronavirus antibody tests to supplement laboratory checks. | Malaysian authorities have begun using COVID-19 antibody rapid tests kits to supplement laboratory tests as the number of cases in the country grows, a senior health official said on Tuesday. | true | Health News | Officials in Malaysia, as elsewhere, had initially rejected the use of the serology test kits, which can show the presence of antibodies in people who have been infected. Like other countries, it instead chose polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, laboratory tests, which detect the presence of the novel coronavirus itself... |
8670 | 'Like a zombie apocalypse': Residents on edge as coronavirus cases surge in South Korea. | Residents of a South Korean city at the centre of a new coronavirus outbreak described empty streets, deserted shops, and a climate of fear as a surge in confirmed cases linked to a church raised the prospect of wider transmission. | true | Health News | Malls, restaurants and streets in Daegu, the country’s fourth largest city with a population of 2.5 million, were largely empty in scenes that residents and social media users likened to a disaster movie. “It’s like someone dropped a bomb in the middle of the city. It looks like a zombie apocalypse,” Kim Geun-woo, a 28... |
10191 | Medical breakthrough? New procedure fights tumors | "This story reports on the presentation of two abstracts at this week’s Society of Interventional Radiology meeting on cryoablation for kidney cancer. Cryoablation is a minimally-invasive procedure that uses flash freezing to destroy the tumor. This short story presents little in the way of useful information to the co... | false | "The story does not mention the cost of the procedure. The story says the proceudre works ""95 percent of the time"" but does not explain what this means. Nor does it compare the effectiveness of the procedure compared to surgery. The story does not mention any harms of the procedure. The story does not adequately desc... | |
36476 | Samuel L. Jackson was an unknown actor and heroin addict before a catalyst role in the 1990s saved him from addiction. | Was Samuel L. Jackson an ‘Unknown Heroin Addict’ Before ‘Pulp Fiction’? | mixture | Entertainment, Fact Checks | In February 2019, a Facebook page shared the following biographical meme about Samuel L. Jackson, detailing a purported drug addiction that defined his life before he got clean, which was around the time he appeared in Pulp Fiction.Alongside the meme, the page wrote: “Because he did not allow his situation to become hi... |
26704 | "If the coronavirus gets in your mouth, ""drinking water or other liquids will WASH them down through your esophagus and into the stomach. Once there in tummy ... your stomach ACID will kill all the virus." | There is no evidence that drinking water helps to prevent coronavirus infection. Health officials and media outlets have debunked the claim. To prevent infection, wash your hands with soap and water, cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue and regular sanitize the surfaces in your home. | false | Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts, | "Drinking water is one of the primary ways to treat viral infections. But could it also prevent infections from the 2019 coronavirus? Health experts say no. One popular Facebook post prescribes ""a few sips of water every 15 minutes"" for people who want to avoid the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19. The post ... |
22354 | We don't need a separate (prescription drug) database ... Pharmacies already have a database in place. | Freshman House member says pill mill database isn't needed because one already exists | false | Drugs, Health Care, Public Health, Florida, Larry Ahern, | "Republicans in Tallahassee are split on whether to implement a new database that would track the sale of some prescription drugs in order to better identify and prevent doctor shopping and prescription drug abuse. The statewide drug-monitoring database would allow pharmacists and physicians to track the sale of prescr... |
4141 | Environmental groups sue steel mill over lake chemical spill. | Two environmental groups are suing a steelmaker for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act at its northwestern Indiana facility more than 100 times in the past five years, including an August spill that killed more than 3,000 fish. | true | Lake Michigan, Fish, Lakes, Environment, Chemical spills, Indiana, Laws, Lawsuits, Pollution | The Environmental Law and Policy Center and Hoosier Environmental Council filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court after previously alerting ArcelorMittal of their plans to sue, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported. ArcelorMittal’s facility in Burns Harbor discharges pollution into the East Arm of the Little Calu... |
1551 | Paralyzed monkeys walk again with wireless 'brain-spine interface'. | Swiss scientists have helped monkeys with spinal cord injuries regain control of non-functioning limbs in research which might one day lead to paralyzed people being able to walk again. | true | Health News | The scientists, who treated the monkeys with a neuroprosthetic interface that acted as a wireless bridge between the brain and spine, say they have started small feasibility studies in humans to trial some components. “The link between the decoding of the brain and the stimulation of the spinal cord – to make this comm... |
12729 | There's no demonstrable evidence they (after-school programs that feed kids) are helping kids do better at school. | Mulvaney said that there is no evidence that federally funded afterschool programs that feed students help kids do better in school. Two studies from two of the largest states, California and Texas, found modest but positive impacts on test scores. They also found other gains, such as better attendance at school and be... | false | National, Education, Federal Budget, Food, Mick Mulvaney, | "White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney triggered a storm of complaints when he defended elimination of a large federal after-school program. When asked in a press conference about the impact on students in Pennsylvania, Mulvaney couched his answer as pertaining to ""after-school programs generally."" ""They're suppose... |
2890 | Brain training helped older adults stay sharp for years: study. | A brief course of brain exercises helped older adults hold on to improvements in reasoning skills and processing speed for 10 years after the course ended, according to results from the largest study ever done on cognitive training. | true | Health News | Older adults who underwent a brief course of brain exercises saw improvements in reasoning skills and processing speed that could be detected as long as 10 years after the course ended, according to results from the largest study ever on cognitive training. The findings, published on Monday in the Journal of the Americ... |
35129 | Youngsters deliberately coughing on produce in grocery stores during the COVID-19 pandemic is a nationwide trend in the U.S. | Deputy Chief Dave Dailey [said] the group was seen taking videos by another patron but had not yet been able to locate the video in question on social media. | false | Viral Phenomena | Amidst the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic in March 2020, the Purcellville, Virginia, police department announced via Facebook that it was investigating an incident “at a local grocery store involving juveniles reportedly coughing on produce, while filming themselves and posting it on social media.” Although news... |
26139 | “Since the week ending March 14, Wisconsin actually saw a drop in tourism spending compared to last year of $1.7 billion.” | Decrease in tourism dollars became apparent the week of March 14, with a year-over-year drop of $17 million. Year-over-year decreases continued to mount, with drops of about $200 million per week statewide. A study commissioned by the U.S. Travel Association found year-over-year decreases totaled $1.775 billion from Ma... | true | Economy, Tourism, Wisconsin, Sara Meaney, | "Major industries in Wisconsin have sustained significant economic losses during the coronavirus pandemic, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the tourism sector. Wisconsin plays host to about 112 million tourists in a year, according to the WorldAtlas website, and 2019 was ""a record setting year, and the larges... |
2567 | Americans living longer, with unhealthy lifestyles: report. | Americans have longer, but not necessarily healthier, lives due to high rates of preventable chronic disease, according to an annual report on the nation’s health released on Tuesday. | true | Health News | Gains in life expectancy contrast with Americans’ unhealthy behaviors, which have led to a 28 percent adult obesity rate, a diabetes rate of nearly 10 percent and a high blood pressure rate of more than 30 percent, according to United Health Foundation’s 2012 America’s Health Rankings. All three conditions are consider... |
4186 | Expect another huge blob of algae on Lake Erie this summer. | Heavy rains that inundated the Great Lakes region this spring will fuel another massive algae bloom across parts of western Lake Erie later this summer, researchers said Thursday. | true | Lakes, Environment, Lake Erie, Toledo, General News, Ohio, Algae | Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expect this year’s bloom to rank among the top five since it began measuring their severity in 2002, according to their annual algae forecast for the lake. What’s not known is how toxic it might be or whether it will pose a threat for cities in Ohio an... |
26655 | "Kelly Alexander Says ""most"" NC legislators are in the ""high risk age group"" for coronavirus" | "A Democratic North Carolina House member tweeted that ""most"" legislators are in the high risk age group for coronavirus. The high risk age group includes people 60 and older. More than half of NC legislators are in that age group." | true | North Carolina, Coronavirus, Kelly Alexander, | "To prevent the spread of coronavirus, one state lawmaker wants to take the ""assembly"" out of the North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina state Rep. Kelly Alexander, a Democrat from Mecklenburg County, suggested on Twitter that legislators should consider video conferencing. The start of the legislature’s ses... |
16206 | Over 214,000 doctors opt out of Obamacare exchanges. | "A chain email claimed that more than 214,000 American doctors are ""opting-out of Obamacare exchange plans."" That is based on a survey of a select group of doctors and even the makers of the survey said it can’t be extrapolated for the entire country. Further, of the doctors responding to the survey, 42 percent said ... | false | National, Health Care, Chain email, | "Are doctors en masse refusing patients who gained health care coverage due to the Affordable Care Act? That’s the claim in a chain email a reader asked us to check. ""More, truly scary Obamacare news,"" said the email, sent just before Halloween. The accompanying story was from CNSnews.com, a site operated by the con... |
15070 | 100 percent of the crime is committed, in estimate, by about 15 percent of the population. | "Patrick said: ""100 percent of the crime is committed, in estimate, by about 15 percent of the population."" Sure, not all of us commit crimes, a point that’s patently obvious. When it comes to the specifics of this ""15 percent"" declaration, however, we found nothing to back it up — including the statistics offered ... | false | Corrections and Updates, Criminal Justice, Crime, Population, Texas, Dan Patrick, | "Urging a positive view of law officers ""that you and your family depend on every day,"" Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick went on to say the vast majority of citizens are law-abiding. He put precise numbers on that. ""You know,"" Patrick said during a Sept. 2, 2015, interview with David Brown of the Texas Standard, a state... |
3016 | Maine swim coach on pool deck despite medical setbacks. | A college swimming coach has endured a quadruple bypass after a heart attack, removal of cancerous tumors from his colon and wrists, and the amputation of part of his leg. | true | Health, Waterville, Coaching, Sports, U.S. News, Sports - General, Maine, Bangor, Swimming | But Husson University’s Butch Babin is still on the pool deck. Babin, 57, returned to coaching at the Maine college part time in October and then resumed full-time coaching after Thanksgiving, the Bangor Daily News reported. Using a wheelchair while his leg heals doesn’t affect his coaching, he said. “I need to be here... |
31676 | A study performed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory found that millimeter wave body scanners commonly used by airport security can alter your DNA. | The authors of the study themselves refute the claims made by the “Collective Evolution” post and the study itself is, for all intents and purposes, irrelevant to the technology utilized by airport scanners. | false | Science, body scanners, dna, TSA | On 19 February 2017, conspiracy and metaphysics web site “Collective Evolution” published an article (titled “Los Alamos Study Finds Airport Scanners Can Rip Apart & Alter DNA”) that was written by Kathy J. Froti, a clinical psychologist with no professional background in biology or physics who claims to have been taug... |
9820 | Nicotine Gum and Skin Patch Face New Doubt | We applaud the writer for being the only one of the three to find comments from researchers not connected to the makers of nicotine products. But we wish that the independent commentary had been used to better effect to actually help readers understand the strength of the evidence. This story was the only one to note t... | true | New York Times,Smoking | All three stories at least mentioned the total amount of money being spent on nicotine replacement products or the growth in that spending. None of the stories actually explained how much these products cost or compared them to the costs of cigarettes. The cost of an 8-week regimen of nicotine patches is $160-200. The ... |
26515 | “While all COVID-19 news has been going on, the U.S. Government has been sneakily trying to remove end-to-end encryption” which means “the government will be able to see all of your messages and listen to all of your calls.” | A bill currently being considered by Congress, called the EARN IT Act, would make it easier for law enforcement to demand information from technology companies about certain users of their services. The bill wouldn’t grant unlimited access. Any request would have to be premised on a link to suspected child exploitation... | false | Legal Issues, Technology, Privacy Issues, Coronavirus, Instagram posts, | "A post now circulating on Instagram warns that pending legislation moving through Congress could allow the government to view anyone’s text messages and listen to phone conversations. The March 17 post, which received at least 5,000 likes, said, ""While all COVID-19 news has been going on, the U.S. Government has been... |
23676 | Education Week rates Ohio schools in the top five in the nation. | U.S. furniture company RC Willey Home Furnishings is so concerned that new global clean air rules will cause transport disruption that it brought forward the shipment of arm chairs and sofas from China by two months. | true | Ohio, Education, Yvette McGee Brown, | The tougher regulations, set by the United Nations shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), come into force on Jan 1. Costs will rise for ships towards the end of this year and there will be a knock on effect for trucks and other transporters that move goods around the world. For shipping compani... |
22355 | As a prosecutor, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser did not investigate or file charges in a case involving 30-year pedophile priest, then participated in cover-up. | Greater Wisconsin Committee says Supreme Court Justice David Prosser mishandled allegation of sex abuse by priest | false | Legal Issues, Wisconsin, Greater Wisconsin Committee, | "A new TV ad claims that in 1978, when Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser was a district attorney, he didn’t ask police to investigate an abuse case involving a longtime pedophile priest, then refused to file charges and participated in a cover-up. The claims are made by the liberal Greater Wisconsin Committ... |
7736 | Ebola spreads to high-risk area of Congo: WHO. | Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak has spread southwards into an area with high security risks, the World Health Organization said. | true | Health News | The outbreak, the country’s worst, has killed 439 of the 713 people believed to have caught the disease. The fight against Ebola depends on tracing people who may have had contact with the disease and could fall ill and spread it further. But the outbreak in a region of Congo with frequent fighting makes it hard for he... |
11260 | New breast cancer drug may be effective against other types of cancer | This detailed news release from the University of Pennsylvania describes results of a literature review of small clinical trials that suggest far broader treatment possibilities for a type of cell-cycle or checkpoint inhibitor drug already approved by the FDA for its effectiveness against a form of hormone-dependent br... | false | Academic medical center news release,Breast cancer,Cancer | The release goes to some lengths in describing the quantitative and qualitative benefits of pairing palbociclib with other anti-cancer drugs, but offers not a word about costs. In this case, costs are significant. Pfizer has pegged palbociclib at $9,850 per month. Carrying an informal calculation forward puts the cost ... |
9700 | Got Night Milk? A Possible Treatment for Anxiety, Insomnia | Starting with the headline of the article, so-called “night milk” (cow’s milk collected at night) is touted as a possible treatment for anxiety and insomnia. This is certainly the type of headline that grabs one’s attention. The claim is difficult to support, however, due to the inherent limitations of the underlying s... | mixture | melatonin,mice studies,night milk | Although the cost of night milk is not discussed directly, the reader is given a hyperlink to the company website of Milchkristalle GmbH, a producer of night milk, where the price of night milk may be found. (Though we find it strange that a hyperlink of night milk should direct the reader to a specific company selling... |
3750 | Lawsuit filed over treatment of inmates with mental illness. | Civil liberties advocates are suing the Rhode Island prisons department over its treatment of inmates with mental illness. | true | Rhode Island, Mental health, Prisons, Health, General News, Lawsuits, Class action lawsuits | The American Civil Liberties Union’s Rhode Island chapter announced Friday it filed a federal class action lawsuit with Disability Rights Rhode Island and the ACLU’s National Prison Project, alleging constitutional violations of the rights of prisoners with serious mental illness. The suit was filed on behalf of inmate... |
8691 | Prince William opens new UK emergency COVID-19 hospital. | Prince William, the grandson of Queen Elizabeth, has opened an emergency COVID-19 hospital built in just eight days in the exhibition centre of Britain’s second city, Birmingham. | true | Health News | William, the Duke of Cambridge, opened the new NHS Nightingale Hospital at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) via video link. The hospital is the second of seven being constructed around England in response to the novel coronavirus outbreak which has killed nearly 13,000 people in Britain so far. It has a 500-bed cap... |
9584 | Period Pain Drug Can Cure Alzheimer’s Disease, New Study Suggests | This is a story about a potential new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease–although the story sensationalizes mouse research to a degree we don’t see often at HealthNewsReview.org. These errors seem to stem from an over-reliance on a news release and a lack of critical thinking about the qualify of the evidence from a Uni... | false | alzheimer's disease,mice studies | Costs don’t rate a mention in the story. The drug in question requires a prescription in the United States and is expensive, ranging between $111 and $400 for a 30-day course of treatment. Given the over-the-top headline and first sentence, we would have expected to see at least a little in the way of quantification of... |
11501 | Experimental Drug May Help Treat Psoriasis | This story permitted self-interested parties to gush their enthusiasm with quotes such as: “This is unheard of” “With this drug, the word ‘remission’ is on the table.” “We had amazing responses.” “Many of us were disappointed it was withdrawn.” A more balanced approach would be to seek independent perspectives about ... | mixture | WebMD | At this stage of development, the cost of briakinumab is impossible to determine. However if the costs will be anything like other biologics such as Stelara – which the story mentioned – then the cost could be as much as $1,500 to 2,000/month. So some attempt could have been made to address the important cost issue in ... |
1570 | Lack of exercise costs world $67.5 billion and 5 million lives a year. | A study of one million people has found that physical inactivity costs the global economy $67.5 billion a year in healthcare and productivity losses, but an hour a day of exercise could eliminate most of that. | true | Health News | Sedentary lifestyles are linked to increased risks of heart disease, diabetes and cancer, researchers found, but activity - such as brisk walking - could counter the higher likelihood of early death linked with sitting for eight or more hours a day. Such inactivity is estimated to cause more than 5 million deaths a yea... |
5773 | Vatican defends membership for theologian over abortion flap. | The head of the Vatican’s bioethics panel is defending the decision to name as a member an Anglican moral theologian who has said that abortion could be condoned up until the 18th week of gestation. | true | Health, Europe, Religion, Vatican City, Bioethics | Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia spoke out Saturday after conservative commentators criticized the inclusion of Oxford University professor Nigel Biggar as a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Biggar, a noted Christian ethicist, was quoted as saying in 2011 that he would draw the line for abortion at 18 weeks, since t... |
16530 | Over 73% of all donations raised (from the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge) are going to fundraising, overhead, executive salaries, and external donations. | "The blog post said that ""over 73 percent of all donations raised (from the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge) are going to fundraising, overhead, executive salaries, and external donations."" Whether purposely or by incompetence, the anonymous blogger misreported the ALS Association’s figures. In reality, nearly 79 percent of... | false | National, Disability, Health Care, Bloggers, | "By now, there are very few Americans who haven’t heard of the ""ALS Ice Bucket Challenge"" -- the social media-driven campaign during the summer of 2014 to dump ice water on your head as a way of raising awareness of the neuromuscular disease ALS and promoting donations to the ALS Association, which funds medical rese... |
13558 | "Young women, ""account for a shocking 74% of all new HIV infections among adolescents in Africa." | "Trudeau claimed that young women ""account for a shocking 74 percent of all new HIV infections among adolescents in Africa."" The data from UNAIDS and UNICEF closely matches his numbers, though Trudeau would have been more precise if he said sub-Saharan Africa. Evidence there shows that young girls between the ages of... | true | Global News Service, Public Health, Justin Trudeau, | "International leaders continue to try and shine a light on the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. But do they get their facts right? Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently penned a letter decrying the impact of poverty and disease on young girls in Africa, a group he says make up a disproportionate amount o... |
4669 | Minnesota OKs medical cannabis for chronic pain, eye disease. | Minnesota is expanding the state’s medical marijuana program to include chronic pain and age-related macular degeneration as conditions that can qualify for treatment, state health officials said Monday. | true | Chronic pain, Medical marijuana, Health, General News, Macular degeneration, Marijuana, Minnesota | The state Department of Health also said it would allow more sites where patients can access medical cannabis. The changes take effect in August, Minnesota Public Radio News reported. Minnesota’s medical marijuana program began in 2014. Originally, only nine conditions were on the list, but now it covers such condition... |
29411 | If you use a real Christmas tree, you run the risk of bringing Lyme disease-transmitting ticks into your home. | The bottom line is — at least from a Lyme disease perspective — Christmas is pretty much the safest time of the year to bring a tree into your house. | false | Medical, christmas, christmas tree, lyme disease | A meme posted in the Facebook group “Lyme Disease Posters” on 3 December 2016 (and its accompanying text) provides dire warnings about the risks posed by potentially tick-infested Christmas trees. While ticks, specifically the kind that can transmit Lyme disease, are indeed a serious medical concern and could conceivab... |
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