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6172
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China Jan. bird flu deaths hit 79, most since at least 2013.
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An outbreak of H7N9 bird flu in China killed 79 people in January, the most in a single month in at least three years, the country’s national health authority said.
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true
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Health, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Flu, Bird flu, China, Asia Pacific, Public health
|
More than 250 cases of H7N9 have been reported to the National Health and Family Planning Commission from 16 provinces and regions. State media said Thursday that most of the illnesses occurred in and around China’s eastern and southern coast, from Shanghai to Hong Kong. At least six more deaths have been reported thus far in February, raising concerns China faces a public health crisis more severe than the 2013 outbreak that killed at least 40 people and devastated the poultry industry. January’s death toll was the highest for any month since at least November 2013, according to the health commission’s website. Local authorities have ordered temporary shutdowns of some poultry markets and ramped up testing. In Guangzhou, China’s third-largest city, more than 30 percent of the live poultry markets were recently found to be contaminated with H7N9. H7N9 is considered to be less virulent than the H5N1 strain that the World Health Organization has linked to hundreds of deaths worldwide over the last decade. H7N9 is not believed to be transmitted between humans, but rather by infected poultry. The WHO issued a Feb. 10 alert linking an increase in cases to the Lunar New Year, China’s biggest holiday, with feasts and parties throughout a weeklong celebration. This year’s Lunar New Year was Jan. 28. “As traditionally the consumption of poultry among the general population increases during the Chinese New Year celebrations, the movement, trade and slaughter of poultry during this period may subsequently increase human exposure,” the WHO alert said.
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8794
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Nexavar helped in pulmonary hypertension study.
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The cancer drug Nexavar is showed promise in a small study of people with pulmonary hypertension, a debilitating condition marked by high blood pressure in the arteries that supply the lungs, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
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true
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Health News
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Made by Bayer AG and Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc, Nexavar is approved in the United States for kidney and liver cancer. Eight out of the first nine patients who took the drug saw improvements in their ability to exercise, and six out of nine had significant improvement in their right ventricular ejection fraction, which measures the heart’s ability to pump blood to the lungs. Four patients had decreased pressure in their pulmonary artery, which supplies blood to the lungs. “What patients are telling us is they are able to do more in their daily lives,” said Dr. Mardi Gomberg-Maitland of the University of Chicago, who presented her findings at a meeting of the American Thoracic Society in Toronto. The original research on the drug was done at the University. She said the surprising thing is that the drug worked so quickly. Patients saw benefits in only four months. The study is the first human trial to examine the sorafenib, or Nexavar, in pulmonary hypertension, a disease in which blood vessels feeding the lungs narrow, forcing the heart to work harder. Like cancer, pulmonary hypertension is a disease marked by abnormal cell growth, which narrows the arteries feeding the lungs, reducing blood flow and taxing the heart. Sorafenib appears to interfere with this process. The trial enrolled patients with stable disease who continued to take their primary medications, which included a continuous infusion of a drug called prostacyclin and Pfizer Inc’s Viagra or sildenafil. Both relax blood vessels that feed the lungs. Gomberg-Maitland said this therapy typically slows progression of the disease, but does not reverse it. They added sorafenib for 16 weeks, but at a lower dose than cancer patients use. Most patients in the trial increased their exercise capacity, as measured by time on a treadmill or a six-minute walk test. They saw an average 8 percent improvement in their right ventricular ejection fraction, a measure of the heart’s pumping power. Side effects included mild hair loss and skin reactions. The study was designed to last only 16 weeks, but all of the patients continue to take the drug, some now for more than a year. “What is exciting about this is all of the patients feel better and nobody wants to come off the medication,” Gomberg-Maitland said in a telephone interview. The study was intended to test the safety and dosing of the drug. It was funded by The Doris Duke Foundation and the University of Chicago. The researchers now plan to study the drug in 40 to 60 patients at different research centers.
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9664
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Acupuncture May Ease Hot Flashes for Breast Cancer Patients
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The story focuses on a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that finds female breast cancer patients who use acupuncture therapy in conjunction with “enhanced self-care” had fewer problems with hot flashes than patients who used only enhanced self-care. The story does a good job of explaining the study’s design, and includes an independent source. However, it fell short when quantifying the benefits, and it did not discuss potential harms or the already existing body of work related to acupuncture’s use to ameliorate hot flashes in breast cancer patients. Breast cancer is extremely common, affecting more than 224,000 women in the U.S. in 2012, according to the CDC. And a 2007 study notes that “Approximately two thirds of breast cancer patients report hot flashes and 60% of these (ie, 40% of all patients) rate their problem as moderately or extremely severe.” In short, this is a health-related quality of life issue that affects many women each year. That makes it worth covering. What’s problematic here–and we’ll go into this at greater length below–is that the paper discussed in the story is only the most recent study evaluating acupuncture as a means of addressing hot flashes in breast cancer patients. How does this study differ from all the others? The story doesn’t tell us, and that sort of context is important for readers.
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mixture
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acupuncture,breast cancer,hot flashes
|
The story does address cost, but doesn’t say how much that cost might be. As the story states: “[the researcher] didn’t know how much American patients might have to pay for such treatment, but added, ‘Compared to other effective treatments such as antidepressants, (acupuncture) should be less expensive, and, for sure, more safe and feasible. '” While we always try to give the benefit of the doubt in cases where the story at least attempts to address cost, the characterization here seems debatable enough to merit a Not Satisfactory rating. A quick internet search finds that acupuncture therapy costs anywhere from $50 to more than $120 per session. That’s not insignificant (and it wasn’t hard to look up). Given that the study in the story had patients go through 10 acupuncture sessions, this could cost a patient at least $500, and possibly more than $1,200. Also, while other methods for treating hot flashes, such as medication, are covered by health insurance, acupuncture is not necessarily covered. The story’s only quantified assessment is “by the end of the treatment period, those in the acupuncture group were found to have hot flash scores that were 50 percent lower than those in the non-acupuncture group.” That’s not enough to merit a Satisfactory rating, for several reasons, including: Potential harms aren’t mentioned at all. The Mayo Clinic notes that risks associated with acupuncture range from soreness to infection to organ injury. Further, the clinic warns that some patients are at higher risk than others, such as patients who have pacemakers or bleeding disorders. This is a strong point for the story, which does a nice job of describing the study. However, the story ideally would have discussed how the the control group wasn’t really comparable in intensity to what the acupuncture group received. It’s possible that the acupuncture benefits reflect a placebo effect. A more rigorous design would have compared acupuncture to a sham acupuncture treatment to minimize this. No disease mongering here, as hot flashes associated with breast cancer treatments can negatively impact a woman’s quality of life, and treatment decisions. The story does cite one independent source, and there don’t appear to be any conflicts of interest. NIH lists a number of approaches to dealing with hot flashes in cancer patients, ranging from pharmaceutical interventions to hypnosis. The story mentions only those discussed in the study. We would like to see at least a mention of other techniques. And going a step further, it would be useful to compare the side effects of acupuncture to pharmaceutical solutions and other non-traditional approaches. One can infer from the story that acupuncture treatment is available for breast cancer patients, particularly given that the independent source says her patients have used acupuncture in the past. And because most people are generally aware that acupuncture is available, we’re giving this a Satisfactory rating. But, the story would have been stronger if it had told readers whether any certified acupuncturist can provide the relevant therapy, or if a specialist in hot flashes is necessary. This is the weakest spot for the story. We found three other papers that evaluated acupuncture as a means of addressing hot flashes for cancer patients: this one from 2007, one from 2009, and another from 2009. The findings from the studies are not all in agreement (with each other, or with the study being discussed in this story). What does it tell us that we didn’t already know? Does it build on previous work? Looking at all of the work on this subject, what do we know about this form of treatment? Those are good questions–important questions–and this story doesn’t address them. The story does not appear to be based on a news release, and clearly involves some original reporting.
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3767
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Senate OKs Trump’s FDA nominee despite unclear vaping agenda.
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The Senate on Thursday confirmed Dr. Stephen Hahn to lead the Food and Drug Administration despite concerns about how he will confront the growing problem of underage vaping.
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true
|
Health, General News, Politics, Marijuana, Business, Vaping, Tobacco industry regulation, Donald Trump
|
Hahn, a cancer specialist and hospital executive, won confirmation to the role of FDA commissioner with a vote of 72-18. The move comes as key decisions about regulating electronic cigarettes, including how to keep them away from teenagers, remain unresolved. More than three months ago President Donald Trump and his top health officials said they would soon sweep virtually all flavored e-cigarettes from the market because of their appeal to children and teens. But that effort has stalled after vaping lobbyists pushed back and White House advisers told Trump the ban could cost him votes with adults who vape. In his confirmation hearing last month, Hahn repeatedly sidestepped questions about the fate of the flavor ban. When lawmakers tried to pin down his preferred approach to regulating vaping, Hahn said only that he would follow the “science and evidence.” Still, he won the backing of several key vaping critics in the Senate, including Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin, who said he hoped Hahn would use his influence to push the Trump administration to crack down on the industry. “Dr. Hahn said to me he doesn’t want to be known in history as the head of the FDA who saw this epidemic grow dramatically,” said Durbin, speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday. Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, supports legislation that would place new taxes on e-cigarettes and restrict flavors with the aim of discouraging underage use. Anti-vaping groups and health experts argue that flavors like fruit, mint, menthol and others attract underage teens. But vaping proponents say flavors can help adult smokers switch to vaping from cigarettes, which cause cancer, lung disease, stroke and other deadly diseases. Underage vaping has reached what health officials call epidemic levels. In the latest government survey, 1 in 4 high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the previous month, despite federal law banning sales to those under 18. More than a third of U.S. states have already raised their sales age for e-cigarettes and other tobacco products to 21. E-cigarettes typically heat a solution that contains nicotine, which makes cigarettes and e-cigarettes addictive. They are generally considered less harmful than paper-and-tobacco cigarettes, though there is little research on their long-term health effects. Hahn, 59, will succeed Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who left the federal agency in April. Gottlieb bucked expectations early in his tenure by announcing an unprecedented effort to curb smoking. Under the plan outlined in July 2017, the FDA would use its authority to cut nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels, encouraging smokers to quit or switch to less harmful products, such as e-cigarettes. The proposal for cutting nicotine was targeted for release in October this year, according to the agency’s regulatory agenda. But it didn’t appear and was dropped last month from the FDA’s updated list of regulatory priorities. An FDA spokeswoman said the agency is continuing to review the policy. But anti-tobacco advocates worry the Trump administration is backing away from its earlier commitment to making cigarettes less addictive. The FDA regulates a broad array of consumer goods and medicine — everything from new drugs and medical devices to packaged food, nutrition labeling, tobacco and cosmetics. As FDA commissioner, Hahn will face a raft of other pressing health issues, including dealing with the prescription opioid epidemic, safety problems with imported drugs and the regulation of CBD, a marijuana derivative that has become a trendy food additive. Hahn, who specializes in treating lung cancer, most recently worked as the top medical executive at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. ___ Follow Matthew Perrone on Twitter: @AP_FDAwriter ___ The Associated Press Health and 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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7651
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Britain's Cuadrilla starts fracking for gas after seven-year pause.
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British shale gas company Cuadrilla has started fracking for natural gas in northwest England, seven years after the practice was halted in Britain for causing earth tremors.
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true
|
Environment
|
Environmental groups strongly oppose the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves extracting gas from rocks by breaking them up with water and chemicals at high pressure. But the government, keen to cut Britain’s reliance on imports as North Sea gas supplies dry up, has tightened regulations and has given Cuadrilla permission to frack two wells at its Preston New Road site in Lancashire. Cuadrilla, 47.4 percent owned by Australia’s AJ Lucas and 45.2 percent owned by a fund managed by Riverstone, said it would spend at least three months fracking two horizontal wells to test flow rates to determine whether full-scale gas extraction would be viable. The British Geological Survey estimates shale gas resources in northern England alone could amount to 1,300 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas, 10 percent of which could meet the Britain’s demand for almost 40 years. “Shale gas has the potential to be a new domestic energy source, enhancing our energy security and delivering economic benefits, including the creation of well-paid, quality jobs,” the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said. “We have been clear that any shale developments must be safe and environmentally sound,” the department added in a statement. Attempts to extract the gas have come under fire from local communities and campaigners concerned about the potential effect on the environment and ground water. They say extracting more fossil fuel is at odds with Britain’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “It is morally bankrupt to be heralding the start of a whole new fossil fuel industry,” Craig Bennett, chief executive of environmental group Friends of the Earth said in a statement. “You can deal with climate change or you can have fracking – you can’t do both,” he said. The government asked its climate advisers on Monday to examine whether Britain should toughen its climate targets and set a date to move to a net zero emissions goal. Britain has an existing target to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent compared with 1990 levels by 2050.
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19574
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"Nick Fish Says ""cities save an estimated $38 in dental costs for every $1 invested in fluoridation."
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Do cities really save $38 for every $1 they spend on fluoridation?
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true
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Oregon, City Government, Nick Fish,
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"The Portland City Council is set to vote early next month on whether to fluoridate the city’s drinking water -- and a ‘yes’ vote looks all but certain. City Commissioner Nick Fish said as much in a statement that started bluntly ""I believe it is time to add fluoride to Portland’s drinking water."" Part of his rationale, he explained in the statement, are the potential savings fluoridation offers. ""In fact, cities save an estimated $38 in dental costs for every $1 invested in fluoridation,"" he wrote. We thought the topic was timely enough that we ought to do a quick check on this would-be fact. (Full disclosure: The Oregonian used the same fact in a Page 1 article on the subject of fluoridation.) We called Fish’s office and spoke with Emily York, one of the commissioner’s policy coordinators. She sent us a fact sheet from the Everyone Deserves Healthy Teeth Coalition that laid out the economic case in favor of fluoridation, including the $38 figure that Fish used. The figure, the fact sheet noted, came from a 2001 study published in the Journal of Public Health Dentistry by Susan Griffin, Karl Jones and Scott Tomar. It took some time, but we were able to get our hands on a copy of the study. A quick read revealed that the authors had indeed found significant savings from fewer instances of tooth decay and resulting dental care when communities fluoridated their water supplies. (PolitiFact Oregon recognizes that fluoridation has strong opponents who raise other issues -- but our purpose here is simply to examine the possible cost savings.) To get to the $38 figure, you need to do a little math. For a large community like Portland, the study’s authors estimated that fluoridation costs about 50 cents per person. Then it goes on to give a range of possible dental cost savings per person -- from $2.99 to $56.07, with a most likely savings (base case in financial jargon) of $19.12 per person for the 50 cents spent Just double the $19.12 in savings -- because that’s how much you get for half a dollar -- and you wind up with $38 in savings for each $1 spent. That’s a pretty decent return, to be sure. Now, there are a few caveats here. The study explicitly states that it does not take into account overhead costs of fluoridation or possible health issues that stem from fluoridation, such as dental fluorosis, which the study says ""are negligible."" We contacted one of the study’s authors, Scott Tomar, who teaches at the College of Dentistry at the University of Florida. In an e-mail he said the bottom line of the decade-old study was that ""that community water fluoridation saves money under almost any scenario. It is actually one of extremely few public health initiatives that can make such a claim. Based on our analyses, an 18 to 1 return on investment is a reasonable estimate for Portland."" We wanted something a little more specific, however, so we took a look at the actual numbers Portland would be facing. The figures are a little different for the Portland area because it’ll cost more than the estimated 50 cents per person to fluoridate. According to early estimates, it’ll cost the city about $5 million to get the project started and then about $575,000 annually from there on to fluoridate water for about 900,000 people. We worked the math and that means in the first year, Portland area residents would save about $3 in dental costs for every $1 invested. After that, it’d cost closer to 64 cents per person to fluoridate the water, meaning a savings of about $30 for each $1 spent. Fish was measured in his comments. He said that ""cities save an estimated $38 in dental costs for every $1 invested in fluoridation"" and, indeed, that was the estimate of one article that appeared in a peer-reviewed medical journal. Furthermore, the findings of this article are highlighted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on its website on the subject. The savings for Portland, however, are slimmer, and we think that’s important context that is missing. We find this statement ."
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4092
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High pollution advisory issued for Phoenix metropolitan area.
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Environmental regulators have issued a high pollution advisory for ozone for the Phoenix metropolitan area.
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true
|
Arizona, Phoenix, Bronchitis, General News, Air pollution, Environment, Lung disease, Pollution
|
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality officials recommend people limit outdoor activity Thursday while the advisory is in effect, especially children and adults with respiratory problems. People most vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution include children, older adults, adults exercising outdoors and people with heart or lung disease and those suffering from asthma and bronchitis. Exposure can increase the number and severity of asthma attacks, cause or aggravate bronchitis or other lung disease and reduce the body’s ability to fight infection.
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3388
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Iowa governor launches anti-vaping social media campaign.
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Gov. Kim Reynolds on Wednesday announced a a public service campaign to address increased vaping by Iowa teenagers with a focus on social media and information programs for parents and students in schools.
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true
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Iowa, Health, Media, General News, Social media, Kim Reynolds, Vaping, Public health
|
Reynolds said increasing awareness and education on the known risks of vaping will help prevent young people from suffering nicotine addiction and health problems. The campaign will feature videos targeted at teens on SnapChat, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Hulu and other sites. School nurses, teachers and administrators will be provided information to help educate students and parents Reynolds said she won’t sign an executive order to ban the sale of flavored vaping products because such moves have been blocked in the courts in other states. The American Medical Association has called for a ban on all flavored e-cigarettes. The Public Health Law Center said nine states have acted through governor executive orders or emergency administrative rules to limit vaping use. However, legal challenges have temporarily blocked enforcement in at least five states. More than 50 Iowa teenagers and young adults have experienced severe respiratory illness from vaping. Nationally more than 2,200 people have been hospitalized and 48 have died.
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10009
|
Extra calcium, vitamin D no bone booster for men
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This was a very clean and efficient story summarizing what the evidence showed and what it didn’t. Consumers may want to believe that supplements can’t hurt – they can only help. It’s worth it for journalists to report on studies that show that good diet and exercise works to prevent bone-thinning – but that supplements may not add any protection.
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true
|
Reuters Health
|
It is rare to see a story include costs of what might be viewed as inexpensive supplements, but this story included the costs – at least – of vitamin D supplements. From a purist’s perspective, we wish the story had quantified the benefit seen from exercise. We’re told that adding supplements to the exercise program didn’t provide any extra benefit. But just what was the degree of benefit from exercise? We’re never told. In a sense, the story was all about a finding that might help people avoid the “harm” of thinking that supplements do more for them than they actually do. The story was very clear on what the study showed and did not show, and what the take-home ramifications were. The story cited clear numbers and broke down categories of older women, white men and black men. The story cites the researchers’ published findings, then turns in large part to an independent expert to evaluate the evidence. At least the story gave some broad contex about other approaches to prevent bone-thinning: “To build bone density, weight-bearing exercise is needed, such as running or weight-lifting, according to the NIH. To reduce the risk of bone weakening, the NIH recommends not smoking, drinking less alcohol and exercising more. Zaidi said that both vitamin D and calcium are extremely important for human health, so people should follow the previous vitamin D and calcium recommendations.” The availability of calciium and vitamin D are not in question. There was room for improvement here. The story could have done a better job of putting the new finding into the context of past research in this field. It’s clear the story didn’t rely solely on a news release.
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37549
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U.S. President Donald Trump has invoked the Stafford Act, which will mandate a mandatory two-week in-home quarantine for the nation.
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‘Trump Will Evoke What Is Called the Stafford Act’ Viral Post
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false
|
Disinformation, Fact Checks, Viruses
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Amid growing concerns over the spread of novel coronavirus strain COVID-19 in mid-March 2020 and lack of information from the United States government, corrosive and weaponized disinformation thrived in the form of chain emails, Facebook posts, and text messages. There were different versions of one such message, but they all essentially went like this:Heads up. Please be advised, within 48 to 72 Hours the president will evoke what is called the Stafford act. Just got off the phone with some of my military friends up in DC who just got out of a two hour briefing. The president will order a two week mandatory quarantine for the nation. Stock up on whatever you guys need to make sure you have a two week supply of everything. Please forward to your network.Sometimes the “friends” the person issuing the message had just spoken to were from the military; other times they were from the Department of Defense; sometimes those purported friends were from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sometimes FEMA, and sometimes the CIA.At any rate, no matter who the “friends” were supposedly from, they did not exist, because this rumor is a hoax. United States President Donald Trump already invoked (not evoked) the Stafford Act as of March 13 2020:Therefore, as an initial step, I hereby determine, under section 501(b) of the Stafford Act, that an emergency exists nationwide.In accordance with this determination, the Federal Emergency Management Agency may provide, as appropriate, assistance pursuant to section 502 and 503 of the Stafford Act for emergency protective measures not authorized under other Federal statutes. Administrator Gaynor shall coordinate and direct other Federal agencies in providing needed assistance under the Stafford Act, subject to the Department of Health and Human Services’ role as the lead Federal agency for the Federal Government’s response to COVID-19.In order to meet the challenges caused by this emergency pandemic, I have encouraged all State and local governments to activate their Emergency Operations Centers and to review their emergency preparedness plans. In the meantime, I expect FEMA to continue to review all ways in which it can provide assistance to States consistent with the authorities provided to it by this letter and by statute.I am also instructing Secretary Mnuchin to provide relief from tax deadlines to Americans who have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 emergency, as appropriate, pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 7508A(a).In addition, after careful consideration, I believe that the disaster is of such severity and magnitude nationwide that requests for a declaration of a major disaster as set forth in section 401(a) of the Stafford Act may be appropriate.I encourage all governors and tribal leaders to consider requesting Federal assistance under this provision of the Stafford Act, pursuant to the statutory criteria. I stand ready to expeditiously consider any such request.But that doesn’t mean the country will go into a two-week mandatory lockdown. It simply frees up emergency federal funds during natural disasters, as intended:The Stafford Act authorizes the delivery of federal technical, financial, logistical, and other assistance to states and localities during declared major disasters or emergencies.2 The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) coordinates administration of disaster relief resources and assistance to states. Federal assistance is provided under the Stafford Act if an event is beyond the combined response capabilities of state and local governments.Even the National Security Council debunked the rumor in a tweet:Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE. There is no national lockdown. @CDCgov has and will continue to post the latest guidance on #COVID19. #coronavirus— NSC (@WHNSC) March 16, 2020It is unclear what the coming days may bring and whether the United States might follow the examples of various other countries on mandatory national lockdowns — but if it does happen, it will not be by way of the Stafford Act, and you will almost certainly not find out about it from a viral message purportedly from a friend of a friend of a friend on WhatsApp or Facebook, or via a forwarded text message or email.
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13603
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"Lisa Moore Says there are ""concrete examples"" of University of Texas job applicants or prospective applicants and students as well as invited speakers changing their minds because of handguns being allowed in campus buildings and classrooms."
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"Moore told NPR there are ""concrete examples"" of UT job applicants, prospective students and invited speakers deciding not to come to the university because of conceal-carry permit holders newly being allowed to bring handguns into campus buildings including classrooms. Not naming names, UT’s administration says this is so. We separately identified two out-of-state professors, a prospective graduate student and the mother of a high school student who cited the change in gun law and policy for not continuing to seek a UT position or not applying to come there--plus an outside speaker who reportedly resisted an invitation to speak on campus before relenting."
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true
|
Education, Texas, Guns, Lisa Moore,
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"A University of Texas English professor says a law enabling Texans with state permits to carry concealed guns into classrooms has already caused prospective faculty, students and even speakers not to come to the Austin campus. Lisa Moore said in an NPR interview aired Aug. 7, 2016, six days after the campus-carry mandate took effect: ""We already have concrete examples of faculty who have declined to apply for jobs here at the university or who, once offered jobs, have turned them down when they realized that this policy would go into effect, students changing their minds about coming to our graduate and undergraduate programs, and invited speakers declining to come when they realized that we couldn't guarantee that they would give their talk in a gun-free space."" ""Concrete examples"" is definitive. So, how about details? First it’s worth noting that since 1995, Texas law has allowed any individual with a concealed handgun permit to carry a gun on public college and university sidewalks, streets, parking areas and other grounds. In 2015, state lawmakers widened the law by voting to let permit holders also carry guns in campus buildings, except in areas excluded under rules adopted by each school’s president. UT-Austin President Gregory L. Fenves has written that he doesn’t believe handguns belong in campus buildings; still, he agreed to allow them in classrooms because, he said, barring them would have the effect of generally excluding guns from campus, which the law prohibits. In February 2016, Fenves also wrote Bill McRaven, the UT System chancellor: ""Since this is a new law with an unknown effect on UT Austin, we will monitor implementation and its impact on students, faculty members, and staffers. I have significant concerns about how the law will affect our ability to recruit and retain faculty members and students. Fenves is among state defendants, too, in a lawsuit filed by Moore and two fellow professors seeking to bar civilian handguns from campus. On Aug. 22, 2016, a federal judge denied their request for a preliminary injunction that would have allowed them to ban concealed handguns from their classrooms. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel said he found no precedent for the argument that professors have a right of academic freedom under the First Amendment so broad that it overrides decisions of the Legislature and the university that employs them. Moore, Jennifer Lynn Glass and Mia Carter were still free to pursue the merits of their case. But Yeakel’s ruling was a considerable setback for them, as they wanted to ban guns in time for the start of fall classes. Virginia professor declined UT visit Moore, asked for concrete examples, initially responded with an email reminding that an out-of-state candidate for a UT deanship said he bowed out of consideration in 2015 due to the gun law. A February 2016 Austin American-Statesman news blog post quoted Siva Vaidhyanathan, a University of Virginia professor of media studies who’d previously earned UT bachelor’s and doctoral degrees, saying he’d been contacted by a search firm helping the university find a dean for the Moody College of Communication--and, the story said, was later told he was a finalist. But the gun law weighed on him; the story said that if chosen, Vaidhyanathan said, he’d have felt compelled to side with faculty members seeking to bar guns from classrooms. ""I would probably be fired immediately,"" he said. ""I told the search firm I was no longer interested in the position."" To our inquiry, Vaidhyanathan provided a December 2015 email he sent to search firm officials declining their invitation to return to the Texas campus for ""an extended visit and a dinner"" about the deanship that would have included meetings with Fenves and others. Vaidhyanathan’s email said the prospect of guns being allowed in classrooms meant he couldn’t ""pursue this position with enthusiasm."" Vaidhyanathan wrote: ""I could not, in good conscience, ask faculty and students to put themselves into an environment in which students, visitors, or even faculty could be armed. My wife is a scientist. I could not ask her to take a job at a university that was forbidden by law to restrict guns from classrooms. The very consideration of that possibility puts a chilling effect on open and relaxed discourse in the classroom. And the fact that the university cannot restrict guns on campus in general means that university police officers are forbidden to do their jobs effectively. They can’t diffuse a threatening situation until it becomes a dangerous one. ""Universities are tense enough already. And we all count on our university police forces to confront and (defuse) threatening situations as early as possible. The State of Texas has put every student and professor in Texas in danger. I applaud the chancellor, the president, the faculty, and the students for their strong opposition to campus carry."" So, that’s a candidate for dean confirmed. Next, we followed up with Moore about particular students, other prospective faculty and speakers deciding not to come to UT due to the gun law. A mother’s email Moore forwarded a November 2015 email sent by a parent, Rachel Zucker, to a UT mailbox. The message says: ""Dear UT, I want you to know that my son, Moses Goren, is a straight A student at Hunter College High School (in NYC) who has expressed interest in applying to your Plan II program at UT (Austin). He and I have decided, however, that he will not apply to any schools that have campus carry laws. We believe that guns should not be allowed on college campuses and that guns present a serious physical danger for faculty and students. If you were to make UT Austin a safer place by making it illegal to bring a gun on campus, I would eagerly and proudly have Moses apply to your esteemed school. Thank you, Rachel Zucker"" To our inquiry, Zucker confirmed her son’s decision. ""Both of us feel even clearer about this than we did when wrote that email. The rampant gun violence and lack of commonsense gun control in this country should be a source of unmitigated shame for our leaders and legislators,"" Zucker said by email, adding that she hopes UT bans guns on campus. Moore also noted the departures of two UT faculty members by 2016. In each instance -- Architecture Dean Frederick Steiner’s move to the University of Pennsylvania and economist Daniel Hamermesh’s shift to opportunities abroad -- news stories and emails we fielded from the men describe the gun law as a factor, though not the only factor, in the departures. Hamermesh urged us to consult Joan Neuberger, a UT history professor, who responded by emailing a prospective graduate student’s February 2016 email saying she would decline UT’s offer of admission ""due to my misgivings with the campus carry guidelines President Fenves released today."" Nora Dolliver went on: ""Although I think that UT would be a wonderful place to complete my graduate training, I am unwilling to study or work in an environment where my classmates, professors, students, or patrons are permitted to carry handguns."" Harvard professor’s decision A March 2016 news story in UT’s student newspaper, The Daily Texan, quoted Moore saying a Harvard University professor had withdrawn from a search for a faculty position in the UT Women and Gender Studies department because of the measure letting guns into classrooms. By phone, Moore told us the professor, Robin Bernstein, had been urged by Moore and others to apply in 2015, but Bernstein, citing the gun law, declared she wouldn’t. ""She definitely would have been a finalist,"" Moore said, adding that faculty were ultimately unable to fill the position. By email, Bernstein told us she was invited to apply for a professorship in women’s and gender studies but declined to do so ""in large part because of the changes in Texas law to allow guns in class."" Bernstein shared a portion of her November 2015 email to Moore about deciding not to apply. The email says Bernstein had been ""watching the madness with the Texas legislature"" and wasn’t more than 50 percent sure she’d accept the UT job if it were offered. Concerned outside speaker Moore, asked about speakers deciding not coming to campus, pointed us to Paloma Diaz, an administrator in UT’s Teresa Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies. Diaz said by phone that a speaker who teaches at the University of Washington cited the gun law in initially resisting the institute’s invitation to give a talk in fall 2016, though she said the speaker subsequently relented. Diaz said she didn’t have permission to identify the speaker. Otherwise, a web search showed the institute has posted a notice that Angelina Snodgrass Godoy, a UW professor, is expected to visit and give talks Sept. 26, 2016. Godoy didn't respond to our query. We couldn’t fairly consider a couple of late-breaking instances of invited speakers deciding not to come to UT because their decisions became public after Moore spoke to NPR. Still: --A Duke University professor, Karla Holloway, wrote Phillip Barrish, a UT English professor, that she was rescinding her acceptance of Barrish’s invitation to speak on the campus in fall 2016. Holloway wrote Aug. 26, 2016: ""I believe guns, and especially the vulnerabilities exposed in conceal carry cultures, contribute mightily to our nation’s public health crisis. And with the conceal carry now in full effect there, and after discussion with my family, I just cannot come."" To our inquiry, Holloway forwarded a copy of the emailed March 2016 invitation from Barrish that she and Barrish told us she’d previously accepted. --Neuberger separately alerted us to a Texas Christian University historian, Hanan Hammad, reversing course about speaking at UT, also while citing the gun law (which allows private universities like TCU to opt out of the mandate). To our inquiry, Hammad forwarded her Aug. 26, 2016, email rescinding her agreement to speak in October 2016. Hammad wrote that ""with campus carry now in full effect at UT, I just cannot come. I'm always proud to be a UT alumnus and I owe my mentors and teachers great deal, but I'm in full solidarity with all UT faculty, staff, and students whose health and lives are in danger due to campus carry. I believe open or conceal carry on campus is wrong and dangerous."" UT administration suggests claim solid We also asked a university spokesman, Gary Susswein, about the accuracy of Moore’s claim. Susswein responded by emailing a web link to an August 2016 statement by sociologist Harry Edwards, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, in which Edwards said that due to implementation of the gun law, he was rescinding his permission to present UT lectures on sport and society, launched in 2014, in his name. ""My decision was an exceedingly difficult one,"" Edwards wrote, ""but silence is evil's greatest and most consistently dependable ally."" Another campus spokesman, J.B. Bird, said by email the administration could confirm Moore’s claim. Bird didn’t identify resistant individuals by name though he wrote that the university provost’s office ""confirmed hearing of a few people who decided not to interview and who stated that it was because of campus carry. Similarly, Bird said, provost officials say ""they have heard of a few cases of faculty speakers who have decided not to come to campus to give talks because of the law."" Bird said too that ""we know of students changing their minds about coming based on campus carry. Our admissions office said when the law was announced they received about 10 calls and 10-15 emails with applicants saying that they were not coming or would not apply. We assume that we don’t hear from 100 percent of the people who make this decision. ""That said,"" Bird wrote, ""we did just admit the largest incoming freshmen class in UT’s history, with about 8,500 freshman. From what we have seen, though, the assertion is that some individuals have chosen not to come because of the new state law."" Our ruling Moore told NPR there are ""concrete examples"" of UT job applicants, prospective students and invited speakers deciding not to come to the university because of conceal-carry permit holders newly being allowed to bring handguns into campus buildings including classrooms. Not naming names, UT’s administration says this is so. We separately identified two out-of-state professors, a prospective graduate student and the mother of a high school student who cited the change in gun law and policy for not continuing to seek a UT position or not applying to come there--plus an outside speaker who reportedly resisted an invitation to speak on campus before relenting. – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.
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11406
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Statins cut the risk of heart disease death by 28% among men, study shows
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This story by The Guardian highlights a new study in the journal “Circulation” that digs into the data of a 20-year study of cholesterol and heart disease in thousands of European men. The Guardian appears to lean heavily on an Imperial College press release that trumpets the benefits of taking statin drugs, which can lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol — and reduce the risk of deadly heart disease. It claims the study showed statins reduced the risk of death from heart disease by 28%. But that’s a lopsided and potentially misleading way to present the data. When broken down into absolute numbers, the benefits are far less dramatic (see quantified benefits criterion, below). In that light, the advantages compared to the disadvantages of taking statins for many years — risk of muscle pain, liver damage, diabetes, and more — become less clear. The story also misses a very big red flag when it comes to making clear that most of the authors have a financial relationship with the primary funder of the study: a drug company that makes statins. Readers need accurate data to make informed healthcare decisions. Relative numbers sound good, but are only one half of the story. Readers also deserve to know any potential conflicts of interest, such as who paid for the study.
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false
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The Guardian
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Costs were not discussed. However, statins cost between roughly $313 (generic) to $1,428 (name-brand) per patient per year in the US, according to a 2012 study in Pharmacoptherapy. The costs are much less in the UK: $164 (generic) and $509 (name-brand) per patient per year. The story only told readers the relative risk improvements for taking a statin. It did not present the terms in absolute numbers. By the relative measure, taking statins seems very effective: 28% fewer men died from heart disease when taking statins compared to a placebo. But the absolute risk is more sober and should always be presented along with relative numbers. Of the group taking statins, 6.69% of people with very high LDL died from cardiovascular heart disease within 20 years. Of the group taking a placebo (and it’s not immediately clear to us what their LDL status was), 9.03% died from heart disease. No side effects of statins are mentioned, but they’re significant. Taken over many years, let alone decades, those risks become even more significant considerations. The most common side effect — 29% of people on statins report experience it — is damage to muscles and muscle pain (e.g. soreness, tiredness, and weakness), according to the Mayo Clinic. However, those on placebo report a similar rate of muscle pain and damage. Other, less common side effects (for which there’s also less evidence that statins may be responsible) include liver damage, increased blood sugar or type 2 diabetes, and memory loss/confusion. The story lays out the basic results and methods (e.g. a randomized trial on 2,560 men with high cholesterol), though it doesn’t go much beyond that. What were the limitations? We didn’t see any unwarranted language, though the potential is high for overtreatment when using a drug in healthy people. The story doesn’t note how the study was funded through Sanofi, a company that makes, markets, and sells statins, Furthermore, most of the authors disclosed that they have accepted either grant money or fees from major pharmaceutical companies. In fact, five out of the the eight authors had or have a financial relationship with Sanofi. This is not adequately explained. While a 20-year study sounds impressive, we’re not told about other similar treatments and lifestyle changes. Statins are widely available drugs, and the story tacitly implies they’ve been available for about 20 years. The story makes it clear that the length of the trial is what’s novel. Quotes in this story directly match those from an Imperial College news release about the study, but there is no attribution given to the news release.
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14007
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"Even among ""second and third generation"" Muslims in the United States, ""there's no real assimilation."
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"Trump said that even among ""second and third generation"" Muslims in the United States, ""there's no real assimilation."" The data and the experts agree that Trump is wrong. Substantial evidence confirms that Muslim Americans want to have an American identity and think that doing so is achievable. In fact, their preferences for self-identification mirror those of Christian Americans. The data show that American Muslims want to be both American and Muslim. That’s different than the widely recognized ""melting pot"" model where immigrants of generations past blended in fully in their new country based on a shared religion and culture. But the reality is that for most Muslim Americans, religion and race would have made it impossible for them to follow that course in the first place."
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false
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Immigration, NBC, Race and Ethnicity, Religion, Donald Trump,
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"After the mass shooting in Orlando by a man who pledged allegiance to the Islamic terrorist group ISIS, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump reiterated his call for a temporary ban on Muslims coming to the United States. During an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump elaborated on one of the problems he sees with the Muslim community in America. Hannity said that Muslims have different religious and cultural practices than many Americans. He asked Trump, ""If you grow up (as a Muslim overseas) and you want to come to America, how do we vet somebody's heart and ascertain if they're coming here for freedom or if they want to proselytize, indoctrinate and bring their theocracy with them?"" Trump responded, ""Assimilation has been very hard. It's almost — I won't say nonexistent, but it gets to be pretty close. And I'm talking about second and third generation. They come — they don't — for some reason, there's no real assimilation."" We were intrigued by the question of whether ""there's no real assimilation"" among ""second and third generation"" Muslims in the United States. So we looked at the social-science data and sought expert opinion. (Trump’s campaign did not respond to an inquiry for this article.) We concluded that the implication of what Trump said — that Muslims want to isolate themselves from the mainstream American culture — is flat wrong. However, we also learned that the question involves some important nuance. In particular, the task of ""assimilation"" facing post-1960s immigrants to America is more complicated than, and thus distinct from, what it was for white, Christian, European immigrants who came to the United States in prior generations. By and large, Muslims want to embrace an American identity Several academic studies in the past decade have demonstrated that Muslims do indeed want to become integrated with mainstream American life. One of the major surveys is from 2011, when the Pew Research Center conducted telephone interviews with 1,033 Muslims in the United States, in English, Arabic, Farsi and Urdu. The researchers concluded that ""Muslim Americans appear to be highly assimilated into American society."" Specifically, 56 percent of Muslim Americans said that most Muslims coming to the United States today want to adopt American customs and ways of life. Only 20 percent said most Muslims coming to the U.S. want to be distinct from the larger American society, Pew found, while 16 percent said Muslim immigrants want to do both. (Incidentally, this is far different than the views of Americans at large; just 33 percent of Americans of all backgrounds told Pew that most Muslim immigrants want to adopt American ways, while 51 percent said Muslim immigrants want to remain distinct from the larger culture.) Notably, Pew found some striking similarities between the views of American Christians and American Muslims. For instance, about half of Muslims said they thought of themselves first as a Muslim, rather than as American. A different Pew survey found a nearly identical fraction of Christians in the United States, 46 percent, saying they thought of themselves first as Christian, rather than as American. And near-identical percentages of Muslims and Christians said there was no conflict with being devout in their own religion and part of a modern society. (Sentiments about identity were similar among native-born and foreign-born Muslims, though those born after 1990 had a somewhat larger preference for a Muslim identity.) Jen’nan Ghazal Read, an associate professor of sociology and global health at Duke University, pointed to data from Pew and other sources showing similar rates of religious practice and beliefs among Muslims and Christians in the United States: Other evidence lines up with what Pew found. Selcuk R. Sirin, an associate professor of applied psychology at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, found that even though 84 percent of 12-to-18-year-old Muslim Americans he studied had faced at least one act of discrimination in the previous year, most were comfortable with their ""hyphenated identities"" as both Muslims and Americans. ""They seem to be pretty happy sitting on the hyphen,"" has said. ""They don't feel the need to pick one over the other."" Akbar S. Ahmed, a professor of Islamic studies at American University, found similar sentiments when he did fieldwork for the book Journey into America, which spanned 75 cities and 100 mosques. ""Muslims again and again told us that America is the best place in the world to be a Muslim,"" Ahmed said. ""There are countless examples of Muslims who are assimilated and are completely American in every sense."" He said that out of the roughly 2,000 personal interviews that comprised in his fieldwork, virtually all Muslims said that Muslims could be American. ""So it is dangerous, irresponsible and incorrect for Trump to make statements like this and demonize the entire community,"" Ahmed said. Some experts have said that, if anything, that the trend is moving even more strongly towards becoming American. ""In the 1970s and 1980s, Muslim leaders explicitly urged their people to avoid assimilating into the American mainstream and to withdraw into Islamic community centers, schools, and colleges,"" Boston College political science Peter Skerry wrote in 2013. ""Since 9/11, Muslim leaders have shown a remarkable — and largely unnoted, or disbelieved — willingness to adapt to America. Indeed, these leaders have been busily reconstructing an anodyne version of Islam that conforms to the American civil religion."" In other words, Skerry wrote, Muslim Americans today ""are being reassured that it is permissible—even desirable—to have non-Muslim friends. And that it is okay to attend business lunches where non-Muslim colleagues drink alcohol. And that it is definitely a good idea to vote and get involved in civic and political affairs."" Integration is a bigger challenge for Muslims So there’s clear evidence that, contrary to what Trump suggests, Muslims are embracing American identity and values. At the same time, Muslim Americans by and large do not want to eradicate all traces of their religious and cultural heritage. This is similar to patterns seen in many immigrant groups that came to the United States beginning in the 1960s, when the nation’s immigration system was oriented away from its previous focus on European immigrants and toward other parts of the world. Prior to the 1960s, most immigrants to the United States were white and Christian. They may have had national identities and cultural practices from their native country, but in most cases, they shared a religion and a race with the majority American culture. That meant it was easier for them to ""assimilate,"" as Trump said, in the larger culture. But more recent waves of immigrants from Asia, India and the Middle East often have not shared the same race or religion as the American majority. So ""assimilation"" in the traditional sense has been a more complicated process. Assimilating to the mainstream American culture to the same degree as someone like Trump’s ancestors did (his grandfather emigrated from Germany) would require a Muslim to renounce their religion and become Christian. (And, obviously, they could not change their skin color or other physical features.) This has led scholars to shift away from the term ""assimilation"" and toward the term ""integration."" Sarah Lyons-Padilla, a research scientist at Stanford University, and Michele Gelfand, a professor at the University of Maryland, describe ""assimilation"" as part of an older ""melting pot"" model, while ""integration"" is more like a ""mosaic."" ""We should not confuse integration with assimilation,"" Lyons-Padilla and Gelfand have written. ""Integration means encouraging immigrants to call themselves American, German or French and to take pride in their own cultural and religious heritage."" Research by Lyons-Padilla and Gelfand found that Muslim-Americans’ support for ""assimilation"" — essentially, the melting-pot model — is low, statistically, at 1.76 on a 6-point scale. But they found support for the integration model to be quite high, at 4.96 out of 6. ""This tells you that Muslim Americans don't want to assimilate into American culture at the expense of giving up their own cultural identity, but they are very interested in embracing both,"" Lyons-Padilla told PolitiFact. She added that psychologists generally see the integration model as a more practical one to aspire to. ""Decades' worth of research shows that people fare best when they can have a foot in both worlds,"" Lyons-Padilla said. Our ruling Trump said that even among ""second and third generation"" Muslims in the United States, ""there's no real assimilation."" The data and the experts agree that Trump is wrong. Substantial evidence confirms that Muslim Americans want to have an American identity and think that doing so is achievable. In fact, their preferences for self-identification mirror those of Christian Americans. The data show that American Muslims want to be both American and Muslim. That’s different than the widely recognized ""melting pot"" model where immigrants of generations past blended in fully in their new country based on a shared religion and culture. But the reality is that for most Muslim Americans, religion and race would have made it impossible for them to follow that course in the first place.
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8188
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German institute: Two years for pandemic to run its course.
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The coronavirus pandemic is likely to take about two years to run its course, the head of Germany’s public health agency said on Tuesday, adding that much depended on the speed with which a vaccine against the virus was developed.
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true
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Health News
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Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute, said that eventually some 60% to 70% of the global population would have been infected, recovered and acquired immunity, but it was impossible to say how fast that would happen. “Our working assumption is that it will take about two years,” he told a news conference on Tuesday, adding that the timing depended on how long it takes to get a vaccine developed and deployed. “We do not yet know what the death rate will look like in the end,” he told reporters. The institute said the number of confirmed cases in Germany had risen by more than 1,100 to 7,156 with 13 deaths. Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose government on Monday announced strict social distancing measures to slow the spread of the virus, urged Germans to avoid panicking about food and money shortages. “I would like to urge the public to stick to the official statements instead of believing the many rumors that are unfortunately circulating around,” Merkel said. “We are doing everything to inform (the public) in a transparent way. Such fears are baseless.” Wieler said that without the strict measures Germany could end up facing millions of coronavirus cases. “We want to avoid that,” he said, adding the institute was raising the risk level in Germany to “high.” He said hospitals would have to at least double their intensive care capacity as one in five cases was serious.
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7820
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Holy water in Austria unsafe to drink: researchers.
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Holy water at religious shrines and churches in Austria is often contaminated with fecal matter and bacteria, researchers have found, advising the faithful not to drink it, especially in hospital chapels.
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true
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Health News
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Scientists at Vienna University medical school’s Institute of Hygiene and Applied Immunology came to the conclusion after analyzing the water quality at 21 “holy” springs and 18 fonts at churches and chapels at various times of year. Only 14 percent of the water samples from holy sources showed no fecal contamination, and none of the springs could be recommended as a source of drinking water, the study presented to a conference in Vienna this week found. The springs held not only fecal contamination - likely the result of poor hygiene - but many also had agricultural nitrates and bugs that can cause inflammatory diarrhoea. “We need to warn people against drinking from these sources,” microbiologist Alexander Kirschner said in the study. Kirschner said the healing effects ascribed to holy sources arose from the hygienic conditions of the Middle Ages, when water quality in urban areas was generally so poor that people constantly contracted diarrhoea or other conditions. “If they then came across a protected spring in the forest that was not as polluted and drank from it for several days, their symptoms would disappear. So although in those days they were drinking healthier water, given the excellent quality of our drinking water today, the situation is now completely reversed.” The study noted some ways to help address the problem, including regularly replacing holy water in church fonts. One Italian priest has invented a holy water dispenser that dispenses drops of holy water rather than having the faithful dip a hand in, it noted.
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4103
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Woman dies in Spain as listeria-in-pork outbreak sickens 114.
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Health authorities in Spain are on high alert after a 90-year-old woman died amid a listeria outbreak in the southern region of Andalusia that has affected more than 110 people.
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true
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Health, Food safety, General News, Seville, Infectious diseases, Europe, Spain
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José Miguel Cisneros, director of the infectious disease department at Seville’s Virgen del Rocío Hospital, on Tuesday announced the first casualty since the outbreak was declared on Aug. 15. Authorities have closed the pork meat supplier’s plant and recalled all of its products. Cisneros said roughly half of the 114 people affected by the bacteria remain hospitalized. Health Minister María Luisa Carcedo said an investigation is looking into how the meat evaded what she called “strict food safety controls.” Listeria is a bacteria that usually causes mild illness in healthy people but can be dangerous to pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems.
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26880
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“Robert de Niro Linked to Child Sex Trafficking Ring According to Court Records”
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The posts imply that actor Robert De Niro was a central player in an international prostitution ring whose operators were prosecuted in 1998. De Niro was questioned by French authorities after his name was mentioned in the course of the investigation into the ring, but he was never arrested or charged with a crime.
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false
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Facebook Fact-checks, Bloggers,
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"Despite what various bloggers imply, Robert De Niro was never ""linked"" to a child sex trafficking ring. That's a significant overreach from stories published more than 20 years ago about the actor being questioned in connection with a prostitution ring investigation. De Niro was never arrested or charged with a crime. But the blogposts easily leave the wrong impression. The posts, such as this one from a page called The Washington Pundit, appear to base their claims off information from a 1998 Independent story by journalist John Lichfield. But they often present the facts in ways that wrongly suggest De Niro was involved with underage girls. There is no proof of that. ""Robert de Niro Linked to Child Sex Trafficking Ring According to Court Records,"" reads the Washington Pundit’s article headline. The posts imply media coverage of the incident was suppressed. The posts also indicate that De Niro’s ongoing criticisms of President Donald Trump are the reason the child sex trafficking ring allegations have emerged. ""Just last year, De Niro decided to slam President Trump and dub him a sexual predator. He went so far as to call Trump ‘a dog,’"" the post reads. ""Now the tables have severely turned around. De Niro should be ashamed of himself for picking on President Trump for making an insignificant comment years ago… especially since he is was at the heart of an international prostitution ring."" That isn't true, which probably explains why the article 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.) Snopes and Truth or Fiction both fact-checked this claim back in 2018. The 1998 story in the Independent said six people were charged in France with running an international prostitution ring, which involved some girls as young as 15. The agency was adept at ""tricking, or trapping, star-struck teenage girls into selling their bodies with the promise of careers as models or actresses,"" Lichfield wrote. But De Niro’s link to the prostitution ring is not as direct as the posts suggest — he was never arrested or charged with a crime, and he was never linked to any underage girls. In his November 1998 story, Lichfield said women from the agency that broke the law ""entertained"" De Niro and a few other prominent figures. Previously, in a story from February 1998, Lichfield wrote that De Niro had been questioned by French police in connection to the prostitution ring investigation. Lichfield also reported that De Niro’s lawyer said he found the way his client was treated shocking and upsetting given ""(De Niro’s) name came up only incidentally"" in the investigation. Lichfield was not the only source to report that De Niro had been questioned. The Irish Times’ Lara Marlowe also reported in February 1998 that De Niro was detained at the Bristol Hotel in Paris and questioned for about nine hours due to his connection with an international prostitution ring that had been under investigation since 1996. Marlowe’s story said officials ""stressed"" De Niro was questioned as a potential witness, and Lichfield said the police were clear that De Niro was never arrested. The posts imply the actor’s involvement in this criminal investigation went much further than simply being questioned, and there is no evidence he was involved with an underage girl."
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9788
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Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Protect the Aging Brain
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This story made the key point that CNN and the Washington Post failed to communicate in their competing coverage: “This study … did not prove that omega-3 fatty acids prevent mental decline, merely that there may be an association between consumption of fatty acids and brain health.” Consumers have only so much capacity to implement behavior changes to improve their health. By critically evaluating the evidence, stories can help consumers focus on the changes that are most likely to be beneficial. We know that people get easily overwhelmed by health claims and end up thinking that much of it is hype and doesn’t matter anyway. If we are cautious about reporting on observational studies, it improves consumer understanding, critical analysis, and credibility of science and of journalism.
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true
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dementia,Omega-3
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The cost of fish is not in question, although a word about the cost of fish oil supplements would not have been inappropriate. Although we think readers will come away with the correct bottom line message on this study, we’re going to rate this criterion unsatisfactory, for two reasons: The harms of eating fish are not in question, although there is some concern that certain species high in mercury can be harmful for pregnant women and children. This is where the HealthDay coverage shined. In addition to cautioning that the study couldn’t prove that omega-3 fatty acids prevent mental decline, the story had a nice discussion of the limitations that apply to this study and other observational studies: The story also mentioned that a clinical trial of high and low omega-3 intake would help prove whether there’s a beneficial effect. There was no disease mongering. The story quotes an independent expert, and there were no conflicts that should have been identified. There was no discussion of other habits or behaviors, such as exercise and mental stimulation, that are associated with maintenance of cognitive function with age. The story also did not mention other potential sources of omega-3 fatty acids, as CNN did. The availability of fish isn’t in question. The story nods to previous research suggesting that fish consumption might have benefits for the aging brain. The story was not based on a press release.
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3484
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Thailand launches full-time clinics dispensing cannabis oil.
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Thailand on Monday opened its first two full-time clinics dispensing cannabis oil for medical treatment, a step forward in the government’s policy of promoting the licensed use of marijuana products to relieve the symptoms of a range of ailments.
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true
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Health, General News, Marijuana, Asia, Bangkok, Asia Pacific, Thailand
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About 400 patients, many of them with cancer, were given the oil for free at a flagship clinic at the Public Health Ministry in a suburb of Bangkok. The initial four formulations handed out are used for treating conditions such as migraines, insomnia, nausea, numbness and pain. The medicines are touted as being based on traditional remedies. Thailand was previously known for harsh anti-drug laws, but is now eyeing the economic potential of cannabis. A report last year by Prohibition Partners, which claims to be the leading authority on the subject, said Asia’s medical cannabis market would be worth around $5.8 billion by 2024. Around 25 similar clinics have been operating part-time since the legislature agreed in 2018 to amend the country’s drug laws to allow the use and production of medical cannabis. The Health Ministry clinic and another in Bangkok are forerunners of a planned nationwide network, if they show positive results. “Marijuana could be an answer. At least the patients’ quality of life is improved,” said Dr. Prasert Mongkolsiri, the director of a public hospital, who helped advise patients on Monday. “At least it can lessen the side effects of the modern chemical-based medicines that they’ve been taking for 10 or 20 years,” he said, referring to chemotherapy for cancer patients. Chamroen Nakurai, 57, was diagnosed with lymph node cancer two years ago. She said cannabis oil helps lessen the side effects of her chemotherapy, but until now she had been able to get it only through illegal underground suppliers. “The treatment isn’t widely available and the cost is quite high if you visit underground clinics, but this service is free and anyone can access it,” she said. Nuthjutha Ulpathorn, 29, was born with cerebral palsy that makes her unable to walk and garbles her speech. She began to use cannabis oil two months ago after her mother brought her to a government hospital that started to give out cannabis oil. “I sleep better, and (am) less cranky,” Nuthjutha said with a smile. Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, the chief architect of the new policy drive, toured the suburban clinic on Monday. He expressed hope that the remedies might be soon added into the National List of Essential Medicine, which allows them to be covered by Thailand’s 30-baht ($1) universal health care scheme. Officials say the policy of free cannabis is likely to be changed. Anutin is the leader of the Bhumjai Thai Party, a partner in the country’s coalition government. The party won 50 seats in March’s general election after Anutin campaigned for legalization of the production of marijuana to aid farmers. Moves to allow small-scale private production are moving ahead. The Public Health Ministry, meanwhile, supervises cannabis production at six locations around the country.
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13574
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"California’s Prop 60, which would require condom use in adult films, would put ""workers in the adult film industry at risk for lawsuits and harassment."
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"Opponents of California’s Prop 60, which would require condom use in adult films, recently claimed it would put ""workers in the adult film industry at risk for lawsuits and harassment."" The statement is partially accurate: Some adult film workers, and perhaps a growing share, could face lawsuits if they have a financial interest in the content they work on. But Prop 60 does not specify what constitutes a financial interest. Ultimately, it may be up to the courts to decide. Importantly, the claim by the opponents makes no mention that only workers with a monetary stake in the films would be liable and only after a complaint process plays out. Those who are independent contractors would face no legal action. The statement leaves out this key context and gives the impression that any or all workers could face lawsuits."
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mixture
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Government Regulation, Public Health, California, No on 60 campaign against condom requirement in adult films,
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"Opponents of California’s Proposition 60 — which requires adult film performers to wear condoms — say it’s not the protective measure it’s touted to be. ""This law pretends to protect workers in the adult film industry, but in fact it's putting them at risk for lawsuits and harassment,"" says a recent advertisement on YouTube by the No on 60 campaign. The claim at the center of this fact check is at the :40 minute mark. That ad was paid for by Californians Against Worker Harassment which was founded by the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult entertainment industry, to oppose Prop 60. We wondered: Does Prop 60 — a measure intended to curb sexually transmitted diseases among porn workers — really expose those same people to legal action? We decided to fact-check that provocative claim. Our research Here’s some background on Prop 60 before we jump into the claim about lawsuits. California law has required condom use in adult films since 1992. Supporters of Prop 60 say the initiative would strengthen the existing law, which they say is rarely enforced. The measure is sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has long pushed for greater safety standards in adult films. In 2012, voters in Los Angeles County approved a similar condom requirement for adult films made in that county. It is considered a model for Prop 60, which applies its condom mandate to scenes with anal and vaginal intercourse. Prop 60 would also require adult film companies to obtain a health license and pay for the costs of vaccinations and health tests for sexually transmitted diseases for their performers. We asked the No on 60 campaign for evidence backing up its claim that performers would be open to lawsuits under the measure. A spokesman pointed to the initiative’s section 6720.6, on enforcement, whistleblowers and private rights of action. It allows those who witness violations of the proposed law -- including performers, prosecutors or anyone who is a California resident -- to file a complaint with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. If the agency declines to pursue the case within 21 days, the witness could then file a civil lawsuit against anyone with a financial interest in the film, which could include some performers. There’s no mention in the No on 60 advertisement, however, that only performers with a financial interest would be liable. Nor does the ad mention the complaint process that must precede a lawsuit. Robert Elyov / Flickr More porn workers with financial stake Still, opponents of the measure say making performers liable is significant because many have a financial stake in the content. ""You see, in today’s adult film industry, the majority of performers are also producers,"" Eric Paul Leue, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, wrote in an opinion piece about Prop 60 in the Advocate, a LGBT news publication, this month. ""In addition to shooting for studios, most porn stars regularly create their own content -- either for their own websites, on webcams, or in partnership with studios."" Prop 60 would apply to any commercial pornography produced in California, in traditional films and on the web. Dr. Chauntelle Tibbals, a sociologist who studies the adult film industry, said the percentage of workers who have a financial stake in adult content they contribute to ""is certainly very high,"" though she said there’s no accepted estimate. Advances in technology and distribution, she said, have allowed more workers to share in the financial success of their content. ""Everyone from webcam models to agents may have a financial stake in a single piece of content,"" Tibbals added. Supporters of Prop 60, however, maintain the claim about workers being exposed to lawsuits is deceptive. ""The only people who can get sued (under Prop 60) are producers,"" said Rick Taylor, who manages the Yes on 60 campaign. ""Some actors and actresses are producers. If they’re breaking the law, they’re going to potentially get sued."" Taylor said the measure’s goal is to bolster worker protections and public health, and that it doesn’t matter what percentage of performers have a financial stake in the films. Our ruling Opponents of California’s Prop 60, which would require condom use in adult films, recently claimed it would put ""workers in the adult film industry at risk for lawsuits and harassment."" The statement is partially accurate: Some adult film workers, and perhaps a growing share, could face lawsuits if they have a financial interest in the content they work on. But Prop 60 does not specify what constitutes a financial interest. Ultimately, it may be up to the courts to decide. Importantly, the claim by the opponents makes no mention that only workers with a monetary stake in the films would be liable and only after a complaint process plays out. Those who are independent contractors would face no legal action. The statement leaves out this key context and gives the impression that any or all workers could face lawsuits. – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.
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30360
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A gay baboon terrorized a South African village and raped several men.
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"Rumors about a gay baboon's ""terrorizing"" a village and raping five men can be traced back to a homophobic fake news article."
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false
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Junk News, baboon, fake news, homophobia
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An image purportedly showing a newspaper clipping featuring a story about a gay baboon raping several men near an African village regularly gets shared on social media: This is not a genuine news story, but a verbatim copy of a satirical article that was first published in April 2017 on the South Africa Morning Post web site: Men at a village in the North West are leaving in fear over a big male baboon that likes to grope and bonk human males. The baboon is said to have attacked more than six men in the past week and what’s baffling the villagers is the fact that the baboon only attacks guys and does not hurt it’s victims but rather performs sexual acts on top of the terrified victim and leaves. One victim, George Chiune said he was coming from the local shebeen when the baboon attacked him and pinned him down. “I thought it wanted to kill me but realized it was after my bum,”, George said.Five men were admitted to hospital yesterday after experiencing acute anal pains and fatigue. Doctors confirmed the men have anal cancer. The baboon, which has been nicknamed Somizi travels alone and this, according to animal behaviour specialist is a strange occurrence because baboons are known to ravel in troops. One specialist, Lizzie McKenzie said “the baboon might be an outcast and chased away from it’s troop. That is why it is travelling alone but as to the reason it’s attacking only males, it beats me. I have never seen that behaviour in my 20 years in this field,” she said. When journalists visited the village, all male school kids were said to be wearing dresses as a preventative measure until the baboon has been dealt with. A cached version of the page shows that this article was filed under the “satire” tag. Furthermore, the description on the web site’s Facebook page states that the South Africa Morning Post publishes “Satire, Entertainment, Rumours and Bizarre stories from South Africa, and sometimes around the world.” The person behind the Morning Post also mentioned the “gay baboon” article in an interview with the Mail & Guardian Africa. The unidentified writer used the homophobic text as an example of the fake news stories he publishes in order to fund his purportedly genuine journalistic efforts: Advertising can’t fund his journalism either. His real news site attracts just a fraction of the audience of his fake news sites and, therefore, a fraction of the income. “There aren’t that many people interested in politics. I can earn a few hundred dollars a month from my news site, it performs so badly. But stuff about gay baboons, stuff about pastors saying they went to heaven, that goes viral,” he says. It is still unclear whether this fake news story was ever picked up by a genuine newspaper. The text at the bottom of the story states that it was “printed by Hassan Mohiuddin at City Press, Talpur Road, Kara(…)” which appears to refer to a newspaper located on Talpur Road in Karachi, Pakistan. However, we could not locate a publisher or publication called “City Press” in Pakistan or an editor named Hassan Mohiuddin. Finally, we feel it is our responsibility to clear the pictured baboon’s name. Although we are unsure who took the photograph, the earliest iteration we could find was posted to the web site Iloho.com by “oliviam” in August 2009 and shows a baboon relaxing in — not terrorizing — Cape Point, South Africa. The photograph was entitled “Baboon Beauty Queen”:
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30446
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"A ""new"" study has demonstrated that marijuana leads to a ""complete remission"" of Crohn's disease."
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Have you spotted a celebrity sharing dubious health stories on social media? Please send a link or a screenshot to reportcelebs@snopes.com.
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false
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Medical, cannabis, celebrity health, crohn's
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Since 2013, viral stories have parroted (with the aid of copy, paste, and lax editorial standards) details of a single, 22-person pilot clinical trial on the use of cannabis as a treatment for Crohn’s disease — an inflammatory bowel disease with no known cure. These stories, which almost always carry some form of the headline “Marijuana Leads to ‘Complete Remission’ Of Crohn’s Disease with No Side Effects, New Study Shows,” all incorrectly describe the legitimate results of a single study published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology on 4 May 2013. The viral stories all describe the study in the same way: The study included 21 patients suffering from Crohn’s disease. There were 13 men and 8 women. […] Researchers split the patients into two groups. They began a 10-week study which included eight weeks of treatment and a follow-up two weeks later. One group was given rolled up cannabis containing 115mg of THC and they were instructed to smoke it twice a day. The placebo group was given the same instructions, but their cannabis contained no THC. The results of the study are astonishing. In the THC group, 5 of 11 patients saw complete remission. In the THC group, 10 of 11 patients saw their Crohn’s Disease Activity Index drop from 200 to 100. Each patient from the THC group reported that they were sleeping better and they regained their appetite. “Complete remission” refers to the absence of all symptoms of a chronic or incurable disease. Within the context of Crohn’s disease, complete remission refers to a reduction of symptoms as measured by a metric known as the Crohn’s Disease Activity Index (CDAI), which is calculated based on the presence and intensity of a wide range of symptoms and reported as a numeric score. Crohn’s disease is considered to be in complete remission when a CDAI score is lower than 150. Extremely severe presentations of the disease score above 450. The headline assertion of complete remission in these viral stories comes from an aggressively cursory and context-sparse reading of the results section of that 2013 study’s abstract, which states: Complete remission (CDAI score, <150) was achieved by 5 of 11 subjects in the cannabis group and 1 of 10 in the placebo group. Indeed, during the course of this study, five individuals in the group of Crohn’s patients smoking marijuana were able to reduce their CDAI score to a point at or below 150 over the course of eight weeks, while only one member of the placebo group did the same. Importantly, this does not mean the researchers concluded that cannabis “leads,” causally, to the remission of the disease. The study, with a sample size far too small to make such a bold claim, actually says close to the opposite from a complete remission standpoint: Cannabis treatment was not superior to placebo in induction of remission. However, cannabis provided a significantly higher rate of clinical response without any alarming side effects. “Clinical response” — a lesser measure in clinical trials than remission — refers to a beneficial effect from the treatment. In this study, researchers considered a clinical response from marijuana to be a reduction in CDAI score of 100 points or more: A clinical response was observed in 10 of 11 subjects in the cannabis group […]. Three patients in the cannabis group were weaned from steroid dependency. Subjects receiving cannabis reported improved appetite and sleep, with no significant side effects. “Taking into account that Crohn’s disease is a chronic debilitating disease that sometimes severely may compromise patients’ quality of life,” the authors wrote, “the ability to provide symptomatic relief judicially, in carefully selected patients, should not be overlooked.” The researchers also discussed the limitations of their study and of any potential cannabis therapies in general: It should be noted […] that our patients were treated for only a short period. It is well known that cannabis dependence exists and patients might have difficulty weaning after prolonged cannabis use, even when the IBD is in complete remission. Therefore, until further data are available, long-term medical cannabis cannot be recommended. Some researchers have also criticized this study’s methods as not a true double-blinded placebo study (where neither participant nor researcher knows which group each person is in), as many participants were able to tell if they were in the placebo group or not. It is also noteworthy that after two weeks without cannabis, both placebo group and non-placebo group became statistically identical in terms of CDAI scores. Unfortunately, there has not been much in the way of more recent data to work with since that study was published. A 2014 study published in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases — based on patient survey data — suggested that cannabis improved symptoms, but that it also increased the risk of a patient needing surgery: Cannabis use is common in patients with IBD and subjectively improved pain and diarrheal symptoms. However, Cannabis use was associated with higher risk of surgery in patients with Crohn’s disease. Patients using Cannabis should be cautioned about potential harm, until clinical trials evaluate efficacy and safety. A review paper on the topic published in 2015 describes the state of the field this way: Until clinical trials with objective measurement of treatment effects over an extended period of time are conducted to examine the safety and efficacy of marijuana for the treatment of IBD, there is insufficient evidence for the use of marijuana for the treatment of IBD. Despite these considerable limitations and uncertainties, cloned viral stories from as recently as April 2018 refer to that 2013 study as “new” and proof that cannabis can cause complete remission of Crohn’s disease. The problem has been exacerbated by what appears to be a network of celebrity Facebook accounts tirelessly resharing various iterations of this and other dubious health stories. An April 2018 version of the “cannabis leads to complete remission” post copied from viral website Providr and republished on a website called “Hiptoro” was shared (all within the same 5 minute period on 24 April 2018) by the accounts of: While these celebrities have, to our knowledge, no specific expertise in inflammatory bowel disease research or scientific reporting, posting popular health articles that claim to cure a bad thing with a substance that many people enjoy using is a great way to build your online presence. It is not, however, a great way to keep the Internet free of dubious claims.
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34673
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Bravecto brand Flea and tick remedy is dangerous to dogs.
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A widely-shared Facebook post sought to warn pet owners that BRAVECTO chewable flea and tick remedy is supposedly harmful to dogs.
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unproven
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Critter Country, dogs
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On 11 June 2015, the Facebook page Pet Helpers published a post warning dog owners about the purported dangers of BRAVECTO chewable flea and tick remedy: Pet Helpers is incredibly saddened to learn of the recent death of one of our adopted dogs. This post is in loving memory of Duncan who was taken to his heavenly home last Thursday. This is from his family … It has been too painful for us to post on his passing. We are still grieving deeply and miss him terribly. He was only 4 years old and died after a visit to the vet. He was put on a new flea chewable that took his life less than 24 hours after taking it. Our other dog who went to the vet at the same time and was prescribed the same flea chewable almost died on Friday from the same medicine. At this time we are not sure he will still make it as there is no antidote for it and our research has shown that several dogs have died within 30 days due to liver and kidney failure after taking this medication. Wish we had known this beforehand! Would have never allowed this to be prescribed, let alone given it to our dogs. Never again will we use a chewable flea & tick med! Please Keep Patti Winter and Todd Michael in your prayers. I fostered Duncan 3 yrs ago and he was such a joy. Please avoid this drug called Bravecto. I know many vets are pushing it and it just isn’t safe and there isn’t enough info out there yet. According to that post, a pet-owning family had seen one of their pets die within a day of being given BRAVECTO chewables, and that another of their dogs had nearly died after being given the same treatment at the same time. The post also asserted that BRAVECTO chewables were cause of death in several other dogs who had died of liver and kidney failure shortly after taking the same medication. Bravecto (fluralaner) is a systemic antiparasitic drug introduced to the veterinary market by Merck in 2014. A 7 March 2014 study published in the journal Parasites & Vectors (based upon a study of 32 beagles treated with fluralaner) observed no serious adverse side effects attributed to the medication: Oral administration of fluralaner, formulated as a chewable tablet, to healthy dogs at dose rates of up to 281.3 mg/kg on three occasions at 8-week intervals did not lead to any treatment-related findings that could be detected through careful clinical observation, clinical pathological evaluation or on gross or microscopic post mortem examination. Oral administration of fluralaner at the highest recommended treatment dose (56 mg/kg) is well tolerated by dogs and has a safety margin of more than five in healthy dogs eight weeks of age or older and weighing at least 2 kg. A 15 May 2014 “Freedom of Information Summary” [PDF] published on the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) web site reiterated the results of that study: There were no clinically-relevant, treatment-related effects on physical examinations, body weights, food consumption, clinical pathology (hematology, clinical chemistries, coagulation profiles and urinalysis), gross pathology, histopathology, or organ weights. Diarrhea, mucoid and bloody feces were the most common observations in this study, occurring at a similar incidence in the treated and control groups. Five of the twelve treated dogs that experienced one or more of these signs did so within 6 hours of the first dosing. One dog in the 3X group was observed to be dull, inappetent, with evidence of bloody diarrhea, vomiting and weight loss beginning five days following the first dose. One dog in the 1X group vomited food four hours following the first dose. As the BRAVECTO social media warning spread among dog owners, the Wilson Street Veterinary Facebook page published a response addressing rumors about the drug’s safety. In that post, Dr. Michael Mogavero stated that the drug had been extensively tested prior to its release and had proved safe for dogs: We have been hearing some alarming statements made about the flea and tick medication, Bravecto. Dr. Michael Mogavero states the following: “After having read some of the posts on facebook regarding the safety of Bravecto, I felt it reasonable to make those of you who are concerned, aware of some information that you should know about this product. Let me first say that veterinary pharmaceutical companies take the reporting of adverse reactions very seriously and are obligated by law to document all. Should you feel that your pet has had one please report it to your veterinarian as soon as possible. Bravecto has been available worldwide for almost 18 months, in the United States for 1 year and here in Canada for about 8 months. To date, virtually all adverse reactions that have been seen or reported pertain to the gastrointestinal system, ie vomiting, decreased appetite, diarrhea, lethargy, excessive drinking and gas. The active ingredient fluralaner, works by inhibiting the nervous system of insects. It does not have any effect on the nervous system of animals. Fluralaner will in fact pass through both the liver and kidneys but is not metabolized by either and is excreted in feces, in the same form as it was ingested unaltered. The literature and clinical use supports that Bravecto is safe, and consider for a moment all the animals that will not be infected by and succumb to the growing number of tick borne disease that we are seeing worldwide. As a practicing veterinarian I have prescribed this product within confidence in both its safety and efficacy. I am 100% confident that should there be any real concern with respect to this product the manufacturer will advise us without hesitation. Your pets health remain both mine and the health care team at Merck Animal Healths primary concern.” Michael Mogavero DVM In September 2018, the FDA issued a safety communication advising consumers of reports of adverse events in dogs and cats treated with Bravecto and similar products, while noting that “these products continue to be safe and effective for the majority of animals”: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is alerting pet owners and veterinarians to be aware of the potential for neurologic adverse events in dogs and cats when treated with drugs that are in the isoxazoline class. Since these products have obtained their respective FDA approvals, data received by the agency as part of its routine post-marketing activities indicates that some animals receiving Bravecto, Nexgard or Simparica have experienced adverse events such as muscle tremors, ataxia, and seizures. Another product in this class, Credelio, recently received FDA approval. These products are approved for the treatment and prevention of flea infestations, and the treatment and control of tick infestations. The FDA is working with manufacturers of isoxazoline products to include new label information to highlight neurologic events because these events were seen consistently across the isoxazoline class of products. The FDA carefully reviewed studies and other data on Bravecto, Credelio, Nexgard and Simparica prior to approval, and these products continue to be safe and effective for the majority of animals. The agency is asking the manufacturers to make the changes to the product labeling in order to provide veterinarians and pet owners with the information they need to make treatment decisions for each pet on an individual basis. Veterinarians should use their specialized training to review their patients’ medical histories and determine, in consultation with pet owners, whether a product in the isoxazoline class is appropriate for the pet. Although FDA scientists carefully evaluate an animal drug prior to approval, there is the potential for new information to emerge after marketing, when the product is used in a much larger population. In the first three years after approval, the FDA pays particularly close attention to adverse event reports, looking for any safety information that may emerge. The FDA monitors adverse drug event reports received from the public or veterinarians, other publicly available information (such a peer-reviewed scientific articles), and mandatory reports from the animal drug sponsor (the company that owns the right to market the drug). Drug sponsors must report serious, unexpected adverse events within 15 days of the event. In addition, they must submit any events that are non-serious, plus any laboratory studies, in vitro studies, and clinical trials that have not been previously submitted to the agency, on a bi-annual basis for the first two years following product approval and annually thereafter.
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29551
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The government buried news of weather modification in the classifieds section of a small newspaper.
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What's true: The Los Angeles Department of Public Works (DPW) placed classified ads in the Pasadena Star News in early 2016 notifying locals about upcoming cloud seeding equipment installations. What's false: The only way residents could learn of the program was via a hard to find classified ad; the media ignored the announcement; cloud seeding is a shadowy and sinister form of weather modification somehow linked to chemtrails.
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false
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Uncategorized, cloud seeding, conspiracy, conspiracy theories
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On 12 March 2016, the web site Wakeup World (described as news pertaining to the “energetic organism we call Earth, the Universe and the Multiverse”) published a blog post claiming the American government “quietly” admitted to engaging in “weather modification” activities in a notice buried in the classifieds section of a small California newspaper: … the level of propaganda and indoctrination that the average American must wade through in order to get the smallest amount of Truth is staggering. We have reached a point in which Americans are so overwhelmed with the current battle taking place between the Alternative News community and mainstream media, and its barrage of contradicting “Facts,” that most have simply chosen to completely remove themselves from any critical thinking. Even when the government itself reveals an age-old lie to be true, most are so indoctrinated with the idea of the “conspiracy” that they convince themselves that the revelation is just another trick of those deceptive “conspiracy theorists.” … A perfect example of this is weather modification. Weather modification, geoengineering, chemtrails; these are all topics that if brought up in most circles today, would garner the speaker the telltale look that most Truthers have become all too familiar with. It is a look that has been ingrained into all who have opted to cast aside their critical thinking for their comforting daily lie. There is a herd mentality that has been established that causes even those on the fence or those interested in “outside the box” ideas, to fall in line while surrounded by the docile mass. So when the government recently released a “Notice of Intent” on page 11 of the Pasadena Star Classifieds, announcing their plan to carry out weather modification in Los Angeles County, it became clear that those blank stares should be turned inward, for some much needed self-reflection and re-evaluation. The post included photographs of early 2016 classified ads placed by Los Angeles County’s Department of Public Works (DPW) in the Pasadena Star News: The blog went on to assert that the odd venue for announcement was clearly an attempt to bury the information from the public, particularly sharper folks who’d kept an eye on such developments over the years: Obviously the appropriate area of the paper to release such a controversial topic is the classifieds, where it will no doubt be noticed by all. Sarcasm aside, it is clear they did not want anyone to take notice of this declaration of weather manipulation that has been fervently denied up until last year. However, the Los Angeles DPW devoted an entire page to the activity (cloud seeding) mentioned in the classified advertisement [PDF]. That document explained cloud seeding was an anti-drought measure practiced intermittently for more than half a century in Los Angeles: Yes, since in the 1950’s the County of Los Angeles has conducted cloud seeding activities in order to augment local water supplies. When there is abundant rain or major fires affect the targeted watersheds, cloud seeding is temporarily halted. Public Works last had a cloud seeding contract in 2009 with North American Weather Consultants, Incorporated. Also addressed was the classified ad, which was not new in 2016: A Public Notice of the Draft Mitigated Negative Declaration (DMND) was published in the Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Times, Pasadena Star News, and San Gabriel Valley Tribune newspapers on July 24, 2009. Copies of the DMND were also sent to 8 cities and 11 local libraries … A Notice of Intent was published in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star, and Los Angeles Daily newspapers from January 22 through February 5, 2016. The FAQ also discussed concerns about safety and chemtrails, noting that data was collected on cloud seeding from the 1950s onward. Regarding chemtrails, the DPW said: There is no evidence of any connection between cloud seeding and chemical trails (chemtrails). Atmospheric scientists use the term “contrails” which are defined as trails of condensed water vapor created by an engine at high altitudes. These trails are the result of normal emissions of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and some carbon-containing particulates. Contrails are normally observed on otherwise clear days, when cloud seeding would not be conducted. Cloud seeding sources do not produce such visible clouds. Per the original blog post (which gained additional traction via the unreliable Facebook page “The Mind Unleashed”), government officials sought to hide the cloud seeding initiative by placing news of it in a single classified ads section. However, the DPW stated that the same ad appeared in multiple Los Angeles-area newspapers. First, the story wasn’t restricted to the classifieds. On the same date the blog post was published warning of this secret classifieds-only initiative CBS News covered cloud seeding in Los Angeles, as did KNSD and Gizmodo (on 9 March 2016); The Weather Channel (on 10 March 2016) KCAL (on 11 March 2016); and the Los Angeles Times (all the way back on 8 March 2016). Moreover, the claim that the government “fervently” denied such programs until the 2016 classified ad appeared was easily proved false. The National Center for Atmospheric Research and University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (NCAR and UCAR) published a fact sheet in 2008, Scientific American and U.S. News and World Report covered cloud seeding in 2009, ABC News reported on it way back in 2002, and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) released a fact sheet in 2001. It would be difficult for anyone with a consistent interest in cloud seeding to miss news and information published widely over the years; the conspiracy’s core claims relied on an audience that was to-date unfamiliar with the practice wholesale. So while it was true Los Angeles’ DPW announced cloud seeding plans via classified ads in early 2016, the disclosure was neither “quiet” nor novel in 2016; cloud seeding in the area occurred intermittently and openly beginning in the 1950s. Moreover, the 12 March 2016 blog post claiming that the program was a subtle admission (validating long-held suspicions) neglected to mention widespread media coverage across several high-profile sites in the days prior to its publication. Focusing on one of several classified ads provided the inaccurate impression that the program was largely secretive in nature, but information was easily obtained via both the DPW’s web site and in contemporaneous news coverage.
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26153
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"Facebook post Says Donald Trump won the Ellis Island award for ""patriotism, tolerance, brotherhood and diversity” alongside Muhammad Ali and Rosa Parks."
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Worshippers gathered at battered churches in the Mozambican port of Beira on Sunday, praying for divine protection as the death toll crept up from a cyclone and floods around southern Africa.
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false
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Facebook Fact-checks, Facebook posts,
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“We asked Jesus to protect us, so that this does not happen again,” said congregant and survivor Maria Domingas, 60, who saw trees crashing into her house and water filling her bedroom. Cyclone Idai hit Beira, on the Indian Ocean, with winds up to 170 kph (105 mph), before barrelling inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi, flattening homes and killing at least 656 people. Mozambique’s death toll rose to 446 from 417, a government minister said on Sunday. In Zimbabwe, U.N. agencies have given different tolls of 259 and 154, while in Malawi 56 people died in heavy rains ahead of Idai. At the Universal Church in Beira, evangelical Christians gathered in the patio due to heavy damage from the cyclone. The sheet metal roof had caved in, cables draped across wooden chairs, and the floor was a mess of broken rubble. The congregation stretched arms skywards and swayed in prayer. “You can see the strength in their eyes,” said the 36-year-old pastor, known as Junior. “From today, we are looking forward.” As he led the service with some 150 people, a piece of partly detached roof rattled in the wind. “Only with God can we move forward,” said Rosa Manuel, 59, who lost a house she had built to rent. Mozambique’s Land and Environment Minister Celso Correia said the cyclone had affected 531,000 people in his country, with 110,000 people in makeshift camps. Helicopters and boats have been rescuing some people stranded for days on rooftops and trees. Some survivors have been digging through rubble with their bare hands to search for loved ones, while government and aid agencies have been flying in help. There are fears of disease. “We will have cholera, we will have malaria. It’s unavoidable in this situation, so the government is opening a cholera treatment centre already,” Correia told reporters. Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the humanitarian situation was gradually improving. “Every day the water recedes we reach more people. Every day the roads open we have better access and we can deliver at more volume and that is the important thing here,” he said. In Washington, the Pentagon said it would provide up to $6.5 million in humanitarian assistance to provide logistics support for up to 10 days, beginning March 22. “The scope of logistics support includes airlift of relief materials, responders and 3rd party personnel,” a Pentagon statement said. “U.S. Africa Command is actively monitoring and assessing the situation while positioning assets to support the Government of the Republic of Mozambique,” the top U.S. general responsible for Africa said in a separate statement.
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2959
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Settlement reached over deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak.
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Owners and insurers of a now-bankrupt Massachusetts pharmacy linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak have agreed to pay more than $100 million to compensate victims, families of victims and creditors.
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true
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Health News
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The preliminary settlement announced on Monday, which requires court approval, would resolve many claims arising from tainted steroid injections linked to New England Compounding Pharmacy Inc of Framingham, Massachusetts. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 64 people died and 751 were sickened in 20 U.S. states by injections of methylprednisolone acetate, a drug typically used to ease back pain. The outbreak occurred after NECC shipped tainted vials of the steroid to medical facilities throughout the United States. NECC filed for bankruptcy protection December 21, 2012, two months after shutting down as the outbreak began. Thomas Sobol, a partner at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro representing a plaintiffs’ steering committee, called the accord “a big step forward in getting justice for victims.” Kristen Johnson Parker, another Hagens Berman partner, in a phone interview said, “All victims of the NECC tragedy should be able to share in the funds.” NECC’s owners, bankruptcy trustee Paul Moore and lawyers for a committee of unsecured NECC creditors also confirmed the settlement in a joint statement. The owners denied liability or wrongdoing. Settlement funds are expected to come from the owners, insurers, tax refunds and proceeds from the sale of a related business. “We are pleased that a significant amount of funds will become available for distribution to victims and their families as compensation for the deaths, injuries and suffering they endured as a result of this tragic meningitis outbreak,” said Moore, a partner at Duane Morris. The accord requires final documentation and does not cover claims against various clinics that sold the tainted steroid or various vendors used by NECC. According to NECC’s bankruptcy filing, the company’s equity shareholders were Carla Conigliaro with a 55 percent stake, Barry Cadden and Lisa Conigliaro Cadden each with a 17.5 percent stake, and Gregory Conigliaro with a 10 percent stake. A lawyer for the owners did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The case is In re: New England Compounding Pharmacy Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Massachusetts, No. 12-19882.
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6337
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Virginia gov’s yearbook: Probe of racist photo completed.
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A law firm has completed its investigation into how a racist photo appeared on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s yearbook page 35 years ago, and is expected to release the results on Wednesday.
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true
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Norfolk, Virginia, Medical schools, North America, Ralph Northam, U.S. News
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Eastern Virginia Medical School announced Tuesday that it plans a news conference and will make a written report of the investigation public. The school’s statement included no details about what the investigation found out about Northam’s 1984 yearbook page, which includes a photo of a man in blackface standing next to someone in Ku Klux Klan clothing. Northam’s office declined to comment. The medical school in Norfolk hired the law firm McGuireWoods, which is also a top lobbying firm, to conduct an independent investigation. Virginia politics was turned upside down in a matter of hours in early February after a conservative website posted a picture online of Northam’s medical school yearbook page. The Democratic governor issued two apologies within hours, initially indicating that he was one of the people in the picture. By midnight it appeared his entire political base was gone, with the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, other key Democratic groups and top allies calling on him to resign. Northam reversed course at a news conference the next day, saying he was convinced it was not him in the picture, while revealing that he did in fact wear blackface once decades ago, to look like Michael Jackson for a dance contest. Defying calls to resign, he said he wanted to focus his remaining three years in office on addressing longstanding racial inequities. While he was all but invisible in February and much of March, the governor is making routine public appearances again. And he’s won praise from black lawmakers and others for several recent policy moves. Those include a halt to suspending the suspension of driver’s licenses for motorists with unpaid court fines and costs, and a review into how public schools teach our nation’s racial history. The heat for Northam to resign significantly lessened after scandal enveloped his potential successors. Two women publicly accused Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault, which he denies, and Attorney General Mark Herring announced he’d also worn blackface in college, just days after he too called on Northam to resign. Both Fairfax and Herring also resisted calls to resign. And other politicians around the South soon had their own explaining to do over yearbook images taken long ago. But the incident will forever mark Northam’s time in office, and opponents still use it against him. House Majority Leader Del. Todd Gilbert recently said Northam had chosen to “repair his own racist legacy,” rather than protect victims of domestic abuse after the governor vetoed a bill requiring a mandatory jail term for repeat domestic abusers. The photo on Northam’s yearbook page was one of at least three blackface photos in the 1984 publication, which was reviewed by an Associated Press reporter. One of the others shows a man in blackface who is dressed up as a woman wearing a wig. A caption reads: ”‘Baby Love,’ who ever thought Diana Ross would make it to Medical School!” Calling the photos “shockingly abhorrent,” school leaders commissioned an investigation into past yearbooks and the school’s culture. Thousands of letters and emails were sent to alumni asking for information as part of the investigation. Former students who worked on the 1984 yearbook have disagreed over whether the photo could have been mistakenly placed on Northam’s page. Dr. Giac Chan Nguyen-Tan, a physician practicing in Connecticut, said earlier this year that a page he laid out for the yearbook was changed without his knowledge before publication. But fellow yearbook staffer Dr. William Elwood disagreed that any photos were mixed up and said it was unlikely someone could have pulled a prank, because a limited number of people had keys to the yearbook room. __ Suderman reported from Richmond, Virginia.
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30795
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A 29-year-old San Diego Zoo intern was arrested and charged with attempting sexually assault a gorilla.
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Parenthetically, the mugshot used in the WNDR article was a purposely distorted image of a black male that has been used on racist websites for years to insult and demean people of color.
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false
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Junk News, huzlers, world news daily report
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In late November 2017, several unreliable web sites published identical articles reporting that a zookeeper at the San Diego Zoo had been arrested and charged with sexual assault on a 15-year-old male gorilla. The story appears to have originated on World News Daily Report, which reported: Akimbo Obwe’bwe, a 29-year-old zoo intern originally from Gabon, was found guilty of feeding sedatives to Big George, one of the zoo’s top attractions, and partaking in sexual activity with the sedated animal. According to unreleased video footage, Obwe’bwe proceeded to insert the animal’s penis inside his mouth for several minutes but apparently underestimated the strength of the medication, leading the animal to wake up and lash back at the zookeeper, alerting other employees. “Although Mr. Obwe’bwe claims the sexual relationship was consensual, video footage clearly shows he attempted to sedate the animal,” Adam Simmons, a San Diego Zoo spokesman told reporters. We found no mention of such an arrest in any mainstream news source, however, including the San Diego Union-Tribune, which frequently reports on major and minor happenings at the zoo. This should not come as a surprise, given that WNDR describes its content as “satirical,” and virtually everything on the web site is fiction: All characters appearing in the articles in this website — even those based on real people — are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any persons, living, dead, or undead is purely a miracle. Bestiality appears to be a favorite theme of the WNDR staff, whose previous articles include fabricated reports of humans sexually assaulting octopuses, alligators, and orangutans. Although some might find them repetitive and unfunny, these lurid stories presumably serve their commercial purpose of attracting clicks and earning advertising dollars.
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9269
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Flu nasal spray provides similar protection against influenza as flu shot: Study
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This McMaster University news release reports the results of a study looking at effectiveness of two different types of flu vaccine in a Canadian community. The release refrained from using sensational language to describe the study, and it clearly identifies who funded the research. However, it missed the mark when describing the effectiveness of the study. It focused on the wrong metric–the “uptake”– that is, how many people in each study group were vaccinated. Instead, we should have been informed of the main outcome of the study, which was the rates of influenza in communities vaccinated with nasal vs injected vaccine over the course of the study. (These rates were statistically no different: 5.2% for the standard vs 5.3% for the nasal vaccine.) An important aspect of this study is that previously, a CDC advisory committee had recommended against using the nasal sprays to vaccinate children for the 2016-2017 flu season. If that recommendation was incorrect, then using the spray as well as standard injections gives both individuals and public health officials more options in the control of a reoccurring disease. This study, if its results are borne out, offers valuable information for the public.
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true
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influenza,McMaster University,vaccine
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This release doesn’t discuss costs in its comparison of influenza shots versus nasal sprays, although both modes of immunization have been around for a long while and the costs for both are easily known. While flu immunizations are often free through public health clinics and such, some people receive their immunizations from their family physicians and carry a specific cost. Knowing the difference in costs between the two types is useful information both for people and public health officials. The release reports similar rates of vaccine uptake for intranasal vaccine and standard flu shots. But it does not quantify benefits for the main outcome of the study, that is, rates of influenza in communities vaccinated with nasal vs injected vaccine over the course of the study. These rates were statistically no different: 5.2% for the standard vs 5.3% for the nasal vaccine. This release makes no mention of possible harms that my follow the use of either the influenza vaccine injections or nasal spray, even though there are well-known restrictions on whom should and should not receive the nasal spray, and potential negative reactions to the injections among some people. The release points out that the study was the “first blinded randomized controlled trial” done in children within largely closed communities and it found similar efficacy in using the two modes of immunization. However, we do wish the release had addressed limitations, as well as some of the complexity of making these results generalizable to a larger population, as we saw with NPR’s take on the news. While media attention is routinely heightened leading up to and during flu season, this release does not appear to reach the level of disease mongering. The release does identify the chief funder of the study, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, although it offers no information on possible conflicts of interest among any of the researchers. The abstract of the study does state that two of the researchers do have links to pharmaceutical firms, but not in relation this study. Since the study looked a two forms of influenza vaccine administration, it obviously addresses the question of comparing alternatives. Both forms of immunization — shots and nasal spray — have been around for some time, their availability is widely known, earning the release a Satisfactory in this category. The release makes clear that the novelty of this study is its ability to examine both indirect effects of vaccination on the community as well as direct effects for persons receiving the vaccine. The release does not use any unjustifiable language.
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5688
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Northam announces advancements in mental health treatment.
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Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said the state’s 40 mental health centers are now all offering walk-in mental evaluations.
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true
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Creigh Deeds, Mental health, Health, Virginia, Ralph Northam
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Northam said Thursday that the a person in need of a mental health assessment can get one at the state’s Community Services Boards without an appointment instead of waiting days or weeks for an appointment. Last year lawmakers and the governor approved extra funding to make sure every Community Services Board could offer same-day assessments. Virginia has made increased funding for mental health treatment since the suicide of Sen. Creigh Deeds’ son in 2013 exposed gaps in the state’s mental health system.
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1855
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Checking up on your fitness form.
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From jumping rope to swinging a kettle bell to pounding a treadmill, a finely-tuned form can spell the difference between a sound body and a sore knee.
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true
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Health News
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A man does chin-ups at a city park in Kiev, March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Anatolii Stepanov Experts say often a professional tweak can go a long way towards firming up your workout. “People usually injure themselves on basic exercises, like a squat or a bench press,” said New York-based personal trainer Tiffany Boucher. But Boucher, who works for the national chain of fitness centers Equinox, said form is relatively easy to fix. “Something is being overused, usually in tandem with some type of muscle imbalance,” she said. “So it’s often about getting people to put their shoulders in a certain place, find their center of gravity, engage their abdominals, or tilt their pelvis in a certain direction.” She said even a small adjustment can be transformative. Knees are the most common focus of client complaint, according to Boucher. Once form is corrected, relief often comes within weeks. “People don’t have that continued inflammation,” she said. Dr. Daniel Solomon, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, believes in getting the help of a professional trainer before embarking on a new routine. “Most of what we see are strains and really preventable muscle-type injuries,” said Solomon, a California-based physician specializing in sports medicine. “People just do things their bodies aren’t ready to do or capable of sustaining for long.” Another big mistake is skipping the warm up. “They jump right in instead of spending 15 minutes to do a good cardio warm up and stretching before grabbing the weight,” he said. He said some workouts just require more expertise than others. “I’m a proponent of using free weights,” he said. “But you’ve got to make sure you have the technique correct.” Jessica Matthews, an exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise, said many highly effective workouts, such as kettle bells, medicine balls, and plyometric (jumping) moves, can be dangerous if done incorrectly. “Some workouts are trickier,” said Matthews, who is based in San Diego, California. “I’ve seen a lot of people use free weights incorrectly. There is a much greater margin of error than with machines, which move on a fixed path.” Before going all-out on the plyometric training that characterizes so many home DVD workouts, she said it’s important to learn to land safely, which means softly and on the mid-foot. “The body is one big kinetic chain. Dysfunction in one area will create dysfunction in another,” she said. “So suddenly your hip is bothering you because of instability in your ankle.” Before tackling the latest high-intensity, technique-based workout, Matthews advises strengthening your stability and mobility through back-to-basic exercises such as plank, side plank, lunges and squats. “Build that solid foundation first,” she said. “Then progress to more explosive workouts that take more advanced skills.” If don’t have your own personal trainer, Boucher said, don’t hesitate to ask a fitness professional at your gym to observe your form for a few seconds. Then be open to the feedback. “Do you hunch your shoulders? Hunch your back? “ she said. “Maybe one side of your body is tighter than the other. Or the left hip is more rotated than the right.” “Sometimes it’s that little thing that you can’t catch on your own,” she said.
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32585
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A Las Vegas couple was arrested for modifying their baby's ears to make them pointed like a Vulcan's.
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News4KTLA (predictably) features no disclaimer warning readers its content is entirely fabricated — the site’s “About” page merely says it features “local news for southern Louisiana and the surrounding area.” News4KTLA is one of several fly-by-night fake news purveyors utilizing visual and call-letter elements to dupe social media users into spreading misinformation. Previous News4KTLA hoaxes included claims a woman cut off a rapist’s genitals and fed them to him, the Flint water crisis was caused by corpses in the river, Dasani was recalled over “clear parasites” in the water, a teen died participating in a social media “masturbation challenge,” and a man lost his penis during a rape due to the RapeX device.
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false
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Junk News, fake news, news 4 ktla
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On 18 June 2016, the web site News4KTLA published an article reporting that a Las Vegas couple had been arrested and charged with child abuse, child endangerment, and performing a surgical procedure without a license after attempting to modify their baby’s ears into a pointed shape akin to those found on Vulcans in the fictional Star Trek universe: A Las Vegas mom was arrested on Tuesday after an acquaintance called the police saying that the mother was doing body modifications on the child. 19-year-old Tonya Creighton says she was just trying to make her daughter look “cool” and meant no harm to the baby. Child Protective Services was called to the scene and the baby was removed from Creighton and put in their custody. According to the anonymous tip made by Creighton’s acquaintance, the mother and the baby’s father, 22-year-old Brian Shekel gave the baby Benadryl to calm her down and applied a numbing agent to her ears. They then began the “Ear Pointing” surgery on the child, which is usually performed by a plastic surgeon at a cost of around $3000. According to the parents confession, they knew they would find no plastic surgeon willing to do it to the child and they “could not afford it because they had no jobs and their only income is welfare.” “I don’t see what the big deal is,” said Creighton in her statement to the police. “That’s my child and I should have the right to do whatever I want to do with her. There was no harm done and everybody is doing it anyway and it looks cool. Our friend up the street did our ears and we didn’t need no plastic surgeon. It’s a family trait, and we wanted our daughter to have it.” The article was nothing more than another clickbait fabrication from a fake news site, however. The story’s social media popularity was likely due in part to the fake news site’s appropriation of the call letters KTLA, which identify a legitimate Los Angeles television station.
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9683
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A Diet High In Fiber May Help Protect Against Breast Cancer
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This story focuses on a recent study from the journal Pediatrics, which found that women who ate more dietary fiber during adolescence and young adulthood had a lower risk of developing breast cancer. The story does a nice job of addressing the strengths and weaknesses of the study — as does a competing story we reviewed from CBS. However, the story would have been even better if it had used more appropriate language in the headline. This type of study can’t prove cause and effect, and so it can’t really tell us whether fiber “may help protect against breast cancer.” The story also should’ve tried to give readers a sense of the absolute risk reduction seen in those who ate more fiber. While the story reports a 16% lower lifetime risk in the high fiber consumers, this is a relative risk reduction that we believe is misleading. Our calculations suggest that the absolute rate of breast cancer was 3.3% for the lowest fiber consumers vs. 3.1% for the highest fiber consumers, a mere 0.2 percentage point difference. According to the CDC, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States, with more than 224,000 new cases reported in 2012 alone. Research findings that identify new ways to reduce the incidence of breast cancer are newsworthy, particularly when the new health measures also have significant ancillary health benefits — as is the case with consuming a fiber-rich diet high in fruits and vegetables.
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mixture
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breast cancer,Fiber,relative vs. absolute risk
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There are a lot of foods you can eat to increase your dietary intake of fiber, and the story singles out fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds. We’ll rate the story Not Applicable since most people are aware of the cost of the foods mentioned. However, we wish the story had discussed the fact that many of these healthy sources of dietary fiber are either unaffordable or unavailable to many young women, particularly those from low-income backgrounds who live in food deserts. As we noted with the CBS story, we recognize that this is a story about breast cancer risk, not about food availability. However, if a story focuses on the importance of a healthy diet, there should ideally be at least a brief acknowledgment that many people do not have access to the foods that make up a healthy diet. We recognize that it would be challenging for any journalist covering this story to report on the absolute risks seen in the study. The study does not report absolute risks, although it’s possible to calculate them based on the data provided. One could look at the number of cases in each quintile of dietary fiber (found in Table 2) and divide that by the number of people in each quintile (which is found in Table 1). There are several steps involved, but for the example of early adulthood dietary fiber and breast cancer risk in this cohort, you could do the following calculation: – 613 cases in quintile 1 / 18,364 women in quintile 1 = 3.3% later developed breast cancer (pre or post menopause). – 567 cases in quintile 5/ 18,167 women in quintile 5 = 3.1% later developed breast cancer (pre or post menopause). – The difference is 0.2 percentage point, which is quite a small absolute risk reduction. When such results aren’t reported in a study, we think journalists should press their sources to provide these numbers so that they can be disseminated to the public. The issue of absolute risk reduction is key to helping readers understand the impact of changing dietary behaviors. We think it’s important enough to rate any story Not Satisfactory when these numbers aren’t provided. We’re not aware of any harms from incorporating additional fiber into one’s diet. We’ll rate this not applicable. The story does a good job of describing the study, and also explicitly addresses a potential weakness in the work: namely, that it “relies on data from women who had to recall what they ate during high school. They were in their 30s and 40 when asked, so there could be “recall bias” — the women’s memories may be foggy.” The story would have been even stronger if it had noted that this was an observational study, rather than a clinical study, which means that using causative verbs to describe the results (e.g. fiber “may help protect” against breast cancer) is not justified. Stories on studies like this should always state the dietary element is “associated with” or “linked to” a beneficial outcome. In its second paragraph, the story says “…if you’re skimping on fiber, the health stakes are high, especially if you’re a teenage girl.” That’s scary language. This study is an interesting one, and possibly an important one, but it is also just one study addressing one risk factor for one disease. Granted, breast cancer is a scary disease. But the language here appears to be unduly alarming about the consequences of not eating a fiber-rich diet as a teenager. Also, since the absolute risk reduction is 0.2 percentage point there is no cause for alarm here. The story only quotes two researchers in regard to the study. One was the study’s lead author, and the other was the author of a commentary on the study that was published in the same issue of Pediatrics. A third source is quoted in regard to what can be done to get teens to eat more fiber, but that source doesn’t address the study in question. We’ll give the story credit for reaching beyond the authors of the study, but we think the story would be much stronger if it had incorporated more expert analysis on the study itself. The story doesn’t discuss other risk factors for breast cancer at all, much less other lifestyle choices that can reduce risk, such as maintaining a healthy weight, exercising, limiting alcohol consumption or getting enough sleep. Perspective is needed about ways we can stay healthy overall and reduce later cancer risk. There are no new products or services at issue in this story, and we addressed access to healthy foods under “Cost,” so we’ll rate this not applicable. This study is not the first to examine the possible link between dietary fiber and breast cancer risk. For example, a 2012 paper in the Annals of Oncology looked at 16 earlier studies on dietary fiber and breast cancer risk. There is no discussion of this earlier work, or how the new paper builds on or diverges from the previous research. The story went well beyond a news release, incorporating significant additional information — particularly in regard to how to communicate the findings to adolescent and young adult women.
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34889
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U.S. President Donald Trump was impeached with more votes than any other president in American history.
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The South Pacific island nation of Samoa has lifted a six week-state of emergency after the infection rate from a measles outbreak that has swept the country started to come under control.
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mixture
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Politics
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Samoa’s island population of just 200,000 has been gripped by the highly infectious disease that has killed 81 people, most of them babies and young children, and infected more than 5,600 people. The government said in a statement late on Saturday that the emergency orders, which included aggressive measures to contain the virus such as closing schools and restricting travel, put in place last month had ended. Measles cases are on the rise globally, including in wealthy nations such as the United States and Germany, where some parents shun life-saving vaccines due to false theories suggesting links between childhood immunizations and autism. Death and infection rates in Samoa started to slow in mid-December after a vaccine drive pushed immunization rates towards 95%, the level aid agencies say is effective in creating “herd immunity” that can contain the disease. Earlier in the year, an outbreak of measles hit the New Zealand city of Auckland, a hub for travel to and from small Pacific islands. The disease soon found a highly susceptible population in Samoa which had far lower vaccination rates than its neighbors.
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36346
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Noa Pothoven, 17, was euthanized at her request due to trauma resulting from rape and sexual abuse.
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Was a Dutch Teenager Euthanized Because of Rape Trauma?
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mixture
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Disinformation, Fact Checks
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In early June 2019, a number of English-speaking news organizations reported that a 17-year-old Dutch girl named Noa Pothove had been “euthanized” at her request, following years of unsuccessful treatment due to the trauma of rape and sexual abuse:Noa Pothoven: Raped girl, 17, dies by legal euthanasia in the Netherlands | Euronews https://t.co/cOBF36hGUs— Francis X. Rocca (@FrancisXRocca) June 5, 2019Among organizations reporting the claim were the Washington Post, the Daily Mail, The Sun, the New York Post, Fox News, and National Review:Teenager Euthanized for Post-Rape PTSD, Anorexia https://t.co/O8TRH68Kyq via @ForcedExit pic.twitter.com/mPiEG3PC7n— National Review (@NRO) June 4, 2019National Review‘s headline has since been changed, as have all others linked above. Originally, they were as follows:As myriad headlines attested, Pothoven’s death caused a firestorm of controversy in the English-language media, where it was instantly politicized. An example of the initial claims common in the altered reports came from Daily Mail‘s piece, which was later edited:A 17-year-old girl who was raped as a young child and felt she could no longer go on living has been legally euthanised at home with the help of an ‘end-of-life clinic’.Noa Pothoven died in a hospital bed in her living room after being granted the right to euthanasia in the Netherlands.The Dutch teenager from Arnhem felt that life had become unbearable and she could no longer carry on after she was attacked and sexually assaulted on three separate occasions, beginning when she was just 11 years old.Articles by the New York Post and The Sun respectively reported:A 17-year-old Dutch girl was legally allowed to kill herself using euthanasia after she was raped when younger and spent years battling depression, according to a report [on June 4 2019].“Love is letting go, in this case,” Noa Pothoven of Arnhem wrote in an Instagram post announcing her choice to die in the living room of her home Sunday.Pothoven — who was sexually abused at 11 and raped three years later — said she was sick of suffering “unbearable pain.A 17-year-old girl who was raped as a young child has been legally euthanised at her home after her suffering became “unbearable.” Noa Pothoven died on Sunday in an “end-of-life clinic” bed in her living room in the Netherlands after battling mental health problems for years.It is likely that claims about Pothoven’s purported death by euthanasia could have continued spreading ad nauseam. But early in the morning on June 5 2019, Politico Europe journalist Naomi O’Leary tweeted that the initial claims that Pothoven was “legally euthanized” were completely false:A 17-year-old rape victim was NOT euthanised in the Netherlands. @euronews @Independent @DailyMailUK @dailybeast are all wrongIt took me about 10 mins to check with the reporter who wrote the original Dutch story.Noa Pothoven asked for euthanasia and was refused (cont.) pic.twitter.com/e7PYQSCxG1— Naomi O'Leary (@NaomiOhReally) June 5, 2019O’Leary contacted a Dutch journalist who had long been reporting on Pothoven’s initial request for euthanasia — which was denied. He confirmed that Pothoven wasn’t euthanized:It was a story too horrible to be true: A 17-year-old victim of sexual assault had been euthanized in the Netherlands.And indeed, it wasn’t true. Noa Pothoven, a sufferer of anorexia and other mental illnesses, had previously sought euthanasia at a clinic without telling her parents — but she had been refused.The teenager died at the weekend, several days after she began to refuse all fluids and foods. Her parents and doctors agreed not to force feed her or compel her into treatment against her will.Was it euthanasia?“No no no no, you can’t speak of active euthanization,” said Paul Bolwerk, a journalist at local newspaper the Gelderlander who has followed Pothoven’s struggles with mental illness and spoken with her parents about their battles to find an effective treatment … “During the last months she had undertaken several attempts to commit suicide,” he said.“She got depressed more and more, and said, ‘Well, OK, now I press on the button. Now I say I will stop with all treatments.’ And that was very stressful for everyone, including the parents, the doctors, the psychiatrists,” he added. “So she stayed at home and decided not to eat and drink, and it was very hard to accept that for everyone.”O’Leary continued, adding that Dutch media did not report that Pothoven had died by euthanasia:But the English-language reporting of the story did, even as they cited Dutch news reports that did not speak of euthanasia.The simple falsehood spread around the world at lightning speed, as news organizations copied and republished the story without stopping to check the facts.In many cases, the error supported an editorial point of view. National Review‘s corrected article still contained this passage:This is where all assisted suicide/euthanasia legalization laws eventually lead. Once a society accepts killing is an acceptable way to eliminate human suffering, there is no limit as to the categories of suffering that will eventually justify eliminating the sufferer.Although corrections have been added to many stories originally reporting Noa Pothoven was “legally euthanized,” few — if any — contained a record of correction. The inaccurate story spiked and died down, and many English-language readers remained unaware of the wide-scale corrections to stories they had already read and shared.
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16013
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On Common Core education standards
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Walker hasn't explicitly advocated the Common Core education standards, but his position has varied. During most of his first term, the governor showed tacit support. By mid-2013, he was hitting the pause button on further implementation of the standards. In mid-2014, Walker called for an outright repeal. But by January 2015, he was saying only that he didn’t want school districts required to use Common Core. For a partial change of position and inconsistent statements, our rating is a Half Flip. ------ More on Scott Walker For profiles and stories on Scott Walker and 2016 presidential politics, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Scott Walker page. To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's web page.
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mixture
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Children, Education, Government Regulation, State Budget, States, Wisconsin, Scott Walker,
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"Abruptly and unmistakably, Gov. Scott Walker stated a position on what nationally had become a contentious issue among conservatives: the Common Core education standards. His one-sentence announcement on July 17, 2014 read: ""Today, I call on the members of the state Legislature to pass a bill in early January (2015) to repeal Common Core and replace it with standards set by people in Wisconsin."" Previously, Walker’s position had not been so stark. Later, after his State of the State speech on Jan. 13, 2015, it became even less clear. All as Walker embarks on a second term and, increasingly, captures attention as a potential 2016 candidate for The White House. So has Walker has done any sort of flip-flop on Common Core? As we turn to our Flip-O-Meter, it’s important to note we’re not making a value judgment about changing a position. Rather, we are looking at whether Walker has been consistent in his stance, or changed it. Some argue a change in position shows inconsistent principles or lack of backbone, others see it as pragmatism or a willingness to compromise. Walker support The Common Core State Standards were in place in Wisconsin before Walker became governor in January 2011. State schools superintendent Tony Evers had adopted them for the state, without controversy, seven months earlier. (Evers has remained a strong Common Core supporter.) Common Core is a set of standards for English and math unveiled in 2010 that came out of years of discussion between private nonprofit groups and state education departments. The goal was to better prepare students for college and careers and ensure that students in different states learn the same academic concepts. The federal government has had a role in encouraging states to adopt the standards, but they are voluntary. Walker gave a nod to Common Core in his first state budget, which became law in June 2011. It directed Evers’ Department of Public Instruction to come up with a new statewide test for school children, and that test would have to ""measure mastery"" of the Common Core standards. Seven months later, in January 2012, a report was issued by the state Read to Lead Task Force, which was formed by Walker and Evers, and chaired by Walker. The report made recommendations on improving children’s reading. It noted Wisconsin was among the first states to adopt the Common Core standards, which it called ""rigorous."" And one of the recommendations was to ensure that the state’s early learning standards aligned with Common Core. In April 2013, Alan J. Borsuk, an education fellow at Marquette University, observed in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel commentary that nearly three years after its adoption in Wisconsin, Common Core was little known outside of education circles. Walker ""has been low key in his support, but nonetheless has been on board,"" Borsuk wrote. ""Implementation is one of the things that Walker and Evers have cooperated on. There is criticism and opposition, but it has been pretty low volume."" So, Walker showed tacit support for Common Core during most of his first term. Then there was change. Review, repeal Walker’s second state budget became law in June 2013. It prohibited the Department of Public Instruction from ""directing school districts"" to do further implementation of Common Core. But Common Core standards adopted by the state superintendent to that point remained in effect. Seven months later, in January 2014, Walker went further. In a speech at the State Education Convention, the governor said he was working on legislation to create a commission (to be chaired by Evers) to revisit the Common Core standards. Walker said they weren't high enough and were being dictated by people who weren't from Wisconsin, when they should be ""driven by people in Wisconsin."" Then six months after his speech -- and facing a formidable challenge from Democrat Mary Burke in his bid for re-election -- Walker issued his out-of-the-blue July 2014 news release calling for Common Core to be repealed (a stance he later reiterated). ""The declaration comes after months of virtually no public debate among Wisconsin lawmakers on the standards,"" a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel news article reported. ""Earlier this year, a proposal in the Legislature to undo them went nowhere, with Walker saying little."" Borsuk, of Marquette, wrote: ""The one-sentence news release issued by Walker symbolized how little this controversy has to do with serious work on specific aims for children's education and how much this is about politics and appealing to blocs of voters as the November (2014) election approaches."" Stepping back As definitive as Walker’s position had seemed to become, it would shift again. On Jan. 5, 2015, the day of Walker’s inauguration for his second term, The Daily Caller published comments from Laurel Patrick, the governor’s press secretary. She spoke of repealing Common Core -- but of something less than that, as well. ""As he works to continue transforming education, Gov. Walker will work with the Legislature on an education reform bill that includes accountability for all schools receiving state funds, as well as a repeal of Common Core,"" Patrick was quoted as saying. But she added: ""The bottom line is he wants to make sure that no school district in the state is required to use the Common Core standards."" That led Truth in American Education to accuse Walker of sending mixed signals. The group, which opposes Common Core, said ""making ‘sure that no school district in the state is required to use the Common Core standards’ sounds nice, but that is an opt-out not a repeal ….Walker needs to stop saying he wants Common Core repealed, but then signal that he will settle for a weaker opt-out bill."" A week later, in his State of the State address, Walker made no mention of repeal and seemed to be leaning toward opt-out, saying: ""I call on the members of the state Legislature to pass legislation making it crystal clear that no school district in the state is required to use Common Core standards. Going forward, I want to eliminate any requirement to use Common Core."" Our rating Walker hasn't explicitly advocated the Common Core education standards, but his position has varied. During most of his first term, the governor showed tacit support. By mid-2013, he was hitting the pause button on further implementation of the standards. In mid-2014, Walker called for an outright repeal. But by January 2015, he was saying only that he didn’t want school districts required to use Common Core. For a partial change of position and inconsistent statements, our rating is a . ------ More on Scott Walker For profiles and stories on Scott Walker and 2016 presidential politics, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Scott Walker page. To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's web page."
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The U.S. Postal Service has advised people hoping to vote by mail to request the required envelopes by October 20 2020.
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Did the United States Postal Service Urge Mail-In Voters to Request Envelopes by October 20th?
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true
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Fact Checks, Viral Content
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Amid increasing concern over the United States Postal Service’s efficiency leading up to the 2020 U.S. elections, a CBS News host’s tweet warned voters seeking to take part by mail.“USPS says you should give mail in ballots at least 14 days round trip,” Tony Dokoupil wrote on July 26 2020. “No guarantees. So if you plan to vote by mail, election day isn’t November 3rd. It’s October 20th. Or sooner. Don’t be one of the *tens of thousands* of people whose vote wasn’t counted in 2016.”. @USPS says you should give mail in ballots at least 14 days round trip. No guarantees.So if you plan to vote by mail, election day isn’t November 3rd.It’s October 20th.Or sooner.Don’t be one of the *tens of thousands* of people whose vote wasn’t counted in 2016.— Tony Dokoupil (@tonydokoupil) July 24, 2020The postal service has in fact made that statement to not only Dokoupil but other news organizations and reporters; the advisory appeared in a Washington Post story published on July 15 2020:Local elections offices are hiring temporary workers to process absentee ballots, and some local elections boards are adding options for voters to do curbside drop-offs of their mail ballots on Election Day.The Postal Service is also recommending that voters request their ballots at least 15 days before Election Day and mail their completed ballots at least one week before the due date.The advisory was also mentioned in a story republished on news sites for local Fox TV network affiliates on July 27 2020:“We recommend that jurisdictions immediately communicate and advise voters to request ballots at the earliest point allowable but no later than 15 days prior to election date,” USPS told FOX via email. “The Postal Service also recommends that voters contact local election officials for information about deadlines.”Dokoupil himself reported on the potential problem for mail-in ballots in a story for CBS This Morning; CBS created two batches of 100 mock mail-in ballots apiece from around several zip codes in Philadelphia and sent them to the same local P.O. box, which served as a stand-in for an actual election office.A week after sending his mock ballots from mailboxes around the city, Dokoupil went to retrieve them at the P.O. box to find that most of them were not inside. Postal staff later retrieved several of them, telling him that “they had them somewhere else.”However, Dokoupil did note that official mail-in ballots carry an official logo differentiating them from the regular mail CBS used for its reporting. According to the story:Out of the initial batch mailed a week earlier, 97 out of 100 votes had arrived. Three simulated persons, or 3 percent of voters, were effectively disenfranchised by mail by giving their ballots a week to arrive. In a close election, 3 percent could be pivotal.Four days after mailing the second batch of mock ballots, 21 percent of the votes hadn’t arrived.According to Postal Service recommendations, “voters should mail their return ballots at least one week prior to the due date.”However, nearly half of all states still allow voters to request ballots less than a week before the election.A USPS spokesperson, Martha Johnson, told us that the agency is asking both voters and election officials to be mindful of how long it takes postal workers to transport, process and deliver ballots as well as “the time that it takes for voters to consider and prepare their ballots, and the time that it takes for a ballot to be transported, processed, and delivered back to the election official.” The agency’s delivery standards, she said, have not changed. She also reiterated the agency’s guidance for requesting mail-in ballots:We recommend that customers who opt to vote through the U.S. Mail must understand their local jurisdiction’s requirements for timely submission of absentee ballots, including postmarking requirements. Voters must use First-Class Mail or an expedited level of service to return their completed ballots. In order to allow sufficient time for voters to receive, complete and return ballots via the mail, and to facilitate timely receipt of completed ballots by election officials, we strongly recommend that jurisdictions immediately communicate and advise voters to request ballots at the earliest point allowable but no later than 15 days prior to the election date. The Postal Service recommends that domestic, non-military voters mail their completed ballots back to the election officials at least one week prior to their state’s due date. The Postal Service also recommends that voters contact local election officials for information about deadlines.Tammy Patrick, a senior advisor for the advocacy group Democracy Fund, told CBS that her group estimated that between 80 million and 100 million United States voters would receive their ballots via mail in 2020. Prior to joining the non-profit organization, Patrick served on the Commissioner on the Presidential Commission on Election Administration under Barack Obama’s presidential administration.“States like Ohio, you can request your ballot on Saturday up until noon for Tuesday’s election,” said Patrick, who has also served as a former federal compliance officer for the elections department in Maricopa County, Arizona. “That is the worst possible thing. You are setting up the voters with false expectations, and you’re setting them up to fail.”A separate analysis published by NPR in July 2020 found that 65,000 absentee or mail-in ballots cast in primary elections until that point had been rejected because they arrived after the deadline.“That’s the sort of thing that makes me wary about what’s going to happen in November when we get an even larger influx of people who haven’t voted, or haven’t voted by mail in the past,” said Charles Stewart, a political scientist at the at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Obama himself added to the discussion about mail-in voting on July 28 2020, when he tweeted a graphic supplied by another group, Vote Save America, displaying the state-by-state deadlines for requesting a ballot. According to that graphic, the deadline for every state not exclusively voting by mail falls after the fifteen-day advisory issued by the U.S. Postal Service:The USPS told CBS in a statement:We employ a robust and proven process to ensure proper handling of all Election Mail, including ballots. This includes close coordination and partnerships with election officials at the local and state levels. As we anticipate that many voters may choose to use the mail to participate in the upcoming elections due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are conducting and will continue to proactively conduct outreach with state and local election officials and Secretaries of State so that they can make informed decisions and educate the public about what they can expect when using the mail to vote. As part of these outreach efforts, we will discuss our delivery processes and will consult with election officials about how they can design their mailings in a manner that comports with postal regulations, improves mailpiece visibility, and ensures efficient and cost-effective processing and delivery.Dokoupil’s story also followed reported concerns over the appointment of Louis DeJoy — a businessman and fundraiser for U.S. President Donald Trump — to oversee the USPS as Postmaster General in June 2020.“On the surface, there’s a real worry about cronyism and patronage and whether someone is being put into place to carry out an agenda,” American Postal Workers Union president Mark Dimondstein told the Post. “We hope that’s not the case.”The newspaper also reported:DeJoy told employees to leave mail behind at distribution centers if it delayed letter carriers from their routes, according to internal USPS documents obtained by The Washington Post and verified by the American Postal Workers Union and three people with knowledge of their contents, but who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution.“If the plants run late, they will keep the mail for the next day,” according to a document titled, “New PMG’s [Postmaster General’s] expectations and plan.” Traditionally, postal workers are trained not to leave letters behind and to make multiple delivery trips to ensure timely distribution of letters and parcels.Trump himself has repeatedly claimed — falsely — that voting by mail is inherently suspect and vulnerable to fraud, to the point that Twitter flagged two of his tweets on the issue in May 2020 for containing “potentially misleading information.”Update, July 29 2020 9:19 a.m. PST: Updated with comment from the US Postal Service.Comments
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As drug supplies run short, Egyptians turn to herbal remedies.
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In an economic crisis that has led to a shortage of medicines, Egyptians are skipping trips to drug stores and instead turning to herbal remedies to treat every-day illnesses.
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true
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Health News
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In the Cairo working class neighborhood of Basateen, dozens line up outside a decades-old herbal spice shop with pyramid-shaped stacks of jars on display, filled with everything from honey and ginger to camel’s hay. Apothecaries say there has been a roughly 70-80 percent increase in sales of their wares since a series of harsh economic reforms hit supplies of conventional medicines and increased the cost of some generic and even life-saving drugs. The government said on Thursday those price rises could reach as high as 15 percent for domestically-produced medicines and 20 percent for imports. Store owner Samy al-Attar - whose last name is Arabic for apothecary - says a knowledgeable apothecary can find substitutes for drugs treating almost all non-terminal illnesses. Just like pharmacies, the walls inside al-Attar’s store are lined with drawers and containers. But rather than drugs, they hold herbs, each said to have its own unique healing property. Customers crowd outside the shop window, as staff dash around the tiny interior, choosing from a variety of textures and colors, filling clear plastic bags with orders. Customers explain their symptoms and Al-Attar produces a concoction of spices and herbs - with a more affordable price tag then at the conventional chemists. Local spices and herbs cost between 5 and 10 Egyptian pounds ($0.27-0.54) per kilogram. ($1 = 18.5000 Egyptian pounds)
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2840
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South Africa slams Big Pharma in generic drugs row.
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South Africa on Friday slammed global drug firms over a covert campaign against its planned overhaul of intellectual property laws to favor cheaper generic drugs, accusing pharmaceutical companies of a “satanic” plot to commit “genocide”.
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true
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Health News
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It is not the first time drugmakers have clashed with Pretoria. A decade ago the industry was forced to climb down in a bruising battle with South Africa over AIDS drugs patents and access to generics. The latest fight reflects tension between an industry that wants to protect its intellectual property, even as it pushes further into emerging markets, and governments from India to Brazil that are determined to increase patients’ access to life-saving treatments. South Africa is in the final stages of implementing a new law that would allow generic drugmakers to produce cut-price copies of patented medicines and make it harder for firms to register and roll over patents. Global drugmakers have drawn up a $600,000 publicity campaign to mobilize local and overseas opposition to the intellectual property (IP) changes, according to a document written by a drugs industry lobby group and seen by Reuters. Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi on Friday lashed out at drugmakers, saying their campaign was aimed at turning South Africans against the government. “It’s a conspiracy of satanic magnitude,” he said. “This document can sentence many South Africans to death. This is a plan for genocide.” The ruling African National Congress is looking to cut healthcare costs as it grapples with the world’s heaviest HIV/AIDS caseloads and its biggest treatment program. The new law is expected to reduce medicine prices and open up a fledgling generic drug industry dominated by Aspen Pharmacare and Adcock Ingram. The policy would also close a loophole known as “ever-greening” that allows a drugmaker to make minor changes to an existing drug or discover a new use for it, and then register it as a totally new find. Healthcare activists say South Africa’s track record of approving drug patents - in 2008 it granted more than 2,400 patents compared with fewer than 300 in six years in Brazil - shows the need for reform. The document - prepared by U.S. consultancy Public Affairs Engagement for industry lobby Innovative Pharmaceutical Association South Africa (IPASA) - outlines a plan to delay the reform at least until after South Africa’s elections in early May by suggesting the new law would be politically damaging. “The world cares that South Africa is proposing to take a wrong turn in economic policy by weakening IP protections. And by cares, we mean both expresses compassionate concern and will take action by reducing investment,” the document reads. IPASA members include drugmakers such as Sanofi, Baxter International, Pfizer and Novartis. IPASA spokeswoman Val Beaumont confirmed the authenticity of the document but said the proposals were still under consideration. “No part of those proposals have been accepted. No part of that document has been implemented,” she told Reuters. The industry could now ditch the campaign - which it dubbed “Almost Political” - because the leaked document has likely weakened its negotiating position. Under current South African IP law, pharmaceutical companies are able to register drugs as new without being checked for their novelty.
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35178
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Photograph shows a weightlifter who suffered a prolapsed rectum during a powerlifting match.
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This fact check is not safe for anywhere.
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false
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Fauxtography, Risqué Business
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This email from the dawn of the millennium made its way to our inbox in 2003: This rather shocking photo was snapped in November 16th by a spectator at the collegiate power lifting championships at Pennsylvania State. The unfortunate competitor, who expressed a plea to remain anonymous, remembered to surgeons that he was “stuck” at the bottom of a personal best attempt in the squat lift when he “sort of pulled his stomach in and pushed extra hard, at the same time as trying to complete the lift.” He remembers a loud popping, splattering noise then a fierce stabbing pain and then not being able to move from the squat position. He remained in this position for about half an hour, since trying to stand caused him overwhelming agonizing pain. Paramedics arrived and applied anaesthesia on the spot and carried him to an ambulance. He was rushed to surgery, where surgeons described the trauma as an “explosive and aggravated prolapse of the bowel”. Meanwhile it was revealed that the weight was removed from his shoulders at the time of the incident by two “spotters” on either side of the lifter. The third spotter who was standing behind the lifter was unfortunately sprayed with fecal matter at the time of the incident. This spotter promptly fainted when he realized the extent of the injury to the lifter, who was a personal friend. This compounded the task of first aid officers who were at a loss as to how to treat the injury to the lifter in any case, who remained in the squatting position moaning in pain much to the consternation of the helpless audience. The hapless lifter had successful surgery to relieve the prolapse, but remained immobilized with his feet elevated in stirrups for 2 weeks to ensure “internal compliance with the surgery and that the organs retracted successfully”. To add insult to injury, the ex-lifter required rectal stitching to partially occlude the anal orifice and stitch the rectal passage (which had significantly expanded and torn during the prolapse) and also was put on a low fibre low residue diet to combat flatulence to avoid any possibility of a recurrence. CBS news spoke to his wife and asked if she thought he would resume his power lifting career. “Not if I have anything to say about it, would you like to risk something like that again?” We agreed!! CBS news This item is “false” in the sense that the accompanying text does not correspond to the image:
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1846
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Fewer food choices don't help weight loss: study.
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Reducing people’s options for junk foods helps them to cut back on the amount of calories they take in, but it doesn’t reduce their overall calorie load or help them lose weight, according to a U.S. study.
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true
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Health News
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A pulled pork and a pulled chicken sandwich are displayed during a media food tour at Yankee Stadium in New York April 15, 2009. REUTERS/Eric Thayer “Limiting variety was helpful for reducing intake for that type of food group, but it appeared that compensation occurred in other parts of the diet,” said Hollie Raynor, a professor at the University of Tennessee and lead author of the study. The results of the study, which appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, offer a cautionary note to dieters who may be limiting their food variety - such as by cutting out carbs - to be watchful of all calories coming in, not just those from the targeted food group. Previous studies have shown that people with less variety in their diets tend to be more successful in losing weight and keeping it off, and Raynor said she wanted to see if restricting options for high-calorie, low-nutrition foods, such as ice cream, cookies and chips, could help people lose weight. Raynor’s team asked 200 overweight and obese adults to make lifestyle changes aimed at losing weight. These included taking part in group meetings that discussed healthy behavior, eating a calorie-reduced diet and increasing physical activity. Half of the people were also told to limit the junk food in their diet to just two options with the idea that monotony in the menu leads to a lack of interest in the food. Over the 18 months of the study, people in the limited junk food group ate fewer types of treats each day - two to three - than the other group, which ate about four. They also ate fewer daily calories from junk food. At six and 12 months into the study, the people in the low-variety group ate about 100 fewer junk food calories each day than the other group. By the end of the study, they were eating 80 fewer junk food calories each day. Both groups ate less total calories over the course of the study, and lost weight. But the overall reduction in calories and weight loss - around 4.5 kilograms (10 lbs.) - was the same in each group. “It makes sense to try and reduce the amount of variety in the diet, but human beings enjoy eating, so they will find other food components to consume than the ones that are being limited,” said Alexandra Johnstone, a researcher at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, who was not involved in the research. She added that to make a limited variety diet work, it will be important to also limit the portion sizes. Raynor said that the message to dieters is that if they are trying to lose weight by restricting the variety in their food choices, they should be aware of their other food choices so it doesn't undermine their efforts. SOURCE: bit.ly/JtP1Fn
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35496
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During a demonstration against police brutality on June 1, 2020, a protester shot and wounded an officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
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What's true: A 29-year-old officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was shot and wounded on June 1, 2020, during a protest against police brutality. What's false: Although police officers arrested a 20-year-old man who they believed opened fire at the demonstration, the available evidence suggests he was not one of the protesters.
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mixture
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Crime, George Floyd, George Floyd Protests
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In June 2020, amid protests against racism and police brutality across the U.S., social media users circulated posts alleging a protester in Las Vegas shot and wounded a cop. Later, Snopes readers asked us to investigate if, or under what circumstances, the claim was true. Here’s an example of the claim: First, we searched jail rosters and court records in Clark County, which covers Las Vegas, for any indication of the above-mentioned crime. We learned a 20-year-old man was indeed arrested and jailed on suspicion of attempted murder and separate weapon charges in the shooting of an officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) on June 1, 2020. (Snopes generally does not identify criminal suspects unless they’ve been charged.) Next, we requested copies of the probable-cause statement or criminal complaint outlining what police believed happened before the arrest from both LVMPD, the investigating agency, and the Las Vegas Justice Court, which is handling the case. Officer Larry Hadfield, an LVMPD spokesman, told Snopes by phone the agency would not release such evidence without a formal request to the agency’s public records department. Additionally, the Clark County District Attorney said in an email: “No charges have been filed at this time and we have no documents for release.” As of this writing, Snopes’ request for the documents in both the city department and the Las Vegas Justice Court remained unfulfilled. However, according to LVMPD Assistant Sheriff Chris Jones, who discussed details of the shooting at a news conference on June 2, 29-year-old Shay Mikalonis, who joined LVMPD in 2016 and patrols the Las Vegas Convention Center next to the strip, was shot during a protest against police brutality the night before. Medics took the officer to a hospital were he remained in critical condition on life support. Elaborating further, a news release from the police department said the shooting occurred after a group of officers responded to an area on Las Vegas Boulevard around 11:30 p.m., “to assist with a group of rioters who were throwing rocks and bottles at officers.” However, it’s unclear if Mikalonis was among that group of police or if he had been at the site with protesters for awhile. Then, the release stated: As officers were taking a person into custody, a gunshot was fired from across the street striking LVMPD Officer Shay Mikalonis. … LVMPD Homicide Detectives responded to the scene and located video surveillance of the suspect … [who they believed fired] a handgun at the officers as he walked down the street. The release said officers “tracked” the suspect to a motel across the street from where Mikalonis was shot and called SWAT officers, who eventually took the suspect into custody. As of this report, the suspect was scheduled to appear in court June 5, 2020. An attorney who represented him in a separate personal injury lawsuit in 2016 declined to comment to The Associated Press (AP) on the new charges, and said he was not immediately representing the suspect in the new case. But per other news reports, we got a better look at what happened. For example, the AP confirmed this detail: The officer was shot as “police tried to disperse a large crowd of protesters in front of a casino” that was closed due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
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35357
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Individual U.S. states would be legally authorized to impose criminal penalties on individuals who refused to undergo a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.
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It’s clear that the doctrine of state police power, as set out in the Jacobson case and subsequent federal court decisions, means individual states could, in principle, introduce a constitutionally sound mandatory COVID-19 vaccination program, and states could impose criminal penalties for those who, without a recognized exemption, refused to be vaccinated. Fox’s central claim, and KGTV’s reporting of it, were therefore accurate.
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true
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Legal Affairs, COVID-19, Editor's Picks
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In the summer of 2020, readers asked Snopes to examine the accuracy of claims that, if and when a COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine emerges, individual states could, in principle, be authorized to fine or even jail those who refused to take it. The inquiries stemmed from an Aug. 7, 2020, article published by KGTV in San Diego, California, which bore the headline “States Have Authority to Fine or Jail People Who Refuse Coronavirus Vaccine, Attorney Says.” The attorney in question was Dov Fox, a law professor and director of the Center for Health Law Policy and Bioethics at the University of San Diego. The article began: As drugmakers race to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus, several legal questions are emerging: could the government require people to get it? Could people who refuse to roll up their sleeves get banned from stores or lose their jobs? The short answer is yes, according to Dov Fox, a law professor and the director of the Center for Health Law Policy and Bioethics at the University of San Diego. “States can compel vaccinations in more or less intrusive ways,” he said in an interview. “They can limit access to schools or services or jobs if people don’t get vaccinated. They could force them to pay a fine or even lock them up in jail.” Fox noted authorities in the United States have never attempted to jail people for refusing to vaccinate, but other countries like France have adopted the aggressive tactic. The legal precedent dates back to 1905. In a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Jacobson v. Massachusetts, the court ruled Massachusetts had the authority to fine people who refused vaccinations for smallpox. The interview with Fox was republished by WMAR and on the Newsbreak website. Fox’s assessment was accurate. The 1905 Supreme Court decision he highlighted set a precedent for subsequent court rulings that have reaffirmed, over the ensuing century, that state and local authorities can, in principle, impose penalties — including criminal sanctions — upon individuals who refuse to undergo mandatory vaccinations. In February 1902, the Board of Health in Cambridge, Massachusetts, introduced a regulation requiring that any resident who had not been vaccinated against smallpox in the previous five years must be vaccinated or revaccinated. Massachusetts state law imposed a fine of $5 for anyone over the age of 21 years old who was eligible to receive the vaccine but refused. In July of that year, Henning Jacobson, a Swedish immigrant and Lutheran pastor aged in his 40s, refused to be vaccinated and was arrested and charged with violating the state’s compulsory vaccination law. He was tried and convicted and fined $5. Jacobson challenged his conviction, but the Massachusetts Supreme Court upheld it, and he took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1904. According to a contemporary news report, Jacobson’s legal challenges were funded by the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination Society. In February 1905, the court issued its decision, upholding the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision and ruling that the state law that Jacobson was found to have violated was not in breach of his constitutional rights. His conviction was upheld. In the majority opinion, Justice John Marshall Harlan summarized some of the main issues at stake: […] The defendant [Jacobson] insists that his liberty is invaded when the State subjects him to fine or imprisonment for neglecting or refusing to submit to vaccination; that a compulsory vaccination law is unreasonable, arbitrary and oppressive, and, therefore, hostile to the inherent right of every freeman to care for his own body and health in such way as to him seems best; and that the execution of such a law against one who objects to vaccination, no matter for what reason, is nothing short of an assault upon his person. But the liberty secured by the Constitution of the United States to every person within its jurisdiction does not import an absolute right in each person to be, at all times and in all circumstances, wholly freed from restraint. There are manifold restraints to which every person is necessarily subject for the common good. On any other basis organized society could not exist with safety to its members. Society based on the rule that each one is a law unto himself would soon be confronted with disorder and anarchy…’ ‘Police Power’ The Jacobson decision was based in part on a long-standing principle known as the “police power” doctrine, which gives a state the authority to, in certain circumstances and within certain parameters, limit the individual rights of those living within its jurisdiction in order to protect the common good or preserve safety. It applies particularly to actions or behaviors that would not ordinarily be regarded as criminal or aberrant. For example, peacefully walking down a public street after dark is almost always regarded as acceptable, non-criminal behavior and fully in keeping with a person’s constitutionally enshrined individual liberty. However, in specific circumstances — for example where rioting in a particular city or neighborhood means state or local authorities decide the common good is best served by imposing a curfew — walking down a public street after dark, although not inherently criminal or dangerous to others, can lawfully be prohibited in a specific location for a defined period of time, and those who insist on doing it can lawfully be subjected to criminal penalties. One academic paper summarized the police power principle as follows: “The doctrine of state ‘police power’ was adopted in early colonial America from firmly established English common law principles mandating the limitation of private rights when needed for the preservation of the common good. It was one of the powers reserved by the states with the adoption of the federal Constitution and was limited only by the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause — which mandates preeminence of federal law in matters delegated to the federal government — and the individual rights protected in the subsequent Amendments. The application of police power has traditionally implied a capacity to (1) promote the public health, morals, or safety, and the general well-being of the community; (2) enact and enforce laws for the promotion of the general welfare; (3) regulate private rights in the public interest; and (4) extend measures to all great public needs.” The state police power doctrine is the reason why mandatory quarantine and isolation orders, curfews, and indeed mandatory vaccination programs, are rarely successfully challenged in the courts. Just as the Constitution’s protection of individual liberties is not absolute, limits also exist on the authority of a state to prohibit or compel an individual’s actions. In the case of mandatory vaccination, the Supreme Court outlined some of those issues in its opinion in the Jacobson case, writing: A statute requiring the vaccination of all the inhabitants of a State at a specified time irrespective of the presence of smallpox and without regard to individual conditions of health, or a set of rules and regulations made by the legislature itself, which must necessarily be more or less inelastic, would be far less just than this statute which delegates discretion to local public officials […]. Arbitrary action by the Board of Health, ‘with evil mind,’ might result in a denial of due process of law. If they picked out one class of persons arbitrarily for immediate vaccination, while indefinitely postponing action toward all others, or if they otherwise abused their discretion their action might be in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment […] The precedent set by the Supreme Court in the Jacobson ruling persists to the present day. In 2015, almost 110 years later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit explicitly cited the case when affirming the constitutionality of a New York state law that makes vaccination mandatory for public school students. The appeals court opinion stated: “Plaintiffs argue that New York’s mandatory vaccination requirement violates substantive due process. This argument is foreclosed by the Supreme Court’s decision in Jacobson v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts […].” In another landmark decision in 1922, the Supreme Court wrote that the Jacobson ruling had “settled that it is within the police power of a State to provide for compulsory vaccination.”
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10563
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Hormones may be better than soy for hot flashes
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One of the only suggestions we would make is that the story could have quantified potential harms. It didn’t quantify harms of estrogen (about which there is a great deal of evidence) nor of soy (for which there is a scant evidence base). However, the article does an acceptable job of acknowledging risks reported elsewhere for both treatments. Hot flashes are such a hot button issue for so many women. It is refreshing to see a clear, straightforward daily news report that delivers most of the information women need to evaluate a new study.
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true
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Reuters Health,women's health
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We were pleased to see that the story included cost estimates of both soy supplements and of hormone replacement therapy pills. The story explained that “women who took hormones had an average of 24 fewer hot flashes per month, while those who took soy had 12 per month.” Adequate job reminding readers of the risks reported from the 2002 Women’s Health Inititiative study (although we wish it had given the absolute risk data). And it cited what the NIH reports as side effects of soy supplements – but again without numbers. Adequate nonetheless. Adequate job. The story explained that soy hasn’t been studied as much as HRT for hot flashes and that “doctors don’t know exactly how it works.” It explained that this was a study of studies. The story also includes a link to the study itself, which is always a nice touch. No disease mongering. The story included some interest factoids such as the average number of hot flashes per month reported by women in the studies. One apparently independent expert was quoted in the story. We suppose that in an ideal world. the story could have at least commented on other alternative options that have been explored for hot flashes. But the story adequately discussed the comparison results from the study, and we appreciate that it ended with a comment about “watchful waiting” as well – reminding readers that not everyone chooses to take something for hot flashes. Not applicable. The availability of soy supplements or of hormone replacement therapy is not in question. No inordinate claims of novelty for either approach. It’s clear that the story did not rely solely on a news release.
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2414
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Charity sporting events offer incentives to get fit.
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Along with the usual reasons for losing weight, like fitting into a bikini and improving health, fitness experts say raising money for a good cause is another incentive for people to get in shape.
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true
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Health News
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Entering a charity run in memory of a loved one or a bicycle ride for a worthy cause has pushed many couch potatoes from their sedentary lifestyle on to the path of fitness. Kelly Flynn, running coach for Team In Training, a charity sports endurance program from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, has been teaching novice runners to tackle the Boson Marathon since 2005. “The people who’ve never run before and have a motivation, like a loved one, are the easiest people to coach,” said Flynn, a 40-year-old Boston-based attorney. “They stick it out. And when they cross the finish line, they’ve become running junkies.” Flynn, a soccer and softball player in her teenage years, said it was the death of a high school friend from lymphoma that inspired her to become a running coach for charity. “I saw a flyer (from Team in Training) and went, on a lark,” she said. “His death was my catalyst.” Team in Training, which is 25 years old, has raised more than $1.4 billion, with more than 600,000 people from across the country taking part in different endurance events to raise money for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Flynn, whose 200-strong team soon will start training for 2014, has helped to train more than 800 Boston marathoners and her teams have raised over $4 million. For Sarah Jane Constantine, a self-described recreational runner, marathon running was a bucket-list dream until she started running for charity. “I didn’t think at 39 I was going to start marathoning,” said Constantine, a 41-year-old manager for a pharmaceutical company in Boston who has raised money for cancer research. “That’s what I’m most proud of,” said Constantine, who finds some way to exercise every day, from running to strength training to swimming with her daughter. Constantine dedicated her first marathon to her stepfather, who died of melanoma at 44. Last year it was for her daughter’s school friend’s mother, who died of lung cancer. This year she plans to run for the cancer-stricken daughter of her husband’s co-worker. “You feel helpless,” she said. “I’ll be running for money for research and treatment.” Charity events are a nationwide staple of Flywheel Sports, a chain of indoor cycling studios founded in 2010. New York-based co-founder and creative director Ruth Zukerman said the fundraising events her company holds throughout the year are beneficial for people new to the sport, for charities and for her business. “A lot of people come to these charity rides who’ve never been to us before. Typically some 80 percent of the people are new,” she said. “They come to us to give, they love it, and they become clients of ours.” Zukerman said her regulars often approach her with their own pet causes to raise money, which attracts even more newcomers to indoor cycling. “Some of our celebrity riders, such as (actresses) Kyra Sedgwick and Jessica Alba, draw a lot of attention because of their names,” she said. Last spring Alba hosted a class in Los Angeles to raise funds for Baby2Baby, which redistributes baby gear and clothes to the needy. In December, Sedgwick will host a ride for the Food Bank for New York City. Zukerman believes charity fitness is here to stay. “So many typical charity events involve going to speeches with a tedious sit-down dinner,” she said. “People see this as an opportunity to contribute in a newer, fresher, more fun way.”
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8762
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Statins fight stroke in older people too.
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Older people who have had a stroke or mini-stroke benefit from cholesterol-lowering statin drugs just as much as younger people do, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.
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true
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Health News
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“Even though the majority of strokes and heart attacks occur in people who are 65 and older, studies have found that cholesterol-lowering drugs are not prescribed as often for older people as they are for younger people,” Dr. Seemant Chaturvedi of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, said in a statement. “These results show that using these drugs is just as beneficial for people who are over 65 as they are for younger people.” In April, British researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that treating high blood pressure in people 80 and older cut their risk of fatal strokes and other heart problems. Statins cut the risk of heart attack or stroke by lowering levels of fatty substances such as low-density lipoprotein, or “bad” cholesterol, and triglycerides. They also raise levels of high-density lipoprotein or “good” cholesterol. They include atorvastatin, made by Pfizer Inc under the brand name Lipitor; pravastatin or Pravachol, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb; fluvastatin, made by Novartis AG under the brand name Lescol, and several others. Seemant and colleagues studied 4,731 people 18 and older who had a recent stroke or a mini-stroke as part of a study sponsored by Pfizer. About half were over 65, with an average age of 72. The other half were under 65 and had an average age of 54. In each age group, about half were taking Lipitor and the other half were on a placebo. The statin worked equally well in both groups, the researchers reported in the journal Neurology. It lowered LDL cholesterol by about 61 points in the group of older patients and by about 59 points in the younger age group. Stroke is the No. 3 killer in the United States behind heart disease and cancer. The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention estimate 780,000 Americans will have strokes this year. They will kill 150,000 people and permanently disable 15 percent to 30 percent of survivors.
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13651
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Seventy percent of all Texans are overweight or obese.
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Harrell said 70 percent of all Texans are overweight or obese. Clarification’s needed here because 2014 survey results indicate that 68 percent of Texas adults (not all Texans) had BMIs suggesting they were overweight or obese. Adding in children drives down the percentage.
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true
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Children, Health Care, Public Health, Texas, Baker Harrell,
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"Something to weigh in advance of your next pile of nachos: ""Seventy percent of all Texans are overweight or obese,"" the leader of a pro-health nonprofit said. Baker Harrell, chief executive officer of Austin-based It’s Time Texas, which says it focuses on preventing chronic disease, made the claim in an interview posted Aug. 15, 2016. A day later, after we inquired, the Texas Tribune amended its article to reflect what Harrell said he’d meant to say--that nearly 70 percent of Texas adults are overweight or obese. ""I misspoke,"" Harrell told us by email. In the Tribune interview, Harrell otherwise elaborated: ""Obesity is often discussed as the crisis. Obesity is actually a symptom of the crisis. It’s an important symptom, but it’s a symptom of the crisis. The crisis is that we have engineered health out of our daily lives, we’ve engineered it out of our communities, over the last 40 years."" We wondered if someone engineered the 70 percent figure. By phone, Harrell told us he drew his percentage of hefty adults (and again, not children) from the results of a 2009 telephone survey of 10,971 Texas adults. The survey of health risk factors, annually commissioned by the Texas Department of State Health Services, found that 66.8 percent of Texas adults were overweight or obese that year, compared with 63.8 percent of adults nationwide: Source: 2009 Texas Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System, Center for Health Statistics, Department of State Health Services (accessed Aug. 16, 2016) The survey classified anyone with a body mass index of 25 or greater as overweight. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers a BMI of 25 and above to be overweight and a BMI of 30 and above to be obese. BMI can be calculated by plugging a person’s height and weight into a chart like this one or you can run this equation: Weight in Pounds / ( Height in inches x Height in inches ) x 703. Generally, the index serves as an easy-to-measure gauge of someone’s risks of chronic disease and early death, the Harvard School of Public Health says on a web page about preventing obesity. Then again, the school says, the calculation doesn’t distinguish between body fat and lean body mass meaning some healthy people might have indexes in overweight territory--a point PolitiFact made in a 2007 fact check. For our part, we also examined up-to-date survey results. To our inquiry, Chris Van Deusen of State Health Services emailed the latest available results, for 2014; they indicate that among 14,058 Texas respondents self-reporting heights and weights, nearly 36 percent would be considered overweight with another nearly 32 percent having BMIs consistent with obesity. The 2014 total of 68 percent adults overweight or obese, Van Deusen said, was up from 66.2 percent of adults in the 2013 survey. Also in 2014, according to that year’s results, 61 percent of adult Texas women fell into the overweight-or-obese category--and a whopping 74 percent of men. According to a 2010 CDC presentation, the share of obese adults in Texas and numerous states has escalated dramatically: From 1989 through 1993, 10 percent to 14 percent of Texas adults had BMIs indicating obesity; from 2004 through 2009, in contrast, 25 percent to 29 percent of adults fit the category. The 32 percent adult obesity rate for Texas in 2014 placed the state 11th nationally among the states, according to an analysis pointed out by Harrell. The Trust for American Health, which says it’s dedicated to making disease prevention a national priority, lists Arkansas, West Virginia and Mississippi as nearly tied for worst in the nation with about 36 percent of adults having BMIs suggesting they were overweight or obese. And how about overweight and obese kids in Texas? Van Deusen noted that paper surveys taken by Texas high school students indicate that in the latest year of available results, 2013, less than a third of such students had BMIs indicating they were overweight or obese. We checked the agency’s posted results, which indicate 16 percent of students were obese, 16 percent were overweight. The state spokesman also pointed us to research involving younger children. According to results from the 2009-11 version of the School Physical Activity and Nutrition (SPAN) Survey, undertaken by the University of Texas School of Public Health, some 43 percent of the state’s fourth graders had BMIs indicating they were overweight or obese; so did 37 percent of 8th graders. Our ruling Harrell said 70 percent of all Texans are overweight or obese. Clarification’s needed here because 2014 survey results indicate that 68 percent of Texas adults (not all Texans) had BMIs suggesting they were overweight or obese. Adding in children drives down the percentage. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information."
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7597
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White House recommends tests for all nursing home residents.
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With deaths mounting at the nation’s nursing homes, the White House strongly recommended to governors Monday that all residents and staff at such facilities be tested for the coronavirus in the next two weeks.
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true
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AP Top News, Understanding the Outbreak, Health, General News, Lifestyle, Nursing homes, Virus Outbreak, Michael Pence, U.S. News
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Why the government is not ordering testing at the nation’s more than 15,000 nursing homes was unclear. Nor was it clear why it is being recommended now, more than two months after the nation’s first major outbreak at a nursing home outside of Seattle that eventually killed 45 people. Vice President Mike Pence, who leads the White House coronavirus task force, told governors on a video conference call that it’s the federal government’s strong recommendation that such testing be done. “We really believe that all 1 million nursing home residents need to be tested within next two weeks as well as the staff,” added Dr. Deborah Birx, the task force coordinator, according to a recording of the call obtained by The Associated Press. President Trump has repeatedly said there have been plenty of testing kits and has shifted blame to governors for reacting too slowly on testing, a charge he repeated in a Rose Garden news conference later Monday. “Frankly, some of the governors were very lax with respect to nursing homes. It was obvious right from the beginning,” Trump said, referring to the Washington state outbreak. Asked why testing was recommended, not ordered, Trump said: “I would certainly consider that. I will mandate it if you’d like.” More than 27,000 residents and staff have died from outbreaks of the virus at the nation’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities, according to an AP tally based on state health departments and media reports. That is about a third of all 80,000 deaths in the U.S. that have been attributed to the virus. Nursing home operators have said the lack of testing kits has left them nearly powerless to stop the virus from entering their facilities because they haven’t been able to identity silent spreaders not showing symptoms. The American Health Care Association, the main nursing home trade group, welcomed the new testing recommendation but said the federal government needed to do more to make that possible, including allocating billions of additional dollars to the effort. Charlene Harrington, a professor emeritus of nursing at the University of California, San Francisco, said nursing homes should have been prioritized from the start given their vulnerable populations and questioned why the testing recommendation is only happening now. “We’re two months into it,” she said. “If they had done that to begin with, we would’ve picked up cases early and we wouldn’t have so many deaths.” Representatives for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services did not immediately respond when asked why the agency wasn’t making testing a requirement. In mid-March, it asked homes to cease group gatherings and visitations, and to screen staff with such measures as temperature checks. A senior administration official said taking a tougher stand is still an option. “If the states aren’t able to come back with plans quickly to do it, then there’s a good chance we will order them to do that, but we believe that right now there are plenty of tests out there,” the official said on condition of anonymity because he lacked authorization to speak to the media. West Virginia and Texas have already mandated testing for all nursing home residents and staff. And just Sunday, New York, the nation’s leader in nursing home deaths, began requiring all staff to be tested twice a week. Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said his state was ramping up testing but cast doubt on the feasibility of doing that for everyone in every home. “I don’t know that that’s going to get done,” said DeWine, whose state has reported nearly 500 deaths in long-term care facilities in three weeks. He added, “There’s frankly a lot of people in the medical field who would argue that the testing of everybody in that nursing home might not be the best protocol.” Pence led the White House’s weekly call with governors from an isolated room after his press secretary tested positive Friday. Three of the country’s top health care officials, including infection disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, are quarantining themselves on fears they have been exposed to the virus, too. ___ Condon reported from New York. Candice Choi and Randy Herschaft in New York, Darlene Superville in Washington and Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.
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13575
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The Dallas Cowboys can’t put a sticker on their helmets for the 5 police officers who were killed.
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"In a tweet, Woods said the ""Dallas Cowboys can’t put a sticker on their helmets for the 5 police officers who were killed."" NFL rules give the league control over decals on helmets which must relate to team or league ""events or personages."" This limit likely explains the league’s disapproval of the decals honoring the felled officers."
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true
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Sports, Texas, James Woods,
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"After San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick didn’t stand during the playing of the national anthem before a game, actor James Woods chided the NFL over a decal that hasn’t been approved for Dallas Cowboys helmets. On Aug. 27, 2016, Woods tweeted: ""Kaepernick doesn’t stand for the national anthem, Rams players can walk onto the field with their hands up for the ‘hands up, don’t shoot,’ and other players can wear t-shirts saying I can’t breathe. But the Dallas Cowboys can’t put a sticker on their helmets for the 5 police officers who were killed. Way to go NFL…."" We wondered if the actor stuck to the facts. Woods posted his tweet after Kaepernick didn’t join others standing during the anthem before his team’s Aug. 26, 2016, preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. Afterward, Kaepernick said: ""I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."" Woods otherwise referred to five Rams players raising their arms in support of protests in Ferguson, Mo., during player introductions before a Nov. 30, 2014, game. The NFL didn’t discipline the players; spokesman Brian McCarthy told CNN: ""We respect and understand the concerns of all individuals who have expressed views on this tragic situation."" And the decal? After the July 7, 2016, shooting deaths of five Dallas police officers, the Dallas Morning News reported, Cowboys officials led by tight end Jason Witten honored surviving family members at the Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, Calif., in part with players entering the field arm in arm with officers. The newspaper said in a July 30, 2016, news story: ""The idea to come out arm-in-arm belonged to Witten. So did the idea to wear a patch on their helmets in this camp that reads Arm in Arm. The Cowboys have asked the NFL if they can wear that patch on their helmets this season. Discussions are ongoing."" Eleven days later, Stephen Jones, the team’s executive vice president, told reporters that NFL officials had told the Cowboys that players couldn’t wear the Arm in Arm decal during preseason or regular-season games--though the decals could remain on helmets during training camp practices, according to an Aug. 11, 2016, News story, which said the Cowboys had placed the decal on the back of each helmet after the ceremony initiated by Witten. Jones said then: ""Everyone has to be uniform with the league and the other 31 teams. We respect their decision."" We spotted Section 4, Article 1 of the league rules stating: ""All visible items worn on game day by players must be issued by the club or the League, or, if from outside sources, must have approval in advance by the League office."" More directly, Section 8 of the rules states that on game days, items ""to celebrate anniversaries or memorable events, or to honor or commemorate individuals, such as helmet decals, and arm bands and jersey patches on players’ uniforms, are prohibited unless approved in advance by the League office."" (The rules also bar any ""detachable kicking toe."" Now you know.) And what is allowed? ""All such items approved by the League office, if any, must relate to team or League events or personages,"" the rule says. ""The League will not grant permission for any club or player to wear, display, or otherwise convey messages, through helmet decals, arm bands, jersey patches, or other items affixed to game uniforms or equipment, which relate to political activities or causes, other non-football events, causes or campaigns, or charitable causes or campaigns. Further, any such approved items must be modest in size, tasteful, non-commercial, and non-controversial; must not be worn for more than one football season; and if approved for use by a specific team, must not be worn by players on other teams in the League."" We asked Rich Dalrymple, a Cowboys spokesman, about Woods’ tweet. He didn’t speak to its accuracy other than to share news stories on the decal’s debut and the league decision not to allow the decals to be worn during games. Dalrymple said the request and denial occurred by telephone. Before our clock ran out, our attempts to query the NFL about the decals and Woods’ tweet didn’t draw a whistle--or any response. Our ruling In a tweet, Woods said the ""Dallas Cowboys can’t put a sticker on their helmets for the 5 police officers who were killed."" NFL rules give the league control over decals on helmets which must relate to team or league ""events or personages."" This limit likely explains the league’s disapproval of the decals honoring the felled officers. – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.
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11271
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Onion Cream Treats New Stretch Marks
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"Beauty products companies have long used dermatologists to give a sheen of scientific credibility to their cosmetics products–a tradition whose troubling implications have been amply explored by major media outlets in the past. (See here and here for examples). Given this checkered history, we think journalists bear a special responsibility to closely examine scientific claims related to cosmetics products. Unfortunately, this story from WebMD mostly gave a pass to a weak study about a new moisturizing cream that purports to treat stretch marks. There was little exploration of the quality of the evidence, no quantification of benefits, and no discussion of the myriad other creams on the market that offer similar flimsy proof of effectiveness. Quality health journalism can help consumers determine whether this ""proof"" of reducing stretch marks holds up to careful scrutiny. Or, quality health care journalism could spend its time exploring other, more important topics."
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mixture
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"The story notes that a 5.29-ounce tube of the product retails for $39.99 at drugstores. Women reported that the treated stretch mark ""looked better, was less red, and was softer and smoother,"" according to the story, but no statistics are provided. There is no way for the reader to judge the frequency or magnitude of the benefits reported. The story reports that women experienced no side effects from the cream. The design of this study was such that the onion cream treatment was almost guaranteed to come out ahead, but the story offers no cautionary notes regarding the generally poor quality of the evidence. It is a well-established fact that patients often will perceive benefits from a treatment regardless of whether the therapy is objectively effective (the placebo effect). So one has to question why this study didn’t use blinded observers to grade the effects of the cream instead of relying on the unblinded participant reports. Moreover, instead of comparing the onion cream to no treatment, why not compare it with one of the many other moisturizing creams that claim to reduce stretch marks? This would have provided a more useful test of the onion extract’s ""anti-inflammatory"" properties. The story just didn’t pose any questions about the evidence. The entire concept behind this story is a subtle form of disease-mongering. Stretch marks are a ubiquitous part of the human experience, and the notion that we need to ""treat"" them is a medicalization of a normal state. The story does earn credit for pointing out that stretch marks ""are not harmful to your health,"" but it wanders into unsatisfactory territory when it characterizes stretch marks as ""a problem that currently has no cure."" Stretch marks are not a disease, but this description makes them sound like one. The story quotes one independent source and identifies Dr. Draelos, the lead researcher on the study, as a consultant to Merz Pharmaceuticals, which funded the research. This story fails to mention the existence of the many other moisturizing creams that purport to treat stretch marks. It also did not mention that plastic surgery is sometimes used to treat stretch marks. The story states that the product is available in drug stores. There are many creams that combine moisturizers and plant extracts and claim to treat skin problems. This story should have challenged the notion that adding onion extract to a skin cream makes it in any way ""new."" It doesn’t appear that the story relied solely on a news release."
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33746
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"Two armed ""illegal aliens"" perpetrating a home invasion were killed by an 11-year-old girl with a shotgun."
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The second alleged intruder, identified by police as a 22-year-old man, was arrested shortly after the incident on suspicion of burglary, police said.
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false
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Politics
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A story about two armed “illegal aliens” killed during an attempted home invasion by an 11-year-old shotgun-wielding girl was posted to LibertyPost.org on 25 April 2007: Two illegal aliens, Ralphel Resindez 23 and Enrico Garza 26, probably believed they would easily overpower a home alone 11 year old Patricia Harrington after her father had left their two story home. It seems the two crooks never learned two things, they were in Montana and Patricia had been a clay shooting champion since she was nine. Patricia was in her upstairs room when the two men broke through the front door of the house. She quickly ran to her father’s room and grabbed his 12 gauge Mossberg 500 shotgun. Resindez was the first to get up to the second floor only to be the first to catch a near point blank blast of buck shot from the 11 year olds knee crouch aim. He suffered fatal wounds to his abdomen and genitals. When Garza ran to the foot of the stairs, he took a blast to the left shoulder and staggered out into the street where he bled to death before medical help could arrive. It was found out later that Resindez was armed with a stolen 45 caliber handgun he took from another home invasion robbery. The victim, 50 year old David Burien, was not so lucky as he died from stab wounds to the chest. Although the account was widely cited as a validation of “anti-illegal immigration” and/or pro-gun ownership positions, confirmation of the tale as a real-life incident was lacking. The only documentation for this item was numerous web sites all citing the same information, with no details of time or place (other than a reference to Montana). Searches of news databases (including Montana-based newspapers) failed to turn up any corresponding news stories containing any of the four names provided, and the name of one of the putative criminals (“Ralphel Resendez”) just happened to echo an alias (Raphael Resendez-Ramirez) used by Angel Maturino Resendiz (also an undocumented immigrant), the infamous “Railroad Killer.” Although many versions of this item cited the home invasion incident as having taken place in Butte, Montana, that area’s sheriff said no such thing had occurred in that city: When asked about the authenticity of the events described in this story, Butte-Silver Bow Sheriff John Walsh told The Montana Standard that his office never investigated such an incident. “This never happened,” Walsh said. The story claims the girl shot and killed the two intruders while she was home alone. The story doesn’t provide a street address or attribute the information to any official sources. Walsh brushed off the story as an urban myth. “It’s amazing how these things get around,” he said. The only news story (of recent vintage) we could turn up about a minor using a shotgun to kill two armed intruders attempting a home invasion robbery took place in December 2006 and involved a 17-year-old boy in Texas (rather than an 11-year-old girl in Montana): An overnight home invasion robbery attempt in northeast Harris County ended in a hail of gunfire that left two suspects dead. Investigators said a 17-year-old was home with his cousin when four armed men kicked in the door and started shooting. The teen pulled out a shotgun of his own and fired back at the suspects, killing two of them. Going back almost twenty years to 1988, we did find a news story about an 11-year-old shooting and killing two home intruders, but again the details didn’t match the example cited above: Switzer, S.C. — An 11-year-old boy who had been left alone after school shot and killed two men as they tried to steal a videocassette recorder from his family’s home, police said. William Todd Knight, the son of Billy and Ann Knight, “acted very wisely,” said Spartanburg County Coroner Jim Burnett. “His life was in danger, he looked for an escape and could not find one … he was a very brave young man.” Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Department Capt. John Blackwood said the boy was watching cartoons in his parents’ bedroom Monday afternoon when he heard noises at the front door of the family’s brick, ranch-style home. Todd told officers he was scared, so he went to his room for the .22-caliber rifle his father had given him for Christmas and loaded four rounds. He then went to the front door and saw a man he described as “rough” pounding on the door. The man finally left in a white Datsun. Todd said he resumed watching cartoons and about 10 minutes later heard banging, this time at a dining room window. He saw two men climbing through the dining room window. The boy said he went into the bathroom to climb out the window, but saw the white Datsun was parked in the back yard. Todd told police he went back to the hallway, peeked around the corner into the den and was spotted by one of the intruders as they were taking the VCR. Todd then fired three rounds at the men, who dropped the VCR and fled. When police arrived, one of the dead men was found face down next to a woodpile in the back yard, approximately 50 to 75 feet from the house, while the second man was in the driver’s seat of the white two-door Datsun. In October 2012, a 12-year-old Oklahoma girl shot (but did not kill) an unarmed burglar who broke into the house while she was home alone: Kendra St. Clair, 12, was at home alone in Oklahoma, when loud banging began on the door to her family’s home. Soon, the glass shattered and an intruder had entered. “I was scared and I didn’t know what to do next,” Kendra [said]. Petrified, she called her mom Debra. “I said Kendra get the gun and go get in my closet now. And call 911.” The young 6th grader followed her mom’s orders to the tee. Kendra had taken shelter in a closet, clutching her mother’s .40 caliber glock gun while she listened to the intruder make his way around her home. Her fear intensified to sheer terror, when she saw the knob of the closet door beginning to turn. At that point, that for the first time in her life, Kendra fired a gun. Police said the bullet traveled straight through the closet door and struck 32-year-old Stacey Jones in the shoulder, scaring him out of the house. They arrested him a few blocks away and charged Jones with first degree burglary. In January 2015, an 11-year-old Michigan girl armed with a shotgun was reported to have scared away (but not fired upon) a home intruder: An 11-year-old girl was able to scare off a suspect — later taken into custody — during a home invasion in Lapeer County’s North Branch Township. The girl was home alone when a vehicle pulled into the driveway. One person knocked on all the doors and forced their way inside the home when there was no response. The girl locked herself inside a bathroom and hid in a closet with a shotgun. The suspect eventually opened the bathroom door and closet where the child was hiding with the weapon. The girl aimed the shotgun at the suspect, who then fled from the home. Police said the girl was not harmed during the encounter. “The 12-gauge shotgun is her weapon,” said Lapeer County Sheriff Detective Sgt. Jason Parks. “She and her father are into hunting and avid sportsmen. She was familiar with that weapon.” Parks praised the girl’s responsibility, poise and composure. “She is fully capable of staying there by herself as we can clearly see based on this situation,” he said. “She was able to defend herself from an intruder and be able to resolve an event even most adults would be taken aback by.” In August 2015, an 11-year-old St. Louis boy left home with his 4-year-old sister reportedly staved off several home invasion attempts before finally shooting and killing a 16-year-old intruder, although accounts differ as to what actually took place: Authorities said an 11-year-old child and his 4-year-old sister were at their home when two men attempted to break in. The suspects attempted to get into the home twice, but failed. They made their way inside through the front door on the third attempt around 2:30 p.m. After the suspects entered the home, police said, the 11-year-old picked up a gun and fatally shot Lamonte Streeter. According to police, Streeter’s body was found inside the home and evidence collected at the scene indicate that he was shot while inside. Some neighbors are providing a different version of events. One woman, who said she saw the shooting, [said] the 11-year-old and Streeter were arguing on the home’s front porch when the shots were fired. “The little boy’s (person shot) jumped up and went towards there and laid down and he lands in the doorway. He was always sitting on the porch, he never went inside the house,” said a neighbor.
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1788
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'Dolphin Tale' hero's new home tangled in aquarium politics.
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The family-friendly hit “Dolphin Tale,” whose sequel opened in theaters this weekend, tells the true story of a dolphin who learns to swim without a tail. The movie ends with Winter, the tail-less dolphin, helping save the struggling Florida aquarium that rescued her. In real-life, the story has not yet wrapped up so neatly.
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true
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Environment
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Even Hollywood fame could not provide Winter a pass on aquarium politics at a time when live marine animal exhibitions are facing intense public scrutiny. An ambitious proposal to build Winter a new waterfront home was scaled back recently amid concern about expenses and the potential for staged performances like those under fire at SeaWorld’s theme parks. “Winter can’t do those kind of shows, even if we wanted to, which we don’t,” said David Yates, chief executive officer at her home, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. “We have never been about big shows. That was a misperception.” Winter’s latest dilemma started when crowds of camera-toting tourists showed up to meet the chirping star of the 2011 hit, featuring Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. “Dolphin Tale” and its sequel, “Dolphin Tale 2,” were filmed at the Clearwater aquarium, a sun-bleached former sewage treatment plant retrofitted as a marine animal hospital. Attendance at the west central Florida attraction soared after the release of the movie, from about 100,000 visitors in typical years prior to 750,000 since. “We are just wildly overcrowded,” Yates said, adding that one-third of the visitors are children with disabilities, or families drawn to Winter’s story after their own hardships. The chance to watch Winter maneuver her amputated tail and exercise with a novel prosthetic tail lured the Main family of Galesburg, Illinois, in planning a Florida vacation. “We both lost our moms, and we both went through something in our lives but didn’t give up,” Destany Main, 17, said during a visit this week, slurping snowcones with her cousin, Macy Main, 8. The attendance surge helped expand a turtle ICU and build a dolphin rehabilitation deck at the aquarium, which did not share in the proceeds from the movie that grossed $72.3 million at domestic box offices. Yet other amenities remain outdated. There is no permanent ticket center by a makeshift food court, and it’s hard to maneuver wheelchairs through narrow hallways to view the dolphins underwater. Winter’s emotional pull could not silence local skepticism over an expansion initially projected to cost $160 million. Incidents at other attractions in which trainers have been injured or even killed are raising questions internationally about staged marine animal performances, which critics say are stressful for sea mammals and often take place in enclosures that are too small. Locally, competition for visitors was another concern about the expansion, with the Florida Aquarium’s larger facilities only 45 minutes away in Tampa. Winter’s keepers last month responded with revised plans calling for a $68 million aquarium. Gone are the proposals for stadium bleachers that raised questions about staged animal performances. As fundraising ramps up around the sequel’s release, the aquarium now has Hope, another rescued dolphin who co-stars as Winter’s companion in “Dolphin Tale 2,” which highlights the aquarium’s motto of “Rescue, Rehab, Release.” “From a fundraising perspective,” Yates said, “it’s spot on about our mission.”
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33492
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An inattentive janitor caused several deaths in a hospital when he disconnected patients' life support systems to plug in a floor polisher.
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Sightings: This legend figures in an episode of the British police drama A Touch of Frost (“Benefit of the Doubt,” original air date 15 January 2001).
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false
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Horrors, freakish fatalities
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The 1990s saw the spread of a shocking account of tragic, accidental deaths in the very place where people are supposed to recover from their illnesses — a hospital: [Collected on the Internet, 1996] “For several months, our nurses have been baffled to find a dead patient in the same bed every Friday morning,” a spokeswoman for the Pelonomi Hospital (Free State, South Africa) told reporters. “There was no apparent cause for any of the deaths, and extensive checks on the air conditioning system, and a search for possible bacterial infection, failed to reveal any clues.” “However, further inquiries have now revealed the cause of these deaths. It seems that every Friday morning a cleaner would enter the ward, remove the plug that powered the patient’s life support system, plug her floor polisher into the vacant socket, then go about her business. When she had finished her chores, she would plug the life support machine back in and leave, unaware that the patient was now dead. She could not, after all, hear the screams and eventual death rattle over the whirring of her polisher.” “We are sorry, and have sent a strong letter to the cleaner in question. Further, the Free State Health and Welfare Department is arranging for an electrician to fit an extra socket, so there should be no repetition of this incident. The enquiry is now closed.” [Collected on the Internet, 2003] There was a case in one hospital’s Intensive Care ward where patients always died in the same bed, on Sunday morning at 11 A.M., regardless of their medical condition. This puzzled the doctors and some even thought that it had something to do with the supernatural. No one could solve the mystery as to why the deaths occurred around 11 A. M. on Sundays. So, a Worldwide team of experts was assembled to investigate the cause of the incidents. The next Sunday morning, a few minutes before 11 A. M., all the doctors and nurses nervously wait outside the ward to see for themselves what the terrible phenomenon was all about. Some were holding wooden crosses, prayer books and other holy objects to ward off the evil spirits. Just when the clock struck 11… Pookie Johnson, The part-time Sunday sweeper, entered the ward and unplugged the life support system so that he could use the vacuum cleaner. If nothing else, the bit about the hospital’s sending a sharply-worded letter to the cleaning company who employee was responsible for multiple deaths should give one pause. Was ensuring that the janitor was reprimanded by his employer really the hospital’s greatest concern? Oftentimes it’s the tail ends of these stories which make the difference between cute ones which get told once or twice then drop out of sight, and ones such as this, which get forwarded all over the world. The floor cleaner’s mistake is bad enough; what sends this story over the top is the callous matter-of-factness of the hospital. What does it say about health care in South Africa? Summer 1996 saw this hilarious yet chilling account take the Internet by storm. In an article purportedly from the 13 June 1996 Cape Times (“Cleaner Polishes Off Patients”), it quickly became the story of the moment. Various publications picked it up and ran it as a news item, adding to the legend’s credibility. Bottom line: no matter how many papers you might have read that said different, there were no Friday massacres in Pelonomi Hospital, no murdering floor cleaners, no overly-callous hospital spokespeople imperiously intoning, “The enquiry is now closed.” It’s folklore, pure and simple — a tall tale that got loose, then went on a rampage. How did this amazing story come to be taken as a news item? As always, through a misunderstanding. The legend had been around forever, so Die Volksblad (a small yet widely-circulated rural South African newspaper) took it upon itself to get to the bottom of this persistent rumor. Part of that effort to uncover the truth resulted in a Die Volksblad article asking those related to the victim(s) to come forward. That article was picked up by Die Burger, and it was Die Burger’s article which Cape Times got its hands on. In much the same way children playing a game of “Telephone” will invariably garble the message, Cape Times‘ version came out as a news story, not as a rural paper’s attempt to sort fact from fiction. From there the tale went to other publications, very few of whom bothered to check either with Pelonomi hospital or Die Volksblad. Those journalists who checked with Cape Times (and not all of them did even this much) were told that yes, it had run a story about this. Unknown both to the reporters doing the asking and Cape Times personnel doing the answering, the version made popular by the Internet and the actual Cape Times article weren’t the same. The Internet version had been greatly embellished, further garbling the already hopelessly garbled and creating by the stroke of a few electrons a suitably cold-hearted but entirely fictional spokeswoman for Pelonomi Hospital. From there on in, it became a zoo, with publications such as New Scientist and the Sunday Telegraph claiming this as a news item. And why not indeed? Cape Times was telling them it was. South African folklorist Arthur Goldstuck was involved with this tale almost from the moment it appeared. His fascinating “Cleaner Polishes Off Patient” FAQ is filled with an incredible depth of detail about this legend. Although the “murdering South African floor cleaner” tale was new in 1996, its basic plot was as old as the hills, as demonstrated by this anecdote from a 1967 issue of Reader’s Digest: British engineers feared that they would have to replan the Dungesness nuclear station in Kent, after studying a special model which showed the flow of rivers and estuaries in the area. Then they discovered the reason for the puzzling variations in the model’s water level. An office cleaner had been filling her bucket from it each day. Once again, a dull-witted office cleaner is said to have upset Technology’s applecart while discharging her janitorial duties. The charwoman does not recognize the “special model” serves a particular purpose — she views it merely as something she can fill her bucket from and uses it as such. Likewise, the South African floor cleaner perceives the loaded outlet in Intensive Care only as a place to plug in a needed piece of cleaning equipment — recognition that whatever is already occupying that outlet might be important eludes him. The theme of both these stories appears in another tale collected in 1993, this one poking fun not at office cleaners, but at office workers. Around noon every day the computer system at some office keeps freezing out. Five minutes later the system will power back up again. No one can figure out what’s going on — software checks out, hardware checks out, everything is as protected as it can be from a power surge, and besides, why would there be a power surge every day around the same time? Finally, one bright whiz kid decides to keep an eye on the main server as the only thing that makes sense is someone has to be fooling with it. Sure enough, a little after noon one of the secretaries comes by with a kettle in hand, reaches down, unplugs the server … An additional thread ties all of these stories together. It’s no accident these legends are told about janitors and secretaries: they are considered lesser beings in the world of labor and are often presumed to be of lower intelligence. In each of these tales, someone from the bottom rungs of the corporate ladder who has access to key equipment but lacks so much as a basic understanding of its function and importance screws the pooch. Such tales confirm the commonly-held stereotypes of those who hold those jobs. Given how prevalent similar tales are, there was very little excuse for the journalistic outpouring the South African floor cleaner story provoked in 1996. (One need not hear a joke told the same way each time to recognize it as the same joke, after all.) This mess proved so very conclusively that even newspapermen fall victim to ‘I read it in the paper, so it must be true.”
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13656
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"Paul Manafort Says there was a ""NATO base in Turkey being under attack by terrorists."
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"Manafort said there was a ""NATO base in Turkey being under attack by terrorists"" the week Trump made his comments about ""Second Amendment people."" Russian media speculated that there was a second attempted coup at Incirlik air base in Turkey. That incident was exaggerated and occurred two weeks before Trump’s comments. Furthermore, though it houses NATO troops, Incirlik is not a NATO base. Neither Incirlik or NATO’s central headquarters in Izmir, Turkey, have been attacked by terrorists. The event Manafort described did not happen."
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false
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National, Foreign Policy, Terrorism, Paul Manafort,
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"Donald Trump’s comments about ""Second Amendment people"" doing something to stop Hillary Clinton continued to dog his campaign in interviews on the Sunday news shows. But when CNN State of the Union host Jake Tapper brought up Trump’s seeming inability to stay on message, Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort insisted it’s the press who can’t lay off of Trump. ""I mean, there's plenty of news to cover this week that I haven't seen covered,"" Manafort said Aug. 14. ""You had the NATO base in Turkey being under attack by terrorists. You had a number of things that were appropriate to this campaign, were part of what Mr. Trump has been talking about. ... Instead, you took an aside that the Clinton narrative told you was something, Mr. Trump told you he didn't mean, and you played it out for two days."" We hadn’t seen the terrorist attack covered either and wondered if the media had neglected a major story in order to wax on about Trump’s comments. Indeed, reputable news outlets didn’t cover this story — because it didn’t happen as Manafort said. Manafort seems to be fumbling an errant story from Russian state media. The weekend of July 30, RT.com and Sputnik reported 7,000 armed police with heavy vehicles had surrounded Incirlik air base in Adana, Turkey, where 2,500 U.S. troops are stationed and some 50 U.S. nuclear weapons are stored. The two Kremlin-funded outlets suggested that the lockdown was in response to another coup attempt after a faction of the Turkish military failed to overthrow Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. So already Manafort is wrong about two key points: The incident occurred two weeks before Trump’s Second Amendment remarks and did not involve terrorists. What’s more, the Russian outlets’ reports were not exactly reliable. There were anti-U.S. demonstrations outside of Incirlik the night before the maneuver, but Turkish authorities said these were small and largely peaceful. They also dismissed speculation of a second coup and explained that police were conducting safety inspections in preparation for a top U.S. military official’s visit, according to Stars and Stripes and Bloomberg. ""It does appear that RT and Sputnik exaggerated their stories. Perhaps Putin was attempting to inflame emotions between Turkey and America. Which is certainly believable,"" said the conservative blog Right Scoop. Granted, Incirlik’s stockpile of nuclear weapons has been a cause for concern, especially after the July 15 coup. Media reports have also documented how the internal Turkish struggle caused some logistical headaches for U.S. troops stationed at Incirlik (including, for example, power outages). But that’s a far cry from a terrorist attack that flew under the news radar. Officials at the Pentagon and NATO told us there have been no terrorist attacks at Incirlik or NATO’s Allied Central Command (LANDCOM) in Izmir, Turkey. The NATO official also pointed out that Incirlik is actually not a NATO base, though U.S. and Spanish troops are stationed there. Our ruling Manafort said there was a ""NATO base in Turkey being under attack by terrorists"" the week Trump made his comments about ""Second Amendment people."" Russian media speculated that there was a second attempted coup at Incirlik air base in Turkey. That incident was exaggerated and occurred two weeks before Trump’s comments. Furthermore, though it houses NATO troops, Incirlik is not a NATO base. Neither Incirlik or NATO’s central headquarters in Izmir, Turkey, have been attacked by terrorists. The event Manafort described did not happen."
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24594
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"AARP is ""endorsing"" the health care reform bill."
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Obama goes too far when he says health reform bills have AARP endorsement
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false
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National, Health Care, Barack Obama,
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"With polls showing seniors are the most skeptical about the health care reform bills working their way through Congress, President Barack Obama sought to ease some of their concerns during a town hall meeting with a little high-powered name-dropping. The name: AARP. Several times at the town hall in Portsmouth, N.H., on Aug. 11, Obama specifically mentioned AARP's support for health care reform. It's little wonder why: The AARP is the country's largest and most powerful advocate for seniors. ""We have the AARP on board because they know this is a good deal for our seniors,"" Obama said at one point. And later, in response to a question about whether the health care plan would reduce the availability of medications through Medicare, Obama said, ""Well, first of all, another myth that we've been hearing about is this notion that somehow we're going to be cutting your Medicare benefits. We are not. AARP would not be endorsing a bill if it was undermining Medicare, okay?"" It was that last comment that caught the attention of AARP executives. Not the part that AARP would not support a bill that undermines Medicare benefits. That's true. It was the suggestion that AARP had formally endorsed any particular version of the still-evolving health care plan working its way through Congress. AARP chief operating officer Tom Nelson immediately fired off a press release saying that ""indications that we have endorsed any of the major health care reform bills currently under consideration in Congress are inaccurate."" The rebuke likely confused a lot of AARP members who have read or heard numerous AARP statements in recent weeks that have supported various aspects of the health care plan. Just a few weeks ago, on July 14, the AARP issued a press release gushing about the introduction of the House health care reform bill saying, ""This bill would make great strides for all of our members and their families."" The group said it was pleased with the legislation for giving ""every American has access to affordable, quality health care choices."" Specifically, the release said the bill would make prescription drugs less expensive for seniors, would block insurance companies from denying coverage based on age, and for capping out-of-pocket expenses for some insurance plans. AARP did not explicitly say it was endorsing the bill, but there was not a single negative comment in the statement. In a July 14 ad sponsored by Healthy Economy Now — a coalition including AARP, the American Medical Association and the pharmaceutical industry, among others — the tone was decidedly upbeat. ""The president and Congress have a plan to lower costs and stop denials for pre-existing conditions,"" the ad says. ""It's time to act."" The following day, AARP released a statement about the version of the bill being debated in the Senate. This time, the group was slightly less complimentary; while it said most parts of the legislation were good, AARP remained concerned about a provision in the bill that would prevent some generic drugs from entering the market faster. Since then, the climate in the health care debate has taken a decided nasty turn, with a deep and clear divide between Republicans and Democrats. But AARP spokesman Jim Dau said AARP was not reacting by tempering its stance. He said AARP supports a lot of changes that both the House and Senate bills would make, such as making drugs cheaper for seniors and ending discriminatory practices against the elderly, but the group has been clear all along that it has not endorsed any of the big bills. ""We have endorsed specific measures,"" Dau said. ""We're praising the pieces that we think are good for members."" Dau pointed to a statement made by AARP CEO Barry Rand during a July 28 town hall meeting with Obama. ""I want to make it clear that AARP has not endorsed any particular bill, any of the bills that are being circulated around Congress today and debated in Congress today,"" Rand said. ""We continue to work with the members on both sides of the aisle, and we continue to work with the administration to achieve what is right for health care reform."" Nelson echoed that bipartisan tone in his statement after Obama's town hall this week. ""AARP has been working with Democrats and Republicans to fix our broken health care system,"" Nelson stated. ""AARP supports specific measures that would help older Americans and their families – including bipartisan proposals to create a new follow-up care benefit in Medicare that would help prevent hospital readmissions, as well as to address the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap known as the ‘doughnut hole.’ We also support the need for lawmakers and the administration to act this year to fix what doesn’t work in the health care system."" So was Obama incorrect to say the AARP had endorsed the bill? The July 14 statement sure sounds to us like an endorsement, even if it didn't specifically contain that word. But in Washington, the word ""endorse"" means you have put the weight of your name behind an official stamp of approval for a bill, candidate or policy. And the fact is, AARP has not formally endorsed any specific bill. It strongly supports some aspects of the bills. But that's not a formal endorsement. And in fact, Obama was present two weeks ago when AARP's CEO said the group ""has not endorsed any particular bill."""
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28146
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"In May 2017, Pinnacle Foods announced the ""largest recall in recent times"" of several Aunt Jemima products due to possible Listeria contamination."
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"What's true: Pinnacle Foods recalled several products, including Aunt Jemima pancakes and waffles, over Listeria concerns. What's false: It was not the ""largest recall in recent times."""
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true
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Food, Aunt Jemima, food recall, listeria
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On 23 June 2017, Trucks USA reported that Pinnacle Foods had recalled some frozen pancakes, waffles and French toast due to concerns over potential Listeria contamination. The terrifying headline reads: “ALERT: Largest RECALL in Recent Times ANNOUNCED – EVERYONE Has This in Their Freezer and it can KILL YOU”, but the text is more sober: A New Jersey-based food company is recalling Aunt Jemima frozen pancakes, waffles and French toast because they could be contaminated with Listeria. Listeriosis is a serious infection usually caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. An estimated 1,600 people get listeriosis each year, and about 260 die. The infection is most likely to sicken pregnant women and their newborns, adults aged 65 or older, and people with weakened immune systems. Despite the alarmist headline, the article does describe a real product recall which was registered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on 5 May 2017. The Trucks USA story republishes most of the FDA recall notice, which reads, in part: Pinnacle Foods Inc. is voluntarily recalling all “Best By” dates of Aunt Jemima Frozen Pancakes, Frozen Waffles & Frozen French Toast Slices distributed nationally in the United States and one product into Mexico because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. No illnesses have been reported. The products are being recalled as a precautionary measure given the health and safety of our consumers is our top priority. Pinnacle Foods initiated the recall after testing indicated the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in the plant environment. We are working in coordination with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on this recall. The products recalled include a range of Aunt Jemima pancakes, mini-pancakes, “Lil’ Griddlers”, waffles and French toast. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) also announced the recall of two other Pinnacle Foods products: Aunt Jemima French toast and sausage, and Hungry Man boneless fried chicken and waffles. The Trucks USA article sensationalized the recall in its headline. This is far from being the “largest recall in recent times” — a 2007-2009 salmonella outbreak, for example, led to the recall of hundreds of products containing peanuts, at an estimated cost of $1 billion. And clearly it’s not true to say that “everyone” has these products in their freezer. Furthermore, while it’s technically true that the products “can kill you,” just about every food product on the market can kill you, if they carry certain bacteria. This recall is precautionary, due to potential contamination, and no Listeria infection has yet been linked to the products. However, the Trucks USA article does accurately present some facts about the disease, and includes (without proper attribution) this Centers for Disease Control (CDC) description of it. Listeriosis is a serious infection usually caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. An estimated 1,600 people get listeriosis each year, and about 260 die. The infection is most likely to sicken pregnant women and their newborns, adults aged 65 or older, and people with weakened immune systems.
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34712
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"American president George Bush asked Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso if ""Brazil has blacks, too."
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Bird flu has been detected in turkeys in eastern Poland, authorities said on Wednesday, and local media reported that the outbreak could require up to 40,000 birds to be slaughtered.
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unproven
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Politics Politicians, brazil, george w bush
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Poland, Europe’s largest poultry producer according to data from Eurostat, has not had an outbreak of bird flu since 2017. Andrzej Danielak, president of Polish Association of Breeders and Poultry Producers, said that three farms might be affected, with up to 350,000 birds at risk in a three kilometer radius. “Veterinary services are implementing virus eradication procedures in this situation,” local authorities in Lubartowski county said in a press release issued on Tuesday, adding that the virus was a subtype of highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu that can also threaten people The authorities said crisis meetings had been held, while footage from private broadcaster Polsat showed police cars blocking a road in the area.
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6166
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Bird flu cases revive fear of repeat of major 2015 outbreak.
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The detection of a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu at a Tennessee chicken farm has poultry farmers stepping up security in an attempt to prevent an outbreak like the one in 2015 that required the destruction of millions of chickens and turkeys in the Midwest. The appearance of milder forms of bird flu at a Wisconsin turkey farm and another Tennessee chicken farm has heightened concern.
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true
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North America, Wisconsin, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Health, Flu, Business, Tennessee, Bird flu, Agriculture, U.S. News
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Here are some things to know about the state of avian influenza in the U.S. and worldwide, and how the poultry industry has tried to prepare for a recurrence: THE THREAT The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Sunday that a highly pathogenic form of bird flu was confirmed Saturday in a flock of 73,500 breeding broiler chickens in Lincoln County, Tennessee, after hundreds of birds began dying. It was identified as an H7N9 virus of North American wild bird origin. The USDA stressed that it was not the same H7N9 virus of Chinese lineage that has sickened poultry and people in Asia, nor is it related to the virus that caused the 2015 U.S. outbreak. Officials quickly moved to kill the entire flock to prevent the virus from spreading. The affected farm supplies Tyson Foods Inc. The USDA also said a flock of 84,000 turkeys at a Jennie-O Turkey Store farm near Barron, Wisconsin, had been confirmed with a low pathogenic H5N2 virus. The USDA stressed it was different from the highly pathogenic H5N2 virus that devastated the Midwest chicken egg and turkey industry in 2015. On Thursday, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture reported a case of low pathogenic H7N9 at a different chicken breeding farm operated by an unspecified different company, in Giles County. Officials said they didn’t think one farm sickened the other. The birds in the affected flock were killed. THE 2015 OUTBREAK The USDA calls the 2015 outbreak the largest animal health emergency in U.S. history. It cost farmers nearly 50 million birds before it burned out in June 2015. Iowa, the country’s top egg producer, and Minnesota, the No. 1 turkey producer, were by far the hardest hit. Retail turkey prices weren’t noticeably affected, but egg prices soared. Congressional testimony as the dust was starting to settle conservatively estimated the total economic impact at over $3.3 billion. An outbreak of H7N8 in Dubois County, Indiana, in January 2016 remained isolated to 10 farms, but more than 414,000 turkeys and chickens died. Most of those farms had a low pathogenic version, but the USDA said it apparently mutated into highly pathogenic at one farm. HIGH-PATH VERSUS LOW-PATH The first symptom of highly pathogenic bird flu, the kind that’s almost always fatal to domestic poultry, is typically birds dying en masse. Scientists learned in 2015 that it’s crucial to euthanize entire infected flocks immediately. “You want a very rapid response and a very rapid stamping out. ... The faster the birds die, the faster the outbreak stops,” said Dr. Carol Cardona, a poultry disease expert at the University of Minnesota. Low pathogenic is more common. Symptoms are typically mild, if any. Infected birds usually recover. While response plans differ from state to state, a common and effective approach is “controlled marketing.” Infected flocks are not euthanized but are kept quarantined until they recover and test negative for the virus, and then they can be marketed, Cardona said. That’s what’s being done in Wisconsin, according to the USDA. FARMERS’ RESPONSE U.S. producers have stepped up biosecurity in response to the new cases, as well the ongoing outbreaks in Asia, Europe and Africa that have led to the destruction of hundreds of millions of birds and killed dozens of humans. Bird flu viruses don’t usually spread to people except by close contact with infected birds, but health authorities are always alert to the possibility. Since wild waterfowl are considered the main reservoirs of bird flu, farmers and scientists get nervous when birds are migrating. Droppings from infected birds flying north in the spring, or south in the fall, can get tracked into barns or carried in on contaminated equipment. So producers are being more vigilant about keeping people and vehicles from entering their farms unless they absolutely need to be there. “They understand this is a high-risk period with the spring migration period, so they’re watching their flocks closely and doing additional surveillance to make sure that if anything pops up, they’re going to identify it quickly,” said Dr. Shauna Voss, senior veterinarian at the Minnesota Poultry Testing Laboratory in Willmar. Since 2015, many farmers have built the “Danish entry” system into their barns, said Steve Olson, executive director of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association. Anyone entering or leaving has to sit on a bench, take their boots off, swing their legs around to the “clean” side of the room, put on new boots and clothing that stay in the barn, and reverse the process when they leave. WHAT ABOUT VACCINES? Bird flu viruses keep evolving, like human influenza viruses, so a vaccine that works against one strain might be ineffective against another. While an H5N2 vaccine was developed in 2015, it was never deployed in the field. Producers are wary of vaccines because many countries refuse poultry products from countries that use vaccines. That is because tests for the disease look for the same antibodies that vaccines trigger an animal to produce. ___ Follow Steve Karnowski on Twitter at https://twitter.com/skarnowski. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/steve-karnowski.
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26407
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Chris Larson Says the April 22 jump in COVID-19 cases was related to the election.
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This election-related post clearly attributed the large April 22 increase to voting But the jump in new Wisconsin cases was actually due in large part to an outbreak at Brown County meatpacking plants. We don’t yet know what impact the election had on April 22 or any other day’s cases, but at the time of this claim there was no evidence it played a large role
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false
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Elections, Health Care, Public Health, Wisconsin, Coronavirus, Chris Larson,
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"Politicians and armchair epidemiologists alike can’t seem to help themselves from making political hay from Wisconsin’s coronavirus trends. And many are struggling to use the data accurately. An April 17, 2020, article widely shared on Facebook claimed the in-person election had caused a ""surge"" in new cases. Four days later, the state’s Republican legislative leaders said the state was ""clearly"" seeing a decline. That was Mostly . Now a Democratic state senator is again tying an uptick in cases to the state’s mid-pandemic election. Spoiler alert: The data work is still poor. Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, posted the following points on Facebook on April 23: 19 - # of new COVID-19 cases linked to the April 7 election, per DHS. 5 - # of National Guard members displaying COVID-19 symptoms after assisting in the election. 57% - single-day increase in new COVID-19 cases two weeks after the election, compared with the previous two-week average. Yet, some would say, it was ""incredibly safe to go out."" It's time we base decisions on science and the best information available, instead of what we think will benefit us politically. We’re zooming on the 57% claim. There was indeed a large spike in cases April 22. But Larson is off base attributing that to the election. Let’s see if Larson lived up to his own call to use the ""best information available."" Asked for evidence of the claim, Justin Bielinski, who joined Larson’s office as communications director April 21, claimed the post did not attribute the jump in cases to the election. ""The claim was not that the jump was ‘due to’ or caused by the election, but merely that it was linked,"" Bielinski said in an email. ""Linked is meant to convey correlation."" That, frankly, doesn’t make any sense. The entirety of Larson’s post was about the election, and it described the April 22 increase as occurring ""two weeks after the election."" Larson followed that by quoting an oft-criticized ""incredibly safe"" statement Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, made while working the polls on Election Day in full protective gear. The only reasonable takeaway for readers is that Larson is claiming the election had something to do with the increase. A cursory glance at the data, or headlines around the state, show jumps around April 22 weren’t about the election in general, but one outlier county. Brown County has seen a tremendous surge in new cases due to a COVID-19 outbreak at several meat-packing plants. From April 19 to April 24, the county jumped from 215 confirmed cases to 605. County health officials have traced about half those cases to meatpacking employees and their families, primarily from JBS Packerland in Green Bay. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration are both investigating. But let’s turn back to April 22, the date Larson cited. Wisconsin posted a record 225 new cases that day, after averaging 152 per day the week leading up to that. (As usual, the change in new cases corresponded with a change in testing, which rose to 1,886 on April 22 compared to an average of 1,558 the preceding week). But Brown County accounted for 88 of those cases. Officials haven’t said exactly how many of those 88 were meat-packing related, but they have said there is no evidence linking the recent spike and the April 7 election. If we take Brown County out of the equation, the number of new cases in Wisconsin was 137, not far off the daily average of 121 over the preceding week. Of course, there have been coronavirus cases linked to the election. And officials say it’s too soon to say for sure what impact the election had on the coronavirus trends in Wisconsin. On April 21, 2020, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said 19 people who voted or worked the polls April 7 had tested positive, but officials said there is ""no way to know with certainty"" if they contracted the illness at the polls or somewhere else. And those were factored into the state tallies before the April 22 spike Larson zeroed in on. Larson referred to an April 22 jump in new coronavirus cases as coming ""two weeks after the election,"" then mocked Vos’ quote about the election being ""incredibly safe."" The obvious takeaway is that the jump and election are related. We haven’t seen any evidence that’s true. The increase that day was due in large part to a spike in Brown County, where outbreaks at meat-packing plants led to a surge in new cases. Brown County officials say there has been no evidence of a link between their case surge and the election. We can’t say for sure how the election impacted the April 22 statistics, but connecting the entirety of that day’s increase to the election is an exaggeration."
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31889
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Coiled mattresses cause cancer by amplifying radio waves.
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You may want to lose sleep over a doctor misrepresenting health risks to millions of followers, but you certainly shouldn’t lose any sleep over the radiation-amplifying coils in your unpowered mattress.
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false
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Medical, joseph mercola
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A July 2010 guest post on a Scientific American blog incorrectly reported the results of a Swedish study that, in turn, made the largely speculative hypothesis that some forms of cancer are more frequent on the left side of the body because the right side (which is most people’s preference for a side to sleep on) gets protection from the myriad electromagnetic FM and TV radio waves already present in the environment due to the dampening influence of the metal coils in a mattress. As described in the study’s abstract: Here we show that a high prevalence of breast cancer and melanoma on the left side of the body may be a logical consequence of sleeping in beds having mattresses containing wave-reflecting metal springs. We found that people tend to sleep for longer periods on their right side, apparently to avoid disturbance by the heartbeat. This puts the left side farther away from the field-attenuating influence of the metal springs in the mattress; thus the left side will spend, on average, more time exposed to stronger combined fields from incident and reflected waves. For reasons that remain unclear, the Scientific American blog post (which remains uncorrected), came to the opposite conclusion of what the study was trying to argue, holding that coil-spring mattresses amplified, rather than attenuated, waves of electromagnetic radiation: Thus, as we sleep on our coil-spring mattresses, we are in effect sleeping on an antenna that amplifies the intensity of the broadcast FM/TV radiation. Asleep on these antennas, our bodies are exposed to the amplified electromagnetic radiation for a third of our life spans. As we slumber on a metal coil-spring mattress, a wave of electromagnetic radiation envelops our bodies so that the maximum strength of the field develops 75 centimeters above the mattress in the middle of our bodies. When sleeping on the right side, the body’s left side will thereby be exposed to field strength about twice as strong as what the right side absorbs. The original study came up with their explanation by 1) compiling data from the Swedish Cancer Registry on the incidence of left versus right breast cancer for the period of 1970–2006; 2) performing a literature review to see if there was a common preference for what side of the body people like to sleep on; 3) plotting cancer incidence and FM transmitters together; and 4) looking at the incidence of left versus right breast cancer in a country—Japan—without metal springs in their beds for comparison. Their review found a slight preference for both genders to sleep on the right side, a slightly higher probability that breast cancer and melanomas develop on the left side, and higher cancer rates in places with more than one transmitter. They also found no preference for either side with respect to cancer in Japanese individuals. Even though the World Health Organization (WHO) does not consider radio wave transmissions a risk factor for cancer in the first place, the paper presented speculation based on deeply imperfect data with equally imperfect conclusions. It made no direct investigation into the mechanisms its authors proposed. More to the point, however, the claim presented in the Scientific American blog post was not even an accurate portrayal of the authors’ speculative hypothesis. No scientist is actually suggesting that a passive, unelectrified network of coils could somehow amplify a signal without the input of power. But peddlers of pseudoscience and misinformation frequently cite this erroneous analysis (and not the study itself) as evidence for the harms of electromagnetism. Dr. Mercola, prolific purveyor of misinformation and supplements, had this to say about the study (which he clearly did not read): “[Y]our box spring mattress actually acts like an antenna; attracting and amplifying whatever radiation might be zipping through your bedroom.”
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3634
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Peoria-area woman being treated after bitten by rabid bat.
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A central Illinois woman is being treated for rabies exposure after being bitten by a rabid bat.
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true
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Rabies, Health, Peoria, Illinois, Bats, Pekin, Dogs
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The Tazewell County Health Department confirmed the rabid bat bite this week. The Journal Star reports it was the second rabid bat bite reported in the Peoria area this fall. Late in September a rabid bat bit a dog in Chillicothe. The dog was quarantined and given another round of rabies shots. The Illinois Department of Public Health reports 81 bats have tested positive for rabies in Illinois in 2018. It has additional information online . Rabies is a virus that affects the nervous system of humans and other mammals. Humans can get rabies after being bitten or scratched by an infected animal. ___ Information from: Journal Star, http://pjstar.com
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11241
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Major Cancer Breakthrough?: New Drug Potential “Holy Grail” For Treatment
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Worst of the three network TV segments we reviewed on this same PARP inhibitor study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. No evidence. No data on benefits. No discussion of potential harms. No experts interviewed. No discussion of the problems with drawing conclusions from small, early Phase 1 studies that are not primarily designed to measure effectiveness. This felt like a TV network morning show that wanted to look like it was aware of a big study because they saw it on two other networks the night before – yet didn’t want to invest the time to do it right. Just call it a breakthrough and the holy grail and call it a day.
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false
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"No discussion of costs. None. No discussion of potential harms – which – as reported in the NEJM article, are worth discussing. No details on the evidence – only that it was ""incredibly effective."" No discussion of the limitations of drawing conclusions from small early phase 1 trials that are not primarily designed to show effectiveness. Not much discussion of the cancers involved, so this criterion is N/A. No expert interviewed. NO source cited. No context given to put the new research into the broader picture of cancer research. Only enough time to call it the holy grail of cancer research. No discussion of the early phase of research – just that it may be the holy grail of cancer research. A nod in this direction, but the segment was just too brief to put the new research into any context of alternative targeted chemotherapy research. We can’t be sure of the extent to which the story relied on a news release. No source was cited. NO expert interviewed."
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41800
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When during the campaign, I would say 'Mexico is going to pay for it.' Obviously, I never said this, and I never meant they’re gonna write out a check.
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President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise that Mexico would pay for a border wall, now misleadingly claims he never meant that Mexico would “write out a check” to pay for it. His campaign at least twice laid out specific methods of direct payment.
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mixture
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border fence, border wall, Mexico, remittances, United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement,
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President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise that Mexico would pay for a border wall, now misleadingly claims he never meant that Mexico would “write out a check” to pay for it. His campaign at least twice laid out specific methods of direct payment.In March 2016, the campaign threatened to halt remittance payments from Mexicans working illegally in the U.S. to relatives back home as a way to compel Mexico to make “a one-time payment of $5-10 billion” for the wall. The campaign also proposed increasing visa fees on Mexicans coming to the U.S. as a means to pay for the wall.In 2015, the campaign released a position paper on immigration that said “Mexico must pay for the wall and, until they do, the United States will” take specific steps, such as threatening to “impound all remittance payments derived from illegal wages.” The campaign paper also suggested increased tariffs and fees on Mexico to raise money for the wall.And even in the early days of the Trump presidency, his administration was talking about more direct reimbursement for the wall through tariffs on imported Mexican goods.During the 2016 president campaign, Trump repeated over and over that Mexico would pay for the border wall.In recent weeks, Trump has claimed that Mexico is paying for the wall “indirectly,” through the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement signed on Nov. 30. As we have written, that’s a dubious claim.Trump repeated that claim when meeting with reporters before flying to the southern border on Jan. 10. He then went on to say that he never promised Mexico would “write out a check” to pay for the wall.Trump, Jan. 10: Just a couple of things because I know the fake news likes to say it. When during the campaign, I would say Mexico is going to pay for it. Obviously, I never said this, and I never meant they’re gonna write out a check. I said they’re gonna pay for it. They are. They are paying for it with the incredible deal we made called the United States Mexico and Canada USMCA deal.We couldn’t find any instances in which Trump specifically called on Mexico to cut a check to pay for construction of a border wall. In campaign speeches, Trump was usually short on specifics about how exactly Mexico would pay. For example, in a campaign speech in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Oct. 30, 2016, Trump simply said Mexico will “be very happy to pay for the wall” because “we have tremendous trade deficits with Mexico.”Though Trump was vague on the point, his campaign at least twice laid out specific methods for direct payment.The Trump campaign issued a position paper during the Republican primary outlining some of the ways Mexico might be forced to pay for the wall, including impounding remittances from Mexicans living and working in the U.S. illegally or via increased fees on border-crossing cards, NAFTA worker visas and at ports of entry to the U.S.Trump campaign position paper, 2015: Mexico must pay for the wall and, until they do, the United States will, among other things: impound all remittance payments derived from illegal wages; increase fees on all temporary visas issued to Mexican CEOs and diplomats (and if necessary cancel them); increase fees on all border crossing cards – of which we issue about 1 million to Mexican nationals each year (a major source of visa overstays); increase fees on all NAFTA worker visas from Mexico (another major source of overstays); and increase fees at ports of entry to the United States from Mexico [Tariffs and foreign aid cuts are also options].On March 31, 2016, the Trump campaign sent a two-page memo to the Washington Post under the subject line, “Compelling Mexico to Pay for the Wall.”The memo outlined a plan to use — or threaten to use — the Patriot Act to compel financial institutions to “demand identity documents before opening accounts or conducting financial transactions.” The idea was to stem the flow of remittances being sent from Mexicans living and working in the U.S. illegally to their families back home.The campaign estimated that Mexican nationals send $24 billion a year to people in Mexico and “the majority of that amount comes from illegal aliens.”“It’s an easy decision for Mexico,” the memo states. “Make a one-time payment of $5-10 billion to ensure that $24 billion continues to flow into their country year after year.”That sure sounds equivalent to demanding Mexico cut a check.The memo to the Washington Post lays out a hypothetical three-day plan to coerce the Mexican government to pony up billions of dollars to pay for the wall.Trump campaign memo, March 31, 2016: On day 1 promulgate a “proposed rule” (regulation) amending 31 CFR 130.121 to redefine applicable financial institutions to include money transfer companies like Western Union, and redefine “account” to include wire transfers. Also include in the proposed rule a requirement that no alien may wire money outside of the United States unless the alien first provides a document establishing his lawful presence in the United States.On day 2 Mexico will immediately protest. They receive approximately $24 billion a year in remittances from Mexican nationals working in the United States. The majority of that amount comes from illegal aliens. It serves as de facto welfare for poor families in Mexico. There is no significant social safety net provided by the state in Mexico.On day 3 tell Mexico that if the Mexican government will contribute $__billion to the United States to pay for the wall, the Trump Administration will not promulgate the final rule, and the regulation will not go into effect.The memo goes on to talk about other ways to “compel Mexico to pay for the wall.” Among them:Impounding or freezing remittance payments would likely be problematic. For starters, it might violate peoples’ civil liberties, a point then-presidential candidate Jeb Bush made when pushing back against Trump’s plan in August 2015. A Government Accountability Office report in 2016 also noted that officials from the largest money transmitters raised concerns that “asking for information from remittance senders about their legal immigration status in the United States” would “likely contribute to pushing remittances out of formal financial systems to less detectable methods.”In the first month of Trump’s presidency, then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump was mulling a 20 percent tariff on all imports from Mexico to pay for the wall.“We can do $10 billion a year and easily pay for the wall just through that mechanism alone,” Spicer told reporters aboard Air Force One on Jan. 26, 2017. “That’s really going to provide the funding. This is something that we’ve been in close contact with both houses [of Congress] in moving forward and creating a plan.”(The plan outlined by Spicer also might have been problematic, as the New York Times noted, because it “would violate the North American Free Trade Agreement and most likely the rules of the World Trade Organization.”)Spicer later said that was just one option, and Reince Priebus, then the White House chief of staff, said there were “a buffet of options” under consideration.For its part, Mexican leaders have been adamant that Mexico will never pay for the wall.In a phone call with then-Mexican President Peña Nieto on Jan. 27, 2017 — according to a transcript obtained by the Washington Post — Trump said they were “both in a bit of a political bind” with Trump saying Mexico would pay for the wall and Nieto saying Mexico would not. And so, Trump said, if reporters ask, “Who is going to pay for the wall?” they should both agree to say, “We will work it out.”Trump’s rhetoric took a turn in early 2018 when he told the Wall Street Journal that Mexico could pay for the wall “indirectly” if the U.S. makes a “good deal” renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. “Say I’m going to take a small percentage of that money and it’s going to go toward the wall,” Trump said. “Guess what? Mexico’s paying.”And that’s the position Trump has taken ever since the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement was signed on Nov. 30 by the leaders of all three countries (though it still must be ratified by Congress). Just prior to flying to the Southwest border on Jan. 10, Trump told reporters that Mexico is “paying for the wall indirectly many, many times over by the really great trade deal we just made.”But economists told us that while the new trade agreement is arguably a slightly more advantageous deal for the U.S. than NAFTA, it won’t generate enough additional federal revenues to pay for the border wall, and shouldn’t be construed as Mexican payments, anyway.Although Trump has consistently insisted Mexico would pay for the wall, the details of how exactly that will happen have evolved over time. And while Trump may not have specifically said Mexico would “write out a check” to pay for the wall, his campaign proposed ways to force Mexico through economic pressure to make a direct payment for the wall.
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208
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J&J liable for $572 million in Oklahoma opioid epidemic trial; shares rise.
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An Oklahoma judge on Monday ordered Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) to pay $572.1 million to the state for its part in fueling an opioid epidemic by deceptively marketing addictive painkillers, a sum that was substantially less than investors had expected, driving up J&J’s shares.
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true
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Health News
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The state’s attorney general had filed the lawsuit, seeking $17 billion to address the impact of the drug crisis on Oklahoma. It had been considered a bellwether for other litigation nationwide over the opioid epidemic. “The expectation was this was going to be a $1.5 billion to $2 billion fine,” said Jared Holz, healthcare strategist for Jefferies & Co. “$572 million is a much lower number than had been feared.” J&J said it would appeal the decision. Shares of J&J were up 2% in extended trading following the decision, after an initial gain of more than 5%. Other drugmakers that sell opioid painkillers and are defending against similar lawsuits also rose after-hours, including Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.TA) up 2.6%, and Endo International Plc (ENDP.O), up 1.4% higher. Opioids were involved in almost 400,000 overdose deaths from 1999 to 2017, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since 2000, some 6,000 Oklahomans have died from opioid overdoses, according to the state’s lawyers. Roughly 2,500 lawsuits have been brought by states, counties and municipalities nationally seeking to hold drugmakers responsible for opioid abuse nationwide. Oklahoma’s case was the first to go to trial. Some drugmakers have chosen to settle cases. In holding J&J liable after a seven-week, non-jury trial, Judge Thad Balkman of Cleveland County District Court in Norman, Oklahoma, said the state proved that J&J’s misleading marketing and promotion of its Duragesic and Nucynta painkillers created a public nuisance. “The opioid crisis is an imminent danger and menace to Oklahomans,” Balkman said. Oklahoma wanted J&J to help it address the epidemic for the next 30 years by funding addiction treatment and prevention programs. Balkman said in his written ruling that the award covered only one year of addressing the crisis because Oklahoma did not demonstrate the time and costs needed beyond that. Lance Lang, a 36-year-old recovering user of opioids turned activist in Oklahoma City, said it was “short sighted” for the judge to have only ordered funding for a year. “There’s going to be people struggling with this for years,” he said in an interview. J&J said it will ask that the award be put on hold during an appeal process that could stretch into 2021. The company also said Oklahoma failed to show that its products and activities had created a public nuisance. “You can’t sue your way out of the opioid abuse crisis,” Sabrina Strong, a lawyer for J&J, said at a news conference after the verdict. “Everyone must come together to address this. But J&J did not cause the opioid crisis.” The case was brought by Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, who alleged that J&J’s marketing practices helped fuel the opioid epidemic by flooding the market with painkillers. “Johnson & Johnson will finally be held accountable for thousands of deaths and addictions caused by their actions,” Hunter said. The trial came after Oklahoma had resolved claims against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP in March for $270 million and Teva in May for $85 million, leaving J&J as the lone defendant. The verdict came as two Ohio counties prepare for a scheduled October trial before a federal judge in Cleveland. About 2,000 lawsuits out of some 2,500 filed nationwide are consolidated in the case in Cleveland. Endo International Plc (ENDP.O) and Allergan Plc (AGN.N) last week agreed to pay $15 million to avoid going to trial in October in a case by two Ohio counties, subject to court approval. Some plaintiffs’ lawyers have compared the opioid cases to litigation by states against the tobacco industry that led to a $246 billion settlement in 1998. Joe Rice, a lead plaintiff’s attorney for municipalities in the federal litigation, said if the Oklahoma award were extrapolated to other states, it could mean an annual abatement cost of around $38 billion. “It does indicate that if I’m in the pharmaceutical business, I’ve got to think long and hard about annual payments of my share of that,” he said. The judge overseeing the federal litigation in Ohio has been pushing for a global settlement. J&J, which is among multiple pharmaceutical companies that are defendants in the federal litigation, said it remains “open to viable options” to resolve the Ohio case, including through settlement. During the Oklahoma trial, lawyers for the state argued that J&J carried out a years-long marketing campaign that minimized the painkillers’ addiction risks and promoted their benefits. The lawyers called J&J an opioid “kingpin” and argued that its marketing created a public nuisance as doctors over-prescribed the drugs, leading to a surge in overdose deaths. J&J countered that its marketing claims had scientific support and its painkillers accounted for a tiny fraction of opioids prescribed in Oklahoma. The company said in a statement that since 2008, its painkillers accounted for less than 1% of the U.S. market, including generics. Teva said the ruling supported its rationale for settling the case before trial, and said it was preparing to defend itself in the upcoming trial in Ohio. Purdue, which is also among the defendants in the Ohio litigation, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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34375
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A 31-year-old British woman died of ‘cannabis poisoning’ in October 2013.
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The fact of the matter is that unexplained, sudden deaths occasionally strike down healthy individuals. The absence of a clear explanation for a death should not compel acceptance of a scientifically implausible one, however. In our view, death from direct cannabis toxicity is unlikely, as this event is generally viewed to be medically impossible. The incidence of a heart attack as a contributing factor in the case of death that is not otherwise fully explainable is certainly a possibility, but the notion that smoking half a joint would trigger a fatal heart attack in a person who did not exhibit any existing cardiovascular disease strains credulity. Accordingly, we rank this claim as unproven.
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unproven
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Medical, daily mail, marijuana
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On 30 January 2014, the British tabloid Daily Mail published an article with the following liberally capitalized and attention-grabbing headline: Devout Christian Mother-of-Three, 31, Becomes First Woman in Britain to DIE from Cannabis Poisoning After Smoking a Joint in Bed to Help Her Sleep. Based on the testimony of the pathologist who performed an autopsy on a 31-year-old woman named Gemma Moss, who was found dead next to a half-smoked marijuana joint, the Mail concluded that she “died directly from cannabis poisoning”: A young mother of three died after she was poisoned by the cannabis she smoked to help her get to sleep. Gemma Moss, 31, was killed by the level of the drug in her blood, an inquest heard. The regular churchgoer, who was found dead in her bedroom, is thought to be the first woman in Britain known to have died directly from cannabis poisoning. Her death was caused by cannabis toxicity, and a coroner recorded a verdict of death by cannabis abuse.The inquest was told that Miss Moss smoked half a joint a night to help her sleep. Reports from the local newspaper of the town in which Moss lived confirm both her death, which occurred on 28 October 2013, as well as the suggested link between her demise and a half-smoked joint. An inquest (i.e., a legal investigation into her death) was held on 21 January 2014. During this proceeding, a pathologist provided his opinion that cannabis “caused [Moss’s] death.” The testimony that inspired that pathologist’s interpretation, however, was a bit more vague than the Daily Mail’s specific claim of cannabis “poisoning”, based on a longer account of the proceedings published by the UK’s more respectable Telegraph newspaper: A post mortem examination revealed that there were no obvious signs of abnormality in Miss Moss’ body. But Dr Kudair Hussein, a pathologist, told the inquest in Bournemouth, that there were moderate to heavy levels of [chemicals associated with cannabis] in her blood. He said: “The physical examination and the examination of various organs including the heart and the liver showed no abnormality that could account for her death. The level of cannabinoids in the blood were 0.1 to 0.15 milligrams per litre, this is considered as moderate to heavy cannabis use. I looked through literature and it’s well known that cannabis is of very low toxicity. But there are reports which say cannabis can be considered as a cause of death because it can induce a cardiac arrest.” Mr Sheriff Payne, the Bournemouth coroner, asked Dr Hussein: “You are satisfied it was the effects of cannabis that caused her death.” Dr Hussain replied: “Yes sir.” The phrase “the effects of cannabis” leaves room for presuming an indirect relationship between Moss’s death and cannabis (i.e., one that would not be considered a “poisoning”). In captions attached to some of the photographs, and in a sidebar, the Daily Mail seems to suggest a heart attack triggered by cannabis — an entirely different claim than the one expressed in their headline — might have been the cause of Moss’s death: Tests of Moss’s vital organs revealed nothing wrong with them, although testimony offered at the inquest was suggested she might have suffered a cardiac arrest triggered by cannabis toxicity. Perhaps unintentionally, then, the article presents two conflicting hypotheses that require investigation: 1) Is it possible to consume enough cannabis that you are directly poisoned by its toxicity? ; and 2) Is it possible for marijuana to trigger a (fatal) heart attack? Is it Possible to Consume Enough Cannabis to Be Directly Poisoned by Its Toxicity? There is a near universal agreement on the answer to this question: No. While no studies designed to ascertain a lethal dose level for THC — the primary psychoactive component of cannabis — have been undertaken on humans, a number of animal studies suggest that THC’s potential toxicity is remarkably low. Such studies seek to address what concentration of a chemical causes a lethal reaction in 50% of population of test subjects, known as the LD50. A study performed in the 1970s (whose results are described here) attempted to determine this value in a variety of rodent, dog, and monkey populations: The acute toxicity of THC is low. Acute lethal human toxicity for cannabis has not been substantiated. The median lethal dose (LD50) of oral THC in rats was 800–1900 mg/kg depending on sex and strain. There were no cases of death due to toxicity following the maximum THC dose in dogs (up to 3000 mg/kg THC) and monkeys (up to 9000 mg/kg THC). In other words, scientists were literally unable to intentionally cause fatal toxicity from cannabis in both dogs and primates. This lack of lethality was famously put into perspective by an oft-cited 1972 report issued by President Nixon’s “National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse” (The Shafer Commission), a group whose findings the Nixon administration ultimately ignored: In summary, enormous doses of Delta 9 THC, All THC and concentrated marihuana extract ingested by mouth were unable to produce death or organ pathology in large mammals but did produce fatalities in smaller rodents due to profound central nervous system depression. The non-fatal consumption of 3000 mg/kg A THC by the dog and monkey would be comparable to a 154-pound human eating approximately 46 pounds (21 kilograms) of 1%-marihuana or 10 pounds of 5% hashish at one time. In addition, 92 mg/kg THC intravenously produced no fatalities in monkeys. These doses would be comparable to a 154-pound human smoking at one time almost three pounds (1.28 kg) of 1%-marihuana or 250,000 times the usual smoked dose and over a million times the minimal effective dose assuming 50% destruction of the THC by smoking While higher potency of marijuana would change that math a bit, it would not change it enough for that amount of combustion and inhalation to be possible. A 2011 report on drug abuse from the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) states that there had been (at least at that time), zero documented cases of fatal overdoses from cannabis. If cannabis killed Gemma Moss, it would had to have done so through a mechanism other than direct toxicity. Is it Possible for Marijuana to Trigger a Heart Attack? That cannabis affects the cardiovascular system is uncontroversial. A 2001 study published in the journal Circulation reviewed the most significant interactions between cannabis and the heart: Several effects of smoked marijuana on the cardiovascular system have been well described. For example, smoking marijuana is associated with a dose-dependent increase in heart rate. In addition, most subjects experience an increase in blood pressure, particularly when supine. In addition to the hemodynamic effects, smoked marijuana is associated with an increase in carboxyhemoglobin, resulting in decreased oxygen-carrying capacity. Thus, taken together, smoking marijuana is associated with an increase in myocardial oxygen demand and a concomitant decrease in oxygen supply. To see if these effects contributed to the incidence of heart attacks, researchers surveyed 3882 patients who had suffered heart attacks, asking them to recall when they had most recently smoked marijuana (if at all) prior to their heart attacks. The investigation concluded that: Smoking marijuana is a rare trigger of acute myocardial infarction and may pose a health risk to patients with established coronary artery disease and perhaps to individuals with multiple coronary risk factors. As well, a variety of case reports at least hint at the fact that marijuana could increase the risk of heart attacks in users who already exhibit other risk factors. The question is, however, whether marijuana could cause a heart attack on its own (i.e., in the absence of these risk factors or other contributory causes). To date, the answer to this question remains controversial, but most research suggests that other risk factors need to be present for cannabis use to be a trigger for a heart attack. While we allow it is technically possible that cannabis could have contributed to Gemma Moss’s death, as suggested by a pathologist and some news accounts, it is important to note that — based on the Daily Mail’s own reporting — Moss exhibited no signs of a heart attack or any other form of organ failure. Other Explanations The only evidence presented linking Moss’s death to cannabis was the fact that she was found dead next to a half-smoked joint, and that her bloodstream showed that she had consumed marijuana. Nearly any other suggested cause for her sudden death would be, from an evidentiary standpoint, as valid as the pathologist’s claim that it was likely from marijuana. Yes, the most plausible way for cannabis to have contributed to Moss’s death would have been through some sort of cardiovascular event, but research suggests that such an event would be extremely rare (if not impossible) in the absence of other risk factors. Numerous other non-marijuana-related causes of cardiac arrest also appear to have been excluded without investigation.
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3968
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New pig inspection rules announced for Iowa State Fair.
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Officials have announced new inspection rules for pigs that will be shown at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines.
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true
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Des Moines, Health, General News, Animal health, Iowa, State fairs, Agriculture
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An Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship news release said Friday that the additional exhibition requirements are designed to promote biosecurity and animal health as African swine fever continues to spread across China and other parts of Asia and Europe. All pigs must be individually inspected and identified on a certificate of veterinary inspection that was completed within seven days of the fair, which runs Aug. 8-18 this year. A veterinarian will inspect all pigs as they arrive at the Des Moines fairgrounds before they are unloaded or mixed with other livestock. Biosecurity concerns led organizers to cancel the World Pork Expo scheduled for last month at the fairgrounds. The National Pork Producers Council says African swine fever affects only pigs and presents no human health or food safety risks. There is no vaccine to treat the disease.
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9286
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Pilot clinical trial finds injected immune cells safe in multiple myeloma patients
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This is a report of a phase I clinical trial testing whether specific immune cells harvested from the bone marrow, grown in the lab and then re-infused into multiple myeloma patients can effectively change the immune environment in the patient and suggest a possibly improved disease outcome. It looks at using a different population of immune cells — marrow-infiltrating lymphocytes (MILs) — from those used in previous studies. These are both easier to retrieve and easier to grow in the lab, two factors that reduce the complexity of this treatment approach. The release is in many ways a model for other organizations reporting on similar studies. The description of the study is clear, the language used appropriately conservative, and there is context regarding the novelty of the approach and current alternative treatments. Some discussion of possible costs — preliminary though it would have to be — would have completed the picture for readers. Rather than hyping such a study in a frenzied attempt to attract clicks and eyeballs, Hopkins presents the findings in a thoughtful way that reflects well on the institution’s reputation and will help build that reputation over the long haul. Multiple myeloma is one of several cancers of the blood and the National Cancer Institute estimates that nearly 27,000 new cases of myeloma will be diagnosed this year. Less than half of patients live as much as five years after their diagnosis, and more than 11,000 patients are expected to die from the disease this year. Any new approach to treating this and other blood cancers stands to benefit the nearly 90,000 patients now living with this disease in the U.S.
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true
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adoptive T cell therapy,immunotherapy,Johns Hopkins,multiple myeloma
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The release, while loaded with information about the research, fails to mention costs related to this new approach at any point. This is in spite of the fact that the paper provides what’s necessary to fulfill this criterion. The study authors wrote: “The easy access to the tumor site, the absence of the need for surgical removal of the tissue containing the T cells, the numbers of cells obtained with the harvest, and the ability to expand products in all patients with a relatively short process at a reasonable cost contrast sharply with several limitations of TIL ACT” (a current therapeutic approach to the disease). The release does a good job of spelling out the results of this phase 1 trial by providing data showing that MILs can target and kill cancer cells. It shows that in more than half of the study’s patients, their cancers had shrunk by at least half. In 15 of the 22 patients, their cancers did not progress for nearly a year after the MILs therapy. This wasn’t a controlled study, so it’s unclear how these patients would have fared without the MILs treatment, and the release could have attempted to provide some insight on that point. But we’re pleased that the release focuses appropriately on the apparent safety of the approach, rather than trying to make claims about survival benefits that aren’t supportable by this kind of small, uncontrolled study. The release also explains that the research provides information suggesting which patients might benefit best from this approach, and that other research at this cancer center is centered on testing this approach on different forms of cancer. We’ll give this criterion a satisfactory rating since the release specifically spells out, “None of the participants had serious side effects from the MILs therapy.” However, the study is really too small, and the time span too short, to comment substantively on the possible harms that might be seen if and when the treatment is more widely used. The research paper actually makes the point that the new procedure doesn’t require the “surgical removal of tissue,” and the procedure can be done at bedside rather than an operating suite. But the removal of cells from the bone marrow is still an invasive procedure that carries its own risk of infection or other problems. The release would have benefited from at least mentioning this aspect. The release makes a very good effort to objectively describe a technically complicated trial. It defines the trial at least twice as being “small” and calls it a “pilot,” suggesting that caution is appropriate when considering the results. It effectively explains the process involved in the treatments, including what was learned regarding the growth of cells in the lab after harvesting. It also points to the fact that while tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) can only be retrieved from a quarter of the patient candidates for this technique, MILs were obtained from all of the patients in this study, suggesting that they may be a better tool for this therapy. Describing multiple myeloma as “the second most common cancer originating in the blood” doesn’t add much to our understanding of this disease. However, other statistics provide context regarding the scope of the problem in the United States. We’ll give it a pass. The funding sources for this research are listed in an end note in the release. No conflict of interest information is provided in the release, although the research paper discloses no conflicts. The release does mention that other forms of this adoptive T cell therapy use different cells, suggesting that other approaches are possible. The release also notes, “Three days before the injections of expanded MILs, patients received high doses of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, standard treatments for multiple myeloma.” The release points out that “several U.S. cancer centers have conducted similar experimental treatments” but adds that Johns Hopkins is the only one using the MIL cells. It also points to several other ongoing clinical trials at Hopkins that build on the findings of this small study. Using the terms “pilot” and “experimental,” the release signals that availability is very limited. We like the fact that the headline itself defines this as a “pilot” clinical trial and that the lede says that it is “what is believed to be the first small clinical trial of its kind.” Those kinds of qualifiers both declare the specifics of the research and also provide informative caveats, allowing the reader to gauge how much credence to give to the findings. All too many other medical releases fail to provide this measured approach. This release is conservative throughout in its choice of language in describing this research which, based on its findings, might be ripe for exaggeration.
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9754
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Lasering your lady parts? New technology helps women revitalize sex life after menopause
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The article anecdotally describes the wondrous benefits of a fractional carbon dioxide laser marketed as MonaLisa Touch designed to decrease vaginal dryness and tissue shrinkage in women given certain drugs for the treatment of breast cancer, and presumably other women who are perimenopausal. For whatever reason, FoxNews chose to profile one MD and his series of 15 patients. Few details are given about the clinical research upon which the device’s many claims are based. Because the procedure is very new (it was introduced in the United States in December 2014), nothing is known about long-term benefits or harms from the procedure. This is an example of a story that is digestible without being very useful. Women’s sexual health issues are under-studied and under-treated. Some post-menopausal women develop vaginal dryness, painful intercourse and other symptoms as a result of thinning of the vaginal wall when estrogen levels decrease. The same holds true for some women who take anti-estrogen medications like tamoxifen following breast cancer. These women could potentially benefit from new therapies that increase lubrication and comfort when the standard therapies like estrogen replacement therapy or vaginal lubricants are impractical or fail to deliver a cure.
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false
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painful intercourse,vaginal atrophy,vaginal dryness
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The article states the procedure can cost up to $3,000. The initial treatment covers three therapy sessions with a followup treatment to be completed each year. The article clearly states that the procedure is not covered by insurance. The article describes an 85 to 90 percent improvement following the therapy (increased lubrication, less pain) and quotes the trial investigator claiming that 13 of 15 patients “were basically cured.” But the story seems to infer that this one physician’s experience with 15 patients constituted a scientifically valid experience, at least to some extent. And it doesn’t. We learn nothing about the patient population he treated. The story could have at least quoted the outcomes that are in the (very limited) literature. Testimonials and anecdotes don’t equal reliable data. The article makes an effort to list the potential harms (spotting, slight pain) but omitted the potential for infection. Since the laser probe sometimes causes spotting following a treatment there is a chance of infection. The article does note that the insertion of the laser may hurt a little bit, similar to a pap smear procedure. The claims for the device are based on preliminary research but the article doesn’t state that. It kind of makes up for that weakness by stating that there hasn’t been a comparative effectiveness trial or a placebo controlled trial. (We did find an abstract in PubMed from an Italian investigator’s pilot study.) A news release states the trial results were presented at a symposium chaired by Mickey Karram, MD, director of urogynecology at The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, the primary source quoted in the article. The story stated that, “Despite dire conditions, only 20 to 25 percent of postmenopausal women seek treatment.” First, the symptoms and the condition may vary considerably among individuals, and so can how much they affect different individuals’ lives. They’re not all dire. The statistic about 20-25% seeking treatment seems meaningless without source or context. There is a lot of potential conflict-of-interest that could have been pointed out in this story. The clinic that employs the primary source, Dr. Karram, as a director, imported the technology from Italy where it was developed. The clinic where he serves as a director is promoting the device through websites. Dr. Karram is a frequent presenter at symposiums sponsored by Cynosure, the device manufacturer. A truly independent voice would have lent this story more credibility. Estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) and vaginal moisturizers and lubricants are described as current therapies for vaginal dryness. The laser is presented as an alternative therapy for whom ERT is not advised and for whom moisturizers don’t work. We know that the treatment is available in some locations since the article quotes a patient who underwent the procedure. The article also provides the website address for more information. The story also notes that a qualified gyn should deliver the treatment. When one of our reviewers checked out the “find a doctor” app on the device’s website, it listed several apparently free standing clinics and practices in Maryland, where she lives. There’s another laser treatment on the market called Femilift that appears to address the same symptoms using similar technology. So to report on this one laser approach in isolation without reporting on competitors is shallow, and a bit like advertising. The story feels promotional, but, frankly, we have no evidence that the story relied solely or largely on a news release.
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17850
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"Nobody's addicted to"" marijuana."
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"Orlando attorney John Morgan said that ""nobody’s addicted to"" marijuana. Morgan quickly admitted that he was wrong, and experts agreed."
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false
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Drugs, Florida, Marijuana, John Morgan,
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"High-profile Orlando attorney John Morgan is leading an effort in Florida to legalize medical marijuana, arguing that the drug is safer and cheaper than other painkillers. As a recent guest on Bay News 9’s Political Connections, Morgan also discussed whether marijuana is addictive. ""Nobody's addicted to it,"" Morgan claimed. We decided to fact-check Morgan’s claim based on input from readers. But we didn’t have to dig too far. Morgan told us he was wrong. ""It was a huge mistake,"" said Morgan. ""I’m sorry and embarrassed I messed up."" Morgan said he was ""flat out wrong"" about marijuana not being addictive and meant to focus on the use of the drug compared to more potent painkillers. ""Some levels of addiction kill you -- marijuana may make you slow, but it will never kill you,"" said Morgan, a personal injury attorney who is leading the group People United for Medical Marijuana. The group has launched a petition drive to add an amendment to the state’s Constitution to legalize medical marijuana in 2014. Even though Morgan said he made a mistake, we were curious enough to check a few more sources. Aaron Norton, a psychotherapist who specializes in addictive disorders, said that ""cannabis dependence is a diagnosable disorder."" ""Not everyone who uses it becomes addicted,"" said Norton, but some are more vulnerable, including people with mental disorders, adolescents and young adults. ""In the course of my career, I have probably treated hundreds of patients who are cannabis-dependent, and many of them also met the two diagnostic criteria associated with physiological dependence -- tolerance and withdrawal,"" Norton said. Marijuana abuse is recognized as cannabis-use disorder in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The manual’s list of symptoms include craving; taking larger doses over a longer period of time than intended; recurrent use that results in failure to fulfill major obligations at work, school or home; and tolerance (needing more to get the desired high). It’s also described as an addictive substance by the government-funded National Institute on Drug Abuse, which writes: ""Estimates from research suggest that about 9 percent of users become addicted to marijuana; this number increases among those who start young (to about 17 percent, or 1 in 6) and among daily users (to 25-50 percent)."" Psychiatrist Dr. Darren Rothschild, an addiction medicine specialist, says he’s worked with patients who have developed a serious dependence on marijuana and ""the impact is substantial."" ""In order to feel normal, they have to have the drug,"" Rothschild said. ""Not everyone who smokes becomes addicted, but it’s erroneous to say it doesn’t happen."" Rothschild said people who smoke marijuana daily over a long period of time are the ones most susceptible to dependence on marijuana versus intermittent smokers who may occasionally smoke pot at a party. ""I’d say none of those people are addicted."" Dr. Samir Sabbag, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment and Research, said ""long-term use of marijuana is indeed addictive,"" though he noted people can be addicted to a variety of things, including the caffeine in chocolate and coffee. Even groups that support relaxing marijuana laws, such as the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), concede that Morgan was incorrect to say that marijuana is not potentially addictive. ""Can people have an abusive relationship with marijuana? Absolutely,"" said NORML executive director Allen St. Pierre. But St. Pierre says marijuana is ""not addictive in any way shape or form the same way that alcohol, nicotine and other legal and illegal drugs, even caffeine, can cause serious withdrawal."" Our ruling Orlando attorney John Morgan said that ""nobody’s addicted to"" marijuana. Morgan quickly admitted that he was wrong, and experts agreed."
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13043
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"Fifty percent of workers ages 55 to 64 have ""zero"" money ""in the bank as they enter retirement."
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Several U.S. states that have been ravaged by the opioid epidemic are pushing back on a proposed $48 billion settlement framework that would resolve thousands of lawsuits against five drug companies accused of fueling the addiction crisis.
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mixture
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Economy, Retirement, Workers, Wisconsin, Bernie Sanders,
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The proposal would bring an end to all opioid litigation against AmerisourceBergen Corp(ABC.N), Cardinal Health Inc(CAH.N) and McKesson Corp(MCK.N), drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Inc(TEVA.TA)(TEVA.N), and Johnson & JohnsonJNJ.J. The companies have proposed paying $22.25 billion cash mostly over 18 years, while services and drugs to treat addiction valued at $26 billion by the companies would be provided over the coming decade, mostly by Teva. Officials in states such as Ohio, New Hampshire and West Virginia — all hard hit by the deadly drug addition crisis — voiced concerns about the proposal. James Boffetti, the associate attorney general for New Hampshire, said in an interview he was troubled that payments were stretched over many years. “The concern is, I think, the states need money now to create the infrastructure for treatment,” he said. Small states fear the money will be divvied up by population rather than need. “Any global opioid settlement that doesn’t reflect the unique and unprecedented damage imposed on West Virginia through the opioid epidemic should be DOA,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said on Twitter on Tuesday. Some 400,000 U.S. overdose deaths between 1997 and 2017 were linked to opioids, according to government data. Roughly 2,600 lawsuits have been brought nationwide by states, local and tribal governments. The three distributors in a joint statement said they were committed to finalizing a global settlement and would continue working with the other parties on the details of the framework. Teva declined to comment. J&J said in a securities filing on Wednesday the deal would lower third quarter profit by $3 billion. The proposal, announced on Monday, was hammered out by the companies and attorneys general in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. It will need broad support among state attorneys general and will have to overcome opposition from the lawyers representing local governments that sued. Those lawyers declined to sign on when presented the proposal last week. Under the settlement framework, money for each state would be divvied up, with 15% going to the state treasury, 15% for local governments that filed lawsuits and 70% going to a proposed state fund aimed at addressing the crisis. Boffetti predicted it would takes weeks for states to determine whether they back the settlement framework. North Carolina’s attorney general, Josh Stein, acknowledged that a detailed term sheet needs to be developed. “There are a lot of details and mechanics that need to be added to it,” Stein told Reuters in an interview. “That will happen in the coming weeks.” The proposal did win a major supporter on Tuesday. Tom Miller of Iowa, the longest-serving attorney general, publicly backed the proposal, calling the framework “an important step in addressing the crisis.” Colorado’s attorney general, Phil Weiser, called it a “very promising development.” The lawsuits accuse distributors of failing to flag and halt a rising tide of suspicious orders and drugmakers of overstating the benefits of opioids while downplaying the risks. The companies have denied any wrongdoing. Drugmakers say their products carried government-approved labels that warned of the addictive risks of opioids, while distributors argue their role was to make sure medicines prescribed by licensed doctors were available for patients. The proposed deal has widened a fault line between attorneys general and local governments. Cities and counties generally hired private attorneys to bring their cases, and attorneys general want to limit the amount of the settlement that goes to pay private lawyers. The attorneys for local governments also generally opposed Teva contributing opioid treatment drugs to the settlement, instead of cash, in part because of concerns that the framework placed an inflated value on those drugs. Last week’s talks failed to reach a global deal, and on Monday, the three wholesale distributors and Teva struck a last-minute $260 million settlement with two Ohio counties, averting the first federal trial over opioids. North Carolina’s Stein said he looked forward to resolving concerns about the proposal and warned that settling lawsuits individually was unsustainable. “If we proceed on the current path and each county and city brings their case and extracts whatever amount they may be able to get from these companies, the companies will end up bankrupt,” he said. “The opioid crisis is a national problem that demands a national solution.”
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37515
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Yelp and GoFundMe Created automated online fundraisers for various restaurants without notifiying their owners.
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Did Yelp and GoFundMe Create COVID-19 Fundraisers for Restaurants Without Telling Them?
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true
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Fact Checks, Viral Content
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A push from business owners forced two tech companies to modify an unprompted response to the COVID-19 pandemic.Andy McMillan, owner of a bar in Portland, Oregon — where bars and restaurants were ordered to close down as part of efforts to slow the spread of the disease — drew attention to the surprise effort between the business review outlet Yelp and online crowdfunding platform GoFundMe on Twitter on March 26 2020:Uhhh, what the fuck? Without my permission, or even notifying me, Yelp has created a GoFundMe fundraiser for my bar @suckerpunchpdx. pic.twitter.com/qqmn6IUSx5— Andy McMillan (@andymcmillan) March 26, 2020According to McMillan, the two sites automatically generated a fundraiser for his business without notifying him — or even allowing him to deactivate it without a significant effort.“I need to give GoFundMe a scan of my ID, and my [Employer Identification Number],” he wrote, adding “I haven’t registered for an EIN yet” [in order to] claim the page before I can shut it down.”McMillan, who also organizes the XOXO festival in Portland highlighting indepdendent technology and art, also wrote that despite saying they would not take a direct fee, GoFundMe set a default 15 percent “tip” on any donation, enabling that company to draw a fee:Here’s what I see when I go to donate to the fundraiser for my favorite neighborhood Thai restaurant. pic.twitter.com/Hx1D0YMyg4— Andy McMillan (@andymcmillan) March 26, 2020According to the technology news site The Verge, the two websites’ joint fundraiser was also criticized by Nick Kokonas, a restaurant magnate who owns popular eateries in Chicago and New York.“If you want to report on the worst behavior in the industry — here you go,” Kokonas wrote on his own Twitter account. “This causes harm to our reputation, is done without consent, and is being done on a mass basis for their own benefit. Unbelievable. I don’t need to deal with this in the middle of a crisis.”In a statement, Yelp admitted to not notifying businesses prior to the creation of the various fundraisers:As such, we have paused the automatic rollout of this feature, and are working with GoFundMe to provide a seamless way for businesses to opt into the program moving forward, as we have received a great deal of interest and support for the program from both consumers and businesses alike.The restaurant news site Eater reported that Yelp has also pledged $25 million in “waived advertising fees and free services” to help independent bars and restaurants during the outbreak. Both Yelp and GoFundMe had already promised to distribute individual $500 matching grants for businesses engaging in their automated fundraisers, up to $1 million in total donations.
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37076
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Rumors that retail giant Costco Wholesale has told all stores to remove copies of “America: Imagine the World Without Her” by Dinesh D’Souza.
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Deaths related to measles, mostly among small children, have more than tripled to 20 in the past week on the Pacific island of Samoa, the government has said eight days after declaring a state of emergency over the outbreak.
|
true
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Miscellaneous, Politics
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The island state of just 200,000, located south of the equator and half way between Hawaii and New Zealand, declared a measles epidemic late in October after the first deaths. The government has identified 1,644 suspected cases of measles, more than doubling over the past week, with deaths rising to 20 from six, it said on Friday. Children younger than five accounted for all but one of the deaths. Staff of U.N. agency UNICEF have delivered 110,500 doses of measles containing vaccines this week as they fanned out across Samoa to boost its mandatory immunization effort, the agency said in a statement. It has also worked with governments of other tiny Pacific nations to run immunization campaigns and develop preparedness plans to combat a regional outbreak, it added. Australia is sending a specialist team of doctors, nurses and public health experts to Samoa, along with equipment and supplies, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
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8114
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Myanmar reports first cases of coronavirus.
|
Myanmar reported its first confirmed cases of coronavirus in two men who had recently traveled to the United States and the United Kingdom.
|
true
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Health News
|
The Southeast Asian nation had been the most populous country in the world to say it had no cases, despite sharing a long and porous border with China, where the virus originated in the city of Wuhan. The health ministry said a 36-year-old traveling from the United States and 26-year-old returning from Britain, both Myanmar nationals, had tested positive. “Investigation is ongoing on history of people who have been in contact with these two patients,” it said in a statement late on Monday. The news of the confirmed cases sparked panic buying in the commercial capital of Yangon, with shoppers packing major supermarkets. Myanmar last week closed land borders and banned mass gatherings, including for the upcoming Buddhist New Year. Cinemas have been closed, though bars and restaurants remain open. Government spokesman Zaw Htay told a news conference earlier this month that the “lifestyle and diet of Myanmar citizens” had protected the country against the virus, while others credited the country’s Buddhist religion. Some doctors say they fear a major outbreak though in a country with a health system ranked among the world’s worst after decades of neglect under military rule. Many services are run by volunteers and aid groups. Two doctors told Reuters a likely explanation for the lack of cases in Myanmar was limited testing. Myanmar had carried out around 300 tests as of Monday evening, in a population of 51 million, according to health ministry spokeswoman Khin Khin Gyi. “WHO has said, ‘test, test, test,” she said. “But who should we test? It has said specifically that we should test the suspected cases... We don’t test random people.” Until recently, each test had to be approved by a central committee based in the capital of Naypyitaw, she said. Thousands of migrant workers have returned to villages across the country in recent days from Thailand, which has confirmed hundreds of cases, raising fears of further spread of the virus. “If these people have the virus, and it spreads widely, the situation will be very bad,” said Kyaw Ko Ko, a community worker from the city of Meiktila. “All we can do is sit and wait to collect all the dead bodies.”
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7396
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Multi-gene test may find risk for heart disease and more.
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You know your cholesterol, your blood pressure ... your heart gene score? Researchers say a new way of analyzing genetic test data may one day help identify people at high risk of a youthful heart attack in time to help.
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true
|
Heart disease, AP Top News, Genetics, Health, Genetic Frontiers, Cholesterol, Heart attack, U.S. News
|
Today, gene testing mostly focuses on rare mutations in one or a few genes, like those that cause cystic fibrosis or sickle cell disease, or the BRCA gene responsible for a small fraction of breast cancer. It is less useful for some of the most common diseases, such as heart disease or diabetes, because they are influenced by vast numbers of genes-gone-wrong working together in complicated ways. Monday, researchers reported a new way to measure millions of small genetic variations that add up to cause harm, letting them calculate someone’s inherited risk for the most common form of heart disease and four other serious disorders. The potential cardiac impact: They estimated that up to 25 million Americans may have triple the average person’s risk for coronary artery disease even if they haven’t yet developed warning signs like high cholesterol. “What I foresee is in five years, each person will know this risk number, this ‘polygenic risk score,’ similar to the way each person knows his or her cholesterol,” said Dr. Sekar Kathiresan who led the research team from the Broad Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. If the approach pans out and doctors adopt it, a bad score wouldn’t mean you’d get a disease, just that your genetic makeup increases the chance — one more piece of information in deciding care. For example, when the researchers tested the system using a DNA database from Britain, less than 1 percent of people with the lowest risk scores were diagnosed with coronary artery disease, compared to 11 percent of people with the highest risk score. “There are things you can do to lower the risk,” Kathiresan said — the usual advice about diet, exercise, cholesterol medication and not smoking helps. On the flip side, a low-risk score “doesn’t give you a free pass,” he added. An unhealthy lifestyle could overwhelm the protection of good genes. The scoring system also can predict an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, breast cancer and an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation, the team reported in the journal Nature Genetics — noting that next steps include learning what might likewise lower those risks. It doesn’t require the most sophisticated type of genetic testing. Instead, Kathiresan can calculate risk scores for those five diseases — eventually maybe more — simply by reanalyzing the kind of raw data people receive after sending a cheek swab to companies like 23andMe. A geneticist who specializes in cardiovascular disease, he hopes to open a website where people can send in such data to learn their heart risk, as part of continuing research. Kathiresan and co-author Dr. Amit Khera, a Mass General cardiologist, are co-inventors on a patent application for the system. Other scientists and companies have long sought ways to measure risk from multiple, additive gene effects — the “poly” in polygenic — and Myriad Genetics has begun selling a type of polygenic test for breast cancer risk. But specialists in heart disease and genetics who weren’t involved with the research called the new findings exciting because of their scope. “The results should be eye-opening for cardiologists,” said Dr. Charles C. Hong, director of cardiovascular research at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “The only disappointment is that this score applies only to those with European ancestry, so I wonder if similar scores are in the works for the large majority of the world population that is not white.” Hong pointed to a friend who recently died of a massive heart attack despite being a super-fit marathon runner who’d never smoked, the kind of puzzling death that doctors have long hoped that a better understanding of genetics could help to prevent. “Most of the variation in disease risk comes from an enormous number of very tiny effects” in genes, agreed Stanford University genetics professor Jonathan Pritchard. “This is the first time polygenic scores have really been shown to reach the level of precision where they can have an impact” on patient health. First, the Boston-based team combed previous studies that mapped the DNA of large numbers of people, looking for links to the five diseases — not outright mutations but minor misspellings in the genetic code. Each variation alone would have only a tiny effect on health. They developed a computerized system that analyzed how those effects add up, and tested it using DNA and medical records from 400,000 people stored in Britain’s UK Biobank. Scores more than three times the average person’s risk were deemed high. ___ 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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18604
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While the sequester is in effect, the federal government is still funding a study on duck penises.
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Folks in the twitterverse said the federal government is cutting services, furloughing employees and cancelling White House tours, but it still has the money to pay for a study examining duck penises. The study is real, and it does indeed explore the unique sexual behaviors and physical characteristics of ducks. It was funded through a National Science Foundation grant that expires this year. It’s a bit dubious to tie that grant, which was awarded with stimulus dollars, with the current budget cuts, because they arise from different budgetary issues. But is the government subsidizing research on duck penises? It sure is.
|
true
|
National, Animals, Corrections and Updates, Federal Budget, Science, Sexuality, Tweets,
|
"Sequestration is serious business. Jobs are on the line. Day care for poor kids is under the ax. Yet even in this budget climate, your federal government still has the money to pay for -- please disregard our blushing -- a study examining duck penises. You read that right: duck penises. This waterfowl kerfuffle erupted earlier this week, when the conservative website CNSNews.com published a story pulling back the curtain on a $384,949 grant from the National Science Foundation for a Yale University study looking at ducks’ sexual behavior and anatomy and the evolutionary consequences. ""Many duck penises are corkscrew-shaped and some scientists believe this is because of a form of evolution known as ‘sexual conflict,’"" the story said. Twitter quickly took up the cause: Can’t cut spending b/c need $ to fund more studies of duck penis length"" @keithcrc, March 20. $384,949 Federal stimulus funds to study ""Duck Penis Length"". WH still closed to tours @cincinchili, March 21. ""His name is Long Duck Dong."" When you're enjoying your furlough, remember that duck penis length matters. @doctrine_man, March 21. So now PolitiFact is making it our cause. We’ll fact-check the Twitter chatter stating that the federal government is funding a study about duck penises amid the austere cuts of sequestration. ‘Anti-screw anatomy’ Richard Prum is an evolutionary ornithologist at Yale University. We got him on the phone to ask: Duck penises -- really? His answer was fascinating, but first here’s a little background. In 2009, Prum applied for and received a National Science Foundation grant for his study titled ""Sexual Conflict, Social Behavior and the Evolution of Waterfowl Genitalia."" (It has since been renamed ""Conflict, Social Behavior and Evolution,"" according to NSF.) The money came from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus. ""The funding was for three years,"" Prum said. ""We managed to expand to a fourth year by basically being frugal."" Prum and lead investigator Patricia Brennan have published several papers from their research; several are in review now, and more are forthcoming. NSF awards about 11,000 grants a year, and the process is deeply competitive. ""Funding rates in this area, animal behavior, are less than 10 percent,"" Prum said. ""Getting this money is like into getting into Yale as an undergrad."" The nearly $400,000 award paid Brennan’s salary, funded the experiments at the waterfowl laboratory, kept the birds healthy and fed and covered other costs such as publication expenses and equipment. Here, in Prum’s words, is what he studied and learned: ""Most birds don’t have a penis. Ducks do. They still have it from the reptilian ancestor that they shared with mammals,"" he said. The duck’s penis is stored inside the body, and when it becomes erect, the process of insemination is ""explosive,"" Prum said. The duck’s penis becomes erect within a third of a second, at the same time it enters the female duck’s body. Ejaculation is immediate, and then the penis starts to regress. The length of the duck penis, as mentioned in the tweets, grows to 8 or 9 inches during the summer mating season. In winter, it shrinks to less than an inch. In duck ponds, Prum said, a lot of forced copulation occurs. Forced copulation is what it sounds like -- rape in nature. Even gang rape happens among ducks. And Prum found that while 40 to 50 percent of duck sex happens by forced copulation, only 2 to 4 percent of inseminations result from it (meaning times the female duck ends up with a fertilized egg). ""The question is why does that happen? How does a female prevent fertilization by forced copulation?"" he said. ""The answer has to do with taking advantage of what males have evolved -- this corkscrew shaped penis."" Prum said the duck penis is a corkscrew whose direction runs counterclockwise. Female ducks, he said, have evolved a complex vagina also shaped like a corkscrew -- but a clockwise one. ""This is literally an anti-screw anatomy,"" he said. When females choose their own partners -- in other words, solicit copulation -- the muscles in the vagina are dilated and expanded. So the anti-screw effect is negated. ""The females are enormously, amazingly successful at preventing fertilization by forced copulation,"" he said. Now, if this steamy duck sex talk reminds you of a particular Senate candidate’s controversial rape comments in 2012, Prum is right there with you. Todd Akin, who ultimately lost his Senate contest in Missouri, angered a lot of people when he claimed, ""If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."" Said Prum: ""What we demonstrated is that what Senate candidate Akin said about rape is actually true of ducks, and why."" ""This to me is really about sexual autonomy, and that is why ducks are deeply important,"" he said. ""In the face of persistent sexual violence, females have developed a mechanism to maintain control over sexual choice."" If that explanation doesn’t meet your standard for useful science, Prum had this to say in defense of pure scientific research: ""I have never abandoned my commitment to the notion that the primary commitment of science is to discover new knowledge. You never know when it’s going to be practical. Advanced cultures for all of history have tried to establish new knowledge."" What’s this got to do with sequester? Prum’s grant began in 2009, funded by a law passed early that year that was meant to jumpstart the sputtering economy. The stimulus spending was meant to get out the door as quickly as possible, with much of spending set for 2009 and 2010. Sequestration -- sweeping budget cuts across all federal agencies -- came about from a budget deal in 2011. President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans passed sequestration as a means of forcing each other to a broader deal on deficit reduction. The cuts were never meant to be enacted, but since the two sides have not been able to strike a deal, they went into effect March 1. Democrats and Obama have decried the effects on average Americans, such as funding cuts to Head Start programs and delayed airline flights. Republicans, who are keen on trimming federal spending, have generally sounded less dire in their sequester warnings, but they’ve cried foul when the Obama administration announces such things as an end to White House tours. We should point out that in some ways, the sequester and the stimulus are two separate issues. House Republicans tried and failed to cancel unspent stimulus money. Most of the stimulus money is already out the door. The sequester, on the other hand, is intended to reduce government spending in the future. Does Prum’s grant have anything to do with the budgetary state we’re in now? Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, told PolitiFact: ""A lot of times scientific research is pilloried -- and sometimes deservedly so. It has to be taken in context of the need and results as well as the budgetary environment. ""As far as linking stimulus spending and sequestration, you get to the heart of budgetary issues. Sequestration targets budget authority – the right an agency has to write a check, not outlays – the cash out the door. So the budget authority from the stimulus left the building a long time ago. It is well inside the outlay territory and not subject to sequestration."" ""All that said,"" he added, ""the federal budget is a zero sum game and it is fair to compare spending on this here to spending or cuts over there. And the goofy is meant to make a point … but the reality can be quite tricky."" Our ruling Folks in the twitterverse said the federal government is cutting services, furloughing employees and cancelling White House tours, but it still has the money to pay for a study examining duck penises. The study is real, and it does indeed explore the unique sexual behaviors and physical characteristics of ducks. It was funded through a National Science Foundation grant that expires this year. It’s a bit dubious to tie that grant, which was awarded with stimulus dollars, with the current budget cuts, because they arise from different budgetary issues. But is the government subsidizing research on duck penises? It sure is. Editor's note: We updated this item on March 24, 2013, to clarify that ducks reproduce via fertilized eggs."
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36669
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FBI special agent David Raynor was murdered with his own service weapon days before he was scheduled to testify against Hillary Clinton.
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Was FBI Special Agent David Raynor Murdered Before Clinton Testimony?
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false
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Clintons, Disinformation, Fact Checks, Politics, Viral Content
|
The mysterious deaths of people embroiled in (or at least adjacent to) political controversy is a favorite topic of the conspiracy theory set, and the case of Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent David Raynor, who died in March 2018 in what law enforcement found to be a murder-suicide, is no exception.The conclusions of law enforcement that didn’t stop conspiracy sites from immediately pushing stories attempting to connect Raynor’s death to the Clintons. There are only three problems: One, Raynor’s death wasn’t related to his work with the bureau; two, he was not scheduled to testify against Hillary Clinton; and finally, the rumor appears to have started with NeonNettle.com. That website, which states that its content is presented “as is” and “with all faults,” does not have a high level of credibility and in fact is known for pushing disinformation more often than not.This particular story, which appeared under the headline “FBI Agent Who Exposed Hillary Clinton Cover-up Found Dead,” falsely reported that Raynor was scheduled to testify about the extent of Hillary Clinton and former United States President Barack Obama’s cover-up of the Fast and Furious “gunwalking” scandal.Neon Nettle deleted the story within days of publication, but not before it was archived. The report has since been repeated in the echo chamber of fringe, conspiracy-minded websites, despite the irrefutable fact that there is no indication that it is true.Raynor and his estranged wife were found dead in a murder-suicide in Crownsville, Maryland, in March 2018. Officers responded to the scene after a woman reported being threatened by her estranged husband, Anne Arundel County Police said:Upon arrival, police found David Raynor, 52, with multiple stab wounds and an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Donna Fisher, 54, was found with apparent stab wounds. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.Raynor joined the FBI in 1996 and had worked at the bureau’s Baltimore field office since 2003, law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation tell CBS News. These officials say this was a domestic situation, and not related to any case Raynor was working on.There is no indication that Raynor investigated or worked on any case related to either the Clintons or Fast and Furious. This story is part of the long-running “Clinton body count” conspiracy theory that uses a list of people who have died and some creatively massaged “facts” about their associations with the Clintons in order to “prove” that the political family has systematically murdered political opponents and foes over the years. Any deaths of FBI agents that appear in the news are swept up in the conspiracy theory at this point.
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34497
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Diets tailored to one’s specific blood type are capable of reducing myriad ailments, improving digestion, enabling weight loss, and providing increased energy.
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D’Adamo is certainly prolific, both in his numerous blogs and in his library of best selling books. Lost within that sea of complex jargon, speculative observations, and anecdotal tales, however, is the fact that there is no widely accepted or peer-reviewed evidence that modifying one’s diet to match blood type has any effect on one’s health.
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unproven
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Medical, blood type, blood type diet, diets
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In 1996, naturopathic doctor Peter D’Adamo published the book Eat Right For Your Type, which presented the hypothesis that diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes tailored to one’s blood type are an effective tool for weight loss, increased energy, and the reduction of myriad other ailments. This has popularly become known as the “blood type diet”, for which he is the primary proponent. D’Adamo’s website provides this description: A naturopathic physician who is also an author, researcher-educator, Ivesian, amateur horologist, budding software developer and air-cooled enthusiast. He is considered a world expert in glycobiology, principally the ABO (ABH) blood groups and the secretor (FUT2) polymorphisms. Since its original publication, Eat Right For Your Type has sold over seven million copies, has been promoted by popular (but scientifically unreliable) health personalities like Dr. Oz and has created an entire industry built around the diet, including a series of follow up-books, cookbooks, a variety of blood tests for sale, and other supplements. There are many different ways to classify blood types, but the most common (and the primary one D’Adamo employs) is the ABO system, which is determined by the presence or absence of two genetically regulated antigens – A and B – attached to the surface of red blood cells. The four blood type groups are A, B, AB, and O. Superficially, there might appear to be a wealth of complex, technical, and well-documented support for the concept. In addition to his popular books, D’Adamo has written numerous detailed blog posts describing how blood types might affect the body. Much of the rationale presented on his website fits the following basic structure: there’s a study that shows or hints at various conditions correlating with blood type, therefore a diet tailored to blood type would be more helpful than a general one. To date, however, no peer-reviewed scientific literature has provided any evidence to support the latter class of arguments. This is a point D’Amado himself cedes. In response to a 2014 study in PLOS ONE that was highly critical of his work, he stated (17 years after first publishing his book): That the [blood type diet] theory is currently unproven by rigorous scientific study is not argued. Hopefully in time this can be rectified by studies which accurately and comprehensively prove or disprove the hypothesis. In lieu of accurate and comprehensive studies that prove or disprove his hypotheses, D’Adamo’s basic rationale is rooted primarily in four observations listed on his website: First, that people with different blood types appear to have differing susceptibility to a variety of illnesses; second, that people with different blood types produce and degrade differing amounts of the stress related hormones cortisol or adrenaline; third, that the antigens that determine your blood type are found in other places besides your blood; and fourth, that that blood type has a strong influence on an individual’s gut bacteria. There are indeed varying levels of scientific basis for the above claims. That blood antigens are found in the tissue of multiple systems is not controversial. A 2013 review paper on the relationship between disease and blood type published in the journal Blood Transfusion concluded: There is accumulating evidence that the ABO blood group also plays a key role in various human diseases such as cardiovascular, neoplastic and infectious disorders. In the near future, probably many of the statistical associations observed between ABO and diseases will be re-assessed by [genome-wide association studies]. These studies have already confirmed some of the relations detected by targeted researches carried out long before the current era of genomics, such as those with [venous thromboembolism], [coronary heart disease], and pancreatic cancer. With respect to blood type and stress hormones (which play a big role in his lifestyle and exercise recommendations), D’Adamo cites a limited 1992 study of 15 white male veterans published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine that showed differences in the production and removal of cortisone in A and O blood types. The gut bacteria connection is one of the most prominent aspects of his theory. Studies have indeed observed differences in the relative contribution of gut bacteria based on blood type. A 2012 study published in BMC Microbiology that analyzed the gut flora and blood type of 79 Finnish volunteers found: That the ABO blood group is one of the genetically determined host factors modulating the composition of the human intestinal microbiota, thus enabling new applications in the field of personalized nutrition and medicine. Much of the dietary recommendations for the blood type diet are based on the concept of eating foods your body is naturally better at handling, as stated on D’Adamo’s website: For example, the microbiome of certain people developed to break down carbohydrates much more efficiently (blood type A). People lacking this ability (blood type O) tend to store carbs as fat. Another key diet/blood connection promoted by D’Adamo stems from lectins — a group of proteins found in many foods — which he argues can mimic different blood-type antigens, and “interact” with your kidneys, liver, gut, stomach, or other organ systems: For the most part our immune systems protect us from lectins. Ninety-five percent of the lectins we absorb from our typical diets are sloughed off by the body. But at least 5 percent of the lectins we eat are filtered into the bloodstream, where they react with and destroy red and white blood cells. The actions of lectins in the digestive tract can be even more powerful. There they often create a violent inflammation of the sensitive mucous of the intestines, and this agglutinative action may mimic food allergies. Even a minute quantity of a lectin is capable of agglutinating a huge number of cells if the particular blood type is reactive. There are independent scientific reports of potential ways that lectins might interact with different bodily systems to cause disease as described above, but no peer-reviewed research directly tests a potential link between those phenomena and the claim that a blood type based diet would ameliorate any of those potential mechanisms. A final aspect of D’Adamo’s blood type diet is the additional classification of a person’s “secretor/non-secretor status”. This is a classification independent of ABO blood type and refers to a person’s genetically-determined ability to secrete blood type antigens into your saliva or mucus. In a 2001 paper in Alternative Medicine Reviews, he argued that this classification could have sweeping implications for human health: Understanding the clinical significance of ABH secretor status and the Lewis blood groups can provide insight into seemingly unrelated aspects of physiology, including variations in intestinal alkaline phosphatase activity, propensities toward blood clotting, reliability of some tumor markers, the composition of breast milk, and several generalized aspects of the immune function. The information summarized above provides a broad outline of the most commonly promoted scientific rationale for the blood-type diet, though there are pages and pages more written by D’Adamo on the topic. In essence there are a number of “seemingly unrelated” facts about blood that could, maybe, respond to different diet and exercise regimens. A followup series of books published by D’Adamo included a different book for each ailment that he believed his diet might improve. Included in this series: arthritis, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, allergies, fatigue, menopause, and aging. The only problem is that there is literally no evidence demonstrating his ideas work, and D’Adamo himself doesn’t appear to be super interested in producing that evidence. In 1996, in the first edition of Eat Right For Your Type, D’Amato wrote: Even now, as I write this, I am beginning the eighth year of a ten-year trial on reproductive cancers, using the Blood Type Diets. My results are encouraging. So far, the women in my trial have double the survival rate published by the American Cancer Society. By the time I release the results in another two years, I expect to make it scientifically demonstrable that the Blood Type Diet plays a role in cancer remission. Such a study has yet to be released. On his website, D’Adamo has a section for scientific papers that support the science behind the diet. Nearly all of these self-authored papers are from the late 80s and early 90s, or are more recent blog posts written by D’Adamo. With the exception of that 2001 paper mentioned earlier, the only scientific papers he has published are either in the long defunct (but allegedly peer-reviewed) journal the Townsend Letter for Doctors (which frequently published studies on the efficacy of homeopathy), and the Journal of Naturopathic Medicine, which no longer exists and is not catalogued in any major scientific or medical journal index. There have, however, been a few peer-reviewed studies that sought to test some aspects of the blood-type diet. The first was a 2013 literature review published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that sought to find any existing, statistically rigorous research showing that tailoring diet to blood type has a beneficial effect. The effort yielded only 16 studies, and of these only one met their standards for inclusion. Further, that study didn’t actually address the question of whether or not blood-type diets themselves were efficacious. The authors of this literature review conclude: No evidence currently exists to validate the purported health benefits of blood type diets. To validate these claims, studies are required that compare the health outcomes between participants adhering to a particular blood type diet (experimental group) and participants continuing a standard diet (control group) within a particular blood type population. D’Adamo argued in a blog post that the absence of papers should not be surprising, given the cutting-edge and novel nature of his then 17-year-old hypothesis: Not surprisingly, they didn’t find any. Had they contacted me prior to the study I could have saved them a lot of extra work. I’ve looked high and low and also never found one. That’s how original this theory is. A 2014 study published in the journal PLOS ONE attempted to provide novel research into the claims of the blood-type diet by analyzing the results of a larger scale nutrition study that utilized 1,455 subjects who “were participants of the Toronto Nutrigenomics and Health study” and whose “dietary intake was assessed using a one-month, 196-item food frequency questionnaire and a diet score was calculated to determine relative adherence to each of the four ‘Blood-Type’ diets.’” That study concluded that, while individuals who adhered to any one of the four different blood-type diets did have favorable health benefits, there was no relationship between blood type and those favorable effects. According to a University of Toronto press release: “Based on the data of 1,455 study participants, we found no evidence to support the ‘blood-type’ diet theory,” said the senior author of the study, Dr. Ahmed El-Sohemy, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Nutrigenomics at the U of T. “The way an individual responds to any one of these diets has absolutely nothing to do with their blood type and has everything to do with their ability to stick to a sensible vegetarian or low-carbohydrate diet,” said El-Sohemy. D’Adamo has subsequently published a number of blog posts criticizing the study for not accurately following the prescribed blood type diet while simultaneously celebrating the fact that the diet (in general) helped people lose weight and improve health. Ahmed El-Sohemy, the lead researcher behind the PLOS ONE study, has composed detailed responses to each of these posts in the comments section, if you want an illuminating read.
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32852
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The FDA classified walnuts as drugs.
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Prior dubious items from RealFarmacy included claims that science disproved a link between sun exposure and skin cancer, and another baselessly accusing unspecified pro-GMO bioterrorists of sabotaging Chipotle’s product supply with foodborne pathogens.
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false
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Uncategorized, alternative health, FDA, fda warning letters
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Sometimes, the circulation of misinformation revives interest in separate, similar, but still inaccurate claims. This appeared to be the case with a March 2016 internet rumor alleging that the Food and Drug Administration classified walnuts as drugs. In February and March 2016, the FDA was already the subject of rumors that the agency “outlawed” cannabidiol (CBD) oils. Almost immediately, rumors began to surface on social media that walnuts had also recently fallen prey to preposterous reclassification by the FDA. While the rumors weren’t new, interest in whether walnuts were drugs spiked in March 2016. Many social media users linked to a RealFarmacy item from 2013. On 23 March 2016, the Facebook page “Living Traditionally” shared the 2013 article as if its claims were new: The 2013 article claimed that FDA sent letters to walnut distributor Diamond Foods deeming that their “walnut products [were] drugs”: Seen any walnuts in your medicine cabinet lately? According to the Food and Drug Administration, that is precisely where you should find them. Because Diamond Foods made truthful claims about the health benefits of consuming walnuts that the FDA didn’t approve, it sent the company a letter declaring, “Your walnut products are drugs” — and “new drugs” at that — and, therefore, “they may not legally be marketed … in the United States without an approved new drug application.” The agency even threatened Diamond with “seizure” if it failed to comply. RealFarmacy also claimed that manufacturers’ First Amendment rights were being infringed by the FDA’s regulation of unsubstantiated health claims: Of course, if the Constitution were being followed as intended, none of this would be necessary. The FDA would not exist; but if it did, as a creation of Congress it would have no power to censor any speech whatsoever. If companies are making false claims about their products, the market will quickly punish them for it, and genuine fraud can be handled through the courts. In the absence of a government agency supposedly guaranteeing the safety of their food and drugs and the truthfulness of producers’ claims, consumers would become more discerning, as indeed they already are becoming despite the FDA’s attempts to prevent the dissemination of scientific research. Besides, as [another blog] observed, “If anyone still thinks that federal agencies like the FDA protect the public, this proclamation that healthy foods are illegal drugs exposes the government’s sordid charade.” The site linked to a letter publicly shared on the FDA’s website, which was already several years old by the time the 2013 article was published, and which plainly indicated that its action was due to health claims made about walnuts in labeling and marketing: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reviewed the label for your “Diamond of California Shelled Walnuts” products and your website at www.diamondnuts.com. Based on our review, we have concluded that your walnut products are in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) and the applicable regulations in Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations (21 CFR) … Based on claims made on your firm’s website, we have determined that your walnut products are promoted for conditions that cause them to be drugs because these products are intended for use in the prevention, mitigation, and treatment of disease. The following are examples of the claims made on your firm’s website under the heading of a web page stating “OMEGA-3s … Every time you munch a few walnuts, you’re doing your body a big favor.”: “Studies indicate that the omega-3 fatty acids found in walnuts may help lower cholesterol; protect against heart disease, stroke and some cancers; ease arthritis and other inflammatory diseases; and even fight depression and other mental illnesses.” “[I]n treating major depression, for example, omega-3s seem to work by making it easier for brain cell receptors to process mood-related signals from neighboring neurons.” No part of the letter said (or even implied) that walnuts had been subjected to a sweeping reclassification as drugs, and in the ensuing six years, no one was arrested for or charged with possession of walnuts with intent to distribute. Additionally, the FDA didn’t ban, regulate, or demand withdrawal of Diamond Foods’ walnuts, or any other, from the market, but did go after the company for unauthorized health claims: The back of your product label also bears the following statement: “The omega-3 in walnuts can help you get the proper balance of fatty acids your body needs for promoting and maintaining heart health. In fact, according to the Food and Drug Administration, supportive but not conclusive research shows that eating 1.5 oz of walnuts per day, as part of a low saturated fat and low cholesterol diet, and not resulting in increased caloric intake, may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. Please refer to nutrition information for fat content and other details about the nutritional profile of walnuts.” Although FDA exercises enforcement discretion over the last two sentences of this statement, which meet the criteria for a qualified health claim for walnuts and coronary heart disease, the last two sentences read in conjunction with the first sentence makes the entire statement an unauthorized health claim. The statement suggests that the evidence supporting a relationship between walnuts and coronary heart disease is related to the omega-3 fatty acid content of walnuts. There is not sufficient evidence to identify a biologically active substance in walnuts that reduces the risk of CHD. Therefore, the above statement is an unauthorized health claim. This letter is not intended to be an inclusive review of your products and their labeling. It is your responsibility to ensure that all of your products comply with the Act and its implementing regulations. As with claims that CBD oils were outlawed, blogs and Facebook pages spreading rumors that walnuts had been reclassified as drugs either didn’t read or misrepresented the FDA’s warning letters. In both instances, manufacturers were warned about use of marketing and labeling language that warranted classification of the products in question as drugs, primarily pertaining to suggestion that the substances or foods were “intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any condition.” The warnings were specifically due an “unauthorized health claim,” and products that are not classified as drugs by the FDA are not legally allowed to make such claims. However, the letters in no way indicated that walnuts had been classified as drugs.
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27251
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Warrick Dunn started a charitable program to house single-parent families in honor of his mother, a police officer who was killed when he was a teenager.
|
“I think overall they (Nike) understand the issues. A lot of their star athlete spokesmen are African American. They have a lot of that demographic, so I think it’s important they really go after the issues and not necessarily things that are financial.”
|
true
|
Politics, colin kaepernick
|
Warrick Dunnm who played 12 seasons in the NFL as a running back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons, has been supporting single-parent families since his 1997 rookie season, when he started the Homes for the Holidays program to provide economically-disadvantaged single parents and their children with comprehensive programming for first-time homeownership. In September 2018, the former NFL player’s charitable efforts, as well as a few facts about his upbringing and the death of his mother, were boiled down into a meme spread via social media: This meme, for the most part, provided accurate information about Warrick Dunn and his charitable efforts. Dunn’s mother, Betty Dunn Smothers, was a police officer in Baton Rouge who was killed in 1993 while working a second job as a security guard: Corporal Betty Smothers was shot and killed in an ambush attack while moonlighting as a security guard. Corporal Smothers was in uniform and driving a marked patrol car when she and the store manager went to a bank to make a night deposit. As they sat in the patrol car, three suspects approached and opened fire. They fatally wounded Corporal Smothers and injured the manager. All three suspects were arrested after the incident and sentenced to death for Corporal Smothers’ murder. Corporal Smothers had been employed with the Baton Rouge City Police Department for 14 years, and is survived by her two daughters and four sons. Smothers’ passing came just a few days before Dunn’s 18th birthday and a month before he committed to playing college football at Florida State University (FSU). He was the eldest of Smothers’ children, and by most accounts he assumed a father-figure role in the life of his five younger siblings. Here’s how the Los Angeles Times described Dunn and his siblings in a December 1994 article headlined “Turning His Grief to Good: Florida State Running Back Warrick Dunn Sets an Example for All”: Derek is doing well at Catholic High. Travis is fast and Bryson small, but he’s growing. Summer and Samantha are running track and doing well in school. You listen to Warrick Dunn and hear a proud father talking of his children. And then you realize that Dunn is only 19. Still, he’s in charge of his brothers and sisters, ages 11-17, now that Betty is gone. She was his best friend, a mother who worked two jobs, 16 hours a day, to keep the family together and to provide a few of the things that make being a kid a little more fun. If there’s anything harder than a teen-ager being asked to go to the hospital in a police car, identify his mother and then go home to tell his brothers and sisters what happened, he doesn’t want to know about it. It was Dunn, handling things as he always had, the father figure, but now without a mother. “I never really had a childhood,” he says. “I’ve never been able to go out and just go crazy, like most kids, because I grew up staying in the house a lot, baby-sitting.” Dunn graduated from FSU and was selected in the first round of the 1997 NFL draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The rookie running back was challenged by head coach Tony Dungy to give back to the community during his time in Florida, and so Dunn decided to start the “Homes for the Holidays” program in order to help provide homes to single-parent families in honor of his late mother. The program managed to house three families during its first year. By 2018, that number had grown to 159: “My rookie year in the NFL, in Tampa, I was challenged by coach [Tony] Dungy,” Dunn said. He told us, ‘If you are going to live in this community, you want to be a part of this community and give back.’ From that challenge, I thought about my mom and her dream of home ownership, and that’s how it all started. We did three homes in 1997, and now we’re up to 159. “I grew up in a situation where we needed a lot of support. I lost my mom at 18. Single mom, six kids, and a Baton Rouge police officer. She was gunned down by armed robbers at a bank. When she lost her life, the city of Baton Rouge started a fund for us. And that’s how we were able to survive and pay bills. And when I saw that from the city, that really helped me understand what it means to care about your neighbor and to give back and support. I just think now I have been driven for so many years—this is part of who I am, to want to see people smile and help anyone that I can possibly help.” Our only quibble with this meme is the statement that Dunn “built and paid for over 145 houses for single mothers.” While the former NFL quarterback has certainly donated plenty of time, money, and effort into his charitable endeavors, he did not single-handedly build and pay for all these homes. Dunn’s non-profit, Warrick Dunn Charities, partners with other non-profits such as Habitat for Humanity to build homes for disadvantaged families: Even in retirement, Dunn and his Warrick Dunn Charities are still partnering with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for disadvantaged families across the United States. In December, Dunn and Habitat combined to build homes number 158 (in Detroit) and 159 (in Atlanta) and place two families in them before the holidays. Furnished, as Dunn like to say, “all the way down to the toothbrushes in the bathroom.” Dunn’s charity provides a down payment for the home, completely furnishes it, and provides other services such as financial literacy program in order to assist single parents as they become first time homeowners: Warrick Dunn Charities was created from the belief that a better future starts with hope. We are dedicated to strengthening and transforming communities by combating poverty, hunger and improving the quality of life for families and children. We help families thrive academically, socially, and economically. Warrick Dunn Charities, a 501(c)(3) recognized nonprofit, has helped single parents and children thrive academically, socially and economically. Warrick Dunn Charities has awarded millions in home furnishings, food and other donations to single-parent families and children across the nation to combat poverty, hunger and ensure families have comfortable surroundings and basic necessities to improve their quality of life. This meme’s popularity in September 2018 was likely connected to a controversy surrounding another former NFL player: Colin Kaepernick. A number of social media users shared this meme along with messages stating that Nike should have used Dunn, not Kaepernick, in their latest commercial: This meme misleadingly suggests that Colin Kaepernick has not similarly sacrificed by using his own money for charitable endeavors. However, in January 2018 Kaepernick completed his pledge to donate a total of $1 million to charity over eighteen months, with a list of all the organizations he donated to viewable here. And Dunn himself praised Nike’s latest advertising campaign for raising Kaepernick’s profile as the latter drove the conversation about social justice: “I think it’s a brilliant campaign,” Dunn said. “They just raised his profile because Kaepernick the last couple of years has been the face of this movement of social justice.” “To be the first guy to come out and really talk about the issues that black kids, black men are being shot and killed, I commend him,” Dunn said in a CNN interview. When asked if he thought Nike’s stance to create the campaign was a financial or moral decision, Dunn cited the latter. “It’s a moral decision. It can’t be about finances,” Dunn said.
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4682
|
Officials warn after worker with hepatitis A handled food.
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Southern Indiana health officials are warning customers who ate last month at a Bedford fast-food restaurant to get vaccinated for hepatitis A because an infected worker handled food while sick for several days.
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true
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Health, Bedford, Hepatitis, Indiana
|
The Lawrence County Health Department said Tuesday the infected Burger King employee worked from May 15-19, and from May 22-24. Patrons who consumed food or drink at the eatery between May 22-24 were urged to get vaccinated by Thursday. Anyone who ate there during the two periods when that employee was working is advised to monitor their health for symptoms up to 50 days and to wash their hands thoroughly. Hepatitis A is a viral disease that can spread through close contact with an infected person. Symptoms include fever, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and dark urine.
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33818
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McDonald's beverages contain yucky non-food substances.
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Despite long-held rumors, McDonald's desserts do not substitute primary ingredients such as milk and fruit.
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false
|
Automobiles, contaminated food, mcdonald's, mcdonald's hoaxes
|
The world of rumor is rife with tales about noxious or out-of-place substances secreted in products to save a company a few pennies on each serving. All large corporations are by their very nature suspect simply due to their size, and this holds even more true in the fast food industry. The public harbors a deep mistrust of Big Business, seeing it as impersonal and profit-driven to the point of irresponsibility. Couple this with lurking fears about what might be hidden in food not personally prepared by the ingestee, and rumors about large corporations dumping anything they can get away with into their fast food offerings will surely result. Just as surely, because it is the largest of the large, McDonald’s will star in most of them. [Collected on the Internet, 1996] have now heard from three different sources this little gem: McDonalds’ apple pies contain no apple. Instead they are made out of potatoes or pears + flavouring. [Collected on the Internet, 1997] Supposedly, McDonalds restaurants (at least in this area) don’t make their Milkshakes out of any sort of dairy product, that’s why the menus call them “shakes” and not “milkshakes.” (I saw this myself, so I know this, at least, is true). She (the sister of the friend of the friend) can verify that they aren’t made of dairy stuff because she’s lactose intolerant and can drink them without any bad side effects (except the usual McD’s vague-feeling-of-illness, but that doesn’t count.) [Collected on the Internet, 1997] don’t know about now, but it is apparently true that in the 70s (I think) that McDonald’s did use a non milk shake, and used to use styrofoam balls as a filler (they pass right through you, I guess), but they stopped after people who actually didn’t drink their shakes right away and examined the left-over goop realized it and complained like crazy. [Collected on the Internet, 1999] The fast food restraunt mcdonalds serves mcflurries that contain feathers, there was a girl who went to mcdonalds and ordered a mcflurry and then almost died because she is really allergic to bird feathers, and so they traced all the food that she had eaten and then they phoned the head office of mcdonalds and they found out what was really in the mcflurries. [Collected on the Internet, 2000] Regarding your item on McDonalds and cow eyeballs, I think the intended connection was between the use of the eyeball fluid as a thickener for milkshakes rather than as filler. In addition to whispers about ground up worm meat and cow eyeballs being used in their burgers, McDonald’s beverages and desserts are also suspect. It’s true McDonald’s does not refer to its “shakes” as “milk shakes,” preferring not to confuse consumers who might otherwise be expecting a beverage made with ice cream. But there is milk in McDonald’s shakes, so it would be terribly unwise for a lactose-intolerant person to believe these drinks contain no dairy products. In May 2017, a report described changes to McDonald’s ingredients for several menu items in order to “win back the more than 500 million customer visits it has lost since 2012.” The Golden Arches began phasing out artificial flavors in its vanilla ice cream in fall 2016, in an effort to check off another item from its to-do list. […] In addition, McDonald’s said that its chocolate and strawberry shake syrup will no longer have high fructose corn syrup and its whipped topping is now made without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Occasionally, one hears McDonald’s shakes contain seaweed. That is very close to being true — they contain carrageenan, a substance which is derived from carrageen, a type of seaweed also known as “Irish moss.” Carrageenan is commonly used as a suspending agent in foods, a clarifying agent in beverages, and for controlling crystal growth in frozen products. (That last part is vital — lacking carrageenan or a similar product in ice cream, the frozen treat would be a hard block.) Carrageenan turns up in any number of processed foods, not just McDonald’s shakes. As for what’s actually in a McDonald’s shake, here’s the ingredient list for vanilla: VANILLA REDUCED FAT ICE CREAM Ingredients: Milk, Sugar, Cream, Corn Syrup, Natural Flavor, Mono and Diglycerides, Cellulose Gum, Guar Gum, Carrageenan, Vitamin A Palmitate. Contains: MILK. VANILLA SHAKE SYRUP Ingredients: Corn Syrup, Water, Caramel Color, Natural Flavor, Salt, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Pectin, Sugar. May contain small amounts of other shake flavors served at the restaurant, including egg ingredients when Egg Nog Shakes are available. Notice that there are no cow eyeballs or styrofoam balls listed among the ingredients. ‘Nuff said. The notion that McFlurries (a concoction introduced in 1998 of whipped vanilla ice cream blended with branded candies such as Heath bars and M&Ms) contain feathers is wildly imaginative but wholly false. The product does have a feathery appearance, but that’s the limit of its avian properties. A more innocent McDonalds dessert rumor concerns their apple turnovers. Some have heard that McD’s doesn’t use real apples in them — claiming the “fruit” filling is really potatoes, pears, or maybe even crackers. Shockingly, the primary ingredient in McDonald’s apple pies is… apple. Rumors of this nature play on the idea that the big, bad corporation will happily attempt to slip a less expensive substitute past a consumer whenever it can. Belief in this particular whisper is bolstered by memories of oddball recipes for “mock apple pie” culled from old cooking books wherein the “mock apples” were Ritz crackers. Because of the dangers presented by even innocuous foodstuffs to those allergic to them, restaurateurs will provide upon demand a complete ingredient list for every ingestible they sell. In dealing with product rumors of the “cheap or yucky ingredient substituted for something else” variety, this works mightily in favor of the befuddled consumer who’s just heard something shiver-inducing about what’s supposedly hidden in his favorite fast food. A quick phone call to that company’s 800 number or a fast visit to their web site is usually all it takes to set the rumor back on its heels. Last updated: 18 December 2017
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To be clear, all my investments are in a trust that I don’t control.
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"Rauner said, ""To be clear, all my investments are in a trust that I don’t control."" He was not being clear when he said his investments were held in trust. A quirk in Illinois ethics law means candidates can’t establish blind trusts like those used by federal officials, so Rauner’s investments are handled through a power of attorney granted to Roundtable Investment Partners. It’s not technically a ""trust,"" as Rauner called it, but if he is following his ""blind trust commitments"" pledge, the power of attorney arrangement appears to come as close as Illinois law permits. The power of attorney system he established doesn’t legally prohibit him from contact with Roundtable, however, so he’ll have a hard time hiding behind it if pressure mounts to make the substance of this month’s lawsuit public. Rauner’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out some important details. We find it Half True. "
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mixture
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Ethics, Transparency, Illinois, Bruce Rauner,
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"A lawsuit filed Oct. 5 against Gov. Bruce Rauner by a former business associate has piqued the interest of those who follow Illinois politics. But the substance of the suit remains unknown because, in a highly unusual move, the complaint and three exhibits in the case filed in Cook County Circuit Court are sealed. The plaintiff’s attorney says he wants the records made public and says they’re under wraps at Rauner’s request. When asked about the lawsuit after a public appearance on Oct. 20, Rauner said he knew nothing about it. ""To be clear, all my investments are in a trust that I don’t control. I did that when I became governor,"" Rauner said. ""I can’t comment on any business disputes. That gets settled in its own process."" This lawsuit is likely to draw more interest as it plays out, which makes this a good time to look into Rauner’s claim that he has no control over the business interests that predate his term as governor. Rauner’s vast wealth had been a point of contention in his 2014 campaign against incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn, who consistently tried to portray Rauner as economically out of touch with the vast majority of voters. After winning the election, Rauner sought to allay concerns that his extensive business portfolio -- which would generate $279 million in income in his first two years in office -- would make him vulnerable to conflicts of interest as governor. So shortly before his inauguration on Jan. 12, 2015, Rauner announced he was turning over control of his financial affairs to New York-based Roundtable Investment Partners and released a document detailing the ""blind trust commitments"" by which he would abide. ""To avoid even an appearance of a conflict of interest, I am designating an investment adviser under a power of attorney and establishing specific blind trust procedures during my service as governor to eliminate my day-to-day involvement in any company or issuer in which I hold any security interest or investment,"" Rauner said in the document. ""At all times during my service as governor, any information regarding the business and affairs of the issuer, including information on the financial performance of the issuer, or otherwise related to my status as a security holder in the Issuer, will go to the investment adviser and not to me."" But while Rauner invoked ""blind trust procedures"" in his explanation, the business arrangement he entered into was a power of attorney, not a blind trust. The Chicago Tribune explained the difference in an article that appeared shortly before Rauner’s inauguration: What Rauner did instead (of creating a blind trust) was create a different, less rigorous structure known as a power of attorney that granted management authority over much of his wealth to a New York investment adviser…. If Rauner had set up an actual blind trust, he would have had to transfer to it ownership of most of his wealth. Rauner would still have been the beneficiary of the trust, but he would have relinquished control over his assets to an independent trustee pledged to keep the governor in the dark about transactions. Rauner’s press secretary, Patty Schuh, said Rauner was speaking colloquially when he spoke of a ""trust"" rather than a ""power of attorney"" in his statement about the lawsuit. Even if Rauner had wanted to created a blind trust, however, a quirk in Illinois ethics law would have prevented it. Under Illinois law, state officeholders are required to file annual statements of economic interest in which they must list all their business interests in the state. In a blind trust like those used by federal officials, an officeholder turns over ownership of financial interests to a trustee who is prohibited from communicating with the official on investment matters. Such a setup would prevent Rauner from fulfilling the state economic disclosure requirements. Rauner’s then-press secretary Lance Trover explained the compromise arrangement to the Tribune: ""This is the strongest possible structure that both established blind trust procedures and allows the Rauners to fully comply with the state's economic disclosure laws moving forward,"" said Trover, who noted that blind trusts can be used to shield a politician's assets from public view. ""Doing this ensures to the people of Illinois that Gov. Rauner will not try to hide his financial assets behind a blind trust."" The reporting aspect of Rauner’s setup is a key distinction between it and a blind trust. Because Illinois requires that he submit an annual summary of his economic interests, Rauner can’t legally blind himself to knowledge of his investments as would be required in a blind trust. ""If you still have to report it, it does defeat the purpose of a blind trust,"" said Larry Noble, senior director and general counsel of The Campaign Legal Center, a Washington, D.C., campaign ethics watchdog group. Noble believes voters would be better served if Illinois law didn’t favor mandatory disclosure over true blind trusts. ""If you know what assets are in there, even though you’re not calling the shots you still have a conflict,"" Noble said. There are two other significant differences between Rauner’s arrangement and a blind trust as defined by federal law. In a blind trust, there can be no relationship between the officeholder and the trustee. Rauner is an investor in Roundtable and its CEO, Geoffrey Boisi, donated $50,300 to Rauner’s 2014 campaign. Even though Rauner has pledged to leave all business activities to Roundtable, his pledge is not legally binding. There is no legal prohibition on his communicating with or receiving reports from Roundtable, and he retains the right to make investment decisions if he so chooses. That could be significant in relation to the current court case, Noble said, because it gives Rauner a convenient way to quickly dispel any controversy that develops over the alleged secrecy. ""He could say, ‘In the interest of disclosure I authorize my trustee to make it public,’ "" Noble said. Rauner said, ""To be clear, all my investments are in a trust that I don’t control."" He was not being clear when he said his investments were held in trust. A quirk in Illinois ethics law means candidates can’t establish blind trusts like those used by federal officials, so Rauner’s investments are handled through a power of attorney granted to Roundtable Investment Partners. It’s not technically a ""trust,"" as Rauner called it, but if he is following his ""blind trust commitments"" pledge, the power of attorney arrangement appears to come as close as Illinois law permits. The power of attorney system he established doesn’t legally prohibit him from contact with Roundtable, however, so he’ll have a hard time hiding behind it if pressure mounts to make the substance of this month’s lawsuit public. Rauner’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out some important details. We find it ."
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16113
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Unlike marijuana, medical cannabis oil cannot get you high.
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Weeding out the different effects of cannabis oil and marijuana
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true
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Georgia, Health Care, States, Marijuana, Allen Peake,
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"State lawmakers have a month before they get back to work in the 2015 legislative session and already the debate over medical marijuana has gotten into the, ahem, weeds. State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon serves as co-chair of a joint legislative committee that has studied whether and how to legalize the drug for certain conditions, including seizures in children. Peake has revived a bill aimed at allowing cannabis oil made from marijuana plants for treatment of certain seizure disorders and other health problems. He is finalizing that proposal, pre-filed as House Bill 1 after a similar measure fell short last session. But another committee member, state Sen. Curt Thompson, D-Tucker, is proposing a competing bill that would allow vaporized, edible or smokable marijuana. Thompson also has filed a resolution, calling for a statewide referendum on whether to authorize recreational use of the drug. Confusion about the oil form versus a smokeable drug has prompted Peake, who said he does not support expanded use, to speak out. ""We believe that the medical cannabis oil – very low in THC, that doesn’t have a psychoactive component to it, cannot get you high – is a better approach for our citizens,"" Peake said in a press conference before a committee meeting last week. Opponents of the oil have raised safety concerns. So PolitiFact Georgia decided to take a closer look at Peake’s contention that the oil extracted from marijuana won’t get users high. First, a reminder that the federal government still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I substance, defined as ""the most dangerous"" drug ""with no currently accepted medical use."" Despite that designation, 23 states have legalized medical marijuana, allowing access to the drug for a variety of medical conditions. Another 11 states – including neighboring Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee – have enacted laws allowing cannabis oil products for medical reasons in limited situations. The key difference in allowing the oil, supporters say, is that it is high in cannabidiol and low in tetrahydrocannabinol. Both are compounds found in the marijuana plant that act on cell receptors that control neurotransmitters in the brain and the immune system from various organs, such as the spleen. Cannabidiol, known as CBD, is an antioxidant and not psychoactive. Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC is the long-known mind-altering part of pot. Cannabis oil is made from strains of marijuana already bred to be high in CBD and low in THC. For medical use, the oil is made with less than 3 percent THC and is orally ingested. Children’s doses tend to be at 1 percent THC, or lower. Studies are scarce on the medical benefits of such a product, given the Schedule I classification. But research does show that THC is what brings both it and CBD into the brain, where CBD’s antioxidant properties are thought to protect the brain. That evidence helped the federal Department of Health and Human Services earn a patent on medical marijuana in 2003. Anecdotally, parents of children with epilepsy and other seizure diseases back up the findings, reporting marked improvement from the cannabis oil. A London drug company, GW Pharmaceuticals, has created a drug out of highly purified CBD that has shown in preclinical studies that it potentially reduce seizures. The firm is waiting on final approval from Georgia Regents University and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to begin clinical trials in Georgia with children who have severe seizure disorders. None of the existing studies or anecdotes from parents acknowledge or report any ""high"" from cannabis oil. Even the National Institute on Drug Abuse, while acknowledging the federal government does not see marijuana as medicine, reports that CBD as a ""non-psychoactive cannabinoid"" that may prove useful in treating epilepsy as well as some inflamation disorders and mental illnesses. In other words, while the medical use of cannabis oil can be debated given the limited number of medical and clinic studies, there is some common ground on the product. Marijuana remains officially a more dangerous drug than cocaine, according to the federal government. But the main component of the plant used to make cannabis oil doesn’t have the mind-altering, munchies-inducing effect associated with street use of the plant."
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37621
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"Former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg appeared in Jeffrey Epstein's ""little black book."
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‘Mods are Asleep, Post Mike Bloomberg in Epstein’s Black Book’
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true
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Fact Checks, Politics
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On February 11 2020, a tweet (also shared to Facebook) invoked the “mods are asleep” meme in a broader post about former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s purported appearance in the late Jeffrey Epstein’s “little black book”:Mods are asleep post Mike Bloomberg in Epstein’s black book pic.twitter.com/Ji8y5XfyW3— Filthiest Poster Alive (@victoriaxxviii) February 11, 2020A blurry, redacted screenshot featured three names — magician David Blaine, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Mike Bloomberg. Without context, the tweet and screenshots might be confusing to people who are not extremely online, so we have broken it down here.What does “mods are asleep” mean?“Mods are asleep” is a common refrain on Reddit and 4chan; it is both an indication that the information following violates posting rules, and an incitement for other users to share typically restricted content:“Mods Are Asleep” is an expression used to indicate that a website’s moderators are currently inactive and unable to enforce the site’s rules of conduct. The phrase is often followed by a call to action for other users to post material that is typically not allowed.In the context of the tweet, the phrase was used humorously to imply that the appended screenshot perhaps contained forbidden or subversive knowledge.Who are Epstein and Bloomberg?Jeffrey Epstein was a convicted sex offender — a wealthy and highly influential pedophile — who died in a New York City jail in 2019. Michael Bloomberg served as mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and at the time of the tweet in February 2020 was seeking the Democratic nomination for president.Why was Epstein notable?Epstein was primarily notable for his wealth, his philanthropy, hobnobbing with the super-rich and famous — and his alleged involvement in sex trafficking and conspiracy. He was arrested at Teterboro Airport in July 2019 and died in his cell on August 10 2019, spawning conspiracy theories about how he died and who might have killed him. (The death was officially ruled a suicide by hanging. )What was Epstein’s “little black book”? Was it seized after his July 2019 arrest?Long before Epstein’s arrest and jailhouse death, interest in his purported network of well-connected and wealthy people as well as the nature of the crimes of which Epstein stood accused were a subject of massive public interest.In 2015, now-defunct website Gawker.com published a redacted version of Epstein’s “little black book,” reporting:Donald Trump, Courtney Love, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and -lawyer Alan Dershowitz may have been identified by a butler as potential “material witnesses” to pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes against young girls, according to a copy of Epstein’s little black book obtained by Gawker.An annotated copy of the address book, which also contains entries for Alec Baldwin, Ralph Fiennes, Griffin Dunne, New York Post gossip Richard Johnson, Ted Kennedy, David Koch, filmmaker Andrew Jarecki, and all manner of other people you might expect a billionaire to know, turned up in court proceedings after Epstein’s former house manager Alfredo Rodriguez tried to sell it in 2009. About 50 of the entries, including those of many of Epstein’s suspected victims and accomplices as well as Trump, Love, Barak, Dershowitz, and others, were circled by Rodriguez. (The existence of the book has been previously reported by the Daily Mail. Gawker is publishing it in full here for the first time; we have redacted addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, and the last names of individuals who may have been underage victims. )Also surviving Gawker’s shuttering was a 92-page supplement to the item linked and quoted above, the redacted “little black book” of Epstein’s.Was Mike Bloomberg listed in that copy of Epstein’s “little black book”?Yes. The document was uploaded in an alphabetized format, and Bloomberg’s appearance on page six was indeed after Blaine and Blair.What significance did appearing in Epstein’s “little black book” have?It’s difficult precisely to pinpoint how or why anyone came to be in Epstein’s register of contacts. A July 2019 New York Magazine/Intelligencer piece on some of the names — which mentioned Bloomberg — began:Perhaps, at long last, a serial rapist and pedophile may be brought to justice, more than a dozen years after he was first charged with crimes that have brutalized countless girls and women. But what won’t change is this: the cesspool of elites, many of them in New York, who allowed Jeffrey Epstein to flourish with impunity. For decades, important, influential, “serious” people attended Epstein’s dinner parties, rode his private jet, and furthered the fiction that he was some kind of genius hedge-fund billionaire. How do we explain why they looked the other way, or flattered Epstein, even as they must have noticed he was often in the company of a young harem? Easy: They got something in exchange from him, whether it was a free ride on that airborne “Lolita Express,” some other form of monetary largesse, entrée into the extravagant celebrity soirées he hosted at his townhouse, or, possibly and harrowingly, a pound or two of female flesh.That article also provided further detail on how the book landed in Gawker’s hands in 2015 — through the investigative work of Nick Bryant:In 2015, Gawker published Epstein’s “little black book,” which had surfaced in court proceedings after a former employee took it from Epstein’s home around 2005 and later tried to sell it. He said that the book had been created by people who worked for Epstein and that it contained the names and phone numbers of more than 100 victims, plus hundreds of social contacts. Along with the logs of Epstein’s private plane, released in 2015, the book paints a picture of a man deeply enmeshed in the highest social circles.Some of those listed in the article distanced themselves from Epstein; Malcolm Gladwell was listed, and he maintained that he had no idea why:“I was invited to the TED conference in maybe 2000 (I can’t remember), and they promised to buy me a plane ticket to California,” Gladwell says now. “Then at the last minute they said, ‘We found you a ride on a private plane instead.’ As I recall, there were maybe two dozen TED conferencegoers onboard. I don’t remember much else, except being slightly baffled as to who this Epstein guy was and why we were all on his plane.”Was Epstein’s “little black book” widely covered in mainstream outlets, or was it the realm of gossip and rumor?After Epstein’s July 2019 arrest, the New York Times covered its existence in an article, beginning with the stated confusion of some individuals listed in the ledger:Andrew Rosen, the founder of Theory and owner of numerous racehorses, said he didn’t know him and had never met him. Mr. Rosen couldn’t recall ever attending an event he hosted or crossing his path.Charles Finch, the film producer, brand builder and bon vivant, didn’t know him, either. Vanessa von Bismarck, the glamorous founder of a namesake fashion PR company? She had no idea why her name came up. Nor did Joan Juliet Buck, the former editor of French Vogue.“As far as I know, I never met Epstein,” Ms. Buck said. “I never went to any of those famous parties at the biggest house in New York City.”That’s Jeffrey Epstein, of course. Even though their names were in his notorious little black book, along with those of known associates like Prince Andrew, Donald Trump and Alan Dershowitz, these individuals said they were not sure why they appeared. They weren’t, they said, friends, or even passing acquaintances.A July 2019 profile in Vanity Fair addressed the book in part, reiterating how it originally came to be publicized:Ever since Epstein’s arrest on July 6, there’s been growing scrutiny of his vast network of rich and/or famous and/or powerful friends and acquaintances—or former friends and acquaintances, as it were. There’s a road map to that network in Epstein’s now-infamous black book, filled with many bold-faced names, phone numbers, and addresses, from Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Ehud Barak to Alec Baldwin, Ralph Fiennes, Mick Jagger, and even Courtney Love. “It is a mosaic of Epstein’s social contacts,” the investigative journalist Nick Bryant told me.Bryant first got his hands on a copy of the black book in 2012, after the feds caught Epstein’s former house manager trying to peddle it for $50,000. At the time, Bryant was shopping a feature on Epstein, without success. “My Epstein article would focus on the government malfeasance that enabled Epstein to skate on scores of child abuse charges,” Bryant wrote in a pitch he submitted to various editors, “and I would also look into covert ties that the government may have had with Epstein. Moreover, the little black book opens up multiple vistas of investigation, and I would attempt to amass sufficient corroboration on some of the power broker perps who molested these girls.”Bloomberg’s name did not appear in the article. An article published the same month by Bloomberg.com (“If You Flew Epstein’s ‘Lolita Express’ Private Jet — the Feds Want to Talk to You”) started off with reporting that federal investigators were interested in chatting with well-connected individuals named in the book:After Jeffrey Epstein’s [July 2019] arrest on sex trafficking charges, some famous people may be squirming. His notorious little black book and private-jet manifests contained a long list of boldface names, including Victoria’s Secret mogul Leslie Wexner and former president Bill Clinton.U.S. prosecutors on Monday encouraged anyone with information about Epstein’s conduct to come forward, not just potential victims. To the socialites, celebrities and politicians who attended lavish parties at Epstein’s homes in Manhattan or Palm Beach in the early 2000s — or hitched rides on his private jet nicknamed the “Lolita Express” by the tabloids — the request carried a clear message: Come talk to us before we seek you out.“You would much rather be visiting the Department of Justice and engaging a conversation about what you saw rather than making the DoJ find you,” said Jacob Frenkel, a former federal prosecutor now at Dickinson-Wright. “There’s a much greater potential for influencing the parameters of an interview and the scope of cooperation by going in voluntarily than becoming a compulsory guest” of the government, he said.Bloomberg.com emphasized the number of prominent names in the book — but made no mention of Michael Bloomberg, either in the text of the article or as an editor’s note:The names include well known performers, including Ralph Fiennes, Alec Baldwin, David Blaine, Jimmy Buffett and Courtney Love; media figures including Charlie Rose, Mike Wallace and Barbara Walters; former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, former British prime minister Tony Blair, industrialist David Koch and the late Salomon Brothers chief executive officer John Gutfreund and his wife, Susan.Bloomberg himself was named by other outlets in July 2019.Why did the book languish in near-obscurity until Epstein’s 2019 arrest?In the Vanity Fair interview, Bryant provided two answers regarding his long-futile efforts to report on the book and its contents. Bryant described years of resistance to reporting on the “power brokers” in the book, and the massive credibility challenge when it came to the victims of sex abuse and pedophilia:Child abuse is the most horrific of crimes, and editors, I would think, had some cognitive dissonance over what I was pitching them. To assuage their cognitive dissonance, they would much rather decide that I was crazy, or a conspiracy theorist, than to actually address the allegations. But I had the black book, and a lot of the police reports, and some of the FBI reports …… In these types of investigations, you’re gonna deal with some very sordid people. Even the victims, their credibility can be problematic, because they can come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, repeatedly molested at a very young age, some turn to drugs to assuage their pain. That’s what makes this type of thing perfect for the perpetrators. The victims’ credibility is easy to compromise.One month prior to Epstein’s jailhouse death, Bryant was asked for “predictions” about the case trajectory. He referred back to an earlier bit of investigative journalism he did with a similar focus, noting one of the two “primary pimps” died of suicide, as Epstein reportedly did one month later on August 10 2019:I don’t know. In [previous investigation] The Franklin Scandal, there were two primary pimps. One committed suicide, the other did 10 years in prison for embezzlement, and he’s had a pretty comfortable life since. It all depends on whether Epstein’s gonna talk or not. If Epstein talks, there’s gonna be a lot of powerful people who could go down. It’s really contingent upon how far the Department of Justice wants to take this. But like I said earlier, the Epstein scandal will also go all the way up to Mount Olympus.What did it mean when someone was listed in Epstein’s book?That was harder to say with certainty. As noted by many in July 2019, Epstein’s network was vast and contained seemingly unconnected people:A word of caution: just because someone’s name & contact information appear in the Epstein Black Book, which dates from 2004-5, does NOT automatically suggest that he or she was involved with the (“alleged”) sex trafficking … I’d like to think Elie Wiesel, for example, was not being “massaged” by teenagers. Same with Ralph Fiennes, Paul Allen, Julie Taymor, and Simon LeBon. Epstein made a point of meeting influential people, and not all of them shared his depraved sensibilities.On the other hand, there are some people in there who, while probably innocent of raping minors, are villains nonetheless: Henry Kissinger, Rupert Murdoch, David Koch … and Conrad Black, undeserving beneficiary of a Trump pardon … There are Rockefellers & Rothschilds in the Epstein Black Book, a clutch of politicians, numerous Hollywood movers & shakers, fashion-industry big-wigs, and royals including the Duke & Duchess of York (Prince Andrew—“Andy,” to Jeffrey).Other interesting names in the Epstein Black Book: Tom Barrack, Tony Blair, Mike Bloomberg, Jimmy Buffet, Tom Ford, George Hamilton, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Ted Kennedy, Charlie Rose, Kevin Spacey, Chris Tucker.So, is the claim true?Yes. Mike Bloomberg was one of numerous contacts listed in Jeffrey Epstein’s “little black book.” Many of the listed sought to distance themselves from Epstein after his arrest renewed interest in the book’s contents. However, what — if any — relationship Bloomberg maintained with Epstein was unknown, and he was far from the only prominent person to appear in the book.
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10159
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Breast cancer study: Fruits, veggies not the answer
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This is a story presenting the results of a newly published study that found that additional fruit and vegetable consumption did not affect breast cancer recurrence or mortality rates. The finding that there was no benefit observed from higher intakes of fruits and vegetables may be counterintuitive to some people but the article did not provide any explanation for the results reported. Helping readers understand some of this nuance would be valuable. Rather than merely reporting on the study outcome by interviewing two of the researchers involved in the study it would have been interesting to understand the reasoning behind the study to begin with. All the women in the study reported consuming more daily servings of fruits and vegetables than were recommended as the control and so the fact that additional daily servings did not modify the outcomes of cancer recurrence or death does not seem especially surprising. It would also have been interesting to see a discussion about why the interim results differed from the final analysis of the trial.
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true
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There was no discussion about the costs associated with including fruits and vegetables in the diet, although it’s reasonable to assume that the reader could figure out the costs. The story not only provided the information that the two groups did not differ in terms of rates for breast cancer recurrence or death, but included the estimates of this from the study summary. There was no discussion of potential harms associated with fruit and vegetable consumption, something some might think is unnecessary. But, for comparison, another story by another news organization did quote the lead investigator as saying there were no harms found with eating fruits and vegetables above a certain threshhold. It could have been addressed in this story. This story included the most relevant information (i.e. breast cancer recurrence and survival rates) from the study but it would been better had it explained that this was a randomized clincial trial and not merely an epidemiologic study. It might have been of interest to readers to know that the two groups differed in terms of the number of daily fruit and vegetable servings were recommended but both groups started out consuming more than the 5 daily servings recommended to the control group and that by the end of the story, self reported intake had dropped off in the intervention group. This story did not engage in disease mongering. This story included comments from two of the study’s authors but failed to get any independent perspective. The story failed to mention other breast cancer recurrence strategies (avoiding weight gain, medications, etc.). Especially as the outcome of the study reported on was to show no benefit, other options that have demonstrated efficacy for decreasing risk recurrence could have been mentioned. This criterion does not apply in this story. The story was explicit that it was reporting on the results of a recently published study. Does not appear to rely exclusively on a press release.
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2117
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Film captures mood swings of bipolar disorder.
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After spending two weeks on a sun-drenched island off Jamaica with 12 Ukrainian beauties, British multi-millionaire Paul Downes went off the rails.
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true
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Health News
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Instead of sticking to his original 250,000-pound ($365,000) scheme of picking his perfect wife from the glamorous candidates he had flown to the island, Downes, 50, found himself in the grip of a manic episode, proclaiming himself not only the creator of mankind but the creator of God. That definitely was not in the script. Downes had asked a cameraman to document his unusual plan to find a soulmate. Instead, it was his mania that was caught on film, giving a rare insight into bipolar disorder. “I wanted to find a bride but when I go manic, I become Ya, the creator of Allah and the creator of God and I start thinking of an awful lot of things other than beautiful ladies that are there,” Downes told Reuters in London after the screening of the documentary created out of his 2009 trip to Jamaica. “True Stories: Bipolar Expedition,” by film maker Mark James, aired on British television this week and will become available internationally. “When I went to Jamaica, Paul was in the grip of a developing mania which I obviously hadn’t witnessed before and had no idea what that was, so I filmed all the events as you see in the film,” James told Reuters. “He just got more interested in me and the camera and making speeches which went on every day.” MODERN-DAY DISEASE Before being diagnosed with bipolar at the age of 44, Downes was living a high-powered life of luxury, making business deals, playing golf and gambling. But one day, while holidaying in Jamaica, he began acting strangely. He started smoking pot, stopped sleeping, asked a stranger to marry him and eventually jumped off a cliff into the sea without knowing how to swim. “I don’t know what triggered that because if anybody had said that I could possibly have a mental illness in the first 44 years of my life, I’d have said you were the crazy person,” Downes said. Known as the “disease of the 21st century,” bipolar disorder has made headlines with celebrities such as Stephen Fry, Richard Dreyfuss and Sinead O’Connor openly discussing their struggles. It causes mood swings from severe depression to dramatic highs, which can range from a couple times a year, to a couple times a day, depending on the severity of the disorder in the individual, and is often followed by suicidal feelings. “In my last manic episode, I had seven chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royces with a private detective visit Prince Charles, Stephen Hawkins and Simon Cowell with DVDs of taped speeches and certain gifts,” Downes said. In the documentary, James suggests that Downes’ first ever manic episode in 2004 was triggered by a business deal gone wrong. Downes strongly denies this, saying he has no idea what sparked it off. There is a lot that is not understood about the condition and the biggest problem medical experts face is actually diagnosing it. “It’s like trying to unravel the origins of the universe,” said James. “We’ve only just really started to scratch the surface of what the whole universe is about and I think it’s the same with the human mind.” Many studies have shown there is a definite link between bipolar disorder and creative genius. Although Downes is no artist, his wealth allows him to create other worlds — such as the Jamaica wife hunt — that have cost him around 1 million pounds in the past six years. James said the documentary illustrates how multi-faceted the human mind is. “It is a manic episode, but it’s sort of living out something which is so extraordinary and colorful,” he added. “In a way it’s like making a work of art.” The manic episode on the island didn’t entirely derail Downes’ original quest however — he plans to travel to Ukraine in July to meet two of the women, one of whom he hopes will become his wife.
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11193
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Healthy Diet May Help Kidney Disease Patients Live Longer
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This is the perfect example of a news release that cries out for deeper explanation of the study it’s based on, but ends up being given short shrift by the journal publishing the research. The possibility that an overall healthy diet could lead to significantly better health outcomes for people suffering from chronic kidney disease is an important contribution to the science around diet, and yet we are not given quite enough facts or context about the study to know how to evaluate the power of the findings. The published report is an analysis of seven previously completed studies. The analysis set out to look for any associations between dietary patterns and kidney failure or mortality among adults with chronic kidney disease. As we keep reminding readers when news releases and news articles don’t mention it: association does not equal causation. The release would also have benefited from a mention of possible harms, and a discussion of cost, alternatives and what makes the finding novel. Outcomes in chronic kidney disease are exceptionally poor, and any potential lifestyle modification that can attenuate this risk has significant public health implications.
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mixture
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Association/Society news release
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The release could have explored two aspects of costs: the costs on a per-patient or per-month basis of treating chronic kidney disease and also the costs of eating healthy the way the people in this study did, but we suspect there is little data available on the latter. The news release does provide some numbers around the benefits, but they are mostly in relative terms, not allowing reporters or other readers to assess how many people really ended up benefiting from the healthy diets. It says, for example, “In 6 studies, healthy dietary patterns were consistently associated with a 20% to 30% lower rate of mortality, with 46 fewer deaths per 1000 people over 5 years.” It’s hard to understand from this sentence what this means. If it is a range from 20% to 30% lower mortality rates, does this mean that “46 fewer deaths per 1,000 people” is the average reduction in mortality? And this is 46 fewer deaths than what? Than 100? Than 900? Precision would have helped here. The release does not discuss any harms. Some of the “classic” dietary recommendations have a small harm profile (potassium, protein), and this is also not discussed. The release does not provide any caveats around this type of retrospective meta-analysis of observational studies, specifically that such studies are incapable of proving that healthy diets caused better outcomes. Nor does it give any qualifications on any of the studies that were included as part of the meta-analysis. Instead, it provides the impressive statement that the researchers “analyzed the medical literature, finding seven relevant studies that included a total of 15,285 participants.” That seems like a lot of people, but the facts around the specific studies that were included matter. What types of people? How long were they were studied? What, if any, controls were there around what they ate, medications they took, the way they exercised, etc.? They also discuss the findings from six studies showing improved outcomes, but do not address the findings of the seventh study. Was it left out due to an absence of effect or some other reason? There is no disease mongering in the release. The release says that the authors had no financial conflicts of interest. The release alludes to the standard dietary recommendations for people with chronic kidney disease and how hard those recommendations are to follow. But it does not provide us enough information to feel like a true comparison, nor does it discuss the controversies surrounding those recommendations. The availability of healthy dietary options is one of the main points of the release. The release does state reasonably that “In the absence of randomized trials and large individual cohort studies, this study is the best available evidence to drive clinical decision-making by patients and doctors on whole dietary approaches in chronic kidney disease.” There is no unjustifiable language in the release.
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3521
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WPI gets $1.9M grant to help better detect prostate cancer.
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Worcester Polytechnic Institute has received a five-year, nearly $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a robotic system to detect and monitor prostate cancer.
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true
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Cancer, Health, General News, Robotics, Worcester, Prostate cancer
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Grant recipient Haichong Zhang, a biomedical engineer at the school, says his surgical imaging robot will be safer and more accurate than current tests, including ultrasounds and biopsies. Zhang tells The Telegram & Gazette he wants to create a minimally invasive, easily accessible and cost-effective way to better detect prostate cancer, which will affect one-fifth of all men at some point in their lives. Zhang is working on the project with Gregory Fischer, a professor of robotics and mechanical engineering at WPI.
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28645
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A bill introduced to the Tennessee General Assembly classifies children born from artificial insemination as illegitimate.
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What's true: The bill does not actively classify children conceived through artificial insemination as “illegitimate” but it does seek to repeal a civil code that explicitly defines parental rights for both parents of such a child, regardless of biologic relation. What's undetermined: The motivation behind this bill and its legal ramifications are disputed. The bill’s sponsor, Terri Lynn Weaver, argues that there is already a law on the books that maintains these rights, but critics have alleged that her logic is rooted in a misreading of legal briefs, or a desire to limit a same-sex couples’ ability to raise a child with the same legal protections as a heterosexual couple.
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mixture
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Politics Legal, in vitro fertilization, ivf, Tennessee
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On 9 February 2017, state Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver introduced HB1406 to the Tennessee House of Representatives. This exceptionally concise bill repeals Section 68-3-306 of the Tennessee Code Annotated (the state law) and is summarized on the Tennessee General Assembly web site: As introduced, repeals statute that deems a child born to a married woman as a result of artificial insemination, with consent of the married woman’s husband, to be the legitimate child of the husband and wife. – Repeals TCA Section 68-3-306. TCA Section 68-3-306, the law Weaver’s bill seeks to repeal, was introduced with the express purpose of giving legal recognition to children conceived through artificial insemination: 68-3-306. Birth from artificial insemination. A child born to a married woman as a result of artificial insemination, with consent of the married woman’s husband, is deemed to be the legitimate child of the husband and wife. From a fact-checking standpoint, this would seem like a pretty open-and-shut case, as she is literally repealing a bill that defines the legitimacy of children born from artificial insemination. Weaver, however, contends in a Facebook post that the bill is simply a housekeeping procedure aimed at removing a law rendered unconstitutional by Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, and that an existing law already protects the legitimacy of children born through in vitro fertilization: There is MUCH CONFUSION concerning HB 1406. The reason for this bill is as followed [sic]. A couple of months ago, the state’s Attorney General filed a brief in a lawsuit related to this statute TCA 68-3-306 in which he said that the law, as written and enacted, was unconstitutional. It is not unusual for the legislature to repeal a law that is unconstitutional. Thankfully there is another statute TCA 36-2-304 still on the books that makes it clear that when a child is born to a married woman, the child is presumed to be that of her husband. So, the repeal of the law does not de-legitimize a child conceived by insemination and, to be honest, the law that will remain on the books is less intrusive into the relationship of a husband and wife than the statute being repealed. Unlike the law being repealed, the remaining law that will now govern the situation does not have the government inquiring into the means by which the couple¹s child came into existence or whose sperm, the husband’s or a donor¹s, was used. HB 1406 does not apply to same sex marriages at all!!!! Conflicting laws have got to be repealed, families and lives are affected. Again children who are artificially inseminated ARE NOT ILLEGITIMATE. I hope that helps explain the overall situation. The lawsuit Weaver cites concerns a custody dispute over an child born from artificial insemination in a divorce proceeding between two women. Lawyers for the woman who did not conceive the child argued in an appeal to a ruling denying her parental rights that TCA 63-3-306 provided the non-conceiving spouse with parental rights as they were married when the baby was conceived. There was a dispute, however, over how this law — with gendered spousal terms — could be applied to same sex couples, a question the state’s attorney general was asked to weigh in on. During an appeal in this case, Weaver had signed on to a memorandum asking the court not to interpret 68-3-206 for same-sex couples, leading many critics to suggest this new bill was a thinly veiled attack on same-sex marriage and not, as she argued, to get rid of a law deemed unconstitutional. This suspicion was further confirmed, in those critics eyes, by her Facebook explanation, which is based on the legally dubious argument that the law is not constitutional. Her explanation that TCA 63-3-306 is unconstitutional, in actuality, relies on a fairly significant misreading of both the attorney general’s brief regarding that law, as well as the other statute she contends will continue to legally declare the legitimacy of in vitro children. First of all, contrary to the claim made by Weaver, the brief filed by the Tennessee attorney general (which she referenced in her Facebook post) actually ruled that TCA 36-2-304 remains constitutional, provided it be construed as applying to both heterosexual and same-sex couples. At issue was this law’s gendered use of the words “husband” and “wife” as opposed to the word “spouse” as used in the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling, and described in the brief: Construed literally, Tenn. Code Ann. 68-3-306 would run afoul of the holding in Obergefell. lt would “exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage on the same terms and conditions as opposite-sex couples,” because it would deem a child born to a married woman as a result of artificial insemination to be the legitimate child of a male spouse of that woman, but not of a female spouse of that woman. Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery went on to argue in this brief, however, that the code should not be construed literally, arguing that the courts have the power and duty to make sure laws exist to fit within constitutional requirements: Tennessee Code Ann. 68-3-306, however, need not and should not be construed literally. Courts have a duty to construe a statute in a way that will sustain it and avoid constitutional conflict, if such a reasonable construction exists. Davis-Kidd Booksellers, Inc. v. McWherter, 866 S.W.3d 520, 530 (Tenn. 1993). Under Tenn. Code Ann. $ 1-3-104(b), statutory “[w]ords importing the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter, except when the contrary intention is manifest.” So both the word “husband” and the word “wife” in 68-3-306 would be properly construed to mean “spouse.” After Obergefell, of course, that is no longer the case. In order to preserve the constitutionality of Tenn. Code Ann. 68-3-306, therefore, it must now be construed to read: “A child born to a married woman as a result of artificial insemination, with consent of the married woman’s spouse, is deemed to be the legitimate child of the two spouses.” […] For the reasons stated, the Court should rule that Tenn. Code Ann. 68-3-306 must be construed so as to apply to a child born as a result of artificial insemination during a same-sex marriage and that, as applied, the statute is constitutional. Therefore her argument for the utility of a bill in the first place, as presented on Facebook, is rooted in the false premise that the code she is seeking to repeal (by the standards of the Attorney General’s office) needs to be repealed on the basis of its unconstitutionality. It also means her assertion that “HB 1406 does not apply to same sex marriages at all!!! !” is demonstrably false. Secondly, Weaver goes on to argue that another code, TCA 36-2-304, already serves to define the parentage of a child born through artificial insemination. That law, like 68-3-306, also uses the terms “husband” and “wife”, making a literally construed interpretation of this code just as theoretically (but not actually, in the view of the Attorney General’s office) problematic as the former. This law, more generally, codifies the legal “presumption of parentage”: (a) A man is rebuttably presumed to be the father of a child if: (1) The man and the child’s mother are married or have been married to each other and the child is born during the marriage or within three hundred (300) days after the marriage is terminated by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, or divorce; (2) Before the child’s birth, the man and the mother have attempted to marry each other in compliance with the law, although the attempted marriage is or could be declared illegal, void and voidable; […] (4) While the child is under the age of majority, the man receives the child into the man’s home and openly holds the child out as the man’s natural child; […] (b) (1) Except as provided in subdivision (b)(2), a presumption under subsection (a) may be rebutted in an appropriate action. (2) (A) If the mother was legally married and living with her husband at the time of conception and has remained together with that husband through the date a petition to establish parentage is filed and both the mother and the mother’s husband file a sworn answer stating that the husband is the father of the child, any action seeking to establish parentage must be brought within twelve (12) months of the birth of the child. In the event that an action is dismissed based upon the filing of such a sworn answer, the husband and wife who filed such sworn answer shall be estopped to deny paternity in any future action. A joint statement from Weaver and the Tennessee senator sponsoring the Senate version of the bill makes the argument that this existing law will serve the same role as the law being repealed: “Under this legislation, Tennessee law would continue to provide that a child born to a married woman will be considered the child of her husband. By repealing the law, and relying on other Tennessee statutes that remain, the state will no longer intrude into how a woman conceives her child.” However, critics argue that the existing law does nothing to define the legitimacy or parentage of a child born to same sex couples through artificial insemination, potentially providing a legal environment that limits the rights of the non-biologic partner in a same-sex marriage or relationship jointly raising an IVF-conceived child while, arguably, making that child illegitimate in the eyes of Tennessee State Law. The bill is currently being reviewed by the Tennessee House health subcommittee.
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1904
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All in the family: Inbreeding key to bedbug spread.
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Inbreeding may be the secret to the bedbug’s success, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
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true
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Health News
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After nearly disappearing in the United States, the bloodsucking pests have made a comeback in recent years, quickly infesting apartment buildings and stubbornly resisting common insecticides. The city of New York alone spends as much as $40 million a year in bedbug control. A study of bedbug genetics presented on Tuesday at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene meeting in Philadelphia now suggests why. A team of entomologists led by Coby Schal and Ed Vargo of North Carolina State University studied the genes of bedbugs infesting three multistory apartment buildings in North Carolina and New Jersey and found very low genetic diversity — meaning most of them were very close relatives. They were so close in fact that the team suspects it may have taken just one or two founder insects to start an entire infestation. “We find that bedbug infestations basically start from a very small number of individuals,” Schal said in a telephone interview. “A single mated female bedbug starts the infestation. She gives rise to offspring and those offspring mate with each other and with their mother,” he said. “This is different from many animals,” he said, mostly because close inbreeding can result in genetic deformities, adding, “In humans, it is taboo.” But he said there are some animals that can withstand such close inbreeding without experiencing detrimental effects including cockroaches. Schal said this may be a trait of insects that have evolved an association with humans and rely on them to get from place to place. Typically this happens when humans bring infested furniture into their homes, and he warns people to inspect second-hand furniture carefully. “There is a myth out there that bedbugs get transported on people,” Schal said. Unlike ticks, the wingless, reddish-brown insects stay attached to people for a blood meal for just 5 to 10 minutes, he said. “The chances that a person is carrying bedbugs on them is quite low.” According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bedbugs do not carry disease, but their bites can cause severe itching and a whole lot of anxiety. Schal said his findings are not likely to lead to new insecticides for bedbugs, but they do underscore the need to move fast once bedbugs are detected. “If you don’t deal with them early they can spread thorough a building very quickly,” he said.
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9161
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150-year-old Drug May Provide ‘Off’ Time Relief for People with Advanced Parkinson’s Disease
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No mention of the harms and costs of apomorphine in treating Parkinson’s disease symptoms are found in this American Academy of Neurology news release. The study followed 107 people with advanced Parkinson’s disease for 12 weeks after treating them with either apomorphine or placebo. The study measured the participants’ “off” times, which refer to periods when a medication isn’t working well, causing symptoms to worsen. Although the news release provides in-depth historical context and information on the availability of the drug, we wish it could have more critically evaluated the evidence, as well as provided more numbers to illustrate the benefit claims. A discussion on the limitations of evidence, namely how this study may have been through limited peer review, would have been useful. The news release does disclose the funding source — Britannia Pharmaceuticals, the maker of apomorphine — but it doesn’t mention that the first author has received speaking and consulting fees from Britannia for at least 8 years. Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disorder affecting the nervous system caused by the loss of dopamine-producing brain cells. It affects more than 4 million people worldwide, according to the US National Library of Medicine. About 60,000 new cases are identified each year in the United States. Although there is no cure, many of its symptoms (including tremor, slowed movement, rigidity and problems with balance) can be managed with drug therapies, the main one being levodopa. After long-term use, however, the benefits of levodopa may wear off more quickly after each dose, prolonging “off” times in Parkinson’s patients. If there is another medication that is safe and shortens “off” times, it may provide help to patients who develop resistance to a certain drug, especially with long-term use.
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mixture
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American Academy of Neurology,Parkinson's disease
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According to GoodRx.com, 20 cartridges or 3 mL of apomorphine cost between $20,000 to $21,800 depending on the pharmacy. The exact dosage isn’t disclosed, but we know that the infusion was administered via a small portable pump for 14 to 18 hours each day for 12 weeks. Since costs are not discussed in this news release, we give it a Not Satisfactory rating here. The news release says that on average, volunteers assigned to apomorphine had 2.5 hours less “off” time per day, while those who received the placebo infusion had an average 30 minutes per day reduction in “off” time during the first week of the trial. Participant-reported scores on how well they thought the treatment worked were also provided: “Participants were also asked to evaluate how well they thought the treatment worked. Those who received apomorphine gave their treatment higher scores at week 12 than those who received the placebo infusion. In the apomorphine group, 71 percent of patients felt improved, compared to 18 percent on placebo, whereas 19 percent worsened on apomorphine compared to 45 percent on placebo.” While improvement is given in percentages (and we like to see absolute numbers as well) this does illustrate an absolute rate of improvement. Apomorphine is associated with a slew of side effects – the more common ones being chest pain, chills, cold sweats, confusion, falling asleep during activity, dizziness, mood changes, swelling and twitching. Less common include fainting, low blood pressure, sweating and vomiting. Rare adverse events are irregular heartbeat and recurrent fainting. In the study, apomorphine was generally well tolerated, and no serious side effects were observed, the news release states. No other safety information is given. One 2009 study looked at the safety of apomorphine when treating “off” episodes in subjects with advanced Parkinson disease. Out of the 546 subjects in the study population, 187 participants discontinued treatment because of side effects, which included nausea and vomiting, dizziness, somnolence, hallucination, yawning, and injection site bruising. The authors concluded, “Long-term use of intermittent apomorphine dosing for treatment of ‘off’ episodes was generally associated with mild-to-moderate adverse effects.” Another recent 10-year observational study concluded, “Many patients cannot be maintained on AI in the longer term” due to adverse effects and inadequate motor benefit. We wish the news release talked more in depth about the drug’s potential harms, which is why we give it a Not Satisfactory rating here. The news release does a good job outlining the study design. This was a placebo-controlled, randomized, multicenter phase III study, in which researchers followed 107 people with advanced Parkinson’s disease for 12 weeks. The infusion was administered via a small portable pump from 14 to 18 hours per day. What’s missing here is a discussion on the study’s limitations, namely the lack of peer review. Since this study was presented at a medical conference, it may only include preliminary findings and probably also went through a limited peer review process. Peer review is important in establishing the quality and integrity of the science before publication in a journal. Since limitations of the evidence are not discussed, we give the news release a Not Satisfactory rating here. There is no disease mongering in this news release. It provides context about the history of the drug. A statement on the incidence of Parkinson’s disease would also have been helpful in understanding the scope of the problem. The funding source of this study was Britannia Pharmaceuticals, a UK-based pharmaceutical company specializing in the neurology market, according to its website. However, the release doesn’t mention that the first author of the study had received research grants from numerous pharmaceutical companies, including Britannia and that the principal investigator is also a consultant for Britannia and serves on its advisory board. We rate this for not disclosing a long-term financial relationship between the author and the drug sponsor. The release gets a Satisfactory for noting that the oral drug levodopa is the gold standard treatment for Parkinson’s disease. The release would have been better had it also addressed some comparison between levodopa and the drug discussed in this release. Also not mentioned are other treatment possibilities include dopamine agonists and deep brain stimulation, a surgical procedure that sends electrical pulses to the brain and helps stabilize medication fluctuations. We think it would present a clearer picture had the release mentioned some of the other existing and newer emerging treatments for this condition. The news release makes it clear from the start that apomorphine is not a new drug, as the headline refers to it as a “150-year-old drug.” Since the news release gives a brief historical overview of the drug, we feel it merits a Satisfactory rating here. The release would have been better if it had mentioned whether or not it’s covered by insurance as an FDA approved treatment for Parkinson’s disease. The news release makes clear that apomorphine is not a new drug and also states that the new study contributes to the existing body of literature. We give it a Satisfactory rating for explaining that high-level evidence from randomized, blinded studies on the drug’s safety and effectiveness is lacking until now. The study abstract on the American Academy of Neurology website states that this was the first prospective, randomized, multi-center, double-blind study to evaluate the efficacy of apomorphine infusions versus placebo in Parkinson’s patients. The news release does not use include unjustifiable, sensational language.
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10683
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Special CT scans cut lung cancer deaths in major study, but questions remain about screening
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It’s clear that this story worked very hard to avoid hyping the results of the National Lung Screening Trial, which found that heavy smokers who were offered certain CT scans were less likely to die of lung cancer than those who were offered chest x-rays. It quickly puts the relative difference in death rates (20 percent) into context with the actual numbers (354 vs. 442 deaths among 53,500 participants). Near the top, this story tells readers of doubts about the balance of harms and benefits of this type of screening. It emphasizes that quitting smoking is the best way to avoid lung cancer death. However, it appears that the story is mostly based on material handed out by the National Cancer Institute, which sponsored the trial. It fails to give readers any independent perspectives on the trial or the meaning of its results. Even a call to the American Cancer Society would have provided a cautious viewpoint. (Please note: later versions of AP stories carried independent perspectives but we reviewed the first version we found.) News reports on medical trials must give readers a balanced perspective. But journalists should seek out independent sources, so that they are not dependent on the sponsor or lead researcher to provide that balance.
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true
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Associated Press,Cancer,Screening
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The story reports that these scans typically cost $300-400 and are not generally covered by insurance. The story would have been better if it had clearly pointed out that the potentially huge cost of such a screening program, because hundreds of smokers had to be scanned to extend one life in this trial and follow-up tests and treatments cost much more than the initial scan. Nonetheless, we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt on this criterion. The New York Times never specified the scans’ costs. This story does a better job than some others in how it portrays the potential benefits of CT screening for lung cancer. The headline and lead report that deaths were reduced somewhat. The third paragraph of the story notes that among the 53,000 participants there were 20 percent fewer deaths among those offered CT scans compared to those offered chest x-rays, but that the “actual number of deaths averted was fairly modest” (354 in the CT group vs. 442 in the x-ray group). This way of presenting the results helps readers put the results in perspective. The story also notes that the National Cancer Institute said “it’s not clear that all smokers should get the scans.” However, the story could have made it more clear that the reduction in lung cancer death rates was seen after five years of folllow-up, which leaves open the question about whether that difference will persist over a longer time frame. It would have been helpful for this story to tell readers that 300 smokers had to be screened in this trial in order to extend the life of one of them. The story points out that such scans can produce false positive results, lead to further tests and treatments that don’t always benefit patients and have their own risks, and that CT scans expose people to radiation that may raise the risk of other types of cancer. It explains that the NCI is “still compiling the rates of false alarms and other risks” but estimates could have been drawn from past research. The story explains that 53,000 current or former smokers were given either CT scans or chest x-rays and that researchers tracked the number who died of lung cancer. However, readers may be confused by a reference to “the eight-year study period.” While it has been eight years since the trial began, the participants were followed for up to five years. Also, the story leads with a vague statement that this trial provides “the first evidence that a screening test may help fight the nation’s top cancer killer.” It would have been better for the story to be clear that this trial provides evidence about a difference in lung cancer death rates. The story could have done a better job of explaining that the randomization and other features of this trial set it above any other investigation of this topic. The story clearly states that this trial only involved people who are or were “very heavy smokers” and that it is not clear that the results are applicable to other smokers. There is no independent source quoted. (Please note: later versions of AP stories carried independent perspectives but we reviewed the first version we found.) This story highlights advice that quitting is the best way for smokers to avoid lung cancer. While this story does call the CT scans used in this trial “special” and different from conventional CT scans, it does not make clear that the trial applied rigorous standards to the equipment, operators and radiologists that may not be followed by other providers who offer CT scans to smokers. The story squeaks by this criterion. It mentions earlier trials that left key questions unresolved, but it does not clearly tell readers what was different about this trial. The only direct quote in the story is from a news release issued by the National Cancer Institute. (http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/NLSTresultsRelease) It is not clear what other sources may have been consulted.
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3549
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Parkland commission urges boost in mental health funding.
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A commission investigating the Parkland school shooting is calling for improved mental health services, including more funding, to help schoolchildren deal with the stresses in their lives — a strategy the commission hopes will help prevent more violence from erupting at other Florida campuses.
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true
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Shootings, Mental health, Health, General News, Violence, Florida, School shootings, School safety, Parkland, Florida, school shooting, U.S. News
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The commission released its second report to lawmakers Friday, 10 months after an initial report urged immediate improvements to school safety following killings of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year. Lawmakers responded to the commission’s first set of recommendations by enacting a package of school-safety measures, including raising the legal age for gun purchases, requiring armed security officers on every campus and adopting a “red flag” law. “The needle has moved. We’re in a better place than we were 20 months ago,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who chairs the commission, said in an interview. “But we’re still not in the place where we want to be in many places in Florida, and there’s more work to be done.” The 389-page document released Friday by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission advocates new laws that would allow authorities to act more quickly against threats of violence, including making it a felony to verbally threaten a mass shooting. While the commission’s first report, released in January, focused on the suspect, Nikolas Cruz, and some of the specifics that led to the massacre, this one provides a broader analysis of systemic issues that the commission wants addressed. Key among them, according to the commission, is mental health. Among its findings: Florida’s mental health system is inadequately funded. The commission, noting Florida’s rank among the lowest of any state in per-capita mental health funding, recommended that the Legislature authorize more spending on mental health programs. The commission, however, did not suggest a specific amount and instead recommended an assessment of how mental health resources are being deployed. Gualtieri said the mishmash of mental health services, limited as they currently are, may sometimes prevent children with behavioral problems from getting the help they need. The commission wants better coordination of services, including better information sharing, to help identify trouble before exploding into harmful situations. The commission also wants to empower judges to intervene whenever they identify a child who might benefit from mental health treatment. In his message prefacing the report, Gualtieri said complacency and noncompliance — even resistance to the new laws — undermine the work being done to make schools safer. “Complacency is driven, at least in part, by the erroneous notion that a school shooting will not ‘happen here’,” he wrote. “Everyone needs to proceed with a sense of urgency to make Florida’s schools as safe as possible because there will be another K-12 active assailant attack in this country,” Gualtieri said. “The only questions are when and where.”
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4235
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Cancer group finds biggest one-year drop in U.S. death rate.
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Researchers on Wednesday reported the largest-ever one-year decline in the U.S. cancer death rate, a drop they credited to advances in lung-tumor treatments.
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true
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AP Top News, Cancer, Health, General News, Death rates, Lung cancer, U.S. News
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The overall cancer death rate has been falling about 1.5% a year since 1991. It fell 2.2% from 2016 to 2017, according to the new American Cancer Society report. That’s the largest drop ever seen in national cancer statistics going back to 1930, said Rebecca Siegel, the lead author. “It’s absolutely driven by lung cancer,” which accounts for about a quarter of all cancer deaths, she said. Take lung cancer out of the mix, and the 2017 rate drop is 1.4%, she added. Government researchers previously reported a slightly lower drop in the cancer death rate for the same period. But the Cancer Society calculates the death rate differently, and on Wednesday said the decline was larger — and record-setting. Most lung cancer cases are tied to smoking, and decades of declining smoking rates led to falling rates of lung cancer illnesses and deaths. But the drop in deaths seems to have been accelerated by recent lung cancer treatment advances, Siegel said. Experts mainly credit advances in treatment. Topping the list are refinements in surgery, better diagnostic scanning, and more precise use of radiation. They also celebrate the impact of newer drugs. Genetic testing can now identify specific cancer cell mutations, which allow more targeted therapy using newer pharmaceuticals that are a step beyond traditional chemotherapy. “It’s an exciting time,” said Dr. Jyoti Patel, a Northwestern University lung cancer expert. Even patients with late-stage cancers are surviving for several years — rather than months — after treatment starts, she said. “That was very, very uncommon a decade ago,” she said. New immunotherapy drugs could accelerate the death rate decline, Patel said. Cancer Society researchers also found: — The overall cancer death rate fell by nearly 30% from 1991 through 2017. — Death rates from one type of skin cancer dropped even more dramatically than lung cancer — falling 7% a year recently. That decline in melanoma patients is attributed to drugs that came on the market about nine years ago. — Declines in the death rates from prostate, breast and colon cancer are slowing, for a range of reasons. — The rising liver cancer death rate seems to have leveled off somewhat. That may be related to better treatment of hepatitis C infections, which are tied to about 25% of liver cancer cases, Siegel said. ___ The Associated Press Health and 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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1948
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Which is worse in pregnancy, snuff or cigarettes?.
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Babies born to snuff-using mothers were more likely to have breathing problems than those whose mothers smoked while pregnant, according to a Swedish study.
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true
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Health News
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"A woman and her dog walk along the beach in this file photo. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen Snuff — ground tobacco that is high in nicotine but doesn’t generate the same additional chemicals as cigarette smoke because it’s not burned — is generally assumed to be safer than cigarettes, said lead researcher Anna Gunnerbeck, from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. That’s still the case for many people, but it’s not a good option for pregnant woman, she added. “(It) may have a little bit different effect than smoking, because smoking has the combustion products, but it’s still not safe during pregnancy,” Gunnerbeck told Reuters Health. It’s possible the same may apply to nicotine gum and patches, which some doctors recommend to women trying to stop smoking during pregnancy, the researchers wrote in Pediatrics. Gunnerbeck and her colleagues got their data from records of about 610,000 babies born in Sweden between 1999 and 2006. They compared information gathered from mothers when they were a few months pregnant — including about snuff and cigarette use — with babies’ hospital records. Specifically, they were looking for a diagnosis of “apnea,” which occurs when a newborn stops breathing, sometimes accompanied by an irregular heartbeat. One or two in every 1,000 babies born to mothers who didn’t use snuff or cigarettes developed apnea. For babies whose mothers lit up during pregnancy, that risk increased by about 50 percent. And for those whose mothers used snuff, the rate was more than twice as high as in babies born to mothers who didn’t use any kind of tobacco. When the researchers took into account how early babies were born — prematurity has been linked to both maternal smoking and breathing problems in newborns — smoking alone didn’t have any extra effect on the risk of apnea. But apnea was still more common when mothers used snuff, regardless of whether babies were born early or not. Many babies with apnea will get a bit of extra care after birth and be fine, but it’s also possible that they’re more likely to have breathing problems when they’re older, including sleep apnea. Apnea may also put children at higher risk of infection later. While snuff use is more common in Sweden than elsewhere, pregnant women in other countries may also use nicotine-containing products such as gum and patches, thinking they’re safer than smoking during pregnancy. “They’re raising the concern that Swedish snuff, because it’s largely nicotine, can be a surrogate for nicotine replacement therapy during pregnancy, that it might have untoward effects,” said Michael Weitzman, who studies smoking in pregnancy at the New York University Medical Center. Gunnerbeck said the study suggests that women should be urged to stop smoking without nicotine replacements during pregnancy, but added that if looking at the whole picture, smoking is generally more dangerous than using snuff. “I think the best thing for women who smoke during pregnancy is to stop if it’s possible,” she said, adding that avoiding nicotine replacement would be best. ""(But) it's really difficult if you have a woman who smokes a lot and can't stop -- what do you do then? Always you have to consider the cases where you need (nicotine replacement) -- the women who can't stop."" SOURCE: bit.ly/qX8QVt"
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4208
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New abortion clinic being built in Illinois, near St. Louis.
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Planned Parenthood has quietly been building a new abortion clinic in Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, as women concerned about the uncertain future of Missouri’s sole abortion clinic flock across the state line.
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true
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Michael Brown, St. Louis, General News, Abortion, Mississippi River, Illinois, Health, U.S. News
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The 18,000-square-foot (1,700-square-meter) clinic in Fairview Heights, 12 miles (19 kilometers) east of St. Louis, will provide abortion services as well as family planning when it opens in mid-October, Planned Parenthood officials said at a news conference Wednesday. “While health care access in Missouri continues to hang on by a thread, Illinois is well-positioned to serve as a health care hub in the region,” said Yamelsie Rodriguez, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri. Planned Parenthood has been battling Missouri’s health department for months to try and keep open its St. Louis clinic. The state has refused to renew its license to perform abortions, citing concerns that include “failed abortions” that required additional surgeries. Missouri’s Administrative Hearing Commission is deciding the fate of the St. Louis clinic. Meanwhile, Missouri women have been increasingly getting abortions at the Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Illinois, another St. Louis suburb. Deputy Director Alison Dreith said 58 percent of the abortions performed at the Hope Clinic through August of this year involved Missouri women, and 37 percent were women from Illinois. Missouri is among several conservative states to pass new restrictions on abortions in the hope that the increasingly conservative U.S. Supreme Court will eventually overturn Roe v. Wade. Republican Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation in May banning abortions at or beyond eight weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for medical emergencies but not for rape or incest. A federal judge in August temporarily blocked implementation of the law until the legal challenge plays out in court, which could take several months. During an annual inspection of the St. Louis clinic in March, Missouri health investigators cited numerous concerns, including reports of failed abortions. Planned Parenthood said it has already addressed those concerns and defended its clinic. It claims the state is using the licensing process as an excuse to stop abortions. The state initially let the clinic’s abortion license lapse at the end of May, then announced more definitively in June that it would not renew the license. The clinic remains open while the hearing commission decides its fate. Planned Parenthood officials say construction of the Fairview Heights clinic began last year, but details weren’t released until near completion to avoid protesters and potential construction delays.
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11130
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Diabetes drugs may leave heart at greater risk
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This is a story examining the outcomes of several large studies that have compared cardiovascular outcomes in individuals with type II diabetes who have more or less tightly controlled glucose levels. This story would have been improved by including some information graphics laying out impact of the two treatment approaches on kidney, eye, and nerve problems; and on cardiovascular and all cause mortality and lastly costs. (Maybe this did appear in the print version; we only saw the online version.) As it is, the story provides an extensive amount of data to the reader, but, as presented, it may be difficult to discern in the myriad of statistics and conflicting reports provided. The value of intensive glucose control in patients with Type 2 diabetes has been under examination for a number of years. Numerous studies have provided conflicting information leaving the question open. The story provides a glimpse into the controversy and the confusing results. Cost seems to be a huge underlying issue, yet it was never discussed.
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true
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"It’s odd that a story that addresses the lack of cardiovascular risk reduction from the drugs in question would fail to discuss the cost of the drugs. More broadly, what is the cost of tight glucose control and the ""frequent doses of pills or insulin, blood-sugar monitoring and doctor visits"" mentioned in the last paragraph? The story indicated that there didn’t appear to be benefit from tighter control of circulating glucose levels. The main point of the story is the potential for harm associated with intensive treatment for type 2 diabetes. However, cardiovascular risk in patients with type 2 diabetes may be related to other common factors such as obesity, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol. While there is evidence that intensive blood sugar treatment may not be beneficial, the story did not note the presence of other factors that may play a role, and therefore, lacked adequate context. The story presents extensive data. Although the initial paragraph is a bit over the top, the statistics related to cardiovascular disease are on target and appropriate. The story quotes three individuals with expertise about diabetes and diabetes treatment. This was a story examining whether tighter control of circulating glucose had beneficial impact on cardiovascular events and/or death as compared with less stringent control goals. The widespread availability of drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes is clear from the story. The story highlights the apparently conflicting information coming out of long term studies attempting to define the benefits of intensive glucose control with oral drugs. The information has been evolving over the past decade and continues to evolve. Does not appear to rely on a press release."
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1141
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Aid workers rush to rescue African cyclone victims amid mounting death toll.
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Rescue workers plucked more survivors to safety from trees and roofs on Thursday, a week after a cyclone ripped through southern Africa and triggered devastating floods that have killed hundreds of people and displaced hundreds of thousands.
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true
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Environment
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Helicopters whirred above the turbid, red-brown flood waters searching for people to ferry back to the port city of Beira, headquarters of the huge rescue operation in Mozambique. The death toll in that country was now 242, Land and Environment Minister Celso Correia said, adding that the number of dead was rising as rescue workers found bodies that had been hidden by Cyclone Idai’s now-receding floodwaters. Correia told a news conference that around 15,000 people, many of them very ill, still needed to be rescued. “Our biggest fight is against the clock,” he said, adding that 3,000 had been rescued so far. In neighbouring Zimbabwe, the confirmed death toll jumped to 139. President Emmerson Mnangagwa, declaring two days of national mourning from Saturday, described scenes of “unmitigated despair” in Rusitu, near the border with Mozambique. In Malawi, 56 people were confirmed dead. “This is a human catastrophe of the highest order,” businessman Graham Taylor told Reuters, saying he had seen “hundreds of bodies that had been washed up by the floodwater” while trying to return home after visiting his son in Beira. “What struck me first was the number of people on the rooftops and in trees. You could hear communities shouting for help - for hours, for days,” said Taylor, who also described meeting people on the badly damaged highways heading towards the devastated areas in search of family members. “It was a humbling experience,” he said. “I saw no sign of government assistance.” Even when people are safely out of the floods, the situation is dire. Some 30 percent of the 88 centres set up by the Mozambican government for displaced people still have no food, Environment Minister Correia said. Idai lashed Beira with winds of up to 170 km per hour (105 miles per hour) a week ago, then moved inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi, flattening buildings. The storm’s torrential rains caused the Buzi and Pungue rivers, whose mouths are in the Beira area, to burst their banks. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), which is coordinating food drops, said as many as 1.7 million people in Mozambique would need food aid in the next three months. The scale of the flooding is huge - the U.N. satellite agency says floodwaters covered 2,165 sq km (835 sq miles) on March 20. Some 90 percent of the city of Beira was damaged, the WFP said, while aerial assessments over the Buzi valley showed “entire villages wiped out”. Mozambique’s National Disasters Management Institute (INGC) said some 358,000 hectares (885,000 acres) of crops had been destroyed. Thirty-nine hospitals had been damaged, it said. With more rain forecast for Beira on Thursday, Christian worshippers sang hymns on an empty patch of land where a pulpit was all that remained of their Pentecostal church. “Here in Beira, all the churches have collapsed from this cyclone ... Oh my dear brothers, please pray for us,” said Pastor Luis Semente. “Only God can restore this.” A priority for Thursday was pushing into flooded areas that had not yet been surveyed, said Connor Hartnady, leader of a South African rescue task force. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said it was sending two emergency units to Beira that would provide drinking water for up to 15,000 people and sanitation facilities for 20,000, as well as shelter kits. “More help is needed, and we are continuing to do all we can to bring in more resources and to reach more people,” said Jamie LeSueur, the IFRC’s operations head in Mozambique. The WFP stepped up airdrops of high-energy biscuits and water purification tablets to isolated pockets of people stranded by the floodwaters. Mnangagwa said in a televised address that in Rusitu he had seen big boulders strewn over what had been a settlement, a banana market and a police post. Floods had washed away police officers and prisoners, he said. The Christian charity Tearfund said the timing of the floods was disastrous, with harvesting due to start in coming weeks. Even before the floods, 5.3 million people had been experiencing food shortages, said its Zimbabwe director, Earnest Maswera. Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has said the eventual death toll from the cyclone and ensuing floods could be more than 1,000. Mozambique’s tiny $13 billion (£9.9 billion) economy is still recovering from a currency collapse and debt default. The cyclone knocked out Mozambican electricity exports to South Africa, exacerbating power cuts that were already straining businesses in Africa’s most industrialised economy.
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26507
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With voting by mail, “you get thousands and thousands of people sitting in somebody's living room, signing ballots all over the place.”
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Voting specialists say there’s no evidence of “thousands and thousands” of people collaborating on fraudulent voting schemes, and Trump didn’t provide any evidence to back up his assertion. In general, credible studies have found that voter fraud is rare, whether through in-person voting or voting by mail. Rare doesn’t mean nonexistent, however, and there’s evidence that mail ballots pose a slightly higher risk of voter fraud than voting in person.
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false
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Elections, Voter ID Laws, Donald Trump,
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"The daily White House briefings about coronavirus sometimes veer into adjacent topics, and since Wisconsin voted on April 7, one of those topics has been voting by mail. Despite late pleas by Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to make the election mail balloting only, the state’s Republican Legislature, backed by a Republican-majority state Supreme Court, opposed Evers’ plan. In person voting was held amid social distancing, though with significantly fewer polling places. At briefings on April 7 and 8, President Donald Trump was asked about an expanded role for mail balloting at a time of a global pandemic. He responded by criticizing mail balloting as illegitimate and subject to widespread fraud (even though he had recently voted by mail for a Florida election). On April 7, Trump said, ""Now, mail ballots — they cheat. Okay? People cheat. Mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country, because they're cheaters. They go and collect them. They're fraudulent in many cases."" When pressed, Trump went on to call mail-in voting ""horrible"" and ""corrupt"" and alleged that ""you get thousands and thousands of people sitting in somebody’s living room, signing ballots all over the place."" At the following day’s briefing, a reporter asked Trump for evidence to support the ""thousands and thousands"" characterization. Trump responded, ""I think there's a lot of evidence, but we'll provide you with some, okay?"" (The White House did not provide PolitiFact with additional evidence.) Trump did cite a lawsuit by the conservative group Judicial Watch against the state of California, saying that ""a million people should not have been voting"" in the state. However, PolitiFact California previously rated a similar assertion by the president , because the legal settlement in question required Los Angeles County to begin removing inactive voter registrations; it said nothing about voter fraud or people illegally voting. In recent years, Trump has repeatedly claimed the existence of massive voter fraud and election rigging, which we’ve debunked again and again and again and again and again and again and again. In his most recent comments, we found no support for the notion that ""you get thousands and thousands of people sitting in somebody's living room, signing ballots all over the place."" We did find that mail balloting does pose a potentially higher risk for fraud than in-person voting does. However, experts said the reality is much more nuanced than Trump let on. ""I can’t imagine any living room with thousands of people in it,"" said Rick Hasen, a University of California-Irvine law professor who specializes in election law. But even to the extent he’s saying that vote-by-mail efforts are rife with fraud, ""that is ,"" Hasen said. ""There are more cases of absentee ballot fraud than other kinds of election crimes,"" he said. ""But the risk is relatively low, and the benefits, especially during the time of a pandemic, are quite great."" Voting and election specialists said there’s no evidence that ""thousands and thousands"" of Americans are collaborating on mail-ballot fraud, whether they’re sitting in one living room or not. ""There is no evidence that any candidate or group has executed a mail ballot fraud scheme of this magnitude in modern elections,"" said Michael P. McDonald, a University of Florida political scientist. ""In this day of social media, it is nearly impossible to keep anything secret, much less a scheme involving thousands of people."" If this was happening, McDonald said, voters would wonder where their ballots were. ""They would show up to vote and be told by election officials that they had already voted,"" he said. ""Election officials would see patterns in where mail ballots were being sent, the addresses they were being returned from, and the signatures on the ballot return envelope. If a mail ballot fraud scheme happened on the alleged scale, someone, somewhere, would notice."" More broadly, repeated efforts to uncover widespread voter fraud have produced little. • Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, a panel to investigate voter fraud, was shuttered before it found significant patterns of fraud. • News21, a national investigative reporting project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, found just 56 cases of noncitizens voting between 2000 and 2011. • In 2012, Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s administration tried to crack down on noncitizens voting by comparing driver's license data against voter rolls. The Florida Department of State created a list of 182,000 potential noncitizens that had voted. That number was whittled down to 2,700, then to about 200 before the purge was stopped amid criticism that the data was flawed given the number of positives — including a Brooklyn-born World War II vet. Ultimately, only 85 people were removed from the voter rolls. • The five states that hold all-mail elections (Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington) have reported little fraud. ""There’s just very little evidence that there is more than a handful of fraudulent (vote-by-mail) cases across the country in a given election cycle,"" Judd Choate, the director of elections in the Colorado Department of State, told the New York Times. Richard Winger, the editor of Ballot Access News and a frequent election volunteer in San Francisco, said ballot security measures in his state offer protections. ""We have a list of all the registered voters in our precinct,"" Winger said. ""The list indicates which voters have received a ballot in the postal mail. In every election, voters wander in and want to vote there, but we say, ‘It says here you already got a mail ballot.’ And they say, ‘Oh, yes, it's at home’ or, ‘I never received a ballot’ or, ‘Oh, I lost it.’ And we explain that every ballot must be accounted for. They can vote provisionally at the polls, but the vote will only be counted once it is clear their original ballot didn't get submitted for counting."" Steve Schale, a longtime Democratic consultant in Florida, said his state has improved its mail-ballot procedures in recent years. ""I think the controls that are in place today really limit the opportunities for fraud,"" Schale said. ""Back in the day, there was more ability for operatives to actually put their hands on ballots, such as collecting them and turning them in. Operatives on both sides will always push up to the legal line when it comes to all aspects of campaigns, but again, the laws now are so clear that one has to go out of their way to break the law."" President Donald Trump speaks at a coronavirus briefing on April 7, 2020. (AP) Rare doesn’t mean nonexistent. And experts agree that mail balloting does provide a greater potential for ballot fraud than in-person voting does. ""It's definitely easier to have fraud with absentee voting than in-person voting, and some cases of it have had a big impact,"" said Rob Richie, president of FairVote, a voting-access advocacy group. A congressional election was overturned in North Carolina in 2018 after evidence surfaced that the Republican candidate benefited from an effort to collect absentee ballots from voters. In South Florida alone, the Miami Herald cited examples of ballot fraud in Hialeah (1994, 2011, and 2012), Homestead (2014), and Miami and Miami-Dade County (1998, 2008, 2013). ""All this must be kept in perspective, and there are ways states seek to counter it, but it's not outlandish to say fraud is more likely with absentee voting than in-person voting,"" Richie said. Lonna Atkeson, University of New Mexico political scientist, told NPR that ""where there is fraud in the system, it really seems to be in mail balloting. There's some, there's not a lot. I think there's a little bit."" While voting by mail might be necessary in an extended battle with coronavirus, voting experts acknowledge that it’s not a perfect solution. • There could be an increase in voter errors made at home, since election officials won’t be standing nearby to help. This means more ballots could be rejected and not counted. • Voter education will be needed for people who are unaccustomed to absentee voting. Voters will need reminders to sign their ballots, and elections officials will need to increase public outreach to dispel myths about absentee ballots, such as the one that those ballots aren’t counted unless an election is close. • Some groups have less convenient access to mail than others do, such as residents of Native American reservations. Mail voting also poses challenges for voters who move frequently, or who have language or literacy issues. And some disabled voters, including those who are blind, cannot effectively cast mail ballots without assistance. • Voting at home could lead to coercion by abusive spouses or other relatives. Trump said that with voting by mail, ""you get thousands and thousands of people sitting in somebody's living room, signing ballots all over the place."" Voting fraud in general is considered to be rare, although voting experts agree that the risks are greater for mail balloting than for in-person voting. Still, Trump didn’t produce any evidence for the ""thousands and thousands"" claim, and voting experts said his assertion doesn’t square with what is known about the actual cases of voting fraud in the recent past."
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7446
|
Study estimates 2.8% coronavirus infection rate for Indiana.
|
A statewide study estimates that at least 2.8% of Indiana’s population has been infected by the coronavirus, a rate about 10 times that shown by previous testing, Indiana University researchers said Wednesday.
|
true
|
Virus Outbreak, Health, General News, Indianapolis, Indiana, Public health
|
Indianapolis officials announced some city business restrictions will start being eased on Friday after similar limits being lifted last week around most other parts of the state. Those steps come as Indiana’s death toll from confirmed or probable COVID-19 illnesses has grown past 1,600 people. STATEWIDE STUDY The testing of about 4,600 people at random around the state found 1.7% were infected at the time of the test and 1.1% tested positive for antibodies showing they were previously exposed. The tests were done by IU’s Fairbanks School of Public Health over a week ending May 1. The findings project that Indiana has seen a 0.58% fatality rate among those infected. That rate is almost six times greater than the death rate for seasonal flu, said Nir Menachemi, a professor who led the study. Nearly 45% of those infected reported experiencing no symptoms of the COVID-19 respiratory disease. Menachemi said that highlighted the need for people to practice social distancing and wear masks in public to avoid unknowingly spreading the coronavirus. “The needs to minimize the risk of infection spread will probably not go away until we have a vaccine or a really good treatment that can deal with everyone infected,” Menachemi said. A statewide order from Gov. Eric Holcomb started lifting many business and travel restrictions starting May 4. Menachemi said the IU researchers plan a new round of random testing in early June that will look for any increased coronavirus spread connected with the state’s reopening steps. “We’ll get the first glimpse of how the relaxing of some of the issues have impacted the population,” he said. The projected infection rate would mean about 186,000 Indiana residents had the coronavirus by the end of April, when the state health department reported fewer than 19,000 confirmed infections. The agency reported nearly 25,500 infections as of Wednesday. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. INDIANAPOLIS RESTRICTIONS Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett announced Wednesday that Indiana’s largest city will begin easing its pandemic restrictions starting Friday after health tracking data showed the city was ready to enter “a path toward reopening, incrementally, our local economy.” Public gatherings — including religious services — will be permitted to increase from the county’s current 10-person limit to 25, and nonessential retail stores, including liquor stores, can begin opening to the public at 50% capacity. The mayor said that starting May 22, the city will allow in-person dining to resume at restaurants but only for outdoor seating “and with strict social-distancing guidelines” and required masks for restaurant workers. However, indoor restaurant dining will continue to not be permitted. Tougher local restrictions have remained in Indianapolis, northwestern Indiana’s Lake County and rural northern Indiana’s Cass County, where a large coronavirus outbreak infected hundreds of Tyson meatpacking plant workers. Hogsett said that if the trajectory of coronavirus cases “continues to stabilize and hopefully decline” more city restrictions could be lifted by June 1. STATE’S TOLL Indiana’s coronavirus death toll has grown past 1,600 people as state health officials on Wednesday added 41 fatalities involving confirmed or probable infections to the tally. The Indiana State Department of Health recorded 38 newly confirmed COVID-19 deaths, most of which occurred Monday or Tuesday, along with three additional deaths considered coronavirus-related by doctors but without confirmation of the illness from test results. One of the newly confirmed deaths dated back to April 22, which gives that date 48 deaths and makes it the state’s deadliest single day during the pandemic. The latest state statistics list 1,482 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, along with 137 deaths with probable infections. ___ Associated Press writer Rick Callahan contributed to this report.
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