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4246 | Pennsylvania families demand investigation into rare cancers. | The families of young people diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer confronted Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday over what they called his administration’s insufficient response to a health crisis they blame on pollution from the shale gas industry. | true | U.S. News, Cancer, Hydraulic fracturing, Health, General News, Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, Childhood cancer, Pollution | Dozens of children and young adults have been diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma and other forms of cancer in a four-county region of southwestern Pennsylvania where energy companies have drilled more than 3,500 wells since 2008. An investigation by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this year identified six Ewing cases in a single... |
10171 | Magnets Might Boost Stem Cell Therapy | "We don’t review stories on animal research unless they make a claim that leaps into the realm of human application. This story did that when it quoted one of the researchers saying ""This remarkably simple method could easily be coupled with current stem cell treatments to enhance their effectiveness."" Since the sour... | false | "Not applicable due to very early stage of research. We weren’t told how many times the approach was tested, in how many rats. No discussion of even potential harms – just how ""remarkably simple"" it could be to enhance treatment effectiveness. Not one word on how huge the leap may be from ""toy magnet"" research in r... | |
18498 | Well over 90 percent of felony cases, all over the nation, are committed by defendants who grew up in father-absent households. | The data we found supports Duncan’s impression that growing up in a fatherless home is one of the factors that contributes to eventual incarceration. But the quantitative research does not show the near-certain link between felonies and fatherlessness that Duncan portrays. | false | National, Children, Families, Legal Issues, Crime, John Duncan, | "A reader recently sent us a letter he received from his congressman, Rep. John Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., asking us to check a surprising claim. ""Well over 90 percent of felony cases, all over the nation, are committed by defendants who grew up in father-absent households,"" Duncan wrote. Patrick Newton, a spokesman for Du... |
26629 | “I’ve passed more bills than Sen. Larson has, because ... he hasn’t passed any.” | Crowley uses a narrow definition of bill authorship to say he has passed one bill and Larson none. But his claim didn’t specify such a strict criteria, and the state already has an official standard for who is considered an author. Under the state definition, both Democratic lawmakers have passed three bills | false | Wisconsin, David Crowley, | "The coronavirus is affecting nearly all aspects of our lives, but the wheels of democracy grind on. Milwaukee County voters will still (at this point) be tasked April 7, 2020 with choosing a new county executive — and state Rep. David Crowley says voters should factor in how effective he and state Sen. Chris Larson h... |
10712 | Rush is First to Use Microburst Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Drug-Resistant Epilepsy | The headline, lede and much of the text of this news release from Rush University Medical Center appear to describe the “first” availability of a “new” electronic device treatment for drug-resistant seizure disorders, but in fact the release is a veiled marketing and clinical trial recruitment document that has the pot... | false | Academic medical center news release | The price of the implantable devices already on the market are available but nothing is mentioned about costs of the current or experimental therapies. While the cost of participation in the clinical trial is presumably covered by the trial, the implantation of the device in clinical practice is significant. There are... |
15065 | "Planned Parenthood has ""now (been) found to also illegally sell baby parts." | "Stemberger said Planned Parenthood has ""now (been) found to also illegally sell baby parts."" Videos from the Center for Medical Progress have led to lots of debate among activists and politicians, but federal law allows for fetal tissue donations to researchers. Abortion providers also are allowed to charge a fee fo... | false | Abortion, Florida, John Stemberger, | "An Orlando-based conservative Christian group has called on Gov. Rick Scott to choke off all forms of state funding for Planned Parenthood, saying the organization has broken the law and doesn’t deserve taxpayer money. In a letter dated Sept. 22, 2015, Florida Family Policy Council President John Stemberger thanked Sc... |
25729 | Photos show Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Gretchen Whitmer and Cory Booker violating COVID-19 safety precautions. | These photos are from before the first case of COVID-19 was identified in Michigan and before the state required people to wear face coverings. They're not from the Democratic National Convention. | false | Corrections and Updates, Facebook Fact-checks, Viral image, | "Recent Facebook posts critical of Democrats feature three photos, all showing the same celebratory scene. Standing behind a podium that says ""Biden"" and ""Michigan,"" Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker,... |
15142 | "The Iran deal ""trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves." | "Cruz said the Iran deal ""trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves."" A confidential side deal might allow Iranian staff to take photos and video and collect samples at the Parchin site yet the IAEA has generally insisted its protective protocols aren't being compromised. The Parchin uncertainty aside, Cruz didn’t of... | false | Foreign Policy, Nuclear, Texas, Ted Cruz, | "With a dash of imagined dialogue, Ted Cruz of Texas made his case for the United States not to support the agreement backed by most Democrats, including President Barack Obama, that would allow Iran to develop nuclear energy but not nuclear weapons and bring an end to longstanding economic sanctions. The Republican se... |
2090 | Special report: Targeting teens for gastric bands. | After one patient died and others suffered serious complications following Lap-Band surgery, Dr. Neelu Pal had seen enough. A petite surgical resident now aged 40, she began quietly calling patients about to undergo the weight-loss procedure at New York University’s Medical Center, telling them she feared for their saf... | true | Health News | Dr. Neelu Pal poses for a portrait in New York, July 23, 2010. Pal was fired weeks after authorities at New York University Langone Medical Center Surgical Weight Loss Program learned she had contacted patients about the dangers of Lap-Band surgery in January 2006. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton Pal had previously raised he... |
9489 | Laser Therapy Shows Promise Against Eye 'Floaters' | This HealthDay story does a good job discussing this study for laser treatment of “eye floaters,” taking care to mention important limitations of the research. The story would have been stronger if it had discussed the potential cost of this treatment, and if it would be widely available from most eye doctors, or requi... | mixture | vision | There is no mention of costs for this procedure in this story. Nor is there any indication whether most health insurance plans would cover such procedures. A quick search on the web suggests that the costs may run from several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per eye, with no assurance that multiple treatmen... |
17451 | "Over half of the young people"" in medical, dental and law schools are women." | Paul said more than half of the enrollees in medical, dentistry and law schools are female. While women are close to 50 percent of enrollees in all three fields, they’re not a majority in any of them. And in both law and medicine, the trendlines for female enrollment have actually fallen in recent years. | false | National, Education, Health Care, Legal Issues, Women, Rand Paul, | "Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s attempt to speak on women’s issues at a meeting of the Republican National Committee last week drew as much attention, if not more, than the party’s official business. At the meeting, Huckabee accused Democrats of believing that women ""cannot control their libido or their reproduc... |
9879 | Acupuncture May Take Edge Off Menopause Symptoms | When a study is so small that even the news release calls it a “small study” in the lead, journalists might want to explore that point. But this story never discussed the limitations of small, short-term studies. And it never discussed other past evidence that came up with different conclusions about acupuncture and me... | false | HealthDay,women's health | No discussion of cost. Women in the study were treated for 10 weeks. How much would that cost? Not a trivial issue. The story only stated that women who got acupuncture “had significantly less severe hot flashes and mood swings.” What does that mean? How was it measured? No discussion of any potential harms – only a di... |
33559 | Giant mutant killer hornets created by exposure to radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant have killed several people in Nebraska. | Have giant mutant killer hornets created by exposure to radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant killed several people in Nebraska? | false | Uncategorized, asian giant hornet, national report | On 1 October 2013, the National Report published an article positing that giant hornets created by exposure to radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant had killed several people in Nebraska: Example: [Collected via e-mail, October 2013] Is it true that giant mutant Fukushima hornets are killing people in the United... |
10734 | MS therapy shows promise in test | This news report does a solid job describing the findings of a Phase II study into the use of Rituxan for relapsing-remitting MS. It includes the necessary caveats about the study being preliminary and the need for bigger, longer-term studies to validate the findings. The evidence is reported adequately, and the sourci... | true | The article is silent on the price of Rituxan. Since the company is investing a significant sum to research an additional use, the price is worth mentioning. The article does a good job of sketching the benefits shown in this research. Focusing on the clinical endpoint of relapse, and using percentages of relapse with ... | |
1966 | Going into hospital far riskier than flying: WHO. | Millions of people die each year from medical errors and infections linked to health care and going into hospital is far riskier than flying, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. | true | Health News | A surgeon washes his hands before enter in an operating room at a hospital in Marseille, France, April 3, 2008. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier “If you were admitted to hospital tomorrow in any country... your chances of being subjected to an error in your care would be something like 1 in 10. Your chances of dying due to ... |
35997 | Image shows tears of grief, tears of change, onion tears, and laughing tears. | Do Images Show Tears of Grief, Tears of Change, Onion Tears, and Laughing Tears? | mixture | Fact Checks, Viral Content | In December 2019, a months-old post by the Facebook page “Words of Women” that purportedly showed a four-square collection of tears produced by grief, change, laughter, and cutting onions continued to circulate:The status update read:Someone recently told me that emotions are chemical levels in your brain and your body... |
10618 | Marijuana May Help HIV Patients Keep Mental Stamina Longer | Marijuana’s health benefits are widely touted but poorly understood. This release does little to add to the evidence. The health claim made in the headline has little to do with what was evaluated in the published study. There is no true quantification of the benefits of marijuana as a therapy for preserving cognitive ... | false | University news release | There is nothing in this release about costs. And there’s really nothing about dosing, either. So a reader and an HIV patient would have no idea what a true marijuana therapy would cost to see any — assuming there are any — benefits. The release notes that the study relies on self-reporting of marijuana use by the bloo... |
9716 | Sugar Is Definitely Toxic, a New Study Says | This news story reports that a diet study, conducted on 43 overweight minority children and teenagers, is believed by the researchers who did it to definitively prove that sugar — in and of itself — is metabolically toxic regardless of how much or little of it is eaten, and irrespective of the weight of the eaters. It ... | true | diabetes,Dr. Robert Lustig,sugar,weight loss | Many sugar-rich packaged and prepared foods are more expensive than home-made foods.But the study was not designed to compare the costs of diets, and most people know how much different types of food that contain sugar cost. So we’ll rate this Not Applicable. On the other hand, it would have been useful to cite estimat... |
27195 | In 2006, the skeletal remains of Joyce Carol Vincent were found in her home, with the television on, years after her death. | Vincent did not take drugs or smoke and did not drink alcohol to excess. From the outset, the Metropolitan Police made it clear that they did not suspect foul play in her demise. | true | Horrors | In November 2018, the “Weird Facts” Facebook page posted a widely-shared meme which outlined the death of Joyce Carol Vincent, summarizing it as “In 2006, a woman (Joyce Carol Vincent) was found in her London flat, skeletonized, after 3 years of being dead — with the TV still running”: Notwithstanding the somewhat cra... |
10225 | Urine test for prostate cancer may be better than blood test | This story didn’t meet as many of our criteria as the competing WebMD story did, but this one was much shorter. Perhaps as a direct result of its brevity, it didn’t adequately address the current status of availability of the test, the cost (even projected cost), quality of the evidence, harms, benefits (potential numb... | false | Cancer,Los Angeles Times,Screening | The story did not discuss costs. While the test for the fusion protein mentioned is not yet commercially available, some estimate could have been given on what it may cost. The test for PSA3 is already available and a cost could easily have been cited. Given how the story projects a possible widespread use for this app... |
9307 | Incontinence Drug May Cut Hot Flashes in Breast Cancer Survivors | The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium typically generates extensive media coverage of new research studies. However, not all of the studies presented are of the same caliber and some will never undergo the peer review that will lead them to be published in a medical journal. This means reporters needs to be at the to... | true | breast cancer,hot flashes | Using the lead researcher as a source, the article states that most insurers cover oxybutynin; that a month’s supply can range from $21 to $42; and that the cost could be less, depending on the type of insurance a patient has. Kudos to HealthDay for explicitly addressing cost. The article reports that the study found t... |
30993 | A hapless man somehow got his head stuck in his wife's vagina during sex, resulting in the couple's hospitalization. | The article about a man getting his head stuck in his wife’s vagina was reproduced by several lesser known (but equally disreputable) web sites, such as Pagez.com, which do not carry readily available disclaimers. As a result, some readers mistook this article as a genuine news item. | false | Junk News, fake news, medical accidents, pagez | Entertainment web site World News Daily Report has put out more than its fair share of fake news articles over the years. Although its stories touch on a variety of topics, the web site frequently focuses on genitalia-based horror, publishing dubious stories about a babysitter inserting a baby into her vagina, a woman ... |
16103 | The city of San Antonio reuses almost 40 percent of its water. You know how much the city of Austin reuses? About 5 percent. And that's not right. We can do better. | Adler said San Antonio reuses 40 percent of its water while Austin reuses just 5 percent, indicating that the capital should catch up to its sprawling southern neighbor. Those percentages are offered by the respective local water utilities. However, both cities have been piping about the same share of treated water to ... | false | City Budget, City Government, Water, Texas, Steve Adler, | "An Austin mayoral candidate suggested the Texas capital greatly lags the Alamo City in a wet way. In a Nov. 19, 2014, Time Warner Cable News debate with his Dec. 16, 2014, runoff opponent, Mike Martinez, Steve Adler said: ""The city of San Antonio reuses almost 40 percent of its water. You know how much the city of Au... |
2510 | France to ban electronic cigarettes in public. | France will ban electronic cigarette smoking in public places by imposing the same curbs enforced since 2007 to combat tobacco smoking, Health Minister Marisol Touraine said on Friday. | true | Health News | Amid mounting global concern over the public health implications of so-called e-cigarettes, Touraine said they faced the same fate as traditional ones: a ban on smoking in public spaces and sales to minors and a blackout on media advertising. In a country where the pungent waft of Gaulloises and Gitanes once seemed an ... |
2887 | India breaks free of polio in boost to global immunization drive. | India on Monday marked three years since its last reported case of polio, paving the way for it to be declared free of the crippling virus and boosting efforts to wipe out the disease globally, the Organization (WHO) said. | true | Health News | The country’s last case of the wild polio virus was detected on Jan 13, 2011, in a two-year-old girl in the state of West Bengal. Three years without any new cases means India can be declared polio-free. Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the only countries in the world where the disease remains endemic. “We give hu... |
5692 | Washington state to sue over Trump’s new abortion policy. | Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said Monday he will sue to challenge President Donald Trump’s policy setting up new obstacles for women seeking abortions, calling it “a transparent attack on Planned Parenthood” that would severely impair access to many types of medical care, especially for low-income wom... | true | Planned Parenthood, Health, Abortion, Lawsuits, Washington, Politics, North America, Bob Ferguson, U.S. News, Donald Trump | It’s the first of several legal challenges expected to be announced by Democratic-led states. A national organization representing publicly funded family planning providers said Monday it would file a separate lawsuit over the policy. The new rules announced Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services would b... |
33724 | The cross-like shape of the laminin molecule is evidence of God's hand in the creation of the human form. | Narrative asserts the cross-like shape of the laminin molecule is evidence of God's hand in the creation of the human form. | false | Glurge Gallery, religion, science | The New Testament’s book of Colossians (one of the thirteen epistles traditionally attributed to Paul, this one addressed to Christians in the city Colossae) reads as follows (in verses 1:12-20 of the King James Version): Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the s... |
8679 | Air pollution clears in northern Italy after coronavirus lockdown, satellite shows. | Air pollution over northern Italy fell after the government introduced a nationwide lockdown to combat coronavirus, satellite imagery showed on Friday, in a new example of the pandemic’s potential impact on emissions. | true | Environment | China, where the outbreak started, showed a marked reduction in pollution after the government imposed travel bans and quarantines, and the data from Italy, which was hit hard several weeks later, suggested a similar pattern. The European Space Agency (ESA) said it had observed a particularly marked decline in emission... |
33635 | Gang initiates flash their headlights to get cars to pull over in order to murder their occupants. | Are gang initiates flashing their headlights to get cars to pull over in order to murder their occupants? | false | Crime, gangs | Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2006] My friend called a friend in Georgia to make sure that she read the license plate correctly and that there are 7 numbers and letters rather than 6 like ours. She was right and was informed that this behavior has been identified as a gang initiation in Georgia and has been a... |
7041 | Brain changes seen in pregnancy, may help preparing for baby. | Pregnancy affects not only a woman’s body: It changes parts of her brain too, a new study says. | true | Health, Motherhood, AP Top News, Science, Spain | When researchers compared brain scans of women before and after pregnancy, they spotted some differences in 11 locations. They also found hints that the alterations help women prepare for motherhood. For example, they might help a mother understand the needs of her infant, Elseline Hoekzema, a study author at Leiden Un... |
33694 | A Russian company is offering luxury yacht cruises along the Somali coast which provide passengers with the opportunity to shoot pirates. | Nonetheless, after the Ananova online news site presented the Somali pirate cruise send-up as a factual item, several other news outlets and publications (including Canada’s National Post newspaper) picked up the story and ran it as true, thereby fostering belief that the spoof “pirates cruises” were a real offering. | false | Humor, hoaxes | In the fall of 2008, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1838, which called on nations with vessels in the waters near Somalia to apply military force to repress acts of piracy along that coastline. While pirates had been plying their trade in area since the early 1990s, the rate of such incidents had... |
9374 | Which Anti-Depressant is Right for You? Your DNA Can Shed Some Light | This Wall Street Journal article describes results of an unpublished, non-peer-reviewed study of a gene-based test designed to help physicians prescribe antidepressants in people with moderate-to-severe depression who have failed on at least one of the drugs. The story, both in the narrative and in some quotes, adds so... | true | depression,genetic testing | The story makes clear that the test is expensive and that Medicare and some other insurance plans cover it. Although the article provides data about the total number of people randomized to the two arms of the study, it does not go beyond what the news release offers about the percentage/relative increases in remission... |
9840 | Treatment Shows Promise for Premature Ejaculation | “Shows promise” – trumpets the headline. In a tiny sample of 24 men, with more questions raised than answered. The story allows supporters to say that the new approach, which involves using extreme cold to destroy nerve tissue (a technique known as cryoablation), “could someday become a standard treatment” for PE. But ... | mixture | men's health | The company estimates that this procedure costs about $3500 — a cost which obviously would rise if the procedure has to be repeated in order to maintain efficacy as suggested in the story. But we wish the story had more explicitly addressed this: costs that could reach $14,000 a year if effects wear off within 3 month... |
17176 | EPA officials have commended (Koch Industries) for our ‘commitment to a cleaner environment’ and called us ‘a model for other companies.’ | "In his op-ed, Charles Koch wrote that ""EPA officials have commended us for our ‘commitment to a cleaner environment’ and called us ‘a model for other companies.’ "" Actually, the EPA was focusing on very limited aspects of Koch Industries and not the company as a whole. Further, Koch Industries has a history with the... | false | Environment, National, Regulation, Charles Koch, | "For several weeks now, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has taken to the chamber floor to malign David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers who contribute heavily to libertarian causes and bankroll ads critical of Democrats. On April 2, 2014, Charles Koch fired back in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, argu... |
28447 | A photograph shows a 'kids' concentration camp' in the U.S. | Debate continues about how undocumented migrant children who come to the U.S. (whether alone or with their parents) should be dealt with, and where and how they should be housed until their status has been resolved. No approach is likely to satisfy critics at both ends of the political spectrum. | mixture | Fauxtography | In May 2018, a photograph of two children sleeping inside a fenced enclosure was widely circulated via social media with accompanying text stating that it pictured a “kids’ concentration camp” in the U.S.: This photograph dates from 2014 (during the Obama administration) and was not directly related to a mid-2018 cont... |
24508 | Medicare officials have treated Humana and AARP inconsistently on how they can communicate with seniors. | Humana is a Medicare contractor, AARP is not | false | National, Health Care, Medicare, House Republican Conference, | "A controversial mailing from Humana to Medicare recipients has Republicans charging unfair treatment in the way the government handled private insurance companies versus the AARP. The House Republican Conference said the government is silencing Humana about reforms that would change Medicare Advantage, while the AARP ... |
12888 | "Donald Trump Says CNN’s Chris Cuomo ""never asked"" Sen. Richard Blumenthal about Blumenthal's misstatements on his own service in Vietnam." | "Trump said Cuomo failed to ask Blumenthal about his ""long-term lie"" about his service in Vietnam. The video record shows that Cuomo asked Blumenthal to respond to the charge that he lacked credibility after misrepresenting his military record. Cuomo might not have mentioned Vietnam, but he certainly brought Blumenth... | false | National, Ethics, Supreme Court, Donald Trump, | "President Donald Trump lashed out at CNN New Day anchor Chris Cuomo for failing to get tough with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D- Conn. Cuomo had interviewed Blumenthal after the senator made headlines by saying that Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch had told him he was ""disheartened"" by the president’s dismissive comm... |
7175 | The Who’s Roger Daltrey visits teenage cancer patients. | Roger Daltrey’s voice may not soar as it once did. But even after 50 years of touring he hasn’t lost his teenage spirit. | true | Cancer, Music, Entertainment, North America, Health, Pete Townshend, Cleveland, Roger Daltrey | The Hall of Fame rocker, who has been an advocate for teen cancer patients for nearly three decades, visited with children, young adults and their families at Rainbow Babies Hospital on Monday. The Who’s front man toured the Angie Fowler Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Institute, which was founded in 2012 to better ser... |
2068 | Fertility treatment may alter gender balance: study. | Certain types of assisted fertilization appear to result in more male than female babies being born, a large study in Australia and New Zealand has found. | true | Health News | The researchers have no answer why it is so, but they warn that their findings should not be exploited for sex selection. All fertility clinics that took part in the study comply with Australia’s national guidelines that ban gender selection, the researchers wrote in their findings published on Wednesday in BJOG: An In... |
38898 | Claims that McDonald’s coffee contains French fry grease have gone viral on blogs and social media sites. | McDonald’s Coffee Contains French Fry Grease | false | Food / Drink | McDonald’s coffee doesn’t contain French fry grease. That rumor was apparently started by the website Not Allowed To. McDonald’s has printed “extremely hot coffee” warnings on its coffee cups for years, and the website claims the coffee is extremely hot because it contains French fry grease: FDA has been looking into t... |
3135 | Bill to create Michigan mental health hotline is approved. | Michigan is poised to create a permanent statewide mental health hotline under legislation that going to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. | true | Mental health, General News, Legislation, Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan | The House passed the bill 101-7 Tuesday. The telephone referral system would be available 24 hours a day, seven days of week and would refer people experiencing a mental health crisis to service providers. A spending law approved in 2018 included $3 million to develop, operate and maintain a hotline pilot program. The ... |
23351 | "Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani ""was never sentenced to stoning." | Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims woman was never sentenced to stoning | false | National, Human Rights, Crime, This Week - ABC News, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, | "Asked about his thoughts on stoning in light of the international uproar over the case of an Iranian woman who reportedly received the sentence for adultery, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the case as pure western media propaganda. In fact, he said on ABC's This Week that Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, 4... |
33253 | X-rays document a man in China whose body became riddled with tapeworms due to his consumption of sashimi. | In summary, what these images show is the aftermath of a parasitic tapeworm infection caused by the eating of raw or undercooked pork, not sashimi. And what’s viewable in the x-rays are not the tapeworms themselves, but rather calcified cysts that were the end result of the infection. | false | Fauxtography, sashimi, tapeworms, x-rays | In September 2014, images of x-rays were circulated on Chinese-language web sites accompanied by the claim that they documented a man whose body had become riddled with tapeworms he had contracted from consuming sashimi (i.e., raw fish): The Chinese-language web site hk.on.cc then published an article stating that med... |
5093 | Knife suspect detained under UK’s Mental Health Act. | Police said Saturday that a man who allegedly lunged at shoppers with a knife at a northwestern England mall has been detained under the Mental Health Act. | true | England, Mental health, Ariana Grande, Health, General News, Arrests, Manchester, Europe | Five people were hurt during the attack Friday at the Arndale Centre in Manchester. Thee of the injured needed hospital treatment but none of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening. Police arrested the 41-year-old man on a charge of “the commission, preparation and instigation of an act of terrorism.” The inc... |
26286 | Viral image Says kitchen worker in viral video is potentially spreading coronavirus by blowing into food containers. | This video appeared online as early as 2017. | false | Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Viral image, | "In a widely shared Facebook video, a woman wearing what looks like a white baker’s hat and a jacket with an ID card pinned to the lapel appears not to realize she’s being recorded. She’s working in front of an espresso machine and appears to be blowing on small paper packages — like cupcake wrappers — to separate them... |
15426 | "Texas has ""the nation's highest rate and highest number of uninsured." | Howard said Texas is No. 1 in its uninsurance rate and its total uninsured residents. Texas leads the nation in its percentage of uninsured. Also, it newly looks like Texas has the greatest raw number of uninsured residents, though that’s evidently backed up only by rough calculations like our own, a clarification miss... | true | Health Care, State Budget, States, Texas, Donna Howard, | "An Austin legislator stressed the number of Texans who lack health coverage after applauding the U.S. Supreme Court for upholding federal subsidies under the Obamacare law. On a positive note, Democratic state Rep. Donna Howard said in a June 25, 2015, press release that the share of uninsured Texans has decreased tha... |
26533 | Photo shows a crowded New York City subway train during stay-at-home order. | An image circulating online of an overcrowded New York City subway car is legitimate. It was taken on March 30 during evening rush hour. | true | Transportation, Facebook Fact-checks, New York, Coronavirus, Viral image, | "New York continues to be the epicenter of the novel coronavirus in the United States, with the lion's share of cases coming from, or around, New York City. The city’s residents have been warned to stay home for weeks, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo formally signing a state-wide ""stay-at-home"" order on March 20 that banned a... |
35884 | "U.S. President Donald Trump's diagnosis with COVID-19 spurred the launch of ""doomsday planes."" " | "What's true: Two Boeing E-6B Mercury planes — sometimes referred to as ""doomsday planes"" — took flight around the same time that news broke that Trump tested positive for COVID-19. What's false: However, the E-6B Mercury airborne command post is routinely flown over the United States. A U.S. Strategic Command spokes... | false | Politics, 2020 election, COVID-19 | Late in the evening of Oct. 1, 2020, news broke that U.S. President Donald Trump had tested positive for COVID-19, a highly contagious disease responsible for the deaths of more than 200,000 Americans. Shortly afterward, social media users noted that two “doomsday planes” had been mobilized and speculated that the laun... |
6145 | Nonprofit donates cots to preserve stillborn babies. | A nonprofit has donated the region’s first two temperature-controlled beds to preserve stillborn babies at hospitals. | true | Health, Heather Wilson, Norfolk, Virginia | The Virginian-Pilot reports that the nonprofit called Kennedy’s Angel Gowns has donated the so-called “Cuddle Cots” to Sentara Leigh Hospital. The cots cool the bodies of stillborn infants to allow parents more time to grieve. The nonprofit was started by Heather and Demetri Wilson. The couple lost a baby girl 36 weeks... |
1742 | Hunting for pictures, and crocodiles, in remote Aboriginal country. | We are deep in a forest crowded by Australian paperback trees, the air thick with humidity but eerily silent save for the screeching of tropical birds, when Marcus shouts: “Look, crocodiles!” As a Reuters photojournalist, I’m a trained observer, but I can’t see any crocs. I can’t see anything beyond mud and what lit... | true | Environment | Roy treads carefully as the water rises to his knees, seeming for a moment to lose sight of his prey. Then in one swift action he steps back, takes aim and shatters the outback calm, and a crocodile, with a single booming shotgun blast. I am definitely not in Sydney anymore. For more than 10 years I have dreamed of pho... |
5254 | Massachusetts confirms year’s first case of measles. | Massachusetts public health officials have confirmed the state’s first case of the measles this year and say people who have not been immunized who visited the same locations as the infected person may be at risk. | true | Health, Boston, Waltham, Massachusetts, Framingham, Measles, Public health, Hyannis | The state Department of Public Health says the person from greater Boston was diagnosed with the highly contagious disease Sunday. They were diagnosed at a clinic in Wellesley. In the week before the diagnosis, the person visited KKatie’s Burger Bar in Plymouth on Tuesday; a Starbucks in Waltham and the Mass Pike rest ... |
3348 | N Carolina to get $56M for early childhood education, health. | North Carolina will receive up to $56 million toward improving early childhood education and health outcomes for at-risk children, Gov. Roy Cooper announced on Thursday. | true | Early childhood education, Health, General News, North Carolina, Medicaid, Education | Cooper’s office said the two competitive grants, which will be distributed over seven years, come from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “The science is just overwhelming as how much of a difference that early childhood education makes in whether a chil... |
8559 | Taiwan rebuffs accusations it racially attacked WHO chief. | Taiwan on Thursday angrily condemned accusations from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) boss that racist slurs against him had come from the island, saying racism did not exist in Taiwan. | true | Health News | Taiwan’s exclusion from the WHO, due to objections from China which claims the island as its own, has infuriated the Taipei government during the coronavirus outbreak. Taiwan says it has been unable to get timely information and that Taiwanese lives have become political pawns. The WHO denies this. Taiwan has long desc... |
34708 | Bride-to-be sends over-the-top list of instructions to her attendants. | Those who’ve yet to have their fill of bridezilla stories will find many, many more stashed in the archives of Etiquette Hell, your one-stop shop for horrifying accounts of people behaving badly. | unproven | Embarrassments, bridesmaid, bridezilla, dear abby | We began seeing this intriguing letter in our inbox in February 2002, when countless readers began forwarding it to us to ask if it was the real thing. Was this yet another glimpse into the machinations of a “bridezilla,” a gal so caught up in the plans for her wedding that she turns into a monster? Or was it something... |
29109 | Hydrogen peroxide will cure a variety of ailments. | As to what to make of the numerous claims asserted of the hydrogen peroxide, in the main, most external uses of household-strength hydrogen peroxide are relatively harmless (if not necessarily helpful), but internal use should be shunned. Gargle with it, wipe wounds with it, foam the wax out of your ears with it, bleac... | mixture | Medical, Home Cures | Hydrogen peroxide is a first aid staple in many households, routinely used to disinfect small wounds. Bottles of it are readily available at drug stores, with the compound formulated for home use vended in dilute form of 3% to 10%. Hydrogen peroxide also finds application as an antiseptic gargle, a clothes and hair ble... |
10339 | Overnight Fasting May Reduce Breast Cancer Risk in Women | The headline, “Overnight Fasting May Reduce Breast Cancer Risk in Women,” suggests that an association between fasting and breast cancer was studied. (Actually, with the words “may reduce,” it suggests that a causal link may have been established, which is not the case.) But the release does not show any data to suppor... | false | Academic medical center news release,Breast cancer | We will rule this criterion Not Applicable in this case because the intervention in question is fasting, which costs nothing. The news release discusses how increasing nighttime fasting is associated with a lower postprandial glucose level, but there is no discussion about how this is associated with a reduced breast c... |
29166 | "Tom Brady attributed his success as an NFL quarterback to the ""witchcraft"" of his wife, Gisele Bündchen." | "What's true: At an event in February 2019, Brady described — in a lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek tone — the superstitious, new-age rituals his wife, Gisele Bündchen, has designed for him, and recalled a conversation in which Bündchen described herself as a ""good witch."" What's false: Brady was clearly speaking tongue... | false | Junk News | Conservative Christian radio host Rick Wiles, founder of the TruNews channel, raised eyebrows in February 2019 when he claimed that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had “admitted” he was under the control of his wife, the supermodel Gisele Bündchen, who Wiles said was a witch who was “taking him to hell.” Wil... |
22874 | In the case of a catastrophic event, the Atlanta-area offices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will self-destruct. | Hit zombie series shows CDC blowing up after generators fail | false | Georgia, Health Care, Pop Culture, The Walking Dead, | "OK, OK, enough of that political stuff. The winter holidays approach. State politicians are hibernating. Now PolitiFact Georgia' staff can investigate what's really important. Is there a doomsday plan for Atlanta's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention? ""Huh?"" you ask. And ""Why?"" Because of AMC's hit series "... |
24917 | If an Iranian woman shows too much hair in public, she risks being beaten or killed. | Iran ain't Miami Beach, but beatings and killings for immodesty? No | false | National, Foreign Policy, Sarah Palin, | "In arguing for a hard line against Iran, Gov. Sarah Palin invoked not just that country's uranium-enrichment efforts and attitude toward Israel, but also its treatment of women. ""It is said that the measure of a country is the treatment of its most vulnerable citizens,"" Palin wrote in a Sept. 22, 2008, opinion piece... |
30026 | Before the 1973 HMO act was signed into law by Richard Nixon, it was illegal to profit from healthcare. | All told, little factual basis supports the meme’s assertion that Nixon altered the legality of for-profit insurance by signing the HMO Act of 1973, or its claims that the act was a secret method for Nixon and his cronies to enrich themselves. The only sliver of truth here is the fact that the increase in popularity of... | false | Politics | A long-lived but inaccurate meme on social media ties an act signed into law in 1973 by President Richard Nixon to the development of for-profit HMO and health insurance agencies: Did you know that before 1973 it was illegal in the US to profit off health care? The Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 passed by ... |
815 | Spain issues international alert as listeria cases hit 150. | Spain’s health ministry issued an international alert over the country’s biggest ever listeriosis outbreak on Wednesday as the number of people affected rose to 150, including one fatality. | true | Health News | Amid concerns over possible infection among the more than 80 million tourists who visit Spain annually, the ministry said it was checking another 523 suspected cases. Most confirmed cases have been recorded in the southern region of Andalusia, where the packaged pork plant linked to the outbreak is situated. But there ... |
34786 | Prayers are needed for Christopher Hamrick, who was injured in a car accident in 2012. | According to online memorials, Christopher Hamrick died July 5, 2015 at the age of 15. | mixture | Inboxer Rebellion, Prayer Requests | Across social media sites, the hashtag #PrayForChristopher has been appended to prayer requests for a 12-year-old boy named “Christopher Henrick” who is purported to have been seriously injured in a recent car accident involving a tractor trailer. Example: #prayforchristopher. He & his father was stopped at a red ligh... |
3774 | US permits sale of cigarettes with 95% less nicotine. | U.S. health officials on Tuesday endorsed a type of cigarette that could help ease the addictive grip of smoking by delivering very low levels of nicotine. | true | Health, General News, Business, Smoking, U.S. News, Tobacco industry regulation | The Food and Drug Administration will allow 22nd Century Group to begin selling the first low-nicotine cigarettes reviewed by federal health regulators. The products contain roughly 95% less nicotine than standard cigarettes, according to the FDA. Nicotine, which occurs naturally in tobacco plants, is the addictive che... |
35457 | A Missouri school district asked parents to sign a COVID-19 liability waiver in advance of the 2020-2021 school year. | "What's true: A template for an athletic waiver that included warnings about the threat of COVID-19 was created by a Missouri-based insurance provider for all school districts covered under its policy. Representatives from the school district noted that the mention of ""death"" is common in athletic liability waivers. ... | true | Politics Education, COVID-19 | In July 2020, social media posts and news reports claimed that a Missouri school district asked parents to sign COVID-19 “death” waivers in advance of the academic school year. The waiver went viral after a Twitter user shared it. The focus on the word “death” came from an article published by online tabloid Raw Story ... |
7444 | Maryland governor eases restrictions caused by virus. | Maryland residents will no longer be required to stay at home but will be strongly advised to continue doing so, especially if they are older and more vulnerable to the coronavirus, Gov. Larry Hogan said Wednesday as he announced the first stage of a state recovery plan and the reopening of retail stores with limits. | true | Technology, General News, Business, Larry Hogan, Maryland, Virus Outbreak, Public health | The Republican governor said the state is gradually moving into stage one of the state’s recovery plan at 5 p.m. Friday, after 14 days of plateauing of key hospital metrics. He also said the decision came after consultation with a state team of public health experts and business leaders. “I want to be very clear: while... |
35110 | A critically endangered Malabar civet was seen for the first time since the 1990s during a COVID-19 lockdown in India. | What's true: A video shows an animal that resembles a civet crossing the street in March 2020 in India. What's undetermined: This video likely shows the relatively common small Indian civet, not the critically endangered Malabar civet, but the specific species has yet to be confirmed. It's also unclear if this sighting... | false | Critter Country, COVID-19 | On March 26, 2020, a short video clip supposedly showing the first sighting of a critically endangered “spotted Malabar civet” since the 1990s started to circulate on social media. This video was widely shared along with comments connecting this rare sighting to a reduction in outdoor human activity due to various lock... |
40949 | The way to cure this is antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and anticoagulants. | Antibiotics do not directly treat Covid-19, which is caused by a virus. The anti-inflammatory ibuprofen is being trialled for use against Covid-19 and an anticoagulant has been used in some Covid-19 cases. Aspirin is not a specific cure. | false | online | Italy has concluded Covid-19 is not a virus, and people are actually dying of amplified global 5G electromagnetic radiation poisoning. Italy disobeyed world health law from the WHO saying not to carry out autopsies on Covid-19 patients. The WHO never said autopsies couldn’t take place. Italy has found that Covid-19 is ... |
2395 | China aims to ban smoking in public places by end of the year. | China aims to impose a nationwide ban on smoking in public places this year, as authorities move to stamp out a widespread practice that has taken a severe toll on citizens’ health. | true | Health News | China, home to some 300 million smokers, is the world’s largest consumer of tobacco, and smoking is a ubiquitous part of social life, particularly for men. Tougher regulation of smoking is a priority this year, officials from the National Health and Family Planning Commission said this week, adding that the agency was ... |
10637 | Experimental Drug May Treat Hepatitis C | While still needing some improvement, this WebMD story does a better job than a competing HealthDay piece of covering an experimental new treatment for hepatitis-C. The major difference is that this story stayed focused on the study at hand, while the HealthDay piece got sidetracked into making unsupported claims about... | true | "SInce the test drug is in the very early stages of development, this criterion is technically not applicable. However, the present treatment regimen of an interferon and ribavirin costs thousands of dollars monthly for 6-12 months and it is likely that any newer antivirals will be additive and not replacements. A comm... | |
8843 | High dose Lipitor reduces artery inflammation: study. | High doses of Pfizer Inc’s Lipitor was more effective than low doses of the cholesterol fighter in reducing arterial inflammation in patients with carotid artery disease, according to a small, 12-week study. | true | Health News | Inflammation in arteries has been associated with an increased risk of stroke. Inflammation and emboli, or small blood clots, were significantly reduced in patients treated with 80 milligrams of Lipitor compared with those who received 10 mg of the drug each day for 12 weeks, said researchers, who presented the data at... |
8183 | Australian researchers map immune response to coronavirus. | Australian researchers said on Tuesday they have mapped the immune responses from one of country’s first coronavirus patients, findings the health minister said were an important step in developing a vaccine and treatment. | true | Science News | The coronavirus has infected more than 168,000 people worldwide and killed at least 6,610, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). While the bulk of those infected experience only mild symptoms, it is severe or critical in 20% of patients. The virus mortality rate is about 3.4%, the WHO has estimated. As scie... |
21571 | Josh Mandel used to be pro-choice, now he’s anti-choice. He used to be sympathetic towards gay and lesbians and now he’s [not]. | Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland raps Josh Mandel as a flip flopper on abortion, gay rights | mixture | Abortion, Ohio, Gays and Lesbians, Ted Strickland, | "Former Gov. Ted Strickland recently pulled a page from the Ohio Democratic Party’s playbook to attack Josh Mandel, the Republican state treasurer who now appears to be running for the U.S. Senate. Mandel, 33, hasn’t formally announced his candidacy but is raising money for the race and taking shots from Democrats as i... |
34228 | "Foam ""Squishies"" toys have been determined to contain toxic materials and were recalled as a result." | We also contacted Health Canada and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission asking whether any investigations were underway in their respective countries regarding the toys but did not receive a response. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which would typically assess possible consumer complaints o... | unproven | Politics | Social media users became alarmed in early January 2019 after a Facebook post linked a child’s illness to foam “Squishies” toys that had already been recalled in at least one country outside of the U.S. Elaine Lee said in her post that her 8-year-old daughter developed unusual symptoms after receiving several of the to... |
9742 | Psychedelics Promise a ‘Paradigm Shift’ in Treating Mental Illness | Psilocybe cubensis aka “magic mushrooms” Can psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, Ayahuasca, an Amazonian brew, or MDMA, the active ingredient in the party drug Ecstasy help people who are addicted, anxious or depressed? That’s the question increasingly asked by researchers wh... | mixture | psychedelics | Not discussed at all. Presumably without patentable drugs derived from these substances, they could be very economical, yet we have no idea if the substances used in these experiments underwent substantial processing or packaging which, of course, would all affect cost. Unfortunately the details on the various studies ... |
16115 | More than 70 percent of American adults have committed a crime that could lead to imprisonment. | "Carter said that more than 70 percent of American adults have committed a crime that could lead to imprisonment. Based on a strictly technical reading of existing laws, the consensus among the legal experts we reached is that the number is reasonable. Way more than a majority of Americans have done something in their ... | true | Criminal Justice, PunditFact, Stephen Carter, | "Conventional wisdom would tell us that most normal folks will never have an interaction with police like the one Eric Garner had that ultimately led to his death. Yale Law School professor Stephen Carter warned that might not necessarily be the case. Citing the work of Rutgers University law scholar Douglas Husak, Car... |
2575 | "Wood stoves, extreme cold blight air at Alaska's ""North Pole""." | Santa may need more than Rudolph’s bright nose to get through the grimy North Pole atmosphere. | true | Environment | North Pole, Alaska - the Fairbanks suburb, not the spot at the top of the globe - has posted some of the nation’s worst air-quality readings in recent days, thanks to high levels of wood smoke streaming into stagnant cold air. Concentrations of particulates have made North Pole’s air “very unhealthy,” meaning children,... |
10508 | Erasing Age Lines: New Wrinkle in Anti-Aging Devices | Just as cosmetic treatments provide the appearance of youth, without actually offering any real health benefits, this story appears to be about a new laser device intended to reduce wrinkles, but it fails to provide viewers with meaningful information about the device or how it compares to alternative procedures. The f... | false | This story barely meets the criterion. It discusses costs, and does a good job of emphasizing that most treatments that reduce the appearance of wrinkles have only temporary effects and need to be repeated indefinitely, often at great cost. However, it lacks specific figures about the cost of the new laser device. The ... | |
35888 | Judge Amy Coney Barrett, U.S. President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, is a member of a Christian group that inspired Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale.” | "What's true: Amy Coney Barrett, U.S. President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, is affiliated with People of Praise, a charismatic Christian group. The group’s practices reportedly include calling female members' advisers “handmaids” and giving men authority over their families, both themes that are employed in "... | false | Politics | Following the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September 2020, Judge Amy Coney Barrett was selected as U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to the court. But her religious affiliation with one Christian group was the subject of scrutiny and widespread rumors, because its treatment of women ap... |
3407 | Venice tide barriers pass another test but skeptics remain. | Floated along by barge , one of the 10-ton barriers designed to relieve Venice’s perennial flooding looks like a giant plaything: an oversized hinged yellow Lego. | true | AP Top News, Italy, International News, Floods, Tides, Technology, Science, Europe, General News | Central to the plan to protect the city, some or all of the 78 barriers will one day be raised when the sea rises more than 110 centimeters (43 inches), to prevent damaging high tides from pushing into the lagoon city, a world heritage site built picturesquely — but somewhat precariously — upon more than 120 islands. C... |
31478 | The April 2005 issue of Parents magazine displayed unfortunate cover placement. | An issue of 'Parents' magazine displaying unfortunate cover placement is just an illustrative mockup, not the real thing. | false | Risqué Business | Back in the days when I toiled at our local newspaper, I was part of the group responsible for the paper’s daily layout, which meant we were also tasked with catching and preventing typos, misprints, undesirable placement of advertising content, and other sorts of errors. Despite our diligent efforts, we’d occasionally... |
33494 | "During a photo opportunity at a 1992 grocers' convention, President George Bush was ""amazed"" at encountering supermarket scanners for the first time." | Even if Bush had been in a grocery store or two since the advent of scanners, everybody knew he had “people” to do his shopping for him, and therefore it was easy to paint a picture of him as someone who no more knew how to handle the economy than he knew the price of a carton of milk or a loaf of bread. All that was n... | false | Politics, george h w bush | The ability of a single image to influence and shape history has long been a part of American politics. Even before there was a United States of America, Paul Revere’s masterful — and grossly inaccurate — engraving of the Boston Massacre helped solidify colonial support for a break with Great Britain. In more recent ti... |
3656 | Bacteria-infected mosquitoes take bite out of deadly dengue. | They still bite, but new research shows lab-grown mosquitoes are fighting dangerous dengue fever that they normally would spread. | true | Brazil, Dengue fever, Australia, General News, Indonesia, Latin America, Africa, AP Top News, Science, Vietnam, Queensland, Asia Pacific | Dengue infections appear to be dropping fast in communities in Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil and Australia that are buzzing with the specially bred mosquitoes, an international research team reported Thursday. It’s the first evidence from large-scale field trials that mosquitoes are less likely to spread dengue and simila... |
29458 | Dandelion root can kill 98 percent of cancer cells in 48 hours. | "What's true: Anecdotal evidence suggests dandelion root may contain ""anti-cancer properties"" and has prompted some study into the subject. What's false: No firm scientific or medical evidence supports dandelion root as an effective treatment for cancer." | false | Medical, alternative medicine, cancer, cancer conspiracy | On 21 September 2016, the Health Eternally web site published an article headlined “Scientists Find Root That Kills 98% of Cancer Cells in Only 48 Hours,” proclaiming that: According to Dr. Carolyn Hamm from the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre in Ontario, Canada, dandelion root extract was the only thing that helped wi... |
8937 | Scientists report CRISPR restores effectiveness of lung cancer treatment | This news release reports on preliminary research that suggested the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system might be capable of knocking out a gene that helps lung cancer tumors develop resistance to chemotherapy drugs. The study was published in Molecular Therapy Oncolytics. The news release mentions alternatives and doesn’t... | mixture | Christiana Care Health System,CRISPR,lung cancer | The news release mentioned this as a potential “affordable” way of making lung cancer treatment more effective, and that it can “hopefully help contain costs” and provide reliability that “increases the chance that insurance companies will provide coverage.” However, it doesn’t mention the cost of either gene editing o... |
26327 | "Jerome R. Corsi Says Dr. Anthony Fauci's name appears on ""4 U.S. patents for a key glycoprotein” used to “create the current COVID-19 epidemic.”" | Jerome Corsi, a conservative author and conspiracy theorist, wrote on his blog that Dr. Anthony Fauci’s name appears on four patents for a protein linked to the novel coronavirus. Three of the patents Corsi cited are active. They deal with a potential treatment for HIV and are owned by the Department of Health and Huma... | false | Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Jerome R. Corsi, | "A conservative author who previously promoted the Obama birth certificate conspiracy is now publishing claims about Dr. Anthony Fauci’s connection to the coronavirus pandemic. An April 28 article published on Jerome Corsi’s blog alleges that Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases... |
34189 | A man collapsed into a coma for three days after discovering his wife owned the property they had been renting for 10 years. | In sum, we find the story improbable and redolent of an urban legend that was going around years before it became a meme, but insufficient evidence exists to definitively rule it true or false. | unproven | Junk News | In late December 2017, posts appeared on social media reporting that a man had fallen into a three-day coma after discovering that his wife owned the house they had been renting together for 10 years. Most included an image purporting to be a screen capture of a story on CNN headlined, “Man Wakes Up From 3Day Comma [si... |
10518 | Aggressive Treatment May Be Beneficial for Early Prostate Cancer | As with the NPR and AP stories we also reviewed, this story helped frame this issue in the first few lines rather than burying it at the end as so often is the case. To have an expert not involved in study quoted in the second paragraph saying “findings are not likely to be practice-changing” provides readers with bala... | true | Cancer,HealthDay | There was no discussion of costs. Costs would include treating the double digit rates of incontinence and erectile dysfunction in these younger men who do have surgery. The surgery may help them live longer, but many, especially since younger at time of surgery, live decades with these potential harms and folllowup cos... |
34398 | Ariana Grande contacted the families of those who died in the Manchester Arena attack, and will pay for their funerals. | Although it’s not implausible that a celebrity would do such a thing, the claim that Ariana Grande offered to pay for the bombing victims’ funerals is based on a tweet that did not cite any sources and was posted from an unofficial Twitter fan account with a record of posting unconfirmed and false rumors surrounding th... | unproven | Entertainment, ariana grande, manchester bombing | On 24 May 2017, the @ArianaDailyWW Twitter account (also known as Ariana Updates!) posted the claim that the singer had contacted the families of those who died in a bomb attack at her 22 May concert in Manchester, England, and offered to pay for the victims’ funerals. As of 23 May 2017, authorities had confirmed 22 fa... |
2419 | Amid holiday canned-food drives, U.S. food banks take up farming. | Surrounded by rows of kale and collard greens, Bill Shick ticks off statistics about yields and the man-hours it takes to harvest the leafy green vegetables. | true | Health News | What he can’t tell you is what he would sell it for - because it will all be given away by the Chester County Food Bank in its efforts to grow food for the needy. The fresh produce program gives low-sodium, low-sugar foods to the poorest Americans year-round, including during the holiday season often associated with ca... |
1753 | Reggae icon Bob Marley's family to lend name to cannabis brand. | The family of Reggae icon Bob Marley and a Seattle-based private equity firm on Tuesday said they are launching the first global cannabis brand with marijuana products sold under a name long tied to a plant he lovingly called “the herb”. | true | Health News | The brand, dubbed Marley Natural, marks the first time the family’s name would adorn packages of cannabis products ranging from strains similar to those Bob might have smoked in his homeland Jamaica to concentrates, oils and infused lotions sold in countries and U.S. states that have taken steps to decriminalize and le... |
11540 | International trial changing standard of care for advanced breast cancer | A study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) scientific conference that supposedly will “change the standard of care” for patients with advanced breast cancer should have more evidence backing up the claim. This news release gives short shrift to salient details, including costs, risks, the qua... | mixture | Academic medical center news release,Breast cancer | There was no discussion of costs in the release. This would be an easy addition, given how common these types of surgeries are. The release does quantify the benefits, but we have concerns with how the release states: “At about 40 months after diagnosis, the women who received the surgery plus standard therapy lived an... |
5877 | Mayor: Officials waited days to warn of lake chemical spill. | An Indiana mayor accused state environmental officials Friday of waiting several days before notifying his city about a steel mill’s spill of cyanide and another chemical that led to a fish kill and prompted the closure of beaches along Lake Michigan. | true | Lake Michigan, Michigan, Fish, Lakes, Environment, Chemical spills, Indiana, General News | Portage Mayor John Cannon said the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and others learned Monday about an ArcelorMittal mill’s cyanide and ammonia-nitrogen spill, but didn’t inform his city until Thursday, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported. “The Mayor is calling for action to be taken,” Cannon said in a... |
10523 | Prenatal blood test for Down syndrome shows high level of accuracy | Overall, this story didn’t provide some of the key information readers need to make sense out of this study on a new blood test for Down syndrome. We wanted to see cost information, hear some good independent commentary on the study and, above all, read some context about why this test is worth any ink at all. Doing te... | mixture | Los Angeles Times | The story doesn’t discuss costs. By comparison, an expert in the WebMD story that we also reviewed was paraphrased as saying the test is “likely prohibitively expensive and time consuming.” Even in a short blog piece, we think this is an important issue. The story should have presented the actual number of pregnancies... |
5237 | Region hit hard by opioids embraces jail-based treatment. | As western Massachusetts struggles with a dramatic spike in fatal overdoses, officials are embracing a controversial solution: sending men who have not committed any crimes to jails and prisons for court-ordered addiction treatment. | true | Opioids, Prisons, Health, General News, Addiction treatment, Crime, Massachusetts, U.S. News, Springfield | Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi has designated a wing of his jail for the treatment of men civilly committed for substance abuse reasons. It’s the only facility in western Massachusetts housing the men, and just one of three in the entire state for men. While some are trying to end the practice, Cocchi and his suppo... |
5068 | Greta Thunberg’s sailing adventure no pleasure cruise. | Greta Thunberg’s two-week voyage to the United States will be no pleasure cruise. | true | Climate, AP Top News, England, Sailing, International News, General News, Grace Kelly, Environment, Science, Prince Rainier III, Greta Thunberg, Europe, United States | The 16-year-old climate change activist who has inspired student protests around the world will leave Plymouth, England, later this week bound for New York in a high-tech but decidedly low-comfort sailboat. Highlighting the urgency of cutting carbon emissions, the young Swede last month announced that while she would n... |
6601 | US screens more staff in China over mystery health issues. | A U.S. medical team was screening more Americans who work at the consulate in southern China as the State Department confirmed evacuating a number of government employees who experienced unexplained health issues like those that have hurt U.S. personnel in Cuba and China. | true | Heather Nauert, AP Top News, Cuba, International News, Guangzhou, Politics, North America, Health, China, Asia Pacific | The evacuations of workers in Guangzhou followed medical testing that revealed they might have been affected. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said “a number of individuals” had been brought to the U.S. but didn’t say how many were affected or evacuated. A previous case in Guangzhou, disclosed last month, pr... |
26264 | “Almost 75 percent of the deaths from COVID-19 in the state of Texas are a result of people contracting COVID-19 who are age 65 and older.” | Texas health officials publish daily coronavirus numbers, including some details about deaths by age, race and gender — but only for cases where the death has been investigated. When Abbott made this statement, the death toll in Texas was 948, but less than half of those deaths had been investigated. Of the deaths wher... | true | Texas, Coronavirus, Greg Abbott, | "In a press conference on May 5 in which Gov. Greg Abbott updated his reopening plan to add businesses such as hair salons and gyms, he recommended that at-risk populations ""remain at home if at all possible"" and avoid in-person gatherings, such as a church service, funeral or wedding. ""We strongly encourage at-risk... |
206 | AstraZeneca lupus drug shows promise after set-back last year. | AstraZeneca Plc said on Thursday its experimental drug to treat moderate-to-severe lupus met the main goal in a late-stage study, an encouraging sign after it failed to meet its main target in the final stage of another trial last year. | true | Health News | The British drugmaker said anifrolumab under the TULIP 2 program helped patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, commonly known as SLE. The drug had failed to meet its main goal in the final stage of one of the two clinical trials under the TULIP program last year here “These are important results and we will now r... |
35229 | "Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic of ""Tiger King,"" has COVID-19 coronavirus disease." | What's true: Joe Exotic was put into isolation after another prisoner tested positive for COVID-19. What's false: As of this writing, Exotic has not tested positive for COVID-19. | false | Entertainment, COVID-19 | On April 2, 2020, reports circulated on social media that Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic from the Netflix documentary “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” had contracted COVID-19 coronavirus disease while in prison. The Mirror, for instance, published an article entitled: “Netflix’s Tiger Kin... |
17293 | "John Bolton Says Vladimir Putin once said, ""The breakup of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century." | "Bolton told a Fox News host that Putin once said, ""The breakup of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century."" Putin did say those words, or at least words close to that, in a 2005 address to Russian political leaders. Bolton went on to tell a Fox News host those words are evidence Pu... | true | History, Foreign Policy, PunditFact, John Bolton, | "Russian President Vladimir Putin’s handling of the uprising in Ukraine is not surprising if you look at telling comments he made years ago, says former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations turned conservative television pundit John Bolton. A Fox News host asked Bolton if he agreed with Ukraine’s prime minister who sa... |
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