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8821 | Swiss study suggests diabetes drugs double fracture risk. | Diabetes drugs Avandia from GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd’s Actos can more than double the risk of bone fractures, Swiss researchers said on Monday. | true | Health News | Previous studies have established a heightened risk for fractures among patients taking both medicines, since they may cause slower bone formation and faster bone loss. The new research sheds light on the scale of the problem by comparing the records of 1,020 diabetic patients with fractures diagnosed by British doctor... |
29932 | Some 18 million 'illegal immigrants' received benefit checks during a government shutdown in January 2019. | The National Council of State Legislature explains that illegal immigrants may receive some benefits under certain circumstances, such as emergency medical care or disaster relief, and undocumented children also have access to public schools. None of the potential benefits available to illegal immigrants listed by the ... | false | Politics, immigration | As an estimated 800,000 federal employees were set to miss yet another paycheck in January 2019 due to the longest federal government shutdown in United States history, a message spread on social media which claimed that some 18 million illegal immigrants had received their benefit checks despite the lapse in governmen... |
3354 | Pakistan issues health IDs for trans people to improve care. | Pakistan began issuing special health ID cards for transgender people on Tuesday as way to lessen health care discrimination. | true | Pakistan, Religion, Health, Islamabad, General News, Lifestyle, Asia Pacific | Trans people have often been denied treatment in Pakistan because doctors could not decide whether to treat them in a male or female ward, and have even died for lack of care. The government plans to set up separate wards in hospitals around the country for transgender patients, according to Dr. Zafar Mirza, a special ... |
10856 | Drug OK’d to Fight Breast Cancer Relapse | This story summarized some of the findings from a recent New England Journal of Medicine article on the BIG I-98 Trial, which randomized approximately 8,000 women to either letrozole or tamoxifen for 5 years. The outcome of this study and similar large-scale, randomized double-blind trials have shown that aromatase inh... | true | Cost of treatment not mentioned. 5-year estimated outcomes were given after only 2 years of data. No quantitative data on safety presented. Absolute numbers provided. Limited long term data and small absolute benefit are key issues here. Does not mention the increase in cholesterol and cardiovascular disease among the ... | |
18181 | "Luis Gutierrez Says under the Senate immigration bill, newly legalized immigrants will ""pay every tax possible, but you don’t get a single benefit"" for 10 years." | Gutierrez said that immigrants with provisional status would pay every tax and get no benefits. His staff said he was talking about means-tested benefits, and to a large extent, Gutierrez was in line with what the Senate immigration bill says. It requires unauthorized immigrants to pay taxes, and so long as they are in... | true | Immigration, National, Welfare, Luis Gutierrez, | "The effort to pass a sweeping immigration law has shifted to the Republican controlled U.S. House of Representatives where it faces a much tougher challenge than it did in the Senate. Supporters say that any hope for success lies in compromise. House Republican leaders say the Senate bill falls short in significant wa... |
26278 | Nancy Pelosi Says President Donald Trump is “morbidly obese.” | Donald Trump does not fit the CDC’s description of “severely obese.” Stories have questioned both Trump’s height and weight. But even if Trump isn’t telling the truth, it’s extremely unlikely he would be classified as morbidly or severely obese. | false | Congress, California, Coronavirus, Nancy Pelosi, | "President Donald Trump brought his health to the national coronavirus conversation on May 18 when he told reporters that he was taking hydroxychloroquine, a longstanding anti-malaria drug, as a preventative measure against COVID-19. Trump’s confidence in the drug against COVID-19 has not been supported by most studies... |
34441 | "The ""Blue Whale"" suicide game has been responsible for more than 130 suicides in Russia." | This story was inexplicably picked up months later by international tabloids (alongside claims that the game was spreading across the world), but we remain unable to verify any of the claims. | unproven | Viral Phenomena | In February 2017, English-language web sites caught wind of a purported “suicide game” that had reportedly resulted in more than a hundred deaths in Russia. The general premise of the game, which goes by several names but is commonly referred to as the “blue whale” game, is as follows: The player signs up to play the g... |
10879 | Thousands of schizophrenics might be alive if they had been on clozapine | "This story is about a study in which the strongest finding is that treatment with antipsychotics lowers mortality. The differences between drugs is less convincing and the opening statement that ""thousands of lives could have been saved"" if patients had been prescribed clozapine is simply not explained or justified ... | false | "The story does not give the cost of Clozapine nor a cost comparison between it and other anti-psychotic medications. Frequent monitoring and dealing with common side effects increase costs and potential for hospitalization. But even giving the cost of the drug alone is not giving the entire cost picture. Clozapine is ... | |
8048 | Some Kenyan nurses refuse coronavirus patients in protest over shortages: union. | Nurses in Kenya’s capital and at least two towns have launched protests or refused to treat suspected coronavirus patients because the government has not given them enough protective gear or training, a medical union chief said. | true | Health News | Only a fraction of Kenya’s estimated 100,000 healthcare workers had received any instruction in how to protect themselves, Seth Panyako, the secretary general of the Kenya National Union of Nurses, told Reuters. Government spokesman Cyrus Oguna said he would check into the reports of the training and protective gear sh... |
7891 | Quake hits Zagreb, PM urges social distancing as residents flee buildings. | A large earthquake struck near the Croatian capital Zagreb on Sunday, critically injuring a teenager caught in a collapsed building in the city center and prompting appeals for social distancing after people rushed out onto the streets. | true | Environment | Sixteen other people were injured, including another minor who was badly hurt, and the 5.3 magnitude quake caused fires and power blackouts in parts of the capital, hospital and emergency services said. People ran from their apartment buildings to their cars as pieces of the facades started falling off. Dozens of cars ... |
1296 | Middle-East resident diagnosed with MERS in Britain. | A person in northern England has been diagnosed with the potentially deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and is being treated at hospital in Liverpool, Public Health England said on Thursday. | true | Health News | The patient is a resident of the Middle East, where they were believed to have contracted the infection before traveling to Britain, PHE said on its website. MERS is thought to be carried by camels and comes from the same family as the coronavirus that caused China’s deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outb... |
13488 | "Americans for Prosperity: Florida Says ""Patrick Murphy’s ‘Pay More’ energy agenda means you could pay another $500 a year for your utility bills!" | "Americans For Prosperity Florida said, ""Patrick Murphy’s ‘Pay More’ energy agenda means you could pay another $500 a year for your utility bills!"" The group is attempting to link Murphy’s support for the Clean Power Plan to the possibility of higher gas and electric rates for consumers. But Murphy has no control ove... | false | Environment, Energy, Florida, Americans for Prosperity: Florida, | "An anti-regulation group is accusing U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy of wanting to use the Senate to adopt policies that would raise the cost of just about everything, starting with your utility bills. ""Vote against Patrick Murphy,"" reads a mailer we received Sept. 12, 2016, from Americans for Prosperity Florida. ""We can’... |
38798 | Leftover onions become poisonous after just a day because they’re magnets for bacteria. | Leftover Onions are Poisonous Because They’re Magnets for Bacteria | false | Food / Drink | Claims that leftover onions are magnets for bacteria and should never be eaten are mostly fictional. That rumor first surfaced in a 2008 blog post that appeared at the website DinnerWithZola.com. The blog, headlined “Watch out for those spoiled onions,” reported that cut or leftover onions are magnets for bacteria and ... |
38786 | Steve Burns from “Blues Clues” has died in a car accident. | Steve from Blues Clues Died in a Car Accident | false | Celebrities | The rumor that Steve from Blues Clues died in a car accident is a celebrity death hoax. The fake news website MSMBC News started the rumor that Steve from Blues Clues died in a car accident at the age of 42. The website (falsely) reported that Steve Burns was killed in a one-vehicle car cash that happened in Pennsylvan... |
9085 | Genetic testing helps set safe dose of common blood thinner | This news release describes results of a study designed to learn whether testing for the presence of three gene variants could make dosing with the blood thinner warfarin safer for patients given the drug to prevent blood clots after joint replacement surgery. The study found a modest reduction in the risk of bleeding ... | true | genetic testing,warfarin,Washington University School of Medicine | Although the release doesn’t give actual costs of warfarin versus some of the newer drugs, or factor in the cost of the usual monthly blood testing required of those taking the drug, it does note the cost of the gene testing used for the study, and that the $200 price tag is now less than a month’s prescription of one ... |
10123 | Plavix Can Help Cut Death Risk in Certain Heart Patients | "Few studies have examined the possible benefit or harm of clopidogrel in heart failure patients. This observational study does not provide definitive evidence that the benefit exceeds the risks. In fact, no mention of risk is mentioned in the article. It suggests possible benefit but that benefit may be because of phy... | false | "There was no discussion about the cost of this drug. The story provided absolute numbers for two categories of patients who had had heart attacks and did not have angioplasty. In the first group, the chance of survival for those with heart failure at 18 months appeared to be higher for those that took Plavix than thos... | |
23573 | I've shut down pill mills. | Bondi said that as a Hillsborough prosecutor she's shut down pill mills and offered the case of Dr. John Mubang as an example. But Mubang's story highlights how difficult it is to stop pill mills, and in fact, is an excellent example of the problem the next attorney general will face. Mubang was shut down briefly follo... | false | Health Care, Crime, Florida, Pam Bondi, | "In the race for the Republican nomination for attorney general, former Hillsborough County prosecutor Pam Bondi continues to contrast her courtroom experience with the political experience of opponents Jeff Kottkamp and Holly Benson. One of the distinctions Bondi makes is that while Kottkamp, the lieutenant governor, ... |
2825 | Gay juror's ouster forces new U.S. pharma trial. | A gay man was improperly excluded from jury service because of his sexual orientation, a federal appeals court has ruled, illustrating the widening influence of a key U.S. Supreme Court decision on gay rights. | true | Health News | The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Tuesday ordered a new trial for GlaxoSmithKline Plc against an Abbott Laboratories spinoff because Abbott excluded the potential juror. The case involved Abbott’s pricing of HIV medications, a controversial issue in the gay community. Glaxo accused Abbott of imp... |
8829 | FDA says generic Wellbutrin OK despite reports. | A cheaper, generic version of GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s Wellbutrin XL antidepressant is just as safe and effective, despite complaints from some patients, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday. | true | Health News | The FDA said it received 85 reports from patients who switched from Wellbutrin XL to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Impax Laboratories Inc’s cheaper generic, including 78 who said they slipped back into depression. Other patients reported new or worsening side effects, including headaches, fatigue, anxiety and ... |
28398 | Nike workers in Vietnam earn 20 cents per hour, work 70 to 80 hours per week, and are 80 percent female. | What's true: Nike workers in Vietnam are 80 percent female, and some are illegally forced to labor more than the statutory working week of 48 hours. What's false: Working between 70 and 80 hours per week is not typical for a Nike worker in Vietnam. Wages were around 20 cents per hour in the mid-1990s but have increased... | mixture | Politics | In September 2018, Nike’s announcement of an endorsement deal with Colin Kaepernick brought renewed scrutiny and allegations about the company’s labor practices. The free agent quarterback became a leading figure in ongoing protests against racial injustice by National Football League players and staff, since he first ... |
7339 | Navajo Nation residents to be under strictest lockdown yet. | Residents of the Navajo Nation will be under the strictest weekend lockdown yet, with grocery stores and gas stations closed, and even essential workers ordered to stay home. | true | U.S. News, Health, General News, New Mexico, Virus Outbreak | Navajo President Jonathan Nez made the announcement after a spike in deaths that he attributed to shifting traffic patterns after the city of Gallup recently shut down to outside visitors. That lockdown in northwestern New Mexico has since ended. On the Navajo Nation, residents will face citations, with potential fines... |
9118 | Radiation prior to surgery reduces risk of secondary tumors in early-stage breast cancer | This news release from the Moffitt Cancer Center promotes pre-surgury radiation for early breast cancer patients — a non-standard approach to treating patients with this type of cancer. The study the release is based on drew data from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) pr... | mixture | early-stage breast cancer,H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute,radiation | The costs of neoadjuvant radiotherapy vs. postoperative-adjuvant radiotherapy were not discussed. The release doesn’t provide any numbers to support the benefit claims. It states, “Researchers discovered that among the breast cancer patients who tested positive for the estrogen receptor (ER) biomarker, patients who had... |
31086 | "Police in Charlottesville were issued a ""stand down"" order and told to let violence happen." | We did not find evidence of a direct order to officers to “stand down” and not respond to fights and other disorders. Even if there was no explicit “stand down” order in place, CPD and VSP both failed to “stand up” to protect human life. Supervisors devised a poorly conceived plan that under-equipped and misaligned hun... | false | Uncategorized, charlottesville, conspiracy theory, newspunch.com | On 15 August 2017, the disreputable web site YourNewsWire posted a story purporting to quote an “anonymous” police officer saying that law enforcement in Charlottesville, Virginia had been instructed not only to “stand down” during a violent white supremacist rally, but to instigate violence by purposely bringing rival... |
9493 | Vaccine shows protection against gonorrhea for first time, study says | This story reports on a New Zealand study that suggests a vaccine that protects against a strain of meningitis may also offer some protection against gonorrhea. The research, published in the Lancet, estimated that a meningitis B vaccine administered to teens and young adults during an outbreak in the early 2000s was 3... | true | gonorrhea,sexually transmitted,vaccines | There’s no mention of how much a gonorrhea vaccine might cost. In the U.S. meningitis B vaccine Bexsero, which contains manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, costs $99 for a pediatric dose and $106 for an adult dose. Two doses are required. A discussion of cost and cost-effectiveness is particularly important when consideri... |
5537 | ‘Survive, not enjoy’: Heat, humidity gripping half the US. | Americans from Texas to Maine sweated out a steamy Saturday as a heat wave canceled events from festivals to horse races, chased baseball fans out of their seats and pushed New York City to order steps to avoid straining the electrical system. | true | Science, New York, MLB, General News, Heat waves, AP Top News, New York City, Weather, U.S. News | The National Weather Service said “a dangerous heat wave” sent temperatures into the 90s, with high humidity that made it feel considerably hotter. It was expected to stay warm at night, in the upper 70s to low 80s, with more heat on the way Sunday for the East Coast. “It’s brutal,” Jeffrey Glickman said as he paused d... |
9280 | Study shows first signs that ADHD drug may improve cognitive difficulties in menopausal women | University of Pennsylvania researchers conducted a clinical trial to test whether giving lisdexamfetamine (LDX), a psychostimulant currently approved to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and binge-eating disorder, would improve the cognitive performance of menopausal women who complained of cognitive diffi... | false | menopause,Shire Pharmaceuticals,Vyvnase | There is no mention in the release as to the cost of LDX although, since it is routinely prescribed for ADHD, the cost for users should be easy to provide. A cursory search of the internet suggests that a 30-day supply could cost between $100 and $300, depending on the provider and insurance coverage. Nor is it clear f... |
4304 | Science Says: Why scientists prize plant, animal genomes. | Just about every week, it seems, scientists publish the unique DNA code of some creature or plant. Just in February, they published the genome for the strawberry, the paper mulberry tree, the great white shark and the Antarctic blackfin icefish. | true | Biology, Animals, Technology, Genetic Frontiers, Science Says, Science | They also announced that, thanks to a crowdfunding campaign, they’d produced the genome of Lil BUB, a female cat with a large internet following. That followed a notable advance in January: an improved genome for the axolotl, a salamander renowned for regrowing severed limbs and other body parts. Scientists have been u... |
2937 | China says child deaths not linked to hepatitis vaccine. | Chinese health authorities said they have found no link between a hepatitis B vaccine and the deaths of nine children who had received those shots, state media said on Friday. | true | Health News | China has been investigating 17 deaths following inoculation with a hepatitis B vaccine, made by Shenzhen-based BioKangtai, from December 13 and 31. The news alarmed many Chinese Internet users, who called on the government to make more information public. Many Chinese people are suspicious that the government tries to... |
1381 | U.S.-UK alliance targets the world's deadliest superbugs. | Eleven biotech companies and research teams in Britain and the United States were awarded up to $48 million in funding on Thursday to speed development of new antibiotics powerful enough to take on the world’s deadliest superbugs. | true | Science News | The range of antimicrobial medicines able to kill the growing number of drug-resistant infections is dwindling and health experts warn that within a generation the death toll from such “superbug” infections could reach 10 billion. Announcing its first funding, a new U.S.-U.K. alliance known as CARB-X, short for Combati... |
15366 | "The California governor ""says yes to poisoning more children with mercury and aluminum"" in vaccines." | "Actor Jim Carrey called aluminum a poison and toxin. Like many other chemicals, it could be, in dosages and scenarios that are rare. There is no scientific evidence suggesting otherwise. In fact, the only debate stems from a theory, not research that contradicts decades of immunizations. Attaching scientific sounding ... | false | Georgia, Autism, Public Health, Science, Jim Carrey, | "Georgia has the CDC in its backyard to talk up the importance of childhood immunizations, but the anti-vaccine movement gained some high-profile supporters in California with a new law there that requires all public school children receive vaccinations. Actors Selma Blair and Kirstie Alley blasted the law, which start... |
22365 | "Oregon concealed gun applications include ""home phone numbers, home address, Social Security numbers, what kinds of guns you have in the house … whether you were dishonorably discharged from the military, what controlled substances you are taking and were you ever accused of -- accused, mind you -- of stalking." | Kim Thatcher says concealed handgun applications require great deal of personal information | true | Oregon, Privacy Issues, Guns, Kim Thatcher, | "The Oregon House recently passed a bill that would remove concealed handgun applications from the public record. Proponents of the bill say that there’s too much personal information on individual citizens tied up in the documents. Public records should focus on the government, not private citizens, they say. Here’s R... |
38612 | Claims that after successfully unlocking one of the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhones the FBI spilled water on it, rendering it useless, have gone viral. | Authorities in New Delhi declared a public health emergency on Friday and closed schools and all construction activity until next week as air pollution in the city hit its worst level this year. | false | Terrorism | A thick haze has hung over the Indian capital this week caused by plumes of toxic smoke from farm fires raging in neighbouring states. An index measuring the level of a deadly air pollutant hit 484 on a scale of 500 on Friday, the government’s Central Pollution Control Board, the worst this year. The index measures the... |
2018 | London council confiscates breast milk ice cream. | A London council has confiscated supplies of breast milk ice cream from a specialist parlor which launched the new flavor in the British capital last week on concerns the frozen treat may spread viruses. | true | Health News | Westminster Council said it had visited the Icecreamists restaurant in London’s Covent Garden and removed all ice cream containing breast milk for testing after being contacted by members of the public and the Food Standards Agency. “Selling foodstuffs made from another person’s bodily fluids can lead to viruses being ... |
34762 | The family of a terminally ill boy is asking people to send him Christmas cards. | The family of Jacob Thompson requested cards for the ailing child so that he could have a final celebration. | mixture | Medical, christmas cards, jacob thompson | In October 2017, Michelle Simard, the mother of nine-year-old Jacob Thompson, started a GoFundMe campaign for the somber task of having to raise funeral expenses for her terminally ill son. Simard explained that Jacob was unlikely to live to see another Christmas due to a spreading form of cancer known as neuroblastoma... |
33978 | "H. L. Mencken wrote that eventually ""the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." | General Motors Co said late on Wednesday it will temporarily suspend operations at 11 Michigan plants and its Warren Tech Center after a utility made an emergency appeal to users to conserve natural gas during extreme winter cold. | true | Politics Quotes, h.l. mencken | Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV also said it had canceled a shift on Thursday at both its Warren Truck and Sterling Heights Assembly plants and was considering whether it would need to cancel additional shifts. GM said it had been asked by Consumers Energy, a unit of CMS Energy Corp, to suspend operations to allow the uti... |
11631 | How to diagnose systemic infections much more quickly and reliably | This news release from a Harvard bioengineering and tech transfer institute describes animal and early clinical studies of a relatively new test for quickly diagnosing the presence of blood-borne bacteria that can lead to sepsis, a life-threatening condition. The test detects pathogen-associated molecular patterns, or ... | mixture | Academic medical center news release,Screening tests | Given that Wyss and its start-up company have experience with the pathogen detection technology the researchers developed, there likely is by now some sense of what the cost of the assay might be, or at least some idea of whether it would be more or less expensive than current laboratory tests. It’s also important to n... |
10468 | The dark side of eye surgery | "This brief segment reports on an FDA advisory committee recommendation that patients should receive clearer warnings about the side effects of Lasik vision correction surgery. It sketches the scope of the problem and the risks. But the segment falls short of best practices in several important ways: It fails to make ... | false | "The segment fails to mention the price of Lasik surgery, which is considerable–$4,000 and up. The omission is particularly unfortunate because the story is essentially about benefits vs. risks of a voluntary surgery. The report cites the estimate of a 95 percent patient satisfaction rate. The source for this is not gi... | |
37714 | "In August 2020, news outlets reported the ""escape"" of ""nuclear cannibal ants"" from a bunker in Russia." | A “2020 Bingo” meme suggested that “nuclear cannibal ants” had “escaped” a bunker in Russia in August 2020. In actuality, research published in October 2019 catalogued ongoing observations by scientists of a colony of wood ants in an abandoned bunker once used to store nuclear weapons. Ants in the bunker were believed ... | mixture | Fact Checks, Viral Content | On August 2 2020, a Facebook user shared the following anxiety-provoking Twitter screenshot with the following commentary:Okay, who has nuclear cannibal ants for August?The screenshot showed an August 2 2020 tweet by @NinjaEconomics:One million cannibal ants trapped in Soviet nuclear weapons bunker have escaped https:/... |
41746 | "Crime is up"" in New York City under Mayor Bill de Blasio's leadership." | President Donald Trump and his son Eric both took shots this week at New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, saying crime has risen in the city under his leadership. That’s wrong, according to crime data kept by the New York Police Department. | false | crime, jobs, migration, murders, population, violent crime, | President Donald Trump and his son Eric both took shots this week at New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, saying crime has risen in the city under his leadership. That’s wrong, according to crime data kept by the New York Police Department.Major felony offenses have dropped every year de Blasio has served as the city’s ... |
3347 | A year after Michael, Florida community still in crisis. | A year after Hurricane Michael , the Florida county hardest hit by the Category 5 storm is still in crisis: Thousands in Bay County are homeless, medical care and housing are at a premium, domestic violence has become a problem and severely diminished mental health services are overwhelmed with backlogs. | true | AP Top News, Mental health, Hurricane Michael, General News, Violence, Storms, Florida, Hurricanes, Domestic violence, U.S. News, United States | Michael, among the strongest hurricanes ever to make landfall in the United States, barreled onto the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 10, 2018, with 160 mph (257 kph) winds, ripping homes from their foundations, flattening others and utterly devastating Tyndall Air Force Base, home to 11,000 airmen. It left 22,000 of Bay Cou... |
12033 | The crowd (in Las Vegas) fled at the sound of gunshots. Imagine the deaths if the shooter had a silencer ... | Hillary Clinton suggested gun silencers would have worsened the Las Vegas attack in a tweet. It’s certainly possible that silencers or suppressors could make some shootings worse than they would be otherwise. But the specifics of the Las Vegas shooting don’t fit that scenario. Experts told us it’s highly unlikely a sil... | false | National, Guns, Hillary Clinton, | "In the wake of the Las Vegas shooting, Hillary Clinton suggested gun silencers could have amplified the bloodshed. ""The crowd fled at the sound of gunshots. Imagine the deaths if the shooter had a silencer, which the NRA wants to make easier to get,"" Clinton tweeted. The crowd fled at the sound of gunshots. Imagine ... |
35688 | A zookeeper in Paderborn, Germany, was killed when an elephant defecated on him. | This entertaining “news item” appeared in the Weekly World News, a publication not known for adherence to strict journalistic standards. Fantastic stories invented cut of whole cloth regularly appear in its pages, and this pachyderm tale is but another of that ilk. | false | Critter Country, ASP Article | Something stinks about this story, which made its way to Team Snopes in summer of 1998: PADERBORN, GERMANY – Overzealous zookeeper Frederic Briefed fed his constipated elephant Stefan 22 doses of animal laxative and more than a bushel of berries, figs and prunes before the plugged-up pachyderm finally let fly — and suf... |
26025 | COVID-19’s “contagion probability” between two people is 70% if the carrier is not masked, 5% if the carrier is masked, and 1.5% if both parties are. | Epidemiologists seem to agree that the scientific studies necessary to quantify the exact percentage of contagion risk have not been done — making numbers advanced by this image are questionable. The same scientists, however, agreed that the message communicated by this image is on target. | false | Facebook Fact-checks, Health Check, Coronavirus, Viral image, | "A popular social media post that’s been circulating on Instagram and Facebook since April depicts the degree to which mask-wearing interferes with the transmission of the novel coronavirus. It gives its highest ""contagion probability"" — a very precise 70% — to a person who has COVID-19 but interacts with others with... |
26439 | Covid-19 is now the leading cause of death in the United States. | "North Carolina health secretary Mandy Cohen said ""Covid-19 is now the leading cause of death in the United States."" When it comes to deaths per day, Cohen has a point. In the bigger picture, the CDC says heart disease and cancer are still the leading causes of death." | mixture | Public Health, North Carolina, Coronavirus, Mandy Cohen, | "With North Carolina in the middle of a stay-at-home order, the state’s top health official tried to emphasize the severity of COVID-19. The novel coronavirus has killed more than 200 people in North Carolina and reached 93 of North Carolina’s 100 counties, according to the NC Department of Health and Human Services. O... |
25913 | “Taxpayers spent $70,000,000 to develop this drug ( remdesivir). | When the drug that would come to be known as remdesivir was identified as a possible treatment for the Ebola virus, the Department of Defense paid Gilead to develop it, to the tune of $34.5 million today A $6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health was awarded to researchers at the University of North C... | true | Drugs, Health Care, Wisconsin, Coronavirus, Public Citizen, | "We may be months — at least — away from a vaccine to protect against COVID-19, but in the meantime the public is turning its eyes to drugs that could be used to treat it. Among the first to be lauded as a possible solution was the antiviral drug remdesivir, which attacks the coronavirus to prevent it from making copie... |
4450 | University studies cancer risk and testing for black women. | Luisel Ricks-Santi keeps the medical family tree of one of the participants in her study taped to the door of her office in her lab at Hampton University. | true | Health, General News, Genetics, Cancer, Breast cancer | There are four slashes among the women’s siblings, others among her immediate family, and most family members’ symbols are partially colored in. Each partially filled circle represents a cancer diagnosis. Each slash indicates a death. Although white women get breast cancer more frequently, it’s usually diagnosed later ... |
14467 | "James Dobson Says Ted Cruz’s wife Heidi ""will be the very first pro-life first lady." | "In the Ted Cruz campaign ad, James Dobson says, ""His wife, Heidi, will be the very first pro-life first lady."" In support of the claim, the campaign provided an article stating that all first ladies since the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision have supported a woman’s choice on abortion. That is accurate. Yet, Dobson’s clai... | true | Abortion, Colorado, James Dobson, | "There was a time when no presidential candidate's TV ad would trumpet his wife's views on abortion. But Sen. Ted Cruz's campaign does so proudly with an ad featuring James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family in Colorado, praising the Texas senator's spouse. ""His wife, Heidi, will be the very first pro-life fir... |
5703 | Texas guard Andrew Jones diagnosed with leukemia. | Andrew Jones flirted with leaving Texas for the NBA before returning to school for what he hoped would be a big sophomore season and a splash in the next draft. | true | NBA basketball, Andrew Jones, Leukemia, Health, Sports, Shaka Smart, College Sports, Texas | He was on his way. The shooting guard was the Longhorns’ leading scoring through the start of what looked like a big season. After a wrist fracture sidelined him for a few games, his return to the lineup was going to be big: the Big 12 season opener against Kansas. He hardly played. Same thing for the next game at Iowa... |
8680 | Europe is epicenter of coronavirus pandemic: WHO. | Europe has now become the epicenter of a coronavirus pandemic that has claimed 5,000 lives around the world, “a tragic milestone”, the World Health Organization said on Friday. | true | Health News | More than 132,000 cases of the virus have been reported in 123 countries since it emerged in December in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference. “Europe has now become the epicenter of the pandemic with more reported cases and deaths than the re... |
15811 | "A ""majority of our students are trapped in"" underperforming schools." | "Bush said the ""majority of our students are trapped in"" underperforming schools. Bush relied on another official’s speculation about how well schools might meet disputed federal standards that don’t apply to Texas this year anyway. Meantime, 2014 state ratings indicate more than nine in 10 districts fulfilled state-... | false | Education, State Budget, Texas, George P. Bush, | "George P. Bush, the first-year Texas land commissioner, maintains that most students are stuck in bad schools. Bush, addressing a ""school choice"" rally outside the Texas Capitol Jan. 30, 2015, said: ""I believe that most teachers are doing the very best in very difficult situations when a majority of our students ar... |
1906 | Arkansas farmer seeks to save historic turkey breeds. | P. Allen Smith can talk for hours about saving rare poultry. He also will be eating one of them for Thanksgiving. | true | Environment | P. Allen Smith rounds up his flock of blue state turkeys at his 650-acre Moss Mountain Farm outside Little Rock, Arkansas, in this 2009 handout image obtained by Reuters on November 23, 2011. REUTERS/Courtesy Heritage Poultry Conservancy/Handout On his 650-acre Moss Mountain Farm outside Little Rock, Smith breeds domes... |
29448 | Muslims demanded the U.S. Army change its dress code to allow beards and turbans. | "What's true: The Department of Defense announced back in January 2014 that religious dress accommodations had been added to uniform guidelines on a case-by-case basis. What's false: U.S. military uniform regulations were not changed in response to ""demands"" from Muslims (and beards and turbans are a religious requir... | false | Uncategorized, american news, muslims, sikhs | On 1 September 2014, the disreputable American News web site published an article whose clickbait headline stated that Muslims had “demand[ed] the Army change its dress code to include turbans and beards. The article text itself made no mention of any such “demands” from “Muslims,” however, but merely summarized an ear... |
18614 | "Rick Perry Says Houston is ""home to more doctors, more nurses, more researchers than any other place in the world." | "Perry said Houston is ""home to more doctors, more nurses, more researchers than any other place in the world."" Perry did not provide nor did we find evidence proving this claim, and there are signs that it’s not supported, including the census table indicating that Harris County ranked fourth nationally in total phy... | false | Health Care, Medicaid, Public Health, Texas, Rick Perry, | "Protesters interrupted Gov. Rick Perry at a Washington, D.C. event by calling for the Republican to support Medicaid’s expansion in Texas as encouraged under Obamacare. According to video snippets of the Feb. 22, 2013, event posted on YouTube, Perry said at one point the protesters hailed from Alabama. After a protest... |
3602 | Penn State creates food packaging material from wood, shells. | Jeffrey Catchmark had the ideal formula for an all-natural, nontoxic coating to replace plastic coatings and packaging used in the food industry, among other uses. Not only would it be cheaper than plastics but his formula would be biodegradable and nonpolluting. | true | Pennsylvania, Agricultural science, Science | But the Penn State University professor of agricultural and biological engineering in the College of Agricultural Sciences faced a problem. His formula of cellulose from wood and cotton and chitin derived from the exoskeletons of arthropods and such crustaceans as lobsters, crabs and shrimp, just wouldn’t mix. It kept ... |
24507 | Gas will reach $4 a gallon under a cap-and-trade plan. | EnergyCitizens.org claims gas will cost $4 a gallon under a cap-and-trade plan | false | Environment, National, Cap and Trade, Climate Change, Energy, EnergyCitizens.org, | "In a full-page ad in the Sept. 30, 2009, edition of the Washington Post , was this eye-catching claim about gas prices: ""$4 GAS - Another unfortunate truth about the House's climate bill,"" said the ad from EnergyCitizens.org . ""As Congress considers new climate legislation, Americans aren't getting the whole ... |
34725 | A photograph shows an improperly displayed American flag outside of a Quality Inn hotel in May 2019. | Coal-fired utilities around New Delhi were still operating on Wednesday despite threats from the Indian authorities to close them down if they had not installed equipment to cut emissions of sulfur oxides by the end of the year. | mixture | Fauxtography | Three senior executives at companies operating power plants around New Delhi and facing an end-2019 deadline said they had not received direction on whether they could continue to run the plants having not installed the kit. Only one out of the 11 utilities in the national capital region had installed the equipment. In... |
4187 | Environmentalists, state officials disagree on toxin limits. | Environmental activists and state environmental officials disagree about how regulations should be used to combat algae blooms in Florida’s waterways. | true | General News, Florida, Environment, Tampa, Algae | The state Department of Environmental Protection is considering new regulations on how much toxins are allowed in the state’s waterways. The Tampa Bay Times reports that environmentalists say the state should set numeric limits on the amount of toxins. However, the state agency believes the new limits should determine ... |
7265 | McHenry County to give teachers youth mental health training. | McHenry County will train educators on how to identify and assist youths experiencing mental health issues. | true | Crystal Lake, Arlington Heights, General News, Education, Mental health | The county mental health board is collaborating with 17 school districts in August to bring Youth Mental Health First Aid training to instructors and teach them crisis intervention, the (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald reported . “It gives you an opportunity for early intervention,” said Kristin Schmidt, assistant dire... |
38696 | There’s buzz that Crest Pro Health Tooth Paste contains blue beads, or polyethylene, that can become lodge in your gums, allowing bacteria to enter. | Crest ProHealth Toothpaste Leaves Blue Beads in Your Gums | mixture | Health / Medical | Dentists raised concerns about the tiny blue beads found in some types of Crest ProHealth Tooth Paste back in 2014, but manufacturer Proctor & Gamble has already taken steps to get rid of them. The controversy started back in March 2014 when dental hygienist Trish Walraven wrote a blog headlined “Crest toothpaste embed... |
30608 | A judge cut fifteen years off the sentence of a man convicted of lewd acts with a 3-year-old girl because the perpetrator claimed the child had 'asked to be raped.' | If Rojano-Nieto had claimed his 3-year-old victim had “asked to be raped,” that element would surely have been cited by the prosecution as a factor supporting a harsher sentence. But again, no such claim was mentioned anywhere in their brief to the court. | false | Junk News, your news wire, yournewswire | In December 2014, Kevin Jonas Rojano-Nieto was convicted of one felony count of sexual intercourse or sodomy of a child 10 years or younger, and one felony count of lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14. The events in Santa Ana, Calif., that led to his conviction were described as follows, per local broadcaster AB... |
6608 | Jets QB Sam Darnold cleared to play, will start vs. Cowboys. | Sam Darnold’s spleen is fully healthy and he’ll be back under center as the struggling Jets’ starting quarterback. | true | New York, Sam Darnold, NFL, Philadelphia, Health, Sports, New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys, Football | Finally. Darnold was cleared by doctors Tuesday to play this week after he missed three games while recovering from mononucleosis. He had medical tests to determine if the swelling in his spleen — a common symptom of the illness — had dissipated enough for him to play again. The Jets announced in a Twitter post that Da... |
7193 | Castro meets with Nevada Latino leaders ahead of 2020 bid. | Former Obama administration housing chief Julian Castro met with Nevada Democrats and leaders of the Latino community in Las Vegas on Tuesday, days ahead of his planned announcement of a 2020 run for the presidency. | true | Education, Barack Obama, Julian Castro, Universal health care, Immigration, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | Castro, the Democratic former mayor of San Antonio who served in President Barack Obama’s second term, said that as a presidential candidate, he’s going to be talking about improving public education, equal treatment under the criminal justice system and addressing what he called the existential threat of climate chang... |
26389 | Facebook post Says Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers “wants to force residents to fund Planned Parenthood abortion business.” | In 2019, Gov. Tony Evers attempted to expand funding for groups like Planned Parenthood that provide abortion services, but the proposal didn’t get through the budget process. If it had passed, taxpayers still wouldn’t be footing the bill for abortions except in rare cases. The Facebook post also calls Planned Parentho... | false | Abortion, State Budget, Wisconsin, Facebook posts, | "In 2018, Gov. Tony Evers campaigned on a promise to restore funding for Planned Parenthood. It’s an issue that has taken a backseat in the past year, since the Republican-controlled Legislature quashed an expansion of the Affordable Care Act in the state’s biennial budget, essentially nixing Evers’ Healthy Women, Heal... |
10433 | Impact of first federally funded anti-smoking ad campaign remains strong after three years | CDC Tips ad campaign features advice from former smokersThis news release focuses on a recent study that evaluates the effectiveness of a 2014 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) educational advertising campaign called “Tips From Former Smokers” (Tips) that aimed to encourage and help cigarette smokers qui... | mixture | Government agency news release | We give the release credit for providing some detail on the costs of smoking-related illnesses. However, the intervention here was a national anti-smoking campaign and the cost of that campaign was described in obscure terms: “The Tips campaign is an important counter measure to the $1 million that the tobacco industry... |
7154 | Ewe now have sheep in new program at Tuscaloosa school. | A Tuscaloosa school is welcoming several animals onto its campus this year as it launches a program for students interested in veterinary medicine. | true | Sheep, Animals, Tuscaloosa, Veterinary medicine, Science | About 25 students are enrolled in the new pre-veterinary science program at the Tuscaloosa Career & Technology Academy, The Tuscaloosa News reported . As part of the program, the school has acquired six sheep that will be kept on campus. The first sheep brought to the school was 5-month-old Betsy, who came from a farm ... |
4089 | Illinois patient’s death may be first in US tied to vaping. | Health officials said Friday that an Illinois patient who contracted a serious lung disease after vaping has died and that they consider it the first death in the United States linked to the smoking alternative that has become popular with teens and young adults. | true | AP Top News, Lung disease, Health, General News, Marijuana, Illinois, U.S. News, United States | The Illinois Department of Public Health the adult patient was hospitalized after falling ill following vaping, though it didn’t give other information about the person, including the patient’s name, age, hometown or date of death. The state received the report of the death Thursday, said Dr. Jennifer Layden, the Illin... |
8425 | Mass COVID-19 testing underway at stricken Belgian care homes. | Belgium has begun testing more than 210,000 residents and staff at nursing homes, which now account for about half of the coronavirus-related deaths in the country. | true | Health News | Belgium is one of only a few countries in Europe that includes all non-hospitalised people who displayed symptoms of the disease in its daily tally of COVID-19 deaths, even if they had not been confirmed as having had it. That may help to explain why Belgium, a small country of about 11.5 million people that has been i... |
2732 | GSK upbeat on heart drug, cancer vaccine despite setbacks. | Two high-risk bets by GlaxoSmithKline on new ways to fight heart disease and cancer were dealt a double blow last year by dud clinical trials - but the company remains hopeful about both projects. | true | Health News | Chief Executive Andrew Witty said on Wednesday there were still “intriguing” opportunities for its heart drug darapladib and MAGE-A3 therapeutic cancer vaccine. Many analysts stripped out forecasts for darapladib, which is designed to prevent heart attacks and strokes in a completely different way from cholesterol-lowe... |
1590 | For New York hospital's patients, miniature horses are a strong medicine. | Some of the most powerful medicine delivered to young patients at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York on Wednesday came in a package less than 32 inches tall and with a tail. | true | Health News | Honor, a 10-month-old colt with Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses, trotted into the hearts of dozens of children and teens being treated at the Manhattan hospital. Just a handful of young patients were well enough to secure their doctors’ permission to meet Honor in person in a hospital playroom, while others wa... |
22979 | "A recent report from the president's deficit commission was ""completely empty"" on controlling health care costs." | Paul Krugman said Obama's deficit co-chairs had no ideas for controlling health care costs | false | National, Federal Budget, Health Care, Medicare, This Week - ABC News, Paul Krugman, | "The co-chairs of President Barack Obama's deficit commission released their ideas for getting control of the federal deficit last week. Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is not a fan. ""I think the most important thing to understand is that the commission did not do its job. It has a bunch of ideas ... |
16049 | Since 9/11, right-wing extremists (incl anti-abortion, anti-gov) have killed more Americans than Islamic extremists. | Kohn said that since 9/11, right-wing extremists have killed more Americans than Islamic extremists. She drew that from a database created by the New America Foundation which found 26 victims of jihadists compared to 39 of right-wing zealots. That count is limited to deaths on American soil. Kohn didn’t include this co... | mixture | Islam, Terrorism, PunditFact, Sally Kohn, | "The cold-blooded killing of a dozen people at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical weekly in Paris, has inflamed the debate over the ties between Islam and extremist violence. The gunmen’s motive is hardly in doubt. A video captured one of them shouting ""Allahu Akbar! "", or ""God is great"" in Arabic. Liberal p... |
38805 | Parents should be on the lookout for a new street drug that looks like gummy bears that could be given out as Halloween candy. | Beware of New Gummy Bear Drugs this Halloween | false | Warnings | Street drugs can be made to look like gummy bears, but there wasn’t a specific threat of them being given out as Halloween candy when this rumor went viral. A warning that surfaced on infunny.co, a website that allows users to share memes and gifs, shows pictures of oversized gummy bears with the following warning: Oka... |
10586 | For weight loss, add sleep and relaxation to diet and exercise | The headline promotes an action – “For weight loss, add sleep and relaxation” – that is a leap when based on an observational study that can’t establish cause and effect. The flaw is compounded when the story doesn’t challenge the researchers’ statement that “people who need to lose weight should consider changes in th... | false | Los Angeles Times | Not applicable. While reporting that those who slept 6-8 hours per night were more likely to be in the group of people who lost at least 10 pounds in the 26 weeks of study, the story provided no insight about how they actually compared to those who did not have adequate sleep. Did those others lose, but lose less? Did ... |
11604 | Breast Cancer Drug Looks More Promising | This story discusses the drug Herceptin as a “promising” drug for both early and late-stage breast cancer. Currently, Herceptin is only approved for late-stage breast cancer, though some women in the early stages of breast cancer have been included in clinical trials. Two of these clinical trials reported in this story... | mixture | Cost mentioned. The story provided absolute numbers. One angle the journalist could have developed further: comparing the two studies at three years, the Finnish groups are doing a lot better than the U.S. groups. What’s going on? Is it the patient population? There is no perspective on frequency or severity of heart d... | |
12112 | Muslims’ disturbing plan comes out after grocery stores go bare to prepare for Irma. | Freedom Daily misleads about potential food poisoning at grocery stores, Hurricane Irma | false | Environment, Fake news, PunditFact, Freedom Daily, | "A misleading headline from a website called Freedom Daily suggests that reports of potential food poisoning at grocery stores emerged after people stocked up in preparation for Hurricane Irma. ""BREAKING: Muslims’ Disturbing Plan Comes Out After Grocery Stores Go Bare To Prepare For Irma,"" said the headline of an und... |
10537 | Routine screenings prevent cervical cancer in elderly women | [Editor’s Note: The University of Illinois has updated its news release on this study to address some of our criticisms. The revised release, which can be accessed here, features a new headline and a more extensive discussion of the study’s methods and limitations. The original release that we reviewed has been archive... | mixture | Academic medical center news release,Cancer,Screening tests | The release includes the statement, “Rosenblatt said there needs to be a more thorough cost-benefit analysis of conducting the screenings in elderly women,” but that’s hardly enough to earn a satisfactory rating in this category. Because these screenings are not recommended by physicians, insurance companies may not pa... |
5567 | Jury deliberations to resume latest meningitis outbreak case. | Jury deliberations are continuing in the case of six former employees of the Massachusetts facility responsible for the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak that killed 76 people and sickened hundreds. | true | Meningitis, Health, Massachusetts, Racketeering, Public health | Jurors in the latest case stemming from the outbreak linked to the now-closed New England Compounding Center are scheduled to return to federal court on Monday after failing to reach a verdict Friday. The former employees face mail fraud, racketeering and conspiracy charges. The pharmacy’s co-founder, Barry Cadden, and... |
11048 | Tumor profiles can help improve treatment | This story gives a glimpse of some of the nuances for treatment of cancers that will be begin to be available sometime in the future. One strength of the article was that it pointed out some of the current tumor-specific treatment decision-making dilemmas – that currently there are a number of women with early breast c... | true | Presumably this genotyping is for research purposes only and not ready for public use, and thus no estimates of cost are yet available. This could have been explicitly stated. The article did present quantitative estimates for the accuracy of the test for lung cancer and by including the measures on two different sampl... | |
8088 | U.S. companies, labs rush to produce blood test for coronavirus immunity. | As the United States works overtime to screen thousands for the novel coronavirus, a new blood test offers the chance to find out who may have immunity - a potential game changer in the battle to contain infections and get the economy back on track. | true | Health News | Several academic laboratories and medical companies are rushing to produce these blood tests, which can quickly identify disease-fighting antibodies in people who already have been infected but may have had mild symptoms or none at all. This is different from the current, sometimes hard-to-come-by diagnostic tests that... |
22101 | "President Obama’s health care law ""represents a government takeover of health care." | Romney calls Obama's health care law a government takeover | false | National, Health Care, Mitt Romney, | "Some talking points keep getting recycled, even when they're not true. Such is the case with the claim by many Republicans that the new health care law is ""a government takeover of health care."" PolitiFact has repeatedly rated that False or and selected it as our 2010 Lie of the Year. But the line still gets repeat... |
26514 | "Tweets Says Rudy Giuliani ""bought $2M in shares of Novartis, a primary supplier of hydroxychloroquine"" in early February." | Novartis is a Swiss pharmaceutical company that manufactures hydroxychloroquine. It has donated 30 million doses to the U.S. While Novartis paid Giuliani a speaker’s fee in 2006, there is no publicly available evidence that he currently has a financial stake in the company. He has denied having one in press reports. Fi... | false | Drugs, Ethics, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Tweets, | "Rudy Giuliani’s promotion of a lupus and arthritis drug to treat COVID-19 patients is raising eyebrows about his motivation. In an interview with Fox News on April 5, Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, said hydroxychloroquine could potentially be used to alleviate symptoms associated with the corona... |
4268 | Officials study link between rain and bacteria in water. | For Kellyn Reese, waking up on Tuesday mornings and going to the beach because it’s her job is a nice perk of being a summer intern at the East Shore District Health Department. | true | Water quality, Health, Environment, Environmental health, Public health | “The water affects everyone,” she said, which is why she believes her job is so important. Reese is studying public health and environmental health at East Carolina University in North Carolina. She will be an intern for the East Shore department, working on the Connecticut shoreline until the end of July. Reese spends... |
31885 | Salt lamps, because they emit negatively charged ions, impart myriad health benefits including reduced anxiety, improved sleep, increased energy, and protection from an “electric smog.” | Incidentally, that nice pinkish color that glows once the bulb is turned on is the only thing you are going to get from a salt lamp. Salt lamps may look neat, but claims that they can do anything medically rely — fatally — on the claim that the lamps produce negative ions and then further rely on a series gross simplif... | false | Medical, salt lamps | Salt lamps, which are merely light bulbs of varying wattages placed within blocks of rock salt of varying sizes, have become an increasingly popular product in the alternative medicine scene and are marketed as “natural ionizers.” An ionizer, in theory, produces ions, which are atoms or molecules with a net positive or... |
9448 | Cutting-edge immunotherapy treatment approved for another deadly cancer | We applaud this story for taking the time to walk readers through the different side effects from the drug — including patient deaths — and for raising the issue of the high cost of the drug. However, we would have liked to have seen a clearer description on the benefits of the therapy and more explanation of both the ... | mixture | cancer,immunotherapy,lymphoma | The story states the cost of this new therapy. It also contrasts it to the other approved drug for CAR T-cell therapy. However, it would have been helpful to know if this cost includes all the related hospital care and services, or is simply the cost of the drug itself. It also would have been useful to compare it to o... |
1635 | Global life expectancy rises, but people live sicker for longer. | People around the world are living longer, but many are also living sicker lives for longer, according to a study of all major diseases and injuries in 188 countries. | true | Health News | General health has improved worldwide, thanks to significant progress against infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria in the past decade and gains in fighting maternal and child illnesses. But healthy life expectancy has not increased as much, so people are living more years with illness and disability, accord... |
27015 | "NARAL Pro-Choice America Says Scott Walker ""said that forcing women facing abortion to get invasive ultrasounds was 'just a cool thing.'" | "NARAL Pro-Choice America says that Walker ""said that forcing women facing abortion to get invasive ultrasounds was 'just a cool thing.'"" Walker did defend the law he signed requiring an ultrasound in order to get an abortion. But the ""cool"" reference wasn’t to forcing some women to get vaginal ultrasounds, but rat... | false | Abortion, Health Care, Government Regulation, Public Health, Women, Wisconsin, NARAL Pro-Choice America, | "The nation’s oldest abortion rights advocacy group attacked Gov. Scott Walker and his presidential aspirations on June 18, 2015 with a TV ad called ""Crazy Ideas."" In it, NARAL Pro-Choice America, formerly the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, made a claim about comments Walker made about abort... |
34651 | Drug testing welfare recipients (and then disqualifying those who fail from collecting benefits) is an effective method for saving taxpayer money. | One could argue that the savings are higher than shown because simply knowing the testing program exists scares drug abusers away from applying in the first place. We could also contend that people will be motivated to lie on their questionnaires because they need their welfare benefits, thus preventing them from getti... | unproven | Politics, drug testing, welfare | In 1986, during the administration of President Ronald Reagan, the federal government began recommending workplace drug testing as part of the War on Drugs. By 1988, any employer who had a contract of $25,000 or more with the federal government was required to operate a drug-free workplace, with drug testing of employe... |
3963 | Farmer enters plea, will serve probation in dead cow case. | An eastern Indiana farmer has pleaded guilty to one count of failing to dispose of a dead animal after an inspection found 38 dead cows on his property. | true | Health, Richmond, Animal health, Indiana | The (Richmond) Palladium-Item reports that 42-year-old Rodney Sintz of West College Corner also has been sentenced to a year and a half of probation. Court documents say an Indiana State Board of Animal Health field veterinarian found the dead cows in various stages of decomposition on March 5. Under state law, animals... |
32832 | Donald Trump ex-wives admitted that the Republican Presidential candidate forced them to have abortions. | Receiving tweets twice daily via fax from religious advisers impregnates our right-wing furnace of hate, enabling us to bring you the most horrifyingly sensational headlines you’ve ever seen, or your money back — guaranteed! | false | Uncategorized, abortion, donald trump | On 8 August 2015, the web site Internet Chronicle published an article reporting that Donald Trump’s ex-wives had disclosed the Republican presidential candidate had pressured them into undergoing unwanted abortions: Saturday, Donald Trump’s ex-wives came forward with shocking stories of the bombastic Republican presid... |
10738 | Robotic help at heart of hospital’s bypass surgery initiative | This report on the University of Chicago’s new program in robotic cardiac surgery has several key flaws. It does not cite literature about the devices’ safety and efficacy, or compare it to similar data on treatment alternatives. It does not compare the financial costs of the surgery to costs of conventional surgery or... | false | "The reporter fails to indicate how costs of robot-assisted bypass compare to costs of conventional bypass operations. The article does not report whether insurance companies pay the additional costs, if any. And since the device maker offers a comparison between bypass surgery and stents, the report should compare pri... | |
28434 | "Several cities have started to use ""silent fireworks"" in order to make the shows more enjoyable for children, pets, and people with PTSD." | What's true: A number of cities and organizations have staged relatively quiet firework displays. What's false: These firework shows are not entirely silent, and they typically don't include the large aerial explosions found in traditional shows nor make use of some new form of 'quiet' decorative explosives. | mixture | Science, 4th of july, fireworks | As the 4th of July approached in 2018, some social media users were surprised to learn about the existence of “silent fireworks” when they came across an article published by the web site “DogTime” a few years prior about a town in Italy which had supposedly switched to these seemingly noiseless pyrotechnic displays: O... |
12346 | There is no reason for anybody to be losing any of their current benefits under Medicaid. | "Rubio said, ""There is no reason for anybody to be losing any of their current benefits under Medicaid."" Rubio is wrong to state that benefit cuts are off the table. There are reasons that Medicaid recipients could lose benefits if the Senate bill becomes law. The bill curbs the rate of spending by the federal govern... | false | Health Care, Medicaid, Florida, Marco Rubio, | "U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., says reports that Floridians will be kicked off of Medicaid under the Senate health care bill are misleading. ""As long as Florida keeps the same amount of funding or gets an increase, which is what we are working on, per patient being rewarded for having done the right thing -- there is... |
465 | Tremors worsen on New Zealand volcano island, prevent recovery of bodies. | Increasing tremors on a volcanic island in New Zealand on Wednesday heightened the risk of another massive eruption, preventing the recovery of bodies two days after an eruption engulfed dozens of tourists in steam and hot ash. | true | Environment | Six people were killed in Monday’s explosion at White Island, which lies some 50 km (30 miles) off the mainland, with another nine officially listed as missing, and 30 injured. Australian Gavin Dallow, 53, and his stepdaughter Zoe Hosking, 15, were the latest victims to be identified on Wednesday. “Our hearts break at ... |
26691 | Of the Trump administration’s European travel restrictions that exempt the U.K.: “Well, you can just get into the Chunnel, and you’ll be in the U.K.” | It isn’t that easy to get around the restrictions by taking a train linking England and France. The travel ban applies to people who were in designated European countries 14 days before their attempted travel to the United States. Someone in France who traveled to England would not be immediately exempt from the restri... | mixture | Corrections and Updates, Health Care, Public Health, Coronavirus, Nancy Pelosi, | "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi questioned whether it made sense for the Trump administration to stop travel from certain countries in Europe — but not the United Kingdom — in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus. At Pelosi’s weekly press conference, a reporter asked if she thought the administration’s travel ban wa... |
9703 | "Bubble baby"" stem cell treatment looks like a cure" | This 400-word story is an update of a 2014 news release from UCLA that provides little in the way of new information about a new stem cell treatment for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). Given the story’s brevity, many key aspects of the disorder and its current treatment were neglected. The research methods wer... | false | stem cells | We think that costs should almost always be part of a discussion for a new treatment and this brief report is no exception. Autologous stem cell transplants, performed for certain types of cancer, can cost in excess of $100,000. Since the procedure is experimental, as noted in the story, it is not likely to be covered ... |
25958 | Only 56 coronavirus deaths a day was enough to collapse the world economy, even though thousands of people die daily from tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and other diseases. | The post used March 9 as its date for coronavirus deaths, which was right before deaths soared. Subsequent daily totals show that coronavirus deaths have become larger than any other disease on the list. The coronavirus spreads through the air, there is no vaccine or treatment, and by now it’s established itself in mos... | false | Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts, | "A social media post says the novel coronavirus causes a small number of deaths compared with other diseases, essentially arguing that the coronavirus shouldn’t have forced such widespread economic shutdowns. The July 8 post is headlined, ""Disease deaths per day worldwide."" In a bar chart, the post lists more than tw... |
27758 | A paramedic saved the doctor who saved his life as a baby. | The photograph used in the meme was taken in 2015, when the two reunited for a charity event. | true | Glurge Gallery, People | On 18 April 2016, the “Unbelievable Facts” Facebook page posted an image purportedly showing a paramedic and a doctor who saved each other’s lives: The story seemed like the most farfetched of urban legends, but it was in fact true. The photograph was taken from a news story from Los Angeles-area outlet KTLA on 29 Mar... |
3239 | Celebrity suicides highlight troubling trend in midlife. | The deaths of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and fashion designer Kate Spade highlight a troubling trend — rising suicides among middle-aged Americans. | true | Mental health, Health, Celebrity, Entertainment, North America, Anthony Bourdain, Kate Spade, Celebrities, Fashion design | Mental health problems, often undiagnosed, are usually involved and experts say knowing warning signs and who is at risk can help stop a crisis from becoming a tragedy. Bourdain, 61, and Spade, 55, died three days and a continent apart this week amid a new U.S. report showing an uptick in suicides rates in nearly every... |
39052 | This email lists seven alleged court decisions in various states in the U.S. that awarded large cash awards to people under apparently absurd circumstances, including occasions when they were responsible for their own injury or loss. Later versions say these court cases have won the “Stella Award,” named after an eld... | Only In America-crazy court awards | false | Miscellaneous | TruthOrFiction.com has checked court records and news archives for the cities mentioned, and have not found any documentation for any of these stories. When this eRumor started circulating, we didn’t find anything that resembled the “Stella Awards,” but there is a group that has now started such an award at http://www.... |
8400 | U.S., European health agencies to partner drugmakers in coronavirus fight. | U.S. health agencies, the European drug regulator and 16 top drugmakers will collaborate on vaccine and drug development efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. National Institutes of Health said on Friday. | true | Health News | "The partnership, known as the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV), will focus on coordinating regulatory decisions and provide funding to move promising therapies into human trials. ""We need to bring the full power of the biomedical research enterprise to bear on this crisis,"" NIH Di... |
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