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16173 | "Repeal of Obamacare would ""take away health care for 10.3 million Americans"" who have received coverage since Oct. 1, 2013." | "Schultz said repealing the Affordable Care Act would take away insurance coverage of about 10.3 million people. Based on multiple independent sources, the combination of the individual mandate, insurance subsidies through the insurance marketplaces, Medicaid expansion and raising the eligibility age for dependents del... | true | Corrections and Updates, Health Care, PunditFact, Ed Schultz, | "The Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, is back in the news as the 2015 open enrollment season gets underway. So far, unlike last year, the roll-out has been smooth. This hasn’t made Republicans a whit more fond of the law. Many want to repeal and replace it. Just before sign-ups began, liberal pundit and MSNBC show h... |
35344 | A sprawling conspiracy theory proves numerous individuals and organizations schemed to promote the drug Remdesivir as a COVID-19 treatment over the purportedly highly effective Hydroxychloroquine. | A sprawling conspiracy theory holds that numerous individuals and organizations schemed to promote Remdesivir over a drug that the U.S. president has touted. | false | Politics, COVID-19 | In May 2020, as the drug Remdesivir was being explored as a potential treatment for the COVID-19 coronavirus disease, a widespread social media post posited a sprawling conspiracy involving U.S. biopharmaceutical company Gilead, China, the international medical organization Unitaid, George Soros, Bill Gates, the World ... |
26217 | On keeping inspectors general independent of the president | "When inspectors general were up for debate in 2015, Johnson spoke out strongly and repeatedly about the need for independence, saying they shouldn’t compromise their work ""to appease the agency or the president."" He specifically condemned the idea of retaliating against inspectors general for reports superiors didn’... | false | Government Regulation, Wisconsin, Ron Johnson, | "When President Barack Obama was in office, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson was a fierce advocate for the independence of inspectors general, a group that serves as the internal watchdogs for the federal government. In comments before Congress, through reports of his committee and in news releases, he championed the need for ov... |
7261 | UN says 1st local polio case found in Zambia since 1995. | The World Health Organization says Zambia has reported its first local case of polio since 1995, in a 2-year-old boy paralyzed by a virus derived from the vaccine. | true | Africa, Health, Zambia, General News, United Nations | In a report this week, WHO said the case was detected on the border with Congo, which has reported 37 cases of polio traced to the vaccine this year. The U.N. health agency said there is no established link between the Zambia case and the ongoing Congo outbreak but said increased surveillance and vaccination efforts ar... |
25757 | “[Steve] Bullock’s health care plan will force rural hospitals to close. Medicare as we know it will change, replaced by a government-run program with fewer doctors and longer wait times.” | The National Republican Senatorial Committee campaign ad attacks Democratic challenger Steve Bullock on behalf of Montana Sen. Steve Daines. It takes issue with the Montana governor’s support for a public option ― generally defined as a federally administered health plan that would compete with private insurers on the ... | false | Elections, Health Check, National Republican Senatorial Committee, | "An attack ad, which was released in mid-July, states that Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democratic candidate for the Senate, supports a government-run health care program that would wreak havoc on the state’s health care infrastructure. ""Bullock’s health care plan will force rural hospitals to close. Medicare as we k... |
9535 | Older Patients Can Benefit From Lung Cancer Surgery | According to this story from NPR, new study findings apparently challenge the conventional wisdom that surgery to remove lung cancer is too hard to bear for older adults. The story overstates the findings, however, by saying patients “can benefit.” The study was observational only; it was a “competing risks analysis” t... | false | lung cancer | There is no mention of the costs associated with the surgery. There is only one short paragraph dedicated to quantifying the benefits of surgery, and it’s inaccurate: “One year after surgery, more people had died from other causes than died from lung cancer. And, after five years, almost 9 out of 10 patients were alive... |
505 | Ferries halted, alarms triggered as Sydney choked by bushfire smoke. | Smoke from Australia’s fierce bushfires settled over Sydney in still conditions on Tuesday, setting off fire alarms, and halting ferry services as famous landmarks disappeared behind some of the worst haze seen in the harbor city. | true | Environment | A 60 km (37.2 miles) firefront is devastating tinder-dry areas northwest of Sydney, Australia’s largest city, and sending hazardous smoke across the east and over the Pacific, even causing haze more than 2,000 km (1243 miles) away in New Zealand, satellite images show. “This smoky period we’ve been experiencing for the... |
8929 | With Wuhan virus genetic code in hand, scientists begin work on a vaccine. | When a newly organized vaccine research group at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) met for the first time this week, its members had expected to be able to ease into their work. But their mandate is to conduct human trials for emerging health threats - and their first assignment came at shocking speed. | true | Health News | In just three months time, they likely will be testing the first of a number of potential experimental vaccines against the new SARS-like coronavirus that is spreading in China and beyond. “I told them, ‘you are going to have your baptism of fire, folks’,” Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Aller... |
10080 | Mix, match, and switch: Kidney exchanges between strangers | The article describes paired organ donation, which might increase the number of people who are able to receive organ transplants, particularly those who have hard-to-match blood or tissue types. The article does a nice job of describing the availability and history of this practice and just what it is. However, the art... | mixture | The article does not mention any costs, including who pays for travel, hospital, physician, or immunosuppresant medication expenses. Also, the kidney swap program entails huge logistical hurdles/challenges, as not every medical center can afford/provide 4 transplant teams working simultaneously; the swap entails 4 hosp... | |
4448 | University at Buffalo gets $1.1 million for genetics study. | The University at Buffalo is getting $1.1 million in federal funding to study mosquito and fruit fly genetics. | true | Dengue fever, Genetics, Charles Schumer, Science, Kirsten Gillibrand, Buffalo | Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced the funding Thursday. They say the university’s research on the nervous systems and genetics of mosquitoes and fruit flies will advance the science behind the spread of illnesses like Zika virus and dengue fever. The university will also use the funding to creat... |
7911 | Coronavirus pandemic leads big drugmakers to hit pause on clinical trials. | U.S. drugmakers Eli Lilly and Co and Bristol Myers Squibb said they are delaying the start of new clinical trials in part to free up doctors and healthcare facilities to deal with the surge in patients infected with the new coronavirus. | true | Health News | Lilly and Bristol are the biggest drugmakers yet to announce clinical trial delays in the face of the pandemic that has killed over 16,000 people worldwide, after several small biotech companies said last week that they would be pulling back on drug studies. The moves are not related to clinical trials testing drugs or... |
26132 | The Buffalo protester pushed to the ground “had been previously arrested 300 times. 82 times for incitement. Riots is what he does for a living.” | In his personal blog, Gugino writes that he has been arrested four times. After research, we did not find evidence of other arrests. Friends describe him as a peaceful protester, not someone who riots “for a living.” | false | Criminal Justice, Crime, Race and Ethnicity, Public Safety, Facebook posts, | "Friends and acquaintances described the 75-year-old man whom police shoved to the ground in Buffalo, N.Y., as a peaceable activist. But baseless posts on social media accuse Martin Gugino of having a very different background. One Facebook post claimed, without evidence, that Gugino is a lifelong criminal. ""This is t... |
1817 | Chocolate too bitter? Swap sugar for mushrooms. | An upstart U.S. food technology company has developed a unique fermentation process using mushrooms to reduce bitterness in cocoa beans that it believes will cut sugar content in chocolate candy. | true | Health News | A year after first launching its fermentation method to reduce bitterness in coffee beans, one of the world’s biggest commodity markets, MycoTechnology, Inc is expanding into cocoa and will launch its process on Tuesday. The market is smaller, but the potential may be bigger with health-conscious consumers seeking lowe... |
20713 | "Students today ""take more years to get through"" college." | The Federal Trade Commission issued civil subpoenas to Johnson and Johnson in June as part of an investigation into whether contracting practices for its blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug, Remicade, violated antitrust laws, the company said in a regulatory filing on Monday. | false | National, Education, Newt Gingrich, | Shares of the company traded marginally down at $132.47, after having closed up 1.7% on Monday. (bit.ly/2ZkZGze) J&J said that the FTC had issued a “civil investigative demand,” or CID, the equivalent of a subpoena to determine if the contracting practices were legal. Pfizer Inc filed a lawsuit against J&J in 2017, ... |
8769 | California stop-smoking campaign saved $86 billion: report. | California’s large-scale tobacco control campaign has saved $86 billion in health care costs in its first 15 years, U.S. researchers said on Monday. | true | Health News | A no-smoking sign is seen outside a restaurant in Beverly Hills, California October 1, 2007. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni The $86 billion reduction in health costs, based on 2004 dollars, represents about a 50-fold return on the $1.8 billion California spent on the program, they said. “The benefits of the program accrued very... |
21957 | "Sandy Pasch Says U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan promised to ""end health care for our seniors." | Democratic Wisconsin state Rep. Sandy Pasch says GOP U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan would end health care for seniors | false | Health Care, Medicare, Wisconsin, Sandy Pasch, | "When some Democrats look at the federal budget plan proposed by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., it’s as if they’ve caught sight of a tiki bar at the end of a hot summer day. They aren’t envisioning fruity drinks with tiny umbrellas, but rather electoral victories. The Democrats see Ryan’s plan, particularly i... |
10366 | Study of 83,000 veterans finds cardiovascular benefits to testosterone replacement | An observational study of some 83,000 men whose low levels of testosterone were either treated or untreated finds that returning those levels to “normal” was associated with a lower risk of death, stroke, or heart attack. The research joins a growing number of studies of the effects of testosterone therapy that, togeth... | mixture | cardiovascular disease,Government agency news release,Observational studies | Cost is not mentioned in this document. Generic testosterone is relatively inexpensive, which suggests that if these results reflect a real benefit, the treatment might actually be cost saving. Although the press release does provide likelihood estimates of illness or death as a result of testosterone treatment, indica... |
37499 | Animated GIF accurately shows a massive spike in jobless claims and unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. | ‘Mammoth Unemployment Claims in Their Historical Context’ GIF | mixture | Fact Checks, Viral Content | In early April 2020, the animated image below spread on Facebook and Twitter, bearing the label “U.S. Weekly Initial Jobless Claims (thousands, seasonally adjusted)”; no source for the shocking graph was immediately available.Blurry text at the bottom appeared to hint at a source, but it was difficult to read without c... |
26582 | "Turning Point USA Says Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak ""has banned the use of an anti-malaria drug that might help cure coronavirus.”" | A Nevada emergency regulation restricts the prescription of chloroquine for COVID-19 patients in outpatient settings, but not in hospitals and emergency rooms. Gov. Steve Sisolak signed the order on the recommendation of state health officials, who said there is the potential for stockpiling the drug. Federal regulator... | false | Public Health, PunditFact, Coronavirus, Turning Point USA, | "A malaria drug that could potentially be used to treat COVID-19 has become the latest political touchpoint of the coronavirus pandemic. A meme published on Facebook by Turning Point USA, a conservative group that targets high school and college students, claims Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak bucked doctors’ recommendations... |
3451 | French group sues over toxic lead from Notre Dame fire. | A French group has filed a lawsuit over potential public health threats from lead that was released into the environment during Notre Dame Cathedral’s devastating fire. | true | Health, Lawsuits, Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, Travel, Europe, General News, International News | Hundreds of tons of toxic lead in Notre Dame’s spire and roof melted during the April fire. Exceptionally high levels of lead later were detected in the surrounding air. French environmental protection group Robin des Bois said it brought the lawsuit on grounds of deliberately endangering human life. The group alleged ... |
10085 | Close Look at Orthotics Raises a Welter of Doubts | The question posed in the article is basically the following: “Are shoe inserts (foot orthotics) effective in the prevention and treatment of injuries among athletes?”’ Why is this impossibly broad? This question encompasses dozens of musculoskeletal, neurologic, and degenerative conditions involving scores of scient... | false | New York Times | It would have been useful to discuss the relative costs of off-the-shelf and custom shoe inserts. The former are generally less than $50 while the latter can run into many hundreds of dollars. The article mentions the expensive price-tag of custom-made orthotics. It didn’t, however, discuss the overall costs of off-the... |
36357 | Infant mortality rates are accurately represented in a meme about state abortion bans. | Infant Mortality Rates vs. Abortion Bans Meme | true | Fact Checks, Viral Content | On May 30 2019 the Facebook page “Occupy Democrats” shared the following meme (archived here), purportedly contrasting rates of infant mortality in states which had recently passed or had pending restrictions on abortion:In a column on the left side of the meme, nine states were numbered under a column, “states passing... |
7398 | Genetic sleuthing bolsters food poisoning searches. | Disease hunters are using genetic sequencing in their investigation of the ongoing food poisoning outbreak linked to romaine lettuce, a technique that is revolutionizing the detection of germs in food. | true | Food poisoning, AP Top News, Health, Genetic Frontiers, North America, Science, Poisoning, Atlanta, U.S. News | The genetic analysis is being used to bolster investigations and — in some cases — connect the dots between what were once seemingly unrelated illnesses. It also is uncovering previously unfathomed sources of food poisoning, including one outbreak from apples dipped in caramel. So far, most of the work has largely focu... |
2796 | Germany faces chickenpox jab shortage after GSK problems. | German doctors have been told to ration two chickenpox vaccines for children after drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline stopped deliveries, saying production quality standards had not been met. | true | Health News | Healthcare regulators have issued guidelines to physicians to deal with shortages of Priorix-Tetra, a combined vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox) known as MMRV; and Varilrix, a chickenpox jab. Vaccines that have already been delivered are safe, said Germany’s federal agency for infectious di... |
26816 | "Coronavirus patients are being ""cremated alive"" in China." | A popular video shows a woman who was purportedly hospitalized for the coronavirus saying she saw Chinese officials put a man who was still breathing in several plastic bags and take him away. The Chinese government has ordered the swift cremation of patients who die after contracting the coronavirus. But there is no e... | false | Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts, | "As American officials brace for new potential coronavirus outbreaks, a conspiracy theory about the cremation of victims in China is gaining traction online. The source is a website connected to Steve Bannon and an exiled Chinese billionaire. A Facebook video published Feb. 25 by a page called China Declassified assert... |
26797 | “Three Chinese nationals were apprehended trying to cross our Southern border illegally. Each had flu-like symptoms. Border Patrol quickly quarantined them and assessed any threat of coronavirus.” | Kirk’s tweet gets some things right, but includes inaccurate details, like the number of people with symptoms and whether individuals were quarantined. The tweet is also missing a key detail: All three people were medically cleared. | true | Texas, Coronavirus, Charlie Kirk, | "Health officials across the country are bracing for the likely spread of the new coronavirus in the United States, which federal officials have said is inevitable. The new virus was first reported in China, which remains the epicenter of the outbreak. The virus has spread to at least 57 other countries. U.S. Customs a... |
26520 | Viral image Says a California surfer was “alone, in the ocean,” when he was arrested for violating the state’s stay-at-home order. | Beaches in Los Angeles County are closed to slow the spread of coronavirus. A paddle boarder in Malibu was arrested because authorities say he violated the state’s stay-at-home order. The man was also arrested on suspicion of disobeying a lifeguard. | true | Facebook Fact-checks, California, Coronavirus, Viral image, | "California health officials have warned that beaches pose a health threat during the pandemic because they draw large crowds of people who cluster together, according to the Los Angeles Times. In March, Los Angeles County closed all of its beaches to try to slow the spread of coronavirus. But an image being shared on ... |
26420 | “Hundreds and hundreds of labs are ready, willing, and able.” | The president said the White House has a list that shows many untapped labs are ready to go to do more testing. Labs exist, but how many are ready to handle the patient specimens sent to them is unknown. | false | National, Coronavirus, Donald Trump, | "At a coronavirus press conference, President Donald Trump said he has a newly assembled list of labs across the country that have the equipment needed to conduct tests for the novel coronavirus. ""We provided each governor with a list of the names, addresses, and phone numbers of the labs where they can find additiona... |
82 | Cause of Philadelphia fire sounds alarm over aging U.S. refineries. | How did a piece of piping installed when Richard Nixon was U.S. president go without once being checked before leading to a fire that devastated the East Coast’s largest and oldest oil refinery? | true | Environment | That’s a question safety experts and activists are putting to regulators after the devastating fire at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) refinery in June, worried more disasters are waiting to happen in an industry reliant on old equipment. Last year, U.S. refiners processed nearly 17 million barrels of crude oil... |
2918 | New York's medical marijuana law excludes some who seek the drug. | When New York moves ahead with its planned legalization of medical marijuana for the chronically ill, Missy Miller’s epileptic son Oliver will be left behind. | true | Health News | Oliver suffered a brain stem injury in utero and now, at 14, has hundreds of seizures a day. For months, his family has pinned their hopes on a strain of marijuana developed in Colorado that has helped children with similar conditions. But under an executive order by Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday making New York t... |
7744 | Macedonia takes emergency measures as smog engulfs cities. | The Macedonian government has extended the school break until Jan. 23 and introduced measures to protect people from dangerous air pollution levels which have soared to 10 times above the European Union’s regulatory limits. | true | Environment | Authorities in the capital Skopje, where face masks have become a common sight, introduced free train and bus rides and doubled parking fees to discourage the use of cars. People with chronic illnesses and the elderly have been excused from work. “The air pollution has become one of the biggest problems in Macedonia,” ... |
3745 | Italy health authorities investigate pneumonia outbreak. | Health authorities in northern Italy are investigating whether bacteria — including the one that causes Legionnaires’ disease — inhaled from the water supply is behind an outbreak of pneumonia that has afflicted nearly 150 people. | true | Health, Italy, Europe, Legionnaires disease, Pneumonia | Experts said Monday that a single contamination but spread out over several towns and villages in Brescia was likely responsible since the cases were mostly reported in a short timeframe, not the usual person-to-person transmission that would drag out during a typical outbreak. At least two of the cases reportedly invo... |
8070 | Beware second waves of COVID-19 if lockdowns eased early: study. | Extending school and work closures at the coronavirus’ ground zero in China may delay a second wave of infections, researchers said on Thursday, urging the rest of the world to take note. | true | Health News | With containment measures largely successful and the epidemic’s epicenter now in Europe, China has loosened a two-month lockdown in the city of Wuhan where the new coronavirus is thought to have jumped from wildlife to people late last year. But a study in The Lancet Public Health journal suggested continuing Wuhan’s s... |
23387 | "Ed Schultz said Alan Grayson is ""what it's all about." | Was MSNBC's Ed Schultz talking about Alan Grayson in Grayson's flashy new ad? | true | Message Machine 2010, Pundits, Florida, Alan Grayson, | "With friends like Oliver Stone, it's no surprise Alan Grayson is blitzing Central Florida airwaves with glitzy, Hollywood-style campaign ads. Grayson, a Democrat considered vulnerable in his re-election campaign against former Florida House Speaker Dan Webster, is airing a series of ads called ""When They Lie."" The c... |
29297 | Florida residents affected by Hurricane Irma can receive $197 in food stamp benefits, but only if they can show that their homes lost power for more than two hours. | What's true: Florida residents who normally receive food stamps (SNAP) can continue to do so, and SNAP benefits have been improved in response to Hurricane Irma. Food stamps have also been extended beyond ordinary recipients under a program called Disaster-SNAP. What's false: Disaster-SNAP does not require individual h... | false | Viral Phenomena, FEMA, florida, food stamps | In September 2017, Facebook users spread several rumors about government benefits and assistance available to Florida residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. One of these rumors involved the provision of food stamps for Floridians whose homes had experienced power outages of at least two hours in duration. A typi... |
7349 | Iraqi doctor’s fight with virus lays bare a battered system. | Dr. Marwa al-Khafaji’s homecoming after 20 days in a hospital isolation ward was met by spite. Someone had barricaded her family home’s gate with a concrete block. | true | AP Top News, Understanding the Outbreak, Health, Middle East, Pandemics, Virus Outbreak, Iraq, General News | The message from the neighbors was clear: She had survived coronavirus, but the stigma surrounding the disease would be a more pernicious fight. The young physician was catapulted into the front lines of Iraq’s battle with the virus in early March. The Associated Press followed her tale from inside a squalid quarantine... |
9824 | Drug Eases Gout Flare-ups in Some Patients: Study | Two powerful storms that struck Spain and Portugal in quick succession over the past three days have killed at least eight people and caused widespread flooding and damage. | false | Gout | In the southern region of Andalusia, a spokesman for the emergency services said they had recovered the body of a windsurfer in the province of Huelva, and a second man died in Granada attempting to ford a swollen river in his car. In Madrid a woman died on Saturday after being injured by a piece of falling masonry dis... |
18347 | "Carolyn Tomei Says, ""In Oregon in 2010, 49 percent of all pregnancies were unintended." | Were half of all pregnancies in Oregon unintended? | true | Oregon, Children, Families, Health Care, Women, Carolyn Tomei, | "In honor of National Women’s Health Week, Oregon Rep. Carolyn Tomei, D-Milwaukie, talked up the benefits of a health initiative that encourages primary care providers to ask women whether they wish to get pregnant within the year or not. The goal is to provide prenatal care to women who want a baby and contraception o... |
11285 | Ginkgo fails to prevent Alzheimer’s in large study | Ginkgo biloba (ginkgo), a botanical dietary supplement, is widely used by people hoping to improve memory and those who want to prevent or treat dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. However, scientific research to prove these benefits has not been convincing. Now the results of a research study, called the Ginkgo Evaluati... | true | Yes, this story reported that a four month supply of ginkgo cost about $10. After reading this article there is no mistaking that ginkgo is not beneficial for preventing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease in older adults. The absolute differences in outcomes between groups was reported. There has been concern in the medic... | |
23223 | Shows in a television ad that police took evidence from Solantic, Rick Scott's new health care company, after allegations emerged that the company was engaging in fraud. | Problems at Rick Scott's new health care business, Solantic, alleged in new ad | false | Health Care, Legal Issues, Message Machine 2010, Florida, Florida Democratic Party, | "Democrat Alex Sink is airing a rare, two-minute campaign ad that tries to link Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott to alleged fraud at a urgent patient care business he founded in 2001, Solantic. The spot, called ""Fraud Files,"" opens more like an introduction to a Dateline NBC episode than a campaign comme... |
29937 | Senator Kamala Harris is not eligible to serve as U.S. President because neither of her parents was “a legal resident for 5 years prior to [her] birth” and she was “not raised in the United States.” | Regardless, Kamala Harris has resided in the United States since she left Montreal for Howard University in 1982. She has been a United States citizen her entire life, and she is constitutionally eligible to run for president. | false | Politics, constitutional law, jacob wohl, Kamala Harris | In January 2019, Jacob Wohl — a Twitter political troll and veteran of a failed smear campaign against Robert Mueller — dipped his toes into the topic of constitutional law, asserting his view that 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris of California was constitutionally ineligible to hold the off... |
3941 | North Carolina health officials report pediatric flu death. | North Carolina has its first pediatric flu death for the 2019-2020 flu season, health officials said. | true | Health, General News, North Carolina, Flu | A child in the western part of the state died in December from complications from the flu, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said in a news release on Thursday. The department said it won’t release any additional information on the child. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there... |
5225 | Trump escapes blame for ethanol policy hurting corn farmers. | Midwest farmers and their Republican elected officials rarely miss a chance to shower President Donald Trump with praise when he takes actions they believe help agriculture, but they’re now parsing their words over the administration’s policies dealing with ethanol. | true | Iowa, General News, Environment, Tom Vilsack, Agriculture, Biofuels, Donald Trump | While they have offered their effusive thanks to Trump for his support for the Environmental Protection Agency to allow year-round sales of E15, a higher blend of ethanol, they have criticized that same agency but not the president over an EPA recommendation last week that could limit growth of the biofuels industry. T... |
7073 | Tina Turner reveals husband gave her kidney for transplant. | Tina Turner has revealed that she underwent a kidney transplant with an organ donated by her husband. | true | Tina Turner, Erwin Bach, AP Top News, Music, Entertainment, Health, Kidney transplants, Europe | The 78-year-old singer says in an upcoming autobiography that she has suffered from kidney disease, and by 2016 her kidneys were at “20 percent and plunging rapidly.” She says her husband, Erwin Bach, “shocked me by saying that he wanted to give me one of his kidneys.” Turner says she was “overwhelmed by the enormity o... |
24602 | "Page 992 of the health care bill will ""establish school-based 'health' clinics. Your children will be indoctrinated and your grandchildren may be aborted!" | School health clinics would not provide abortions | false | Abortion, National, Health Care, Liberty Counsel, | "Critics of the Democratic health care proposal have been increasingly raising concerns that the plan would provide taxpayer-subsidized abortions (a claim we address here ). The Liberty Counsel, a conservative group, puts a different twist on that concern, alleging that Page 992 of the bill ""will establish school-ba... |
16078 | The reason why Cubans don't have access to 21st century telecommunications — like smart phones, like access to the Internet — is because it is illegal in Cuba. | "Rubio said that rather than the U.S. embargo, the reason why Cubans ""don't have access to 21st century telecommunications — like smart phones, like access to the Internet — is because it is illegal in Cuba."" ""Illegal"" is probably the wrong word. There are some ways to legally access the Internet in Cuba, but not i... | true | National, Economy, Foreign Policy, Technology, Marco Rubio, | "There’s a good chance most Cubans won’t be able to read this article. And the reason why — lack of Internet access — is a point of a contention between President Barack Obama and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio. Obama on Wednesday, Dec. 17 announced sweeping changes to the United States’ decades-old isolation policy again... |
7413 | Oregon sees 1st case of childhood disease linked to virus. | Oregon has confirmed its first confirmed case of a rare inflammatory disease in children that has been linked to COVID-19. | true | Health, General News, Oregon, Infectious diseases, Portland, Virus Outbreak, Public health | The Oregon Health Authority announced the case of pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome Wednesday. The case in Oregon involves a girl who had confirmed COVID-19. She is being treated at Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel in Portland. Officials said the syndrome is similar to Kawasaki disease, which ca... |
7507 | WHO chief ‘very encouraged’ by dip in Congo Ebola cases. | The head of the World Health Organization said Tuesday that experts are “very encouraged” after only three new cases of Ebola have been reported in the past week in eastern Congo, a sign that the world’s second deadliest Ebola epidemic in history could finally be waning after 18 months. | true | International News, Ebola virus, Public health, Africa, Epidemics, Senegal, United Nations, Virus Outbreak, General News | The epidemic that already has killed at least 2,249 people has posed challenges never faced before in public health — the deadly Ebola virus in a conflict zone where not only militia fighters but also communities frightened of outsiders have attacked health workers. Those security risks have brought vaccination efforts... |
26469 | “In a matter of days, and in some cases the moment may even have passed, that we’ve reached the peak of the rate of infections.” | U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey wants the president to reopen the economy, and in an interview with Politico, he said he sees clear signs that the country is ready – even as top public health officials studying the coronavirus warn against moving too quickly. On Monday, states reported at least 1,500 new fatalities, a figure belo... | mixture | National, Coronavirus, Pennsylvania, Pat Toomey, | "U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey wants the president to reopen the economy, and in an interview with Politico, he said he sees clear signs that the country is ready – even as top public health officials studying the coronavirus warn against moving too quickly. ""In a matter of days, and in some cases the moment may even have pass... |
10911 | Barley lowers not one but two types of 'bad cholesterol', review suggests | This news release summarizes a meta-analysis of studies measuring the cholesterol-lowering properties of barley. The analysis found that barley consumption was associated with lower cholesterol but its effectiveness in reducing risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) is implied, not proven. The release would have been mu... | mixture | Hospital news release | Barley, like oats or other grains are cheap and plentiful. Mentioning their cost in the story is unlikely to be an important factor. There was no quantification of benefits. You have to go back to the original study to learn this: “A median dose of 6.5 and 6.9 g/day of barley β-glucan for a median duration of 4 weeks ... |
5548 | WHO says tainted food outbreak threatens 16 African nations. | A deadly outbreak linked to tainted food in South Africa is now threatening other African nations, with neighboring Namibia reporting a confirmed case that might be connected, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. | true | World Health Organization, Health, Africa, Southern Africa, South Africa, Namibia, West Africa | In a statement, WHO said it has reached out to 16 countries to help with preparedness and response to the listeriosis outbreak that has killed nearly 200 people since January 2017. South Africa’s health minister has said there have been 950 cases in all. Contaminated meat products may have been exported to two West Afr... |
10896 | Vitamin D supplements could help reduce falls in homebound elderly | This release started out very strong in describing the major findings of a study of vitamin D for preventing falls — an issue of critical importance to the nation’s growing universe of senior citizens and the people who care for them. The release offers a clear summary of the problem and intervention. It also describes... | mixture | Academic medical center news release | The news release makes no mention of the cost of Vitamin D supplements, which would likely be important to the elderly population, many of whom live on fixed incomes. Nor does it mention a key fact about the Older Americans Act that was cited in the study itself: “Although OAA nutrition programs can provide education a... |
37416 | "Ear-piercing ""guns"" are inherently dangerous and piercing with a hollow needle is always a safer option for ear piercing." | ‘Say NO to Piercing Guns’ Viral Facebook Post | false | Fact Checks, Viral Content | On December 29 2019, Facebook user Stephanie Lipscy shared the following post beginning with “say NO to piercing guns,” alongside an illustration of an ear being pierced:Lipscy said that the use of ear piercing guns caused “a blunt-force trauma” that is always damaging to ears, claiming that until recently, “we didn’t ... |
3491 | Is the stethoscope dying? High-tech rivals pose a threat. | Two centuries after its invention, the stethoscope — the very symbol of the medical profession — is facing an uncertain prognosis. | true | AP Top News, Chicago, Health, General News, Medical schools, Ultrasound, Business, Smartphones, Artificial intelligence, Technology, Weekend Reads, U.S. News | It is threatened by hand-held devices that are also pressed against the chest but rely on ultrasound technology, artificial intelligence and smartphone apps instead of doctors’ ears to help detect leaks, murmurs, abnormal rhythms and other problems in the heart, lungs and elsewhere. Some of these instruments can yield ... |
14256 | Studies have consistently failed to establish the existence of a link between the harshness of a country’s drug laws and its levels of drug use. | Annan said that studies consistently fail to find a link between the harshness of a country’s drug laws and its levels of drug use. The experts we reached and the data and reports we found largely backed that up. In some places, tougher penalties led to less use. In others, tougher laws had no effect at all. In the Uni... | true | Global News Service, Drugs, Crime, Kofi Annan, | "Several Latin American and European countries pressed their case to decriminalize drugs at a special session of the United Nations this week. They came up short. The document that emerged maintained a basic prohibitionist stance. But the advocates for a softer touch did garner some prominent backers, including former ... |
23849 | Without representation, (the IRS) can increase taxes. | "Alabama Congressional candidate Rick Barber's ""Gather your armies"" ad goes viral" | false | National, Health Care, Message Machine 2010, Taxes, Rick Barber, | "Say this for Alabama candidates, they know how to make political ads that get noticed. The latest ad making a bid to join Dale ""Cowboy"" Peterson and Tim ""Learn It"" James in the Viral Ad Hall of Fame comes from Rick Barber, a tea party enthusiast running for Congress in Alabama's Second District Republican run-off.... |
8772 | Imaging industry seeks more coverage for cancer scans. | The medical imaging industry called for the Medicare government health plan to broaden its coverage of PET scans to additional cancer types, asking an advisory panel on Wednesday to recommend wider payments. | true | Health News | Representatives of the Academy of Molecular Imaging and other groups said that data collected from a nationwide patient registry showed positron emission tomography (PET) scans helped doctors adjust their treatment plans for roughly one-third of enrolled patients. “This is a broadly applicable technique to cancers in g... |
9188 | High rates of satisfaction for applicator free local estrogen softgel ovule | Screenshot: TherapeuticsMD The news release reports the results of a study examining women’s satisfaction with an applicator-free softgel used for vaginal estrogen therapy to treat post-menopausal vaginal dryness that can cause pain during sexual intercourse. The study involved 731 post-menopausal women who used a plac... | false | estrogen therapy,University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center | The news release provides no information about how much the softgels might cost. The release includes next to nothing in the way of numbers to back up its claim. It includes only one measured benefit: the majority of around 700 women or “(85.4 – 92.1 percent) found the product easy to use.” This was based on a post-tri... |
41654 | There are 5,240 fewer mental health nurses since 2010. | This seems to be looking at different months in 2010 and 2017, which isn’t the best comparison. Comparing the number of full-time equivalent mental health nurses between January 2010 and January 2018 (the latest figures), the drop is closer to 4,500. | true | health | There are 16,481 fewer beds in hospitals since 2010. This is in the right ballpark, but it doesn’t seem to be the best comparison. It seems to compare the number of beds at different times of the year, but the number available fluctuates seasonally. Comparing July-September in 2010 and 2017, the decrease in beds availa... |
6596 | Olympian Michael Phelps honored for mental health advocacy. | Michael Phelps is picking up more hardware — this time for what he’s been doing outside the pool. | true | Mental health, Health, Boston, Celebrities, Michael Phelps | The Boston-based Ruderman Family Foundation, a leading voice in calling for more opportunities for the disabled, said Tuesday the Olympic champion is the recipient of its fifth annual Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion. The foundation told The Associated Press it picked the world’s most decorated swimmer of all time... |
11050 | New Brain Scan May Predict Alzheimer’s | This is a story reporting on a very recent paper with results suggesting that diffusion MRI may be used as a tool for assessing memory function and may thus someday have a role in predicting future cognitive decline including that of Alzheimer’s disease. However the research itself did not involve individuals with Alzh... | false | "There was no discussion about direct costs for this test. The story always qualified any potential benefit as possibility by qualifying every claim with the term ‘may’. It would have improved this piece to include an explicit statement that there is currently no way to quantify what the benefit of early detection migh... | |
7387 | EPA sidesteps public comment, allows cancer-linked pesticide. | The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced that soybean farmers in 25 states are now able to spray a pesticide that the agency has determined is likely to cause cancer and drift hundreds of feet from where it is applied. | true | Plants, Genetics, Technology, Champaign, General News, Environment, Business, Weeds | The move was widely praised by farmers, who view the weedkiller as a new tool in an ever-increasing battle with “super weeds” that have developed resistance to as many as six different types of weedkillers, including glyphosate, the most widely used pesticide in the U.S. The herbicide, isoxaflutole, will be able to be ... |
1785 | Allowing blood donations from gay men could help save over a million lives: U.S. study. | Lifting a ban on blood donations from gay men would increase the amount of available blood by hundreds of thousands of pints (liters) each year and save more than a million lives a year, a California study showed on Friday. | true | Health News | The U.S. Federal Drug Administration has banned gay men from donating blood since 1983, when it was discovered that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was being transmitted through transfusions. Eliminating the ban could bring in roughly 615,300 pints (291,145 liters) of blood annually, while allowing donations from gay ... |
33633 | "A new drug called Jenkem, made by fermenting raw sewage, is a ""popular drug in American schools." | “I’ve heard some things and I’m sure it’s out there, we just haven’t made any arrests yet on it.” | false | Crime, drug warnings, jenkem, social media panics | Jenkem (or jekem) is the common name given to an inhalant made by fermenting raw sewage (i.e., fecal matter and urine), reportedly used as a cheap means of producing a dissociative or hallucinogenic high (particularly by children in third world countries). A Collier County, Florida, police informational bulletin about ... |
17921 | Cuccinelli wants to make all abortion illegal, even in cases of rape and incest, even to protect a woman’s health. | "McAuliffe’s ad says, ""Cuccinelli wants to make all abortion illegal, even in cases of rape and incest, even to protect a woman’s health."" Cuccinelli is an adamant opponent of abortion, but he has consistently supported one rare exception: Allowing abortion when a mother’s life is endangered by pregnancy. His positio... | false | Abortion, Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, | "Democrat Terry McAuliffe keeps returning to abortion in his effort to paint Republican Ken Cuccinelli as a conservative extremist. A new ad by McAuliffe features Holly Puritz, a Norfolk obstetrician and gynecologist, saying she’s ""offended"" by Cuccinelli. ""Cuccinelli wants to make all abortion illegal, even in case... |
10358 | Acupuncture Reduces Painful Side Effects of Breast Cancer Treatments | "The side effects of chemotherapy are many and very bothersome. If acupuncture could help ease these symptoms, it would be welcome news. This story reports on the presentation of a new study at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology meeting this week suggesting that acupuncture relieves side effect... | false | "The story does not mention the costs of acupuncture and whether or not insurance would likely cover it. The story does not adequately quantify the benefits of acupuncture. The story states that ""as many as three-quarters of cancer patients report being helped by acupuncture."" Compared to how many in the control grou... | |
23155 | Scientists have shown us (that) the greater possibilities, the real science movement, has been with adult stem cell research. It has not been with embryonic. | Scott Walker says scientists agree that adult stem cell research holds more promise than embryonic | false | Health Care, Wisconsin, Scott Walker, | "Stem cell research has emerged as a bright line separating the 2010 candidates for governor in Wisconsin. Democrat Tom Barrett supports both adult and embryonic stem cell research and sought to portray Republican rival Scott Walker as extreme with a TV ad that claimed Walker wants to ban stem cell research. We rated t... |
36615 | More Americans have been killed by guns than have died in all the wars that have occurred since the United States was founded. | Have More Americans Died in Gun-Related Incidents Than Wars Since the Founding of the United States? | true | Fact Checks, guns, Politics | On December 7 2018, the Facebook page Change The Ref shared this meme (text below):FACT: MORE AMERICANS HAVE DIED OF GUN-RELATED INCIDENTS IN THE LAST FIFTY YEARS THAN HAVE DIED IN WAR SINCE THE COUNTRY’S FOUNDING.A caption with the image read:#FckThat Fact of the Day: Did you know that more Americans have died of gun-... |
33309 | "Dustin Diamond (aka ""Screech"") was charged with second-degree murder after stabbing a man at a bar." | Diamond was eventually convicted of two misdemeanors, carrying a concealed weapon and disorderly conduct (but not recklessly endangering public safety, and was sentenced to four months in prison. He was released after serving three months of his sentence but was rearrested for violating his probation. | false | Media Matters, Not Necessarily The News | On 30 December 2014, the entertainment web site Empire News published an article claiming Dustin Diamond, the actor who played the character Screech on the popular 1990s television series Saved by the Bell, had been charged with second-degree murder after stabbing a man at a bar in Wisconsin: Former Saved By The Bell ... |
26227 | “Cases, numbers and deaths (of COVID-19) are going down all over the Country!” | Nationally, the data show a shrinking number of new daily infections and deaths. That downward pattern is also being mirrored in many states. However, some states are bucking that general pattern and seeing a rising number of new daily cases over time. This suggests a patchwork pattern where the coronavirus is accelera... | mixture | Public Health, Coronavirus, Donald Trump, | "As the number of coronavirus deaths neared 100,000, President Donald Trump struck an optimistic note about the state of the pandemic. ""Cases, numbers and deaths are going down all over the Country!"" Trump tweeted May 24. Broadly, Trump has a point that the known spread of the virus has slowed in much of the United S... |
31608 | The FitnessGram Pacer Test was banned from schools after it was deemed too cruel for children. | Although the FitnessGram Pacer Test may still strike fear into people of a certain age, this test was not banned from schools for being overly cruel to children. | false | Junk News, neomongolia news network | On 12 March 2017, the Twitter account @memeprovider recirculated an old rumor holding that the FitnessGram Pacer Test (a multistage aerobic capacity test that progressively gets more difficult as it continues) had been banned from schools because it was deemed too cruel for children: A controversial fitness test has b... |
4003 | UN: Measles cases spike in numerous outbreaks worldwide. | The World Health Organization says cases of measles are continuing to spike globally, with multiple large outbreaks being reported across Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. | true | Health, Measles, General News, Africa, Infectious diseases, United Nations, Europe, Middle East | In an update on Wednesday, the U.N. health agency said Congo has reported more than 250,000 suspected cases this year, including 5,110 deaths. In Europe, there have been more than 56,000 cases in Ukraine. Sizeable outbreaks have also been reported in Brazil, Bangladesh and elsewhere. WHO noted that two large epidemics ... |
34154 | A photograph of U.S. President Donald Trump in his Trump Tower office in 2016 with several boxes of Sudafed in the background provides credible evidence of stimulant abuse. | Because the central facts used to make the argument that Trump is abusing Sudafed based on this photograph are rooted in fatally flawed logic and incorrect statements of fact, we rank the claim as “False.” | false | Politics | In October 2019, a picture from 2016 of U.S. President Donald Trump eating a taco bowl with the caption “I love Hispanics” re-entered online discourse, this time as evidence that “then-candidate Trump was abusing Sudafed.” The photo — which appears to show three boxes of the name brand nasal decongestant Sudafed in a d... |
28522 | President Trump abruptly closed the Dogs for Wounded Warriors program. | What's true: Walter Reed National Military Medical Center issued a stop work order to the Warrior Canine Connection on 27 October 2017, citing patient safety concerns. What's false: The stop work order was issued by Walter Reed officials, not President Trump, and concerns about the Warrior Canine Connection had been ra... | mixture | Politics Military, donald trump, the political voice, walter reed | On 11 November 2017, multiple web sites published identical articles claiming that President Trump had “abruptly” and personally halted a program involving therapy dogs and wounded veterans, leaving the latter “high and dry” on Veterans Day: Trump Abruptly Shuts Down Dogs for Wounded Warriors Program, Leaving Vets High... |
17136 | From 1972 until 2011, the number of EPA employees increased by 107 percent while the number of total federal personnel decreased by 15 percent. | "Griffith said, ""From 1972 until 2011, the number of EPA employees increased by 107 percent while the number of total federal personnel decreased by 15 percent."" There are a few minor issues with Griffith’s choice of dates and numbers, but we won’t quibble. The EPA increase would have dipped below 100 percent if Grif... | true | Environment, Jobs, Virginia, Morgan Griffith, | "U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith has long blamed regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency for the decline of the coal industry across the nation and in his Southwest Virginia district. Griffith, R-9th, introduced a bill to cut 15 percent of the EPA’s budget, saying the agency has grown ""out of control."" ""From 19... |
26759 | Cuba has a lung cancer vaccine we in the US had no access to because we sanctioned Cuba.” | Cancer vaccines don’t prevent disease; the focus is on slowing tumor growth. The Cuban vaccine Cimavax was developed in the 1990s and extended life by about three months in trials there. After the United States normalized relations with Cuba, the drug became available for a small clinical trial in the United States in ... | mixture | National, Elections, Health Care, Facebook Fact-checks, Bloggers, | "Online supporters of Bernie Sanders came to his defense on the issue of Cuba, touting the communist island nation’s accomplishments beyond improving literacy rates. ""Cuba has a lung cancer vaccine we in the US had no access to because we sanctioned Cuba,"" the Feb. 24 post said. ""Cuba eliminated HIV transmission fro... |
534 | Japan clears restart at nuclear reactor closest to epicenter of 2011 quake. | Japan’s Tohoku Electric Power said on Wednesday it has won initial regulatory approval to restart a reactor at its Onagawa power plant, more than 8 years after it was damaged in the earthquake and tsunami that caused the Fukushima disaster. | true | Environment | Tohoku Electric said in a statement it has received a first green light from Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority to restart the No. 2 reactor at Onagawa, subject to a public consultation period. Onagawa was the closest among Japan’s nuclear stations to the epicenter of the magnitude-9 quake in March 2011, which trigge... |
17395 | If you have a union job, you're making on average $950 a week. If you have a non-union job, you're making $750 a week. | "Perez said. ""If you have a union job, you're making on average $950 a week. If you have a non-union job, you're making $750 a week."" His figures are correct, but with an asterisk -- Perez should have specified ""median"" when he said ""average."" In general, though, his overall point is backed up by the data." | true | National, Jobs, Workers, Thomas Perez, | "Do union members really make $200 a week more than people who aren’t in unions? Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez said so during the Feb. 4, 2014, edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, Perez said, ""just came out with their data on union membership. … If you have a union job, you're making on a... |
29282 | "Orson Welles' 30 October 1938 radio adaptation of ""The War of the Worlds"" caused mass hysteria, convincing thousands of panicked listeners across North America that Earth was being attacked by Mars." | "Accounts conflict about how terrified Americans really were by Orson Welles' infamous 1938 ""War of the Worlds"" Halloween broadcast." | false | Entertainment, halloween, Radio | Of the countless adaptations made of H.G. Wells’ 1897 science fiction classic The War of the Worlds over the past century, the one that remains most talked and written about to this day was Orson Welles’ live radio broadcast on 30 October 1938. It boasted a distinctly modern twist. Keen on cementing his reputation as a... |
26026 | Rick Scott Says “Joe Biden supported the Castro regime and meeting with Maduro.” | Biden has said that if he’s elected, he wants to resume Obama’s re-engagement with Cuba. Biden spoke with Maduro at the swearing-in ceremony for the president in Brazil in 2015. Experts told us that Biden’s support for Obama’s engagement policy with Cuba does not equal supporting the regime. Some conservatives have arg... | false | Foreign Policy, Florida, Rick Scott, | "When asked about President Donald Trump’s sagging poll numbers in Florida, Trump ally and Florida Sen. Rick Scott accused presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden of being an ally of Latin American dictators. ""Biden supported the Castro regime and meeting with Maduro,"" Scott told Greta Van Susteren on her news show ... |
15097 | "Honduras ""bans citizens from owning guns"" and has the ""highest homicide rate in the entire world."" Switzerland, with a similar population, ""requires citizens to own guns"" and has the ""lowest homicide rate in the entire world." | The viral post aims to jolt readers with a counterintuitive implication: Gun laws can lead to deadly unintended consequences. But the post is flawed on many levels. The comparison based on similar population size alone is shallow, and non-scientific. Moreover, Switzerland does not have the world’s lowest homicide level... | false | Crime, PunditFact, Viral image, | "There’s a reason they don’t call it Factbook. The latest example of a misleading factoid gone viral casts restrictive gun policy as a backfiring failure, with two countries as case studies. On one side of the post is Honduras, with a population of 8.2 million people and a government that ""bans citizens from owning gu... |
29525 | Bill O'Reilly was denied custody of his children because he physically attacked their mother. | "What's true: In February 2016, a New York State appellate court decided that a standing custody arrangement between Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly and his wife be upheld and remain unaltered. What's false: Published court documents didn't suggest O'Reilly ""lost custody"" of his children due to domestic violence o... | false | Entertainment, bill o'reilly, child custody, misleading | On 10 May 2016, the Facebook page “Occupy Democrats” published a post claiming that Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly lost custody of his two children because he abused his ex-wife: Clicking through the link led to an article from Occupy Democrats, this one in February 2016: Notorious FOX pundit Bill O’Reilly has bee... |
2049 | Second-hand smoke kills 600,000 a year: WHO study. | Around one in a hundred deaths worldwide is due to passive smoking, which kills an estimated 600,000 people a year, World Health Organization (WHO) researchers said on Friday. | true | Health News | An advisory image printed on cigarette packs sold in Brazil. Around one in a hundred deaths worldwide is due to passive smoking, which kills an estimated 600,000 people a year, says the WHO. REUTERS/Health Ministry/Handout In the first study to assess the global impact of second-hand smoke, WHO experts found that child... |
3912 | Health counselor sentenced for $200k in fraudulent claims. | A mental health counselor in Connecticut who authorities say billed nearly $200,000 in fraudulent Medicaid claims has been sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison. | true | Mental health, Norwich, Health, General News, Connecticut, Medicaid | Susan Britt, of Norwich, was sentenced Tuesday to five years for each of two counts of health insurance fraud, suspended after 2 ½ years served. The Department of Social Services opened an investigation into Britt’s business when they noticed she was using Medicaid despite her high pay. Britt’s practice, An Inner Peace... |
27526 | The bite of a rare breed of tick most commonly called the lone star tick can cause itching, stomach cramps, breathing difficulties, and an allergic reaction to red meat. | Although the incidence of tick-induced meat allergies remains comparatively uncommon to date, experts say, they also remind the public at large that tick bites can transmit any number of serious diseases, so a familiarity with basic tick avoidance strategies is recommended. | true | Medical | Spring and summer 2017 saw a rash of media reports warning of the spread of a rare tick whose bite, in addition to causing skin irritation, stomach cramping, breathing problems, and other familiar tick-related symptoms in human beings, purportedly triggers an allergic reaction to red meat. “Meet the N.J. Tick that Can ... |
31000 | Planned Parenthood and the Satanic Temple have worked together to oppose laws restricting abortion rights in Missouri. | In October 2017, an investigation by Buzzfeed revealed that the Breitbart article containing the false ‘teaming up’ claim was prompted by an email to the web site from Mitchell Sunderland, who was then managing editor of Vice’s Broadly platform. | false | Politics, breitbart, planned parenthood | On 13 September 2017, the right-wing web site Breitbart reported that Planned Parenthood had “teamed up” with the Satanic Temple, a group that describes itself as a “nontheistic religious organization,” to reverse restrictions in Missouri on the provision of abortion services. Breitbart’s reporter, Thomas D. Williams, ... |
5222 | New school program helps Sioux Falls youth express emotions. | Several Sioux Falls elementary schools have implemented a new mental health program that uses emoji and educational videos to help young students better understand how they’re feeling. | true | Sioux Falls, Mental health, Health, General News, Education, Mitchell | Cleveland Elementary is among the elementary schools in the district that are using the Move This World program this school year, the Argus Leader reported. The program offers online curriculum and videos that teach students about bullying prevention, stress management and conflict resolution, among other things. Mitch... |
15448 | Under the Affordable Care Act, anyone on Medicare who is admitted to a hospital for observation will be responsible for the bill. Medicare won't pay a cent. | "The chain email said that ""under the Affordable Care Act, anyone on Medicare who is admitted to a hospital for observation will be responsible for the bill. Medicare won't pay a cent."" That’s wrong. Medicare will cover the hospital stay, minus standard copayments and the like. Patients kept in the hospital under obs... | false | National, Health Care, Medicare, Chain email, | "A reader recently sent us a chain email we hadn’t seen before. The lengthy missive, purportedly written by a ""senior gentleman in Mesa, Arizona,"" details a visit to a hospital made contentious by Medicare payment rules. The anonymous author claims to have experienced ""a medical situation that made it very clear tha... |
29076 | McDonald's is importing foreign beef for use in its restaurants in the United States and Canada. | Is McDonald's importing beef for use in the United States? | mixture | Business, beef, mcdonald's | For several years now McDonald’s has been “testing” the use of imported beef to augment supplies tendered by American ranchers, but not beef from South America, and not necessarily for the reason advanced in the e-mail quoted below: Examples: [Collected via e-mail, June 2002] Guys — We as cattle producers are very pa... |
10686 | Weighing the options: With obesity surgery on rise, patients need to explore risks, rewards | This article does a fairly complete job of providing information on outcomes from different surgical approaches for treating morbid obesity in terms of magnitude of potential weight loss, cost, length of hospital stay, associated mortality rate, and other types of complications. But in terms of balance, it does not do ... | true | Table does a good job with this. Table and text disagree about weight loss for biliopancreatic diversion. Is it loss of 80% of excess weight for at least 10 years (text) or loss of 60-80% of excess weight in a year (table)? Table does a good job with this. Did not mention the source of the data used in the article. Bec... | |
37508 | Samaritan's Purse, a non-profit headed by anti-LGBTQ evangelical Christian Franklin Graham, is providing care to COVID-19 patients in New York City. | Is a Homophobic Church Group Running a COVID-19 Clinic in New York City? | mixture | Fact Checks, Viral Content | A mobile clinic erected in New York City to help residents infected by COVID-19 (a.k.a. the “coronavirus”) is not only run by radical homophobic cleric Franklin Graham, it is requiring volunteer workers to express support for an anti-LGBTQ view of matrimony before being allowed to join their effort.State lawmakers have... |
6224 | Rescuers comb Indonesia earthquake rubble for second day. | Rescue workers, soldiers and police combed through the rubble of a devastated town in Indonesia’s Aceh province Thursday, resuming a search for earthquake survivors that was halted at night by rain and blackouts. | true | Aceh, International News, Indonesia, Sumatra, AP Top News, Science, Asia Pacific, Earthquakes | More than 100 people died in the shallow and powerful quake that struck northeast Sumatra before dawn on Wednesday. Hundreds were injured and dozens of buildings were destroyed. The worst damage appears to be in Pidie Jaya district near the epicenter, but assessments of the region are still underway. Scores of rescue p... |
25843 | Under an executive order, “expensive insulin went from big dollars to virtual pennies … especially (for) our seniors.” | Between 2017 and 2018, insulin copays for seniors rose. A recent executive order on insulin would touch fewer than 20% of clinics through a program that provides 10% or less of all prescription drugs. | false | National, Drugs, Health Care, Donald Trump, | "President Donald Trump sometimes speaks as if a hoped-for result is the same as a done-deal. A day after he signed an executive order on insulin at the end of July, he took a victory lap on Twitter. ""Nothing like this has ever been done before because Big Pharma, with its vast power, would not let it happen,"" he sai... |
29604 | Lemon Fresh Joy (a dishwashing liquid), Listerine (a mouthwash), and limes with cloves will repeal mosquitoes or knock them dead from the sky. | In general, you get what you pay for: DEET will typically repel mosquitoes more effectively and for much longer than solutions concocted from commercial household products intended for completely different purposes. | false | Inboxer Rebellion, Household Hints | [Collected via e-mail, April 2013] Have a mosquito problem??? At your next outdoor gathering try this SAFE and EFFECTIVE method of keeping mosquitoes at bay! Simply slice a lime in half and press in a good amount of cloves for an ALL NATURAL mosquito repellent… Make sure to SHARE THIS with your friends! [Collected via ... |
26489 | “Everyone is only dying of coronavirus now.” | Patients who test positive for the coronavirus are likely being included in nationwide death counts. But doctors say that’s actually an undercount because of a lack of available testing, among other factors. Coronavirus is more difficult for people with pre-existing heart and lung problems, which could lead to respirat... | false | National, Coronavirus, Candace Owens, | "On the day that doctors and nurses in New York City treated over 1,500 new COVID-19 patients, conservative pundit Candace Owens claimed that deaths from the pandemic coronavirus have been inflated. ""Apparently, doctors and nurses around the world are wondering why no one is dying from heart attacks or strokes any mor... |
3699 | Hong Kong steps up response to mystery disease from China. | Hong Kong authorities activated a newly created “serious response” level as fears spread about a mysterious infectious disease that may have been brought back by visitors to a mainland Chinese city. | true | Pneumonia, Health, Hong Kong, General News, Wuhan, Epidemics, Infectious diseases, Asia Pacific, China | Eight possible cases have been reported of a viral pneumonia that has also infected at least 44 people in Wuhan, an inland city west of Shanghai, about 900 kilometers (570 miles) north of Hong Kong. The outbreak, which emerged last month, has revived memories of the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic that started in southern Chin... |
7513 | China confirms 1st death outside epicenter of viral outbreak. | China moved to lock down at least three cities with a combined population of more than 18 million in an unprecedented effort to contain the deadly new virus that has sickened hundreds of people and spread to other parts of the world during the busy Lunar New Year holiday. | true | Beijing, AP Top News, United Nations, Health, General News, Wuhan, International News, Business, China, Travel, Asia Pacific, New York, New York City | The open-ended lockdowns are unmatched in size, embracing more people than New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago put together. The train station and airport in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, were shut down, and ferry, subway and bus service was halted. Normally bustling streets, shopping malls, restaurants and ... |
6669 | Downtown LA sees cases of flea-borne typhus. | Public health authorities are investigating an outbreak of flea-borne typhus in downtown Los Angeles. | true | Los Angeles, Rats, Health, Animals, Public health | County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis announced this week that although typhus can occur throughout the county, several cases have occurred in the downtown area. Typhus is a disease caused by bacteria found in infected fleas that can come from many kinds of animals including cats, rats and opossums. Symptoms can includ... |
2103 | U.S. scores dead last again in healthcare study. | Americans spend twice as much as residents of other developed countries on healthcare, but get lower quality, less efficiency and have the least equitable system, according to a report released on Wednesday. | true | Health News | A patient waits in the hallway for a room to open up in the emergency room at a hospital in Houston, Texas, July 27, 2009. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi The United States ranked last when compared to six other countries — Britain, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, the Commonwealth Fund report found. “A... |
9223 | Mayo Clinic finds surprising results on first-ever test of stem cell therapy to treat arthritis | This release from the Mayo Clinic describes the essentially negative results of a small, randomized and partly controlled trial of a widely used, but unproven treatment for arthritis. The treatment involves injecting a person’s own bone marrow containing pluripotent stem cells directly into arthritis-damaged knees. Pop... | mixture | knee osteoarthritis,Mayo Clinic,stem cells | The release notes that patients may pay “thousands” out of pocket. It could have offered some information on the cost of alternative therapies, which would have put the cost burden in context. The release talks about “dramatic improvement” in the injected knees, but gives the reader no clue about what the baseline leve... |
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