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16560
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"Every 28 hours"" an unarmed black person is shot by a cop."
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"When asked how often an unarmed black is shot by a cop, Hill answered ""every 28 hours."" He then referenced a report issued by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and said ""that every 28 hours an unarmed black person is killed."" Either description is incorrect. The report, which is not an academic work, reaches its conclusion by including deaths that were not at the hands of police, deaths of blacks who were armed, car accidents, and deaths of blacks who were in aggressive or hostile situations. The report only classified 136 of 313 deaths as unarmed, which does not support his claim that an unarmed black person is shot by police every 28 hours."
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false
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Crime, Race and Ethnicity, Public Safety, PunditFact, Marc Lamont Hill,
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"In the days before the funeral of 18-year-old Ferguson, Mo., resident Michael Brown, two black pundits appeared on CNN to debate what his killing meant for race relations in America. It quickly turned into a shoutfest driven by the opposing political views of conservative radio host Larry Elder and liberal professor and author Marc Lamont Hill. Elder blamed the media for inflaming the racism narrative and ignoring that black homicide is the No. 1 cause of death among young black men. (We previously fact-checked a similar claim and found it to be True.) ""How often does it happen that an unarmed black is shot by a cop?"" Elder asked in the Aug. 20, 2014, interview. ""Every 28 hours,"" Hill said. ""Every 28 hours, Larry. Larry, every 28 hours. According to the MXGM study, a black person is killed by law enforcement, vigilantes or security ..."" Elder cut in, but Hill revisited his point later in the interview, saying, ""But if this study bears out, and it does, that every 28 hours an unarmed black person is killed, then that also is a problem."" We wanted to see if that statistic is correct. We didn’t hear back from Hill, but as he said on CNN, he is referencing a 2013 report by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement called ""Every 28 Hours,"" which examined killings of African-Americans in 2012 by law enforcement, security guards and ""vigilantes"" who claimed self-defense. The report is not an academic, unbiased representation of these deaths. It was put together by one volunteer researcher and details 313 deaths based on news clips and police reports. It arrives at one death ""every 28 hours"" by dividing the number of hours in a year, 8,760, by the number of deaths, 313. But the report doesn’t say what Hill offered on CNN, that an ""unarmed black person is killed"" every 28 hours. In fact, less than half of the people who were killed were unarmed, according to MXGM. PunditFact found 136 were labeled as unarmed after reviewing the compiled profiles. The 28-hour calculation factored in all 313 deaths, which included people who were armed, ""allegedly"" armed and unarmed. That’s an important distinction not reflected in Hill’s claim. Also, not all of the ""unarmed"" people are analogous to Brown’s case or were killed by police. Included in the unarmed tally, for instance, is Trayvon Martin, the Miami Gardens teen who was killed by a neighborhood watchman named George Zimmerman. In other cases, whether someone was really ""unarmed"" may depend on your definition. In nine cases, police said they shot at suspects because they were charging at them from behind the wheel of a vehicle. Another case to make the list is Rudy Eugene, the Miami man who attacked a homeless man and gnawed his face before police shot him to death. We also found several ""unarmed"" deaths that were due to accidents, many car crashes as officers sped to a scene. In another example, one woman was killed at her birthday party, hosted by an off-duty police officer, when she hugged the officer from behind and somehow set off his gun. Our ruling When asked how often an unarmed black is shot by a cop, Hill answered ""every 28 hours."" He then referenced a report issued by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and said ""that every 28 hours an unarmed black person is killed."" Either description is incorrect. The report, which is not an academic work, reaches its conclusion by including deaths that were not at the hands of police, deaths of blacks who were armed, car accidents, and deaths of blacks who were in aggressive or hostile situations. The report only classified 136 of 313 deaths as unarmed, which does not support his claim that an unarmed black person is shot by police every 28 hours. Consider helping fund PolitiFact's Kickstarter to live fact-check the 2015 State of the Union and GOP response."
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30732
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"Former First Lady Michelle Obama was arrested after acting “unpredictably violent"" during a domestic dispute."
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Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site’s pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical.
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false
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Junk News, michelle obama, patriot post, reagan was right
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On 1 January 2018, the Patriot Post published an article reporting that former First Lady Michelle Obama had been arrested by DC Metro police following a 911 call over her acting “unpredictably violent”: Michelle Obama was taken into custody by the DC Metro police Monday evening around 9 PM, according to a clerk inside the 9th Street booking station. Police scanner logs from the time confirm that 4 cruisers were sent to the Obama mansion after a 911 call from a “young girl,” presumably Sasha Obama. There is no official record of an arrest yet, but preliminary reports say that Michelle Obama was “unpredictably violent” and that she was definitely taken from the home in handcuffs. The next day, the reaganwasright.com web site posted a follow-up story reporting that Michelle’s husband, former president Barack Obama, was injured by his wife but would not be pressing domestic abuse charges: Michelle Obama had herself a little fit of rage last night that woke the elite neighborhood surrounding their Washington, DC mansion. Michelle was so loud and so violent that the Secret Service almost ended up in a firefight with Metro PD. This morning, after having the night to cool off on a bench in a downtown police precinct, Michelle went home without being charged. The DC Metro Police say they have no comment as no actual arrest was made and no report was filed. The neighbors now say it was nothing more than a family squabble. Our source on the scene last night told us that Obama had to get between armed Secret Service agents and angry police and that he was “bleeding pretty steadily” from a couple of wounds. Michelle was allegedly brought kicking and screaming to a waiting cruiser. None of this was true. Both reports originated solely with the Patriot Post and reaganwasright.com, two sites that are part of a network of fake news sites which deal in political clickbait trolling and falsely label themselves as “satire”: Potatriot Post is a whimsical playland of conservative satire.
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2792
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Over 600 passengers, crew fall ill on Royal Caribbean cruise.
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The number of passengers and crew who fell ill aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship climbed to more than 600 on Monday, many of them vomiting and suffering diarrhea.
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true
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Health News
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The updated sick count aboard the Explorer of the Seas, which cut short its Caribbean cruise and was expected to dock in New Jersey on Wednesday, is more than double the 300 originally thought to have been felled by gastrointestinal illness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among those sick were some of the onboard entertainers, which caused shows to be canceled, passengers said. “I started with upset stomach and vomiting, and that lasted all night and into the morning,” passenger Joseph Angelillo told CNN in a telephone interview. Another ill passenger, Arnee Dodd of Connecticut, wrote on Twitter: “I’ve been sick and quarantined... Everything I touch goes in a biohazard bag.” Passenger Brittany Ann Schneider, who did not get sick, told Reuters that for two to four days she saw few people. “I was not aware that people were sick until they made an announcement after they had canceled a walk they were supposed to have,” she said in an email. Port calls and activities in Haiti and St. Maarten were canceled. Sick passengers had to remain in their rooms until they were cleared to come outside, said Schneider, who is from Effort, Pennsylvania. Schneider said she felt officials should have returned home at the height of the outbreak, rather than continuing on. “The refund they are giving us is a little unacceptable,” she said. “They are only refunding half of the trip and giving us a 50 percent off for (a) future cruise.” Altogether, 595 passengers and 50 crew members fell ill aboard the ship, CDC spokeswoman Bernadette Burden said. The ship was carrying 3,050 passengers and a crew of 1,165. The ship departed Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, New Jersey, on January 21 and will cut its planned 10-day cruise short by two days, returning to its home port on Wednesday, the cruise company said. “Disruptions caused by the early wave of illness means that we were unable to deliver the vacation our guests were expecting,” Royal Caribbean said in a statement issued on Sunday. The CDC said Monday the cause of the sickness was unknown but that an environmental safety officer and an epidemiologist boarded the ship on Sunday in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands to determine the cause of the outbreak and the proper response. Stool samples were gathered and sent to a CDC lab to determine what type of pathogen is to blame, Burden said. “We likely will have a determination or identification of the pathogen later this week,” she said. “Our team will be remaining on board the duration of the voyage.” The ship’s crew increased cleaning and disinfection procedures and collected specimens from those who reported feeling ill following the outbreak, the CDC said. “After consultation between our medical team and representatives of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we think the right thing to do is to bring our guests home early, and use the extra time to sanitize the ship even more thoroughly,” Royal Caribbean said in the statement. The cruise line said it believes the illnesses are consistent with norovirus, a highly contagious virus spread from an infected person, contaminated food or water, or by touching contaminated surfaces, according to the CDC.
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4889
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District sticks to pro-abstinence approach on sex education.
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The Millard school district in Omaha is sticking by its pro-abstinence approach on sex education.
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true
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Omaha, Health, Gender identity, Sex education, Education
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The school board Monday night unanimously approved instructional materials for health, which includes sex education for grades 5, 6 and 8 and for high school students. Some parents had urged the board to adopt a comprehensive policy on sex education such as the one employed by Omaha Public Schools. That district’s approach encourages abstinence but also teaches about contraception, abortion, gender identity and sexual orientation. Board member Amanda McGill Johnson says she would have preferred materials on gender identity and sexual orientation had been included in the Millard approach. The Millard district classes will discuss contraception, pregnancy and disease, with an emphasis on abstinence.
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2734
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India's Ranbaxy faces more regulatory scrutiny after U.S. ban.
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Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has been hit by more regulatory scrutiny sparked by a U.S. ban on the bulk of its drugs, in a backlash that could bump up compliance costs and erode profitability among some Indian makers of generic drugs.
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true
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Health News
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India’s biggest drugmaker by revenue, like rival Wockhardt Ltd, has had factories stopped from sending drugs and ingredients to its biggest market because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the plants fell short of “good manufacturing practices”. A ban at an Indian plant last month could force Ranbaxy’s U.S. factory to buy expensive ingredients from elsewhere, whereas a ban at another Indian plant in September could delay U.S. sales of drugs under development, rendering market share vulnerable. Any earnings impact could be felt from the March quarter, analysts say. In October-December, the company reported a net loss of 1.59 billion rupees ($25.39 million) compared with a year earlier when product recall costs forced the loss to 4.92 billion rupees. Revenue grew 7 percent to 28.59 billion rupees thanks to increased U.S. sales of acne drug Absorica, Ranbaxy, majority-owned by Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd, said on Wednesday. Overall U.S. sales made up 36 percent of the total. Ranbaxy shares ended the day nearly 6 percent higher for the steepest one-day gain in more than two months, compared with a benchmark index which rose 0.2 percent. “Impact on sales and margins will be felt from the March quarter onwards due to higher compliance costs and loss in market share,” said Surajit Pal, a sector analyst with brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher. Compliance costs, such as legal costs and the cost of hiring third-party consultants, could rise if more health regulators take action. Regulators from other countries including second-biggest market India have sought clarification on last month’s ban, Ranbaxy said on Wednesday. The ban, which follows similar action on two plants in 2008 and another in September, means Ranbaxy can no longer export to the U.S. from India. “I don’t think the worst is over for the company. There are many risks and one of them could come from regulatory action from other countries, Europe or India,” said Pal. Indian drugmakers, which include Lupin Ltd and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd, are among the world’s biggest producers of generic drugs, or cheaper copies of drugs whose patents have expired. Demand for generics is rising in the U.S. where the government is pushing reform to reduce health-care costs, and with the increased demand has come greater regulatory scrutiny. The FDA last month inspected Ranbaxy’s Toansa plant in the Punjab state of northern India which supplies ingredient’s to Ranbaxy-owned Ohm Laboratories Inc in New Jersey - now Ranbaxy’s only permitted maker of drugs for U.S. sale. The regulator said it found samples at risk of being mixed up and that test results had been overwritten until desirable outcomes were achieved. It also saw flies in sample preparation rooms and a pool of water in a refrigerator used to store sample containers. Ranbaxy had been planning to use ingredients from the factory to start U.S. sales of a version of Novartis AG’s hypertension drug Diovan, a person at the company, who declined to be identified, told Reuters last month. The company declined to comment on the FDA findings, saying it was working with the regulator to resolve any concerns. It made a Toansa-related provision of 2.57 billion rupees in its October-December results. Ranbaxy will have to make up the ingredient shortfall from elsewhere. Chief Executive Arun Sawhney, in a call to analysts after the earnings release, said the company already buys in some ingredients. Ranbaxy’s business was less than 15 percent dependent on Toansa ingredients in 2013, Sawhney said, without responding to queries regarding other sources. “While we continue to assess the overall business impact on all aspects in our value chain, our direct sales impact because of the Toansa facility issue will be limited,” Sawhney said. It is likely to take over a year for the four Ranbaxy factories to conform to FDA standards, said former company director Dinesh Thakur who first alerted authorities to quality at Ranbaxy. “What we know publicly is that the company has spent a lot of money upgrading its facilities, which is a part of the solution,” said Thakur. “The bigger issue is changing the culture of the company, which will take inspired leadership, not just external consultants.” ($1 = 62.6175 Indian rupees)
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5162
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Labour says UK health service ‘for sale’ in US trade talks.
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Britain’s health system became a battleground in the country’s election campaign on Wednesday, as opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson of secretly seeking a post-Brexit trade deal with the United States that would drive up the cost of drugs and imperil the state-funded service.
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true
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Global trade, AP Top News, Race and ethnicity, Religion, Health, General News, Jeremy Corbyn, International News, Business, London, Boris Johnson, Brexit, Europe, United States
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With the future of the National Health Service a hot issue in campaigning ahead of the Dec. 12 general election, Corbyn waved 451 pages of documents at a press conference declaring that they covered six rounds of negotiations between U.S. and U.K. negotiators over two years from July 2017. The documents, which have previously been published in redacted form, cover preliminary soundings ahead of formal trade talks that are set to begin once Britain leaves the European Union. Corbyn said the leaked trade dossier provided proof Johnson was planning to put the National Health Service “up for sale” in trade talks. “He tried to cover it up in a secret agenda and today it has been exposed,” Corbyn said. Johnson — who was not prime minister for most of the period when the talks took place — rejected the claim. “It is a total nonsense, and it is endlessly repeated by the Labour Party, that the NHS is somehow up for sale,” Johnson said. “Nothing could be further from the truth.” Labour is campaigning heavily on the claim that the overstretched but treasured NHS is not safe in Conservative hands. Though the claim that the health service as a whole could be up for sale after Brexit is overstated, Labour is hoping to tap into concerns that the Conservatives will be looking for a bigger role for the private sector in the NHS’s future. The leaked documents do bolster Labour’s claim that health care could be a bargaining chip in U.S.-U.K. trade talks. At present, the NHS can often negotiate low prices from drug companies because it is so big. In future negotiations the U.S. could try to demand during trade talks that Britain pay American pharma firms more for drugs. It could also push for extended patents that would prevent Britons buying cheaper generic versions of U.S.-patented drugs — something that happened in talks on a U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal. Corbyn cited the drug Humira, which is used to treat a variety of ailments, including rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease. He said the NHS pays 1,409 pounds ($1,814) a packet, way lower than the equivalent price in the United States of 8,115 pounds. “We are talking here about secret talks for a deal with Donald Trump after Brexit. A deal that will shape our country’s future,” he said. The leaked documents covered more than pharma issues, offering insight into how the Trump administration saw post-Brexit trade. Other discussions focused on agriculture, chlorinated chicken and food labeling. The documents also suggested that a post-Brexit deal between the U.K. and the EU that kept Britain closely aligned with the European economy would come at the cost of a special free trade agreement with the United States. According to the documents revealed by Corbyn, the U.S. trade representative made clear that a U.K. commitment to the EU’s customs union and single market would make a U.K.-U.S. free trade agreement “a non-starter.” Labour was struggling to push the focus of the election onto domestic issues and away from allegations that Corbyn — a longtime champion of the Palestinians — has allowed anti-Jewish prejudice to fester in the left-of-center party. On Monday, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis accused Corbyn of allowing the “poison” of anti-Semitism to take root in his party and said “the very soul of our nation is at stake” in the Dec. 12 election. Corbyn condemned anti-Jewish prejudice and said he was rooting it out of the party — but declined four times during a BBC television interview Tuesday to apologize to British Jews. While Johnson says Corbyn’s record on anti-Semitism makes him unfit to lead the country, the prime minister has been accused of making racist remarks and of failing to check anti-Muslim prejudice in Conservative ranks. In a newspaper column last year, Johnson compared women who wear face-covering veils to “letter boxes.” Johnson said Wednesday he was sorry for any “hurt and offense that has been caused” by Islamophobia in the party. Sayeeda Warsi, a former co-chairwoman of the Conservative Party who now sits in the House of Lords, said Johnson’s words were “a good start.” But she said the party had dragged its feet on confronting anti-Muslim prejudice. “Indeed, we saw that when Boris made those crass comments around Muslim women wearing the niqab, that many Muslim women, visibly Muslim women, were subsequently attacked on our streets,” Warsi told the BBC. Johnson hopes to secure a majority in the election so he can get Parliament to ratify the Brexit divorce deal he negotiated last month with the EU. Under the terms of that deal, the U.K. would leave the EU on Jan. 31 but remain in the European single market and the customs union until the end of 2020. After Brexit, Britain and the EU will begin discussions on their future relationship. Johnson has insisted that he will be able to secure an agreement by the end of 2020 — a timescale that many trade experts find unrealistic. In a letter published in the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, a dozen trade experts accused U.K. politicians of setting “arbitrary deadlines” and making unrealistic promises about future trade deals. The letter, whose signatories include Alan Winters of the U.K. Trade Observatory and David Tinline, a former senior adviser to the World Trade Organization’s director-general, said that “if the U.K. wants to benefit from high quality trade deals and to lead on the global stage, a major shift in approach is required. It’s time to get serious.” ___ Follow AP’s full coverage of Brexit and British politics at https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
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29606
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Various rumors about the Target chain of retail stores (see below).
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We fact check a number of claims about Target's relationship with veterans' causes, ownership, and purported political stances.
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false
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Uncategorized, target, target rumors, target.com
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FALSE: The Target Corporation does not contribute to veterans’ causes. FALSE: The Target Corporation is French-owned. FALSE: The Target Corporation is Muslim-controlled. FALSE: The Target Corporation provides corporate grants only for ‘gay and lesbian causes.’ FALSE: The Target Corporation does not contribute to the U.S. Marine Corps’ ‘Toys for Tots’ program. TRUE: The Target Corporation does not allow Salvation Army bellringers to solicit contributions in front of its stores. FALSE: The Target Corporation does not allow reservists called to active duty to continue their health benefits. Examples: [Collected via e-mail, November 2002] TARGET STORES DO NOT SUPPORT VETERANS!!! Subject: Vietnam vets not worthy? Vietnam Veterans Not Worthy Of Target’s Help? By Dick Forrey, Vietnam Veterans Association. We asked our local Target store to be a sponsor of the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Wall during our spring recognition event. We received back a reply from Target management that “veterans do not meet our area of giving. We only donate to the areas of arts, social actions and education.” My thought: If the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and the Vietnam veteran himself, does not meet the criteria of these areas, something is wrong at Target. We were not asking for thousands of dollars, not even hundreds, but simply sponsorship endorsement for a “memorial remembrance”. As follow-up, I e-mailed the Corporate Headquarters and their response was the same. Personally, I will NOT be buying anything at Target Stores again. If the Vietnam Veteran does not meet their area of giving then why should I as a Vietnam veteran, spend my hard earned money in their stores? Please pass this on to as many people as you know. Maybe Target and other businesses will get the message. [Collected via e-mail, June 2013] TARGET STORES ARE NOT YET IN CANADA, HOWEVER THEY ARE SLATED TO OPEN A LOT OF STORES IN MARCH OR APRIL OF 2013. (they are here already) APPARENTLY THEY WILL BE TAKING OVER THE ZELLERS STORES. TARGET IS LOOKING FOR NEW AREAS AS THEY ARE GETTING A VERY BAD RECEPTION IN THE STATES MAINLY DUE TO THEIR NON-CHRISTIAN ATTITUDES. TARGET STORES HEAD OFFICE IS IN FRANCE. THE OFFICE IS NOW MUSLIM CONTROLLED WHICH EXPLAINS THE NON-CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE. WE SUPPORT THE GIANT TIGER, CANADIAN TIRE, HOME HARDWARE, ETC. THOSE WHICH ARE CANADIAN OWNED AND OPERATED. As Strother Martin’s character wryly observed in the film Cool Hand Luke, “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” Dick Forrey, a member of the Indiana-based Howard County Vietnam Veterans organization, rashly penned the above message in March 2002 after failing to secure a $100 sponsorship for a traveling Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Wall exhibit from his local Target store. Mr. Forrey was rebuffed, because Target does not give out cash donations through local stores; they donate money only at the corporate level, and only through grants to organizations falling within their defined general areas of giving. Mr. Forrey has since apologized for his mistake and issued a retraction: I made a mistake on this one, and I’ve learned a hard lesson — that’s for sure. What started out as a message for the members in our organization has turned into a hate-type thing. I never wanted to start any national boycott. I just wish it would all stop.Some people have used my words and perpetuated lies. It’s sad that some of these people would use veterans as a way to push their own political views. I’ve sent out a retraction, and no one pays any attention. Target also explained their side of the story: We want to clearly and completely apologize for any misunderstanding regarding Target’s support of the Vietnam Wall and our corporate giving program. Giving back to the communities where our stores are located is something we’re proud to do. In fact, nationwide, Target Corporation gives more than $2 million a week to the communities in which we serve.In March of 2002, a veteran approached one of our stores seeking a $100 donation for a display of the “moving wall” in his area. Target does support events in the communities in which our stores are located. While each store determines which events to sponsor, any contribution is limited and is made in the form of a gift card. The stores are not able to give cash contributions to any organization. Stores are also able to donate volunteer hours to community events and projects. Our corporate giving program that does incorporate cash donations is handled through a process called grants. Unfortunately, the veteran and his organization were not provided the proper information to facilitate consideration of a grant from either the store or our corporate office. The initial response of the team member at the store and the reply from our corporate office are inconsistent with the respectful manner in which we want all of our guests to be treated. We are truly sorry for this oversight and the resulting confusion that has taken place. We accept all applications for grants from January 1 to September 30 of each calendar year. Any guest can request a grants application brochure at their local store, called “Grant Guidelines.” Veterans programs may be considered for grants if the subject matter falls into one of our three general areas of giving: education, arts and family violence prevention. Guests can also access a grant application at our web site. This is certain: Target appreciates the dedication and service of all our veterans. Thank you again for your interest. In fact, the Target Corporation donates a tremendous amount of money to charitable causes every year, and in both 2002 and 2003 they topped Forbes magazine’s list of “America’s Most Philanthropic Companies.” Among the many organizations to which Target donates are veteran-related causes, including exhibits like the one for which Mr. Forrey was seeking a contribution: In the Greater Cleveland area alone, Target has recently donated more than $95,000 to such worthwhile causes as the Museum of Art, the Rape Crisis Center, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and the Cleveland Reads literacy program.The company has been no less generous toward veterans. Not only did Target contribute to the World War II Memorial and sponsor the 2003 tour of “The Wall that Heals” — the same exhibit for which Forrey was soliciting donations — but it also donated to the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association in New York, the Hays County veterans in Texas, and the Disabled American Veterans Auxiliaries in Michigan and California. As the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) noted on their website: Although there has been a resurgence of patriotism and support for our nation’s veterans, there have been various messages posted on the Internet that would lead people to believe that corporate America, specifically retail department stores, are falling short in supporting our nation’s veterans.The Veterans of Foreign Wars would like to remind all that the Internet culture weaves rumors and misinformation. Simply put, don’t believe everything you read. For example, an e-mail message urging veterans to boycott Target has been circulating on the Internet because a solicitation request to support “The Moving Wall” was denied. Target has a long-held corporate policy regarding donations. And in all fairness, Target contributes more than $2 million weekly to charitable causes and is one of the corporate sponsors for the 2003 tour of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Fund’s “The Wall That Heals.” “The Wall That Heals” is a traveling Vietnam Veterans memorial and museum that has a strong educational component for schools and serves to honor all our veterans. Since the anti-Target message first began to circulate, several other claims have been tacked onto it by those seeking to make Target look bad: that Target responds to charitable requests by stating they only support ‘gay and lesbian causes,’ that Target is French-owned, and that Target does not contribute to the Toys for Tots program sponsored by the U.S. Marine Corps, and that Target refused to allow reservist employees who had been activated to continue their health benefits:
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11078
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Microneedles may make getting flu shots easier
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"This was an unbalanced and incomplete account of a new ""microneedle"" technology for delivering flu shots. We have to wade 300 words into a 500-word piece to learn that the research was primarily conducted in mice, and there’s never even any discussion of what kind of study was actually performed. Almost the entire story is given over to cataloging the benefits of this supposedly painless, more convenient approach to vaccination, with no discussion of limitations and challenges. Had the story sought the perspective of an independent expert, it might have at least mentioned some of the big hurdles this technology will have to clear before it can be used in people, as the competing piece from the Houston Chronicle did. Children aren’t the only ones traumatized by a fear of needles–this worry can also cause many adults to avoid contact with medical professionals and dentists. Although the toll this problem takes is unknown, it certainly can increase the likelihood of potentially preventable conditions such as the flu leading to more serious health problems."
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false
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"There is no discussion of costs, which is obviously a huge concern when we’re talking about a vaccine that is recommended for nearly the entire population. Although the cost of the patch is unknown at the present time, the press release from Georgia Tech notes that the hope is that the microneedle patch will cost about the same as the existing needle and syringe approach. Costs deserve at least a nod or a passing comment. The discussion of benefits in this story is out of balance considering the early stage of development for this technology. The story references some human tests of microneedles that apparently show they are ""painless"" for ""nearly everyone."" But what kind of studies were these and how many people were involved in them? Did they use adults or did they include children who are more likely to be traumatized by needle pain? The story unfortunately doesn’t say. There are similar problems with the discussion of the mouse study. The overarching problem is that the story cites a litany of benefits — reduced pain, greater convenience, better compliance with flu shot recommendations — based on zero evidence that the microneedle patch actually works as a vaccine delivery vehicle in humans. It’s fine to speculate about benefits, but there must be some acknowledgment of where on the spectrum this speculation sits between wishful thinking and reality. Because this was a mouse study and the potential for harm with this technology appears small, we’ll call it not applicable even though harms were not specifically addressed. But we could have dinged the story for this because ANY new drug delivery system has the potential to produce side effects and untoward events. The story tells us that microneedles have been tested in mice and that they ""delivered a correct dose of the flu vaccine,"" but that’s about the extent of the evaluation. There’s no discussion of the experiment’s design or how it was determined that the microneedles delivered the correct dose. And there’s not even a hint of caution regarding whether the results are likely to be applicable in humans. As the competing story from the Houston Chronicle pointed out, the differences in immune system function between the mouse and human make it unlikely that a mouse benefit will translate directly into a human benefit. The story didn’t resort to disease-mongering. The only expert source quoted in this story was involved with the research. Including an independent perspective might have injected some much-needed caution into this story (and it would have been painless…) The story fails to mention that the seasonal flu vaccine is available as a nasal spray that is approved for people ages 2-50. While this doesn’t completely solve the problem of needle pain preventing people from getting the flu vaccine, it certainly does make it less of an issue for a large portion of the population. The story also didn’t mention topical creams that can be used to anesthetize the site of the needle stick. The enticing lead reads, ""One day your annual flu shot could come in the mail."" But when is that day? Only deep in the story do we learn that most of the work has been done in mice, that ""The researchers are now seeking funds to begin tests in people and, if all goes well, the patch could be in use in five years."" That’s too little, too late, and a prediction that is not based on anything but hope. A news organization that wants to use the crystal ball for predicting outcomes of yet-undone human trials and then of the FDA approval process should probably have its crystal-ball-gazing license checked. The story mentions that patches are used to deliver nicotine and other medications, but it could have noted that there are a number of other approaches being explored to deliver painless injections, including so-called jet injectors that propel the drug or other injectable material through the skin. In addition, a team of Japanese researchers is also reportedly working on microneedle technology similar to that described in this story. It would have been interesting to hear how these other approaches differ from the technology discussed in the article. A close one, but since the story did mention some similar technology and didn’t portray the approach as excessively novel, we’ll give it a satisfactory. The story quotes from an interview with one of the researchers, so we can be certain it didn’t rely entirely on a press release."
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26281
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“Autopsies prove that COVID-19 is” a blood clot, not pneumonia, “and ought to be fought with antibiotics” and the whole world has been wrong in treating the “so-called” pandemic.
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The novel coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19 is a virus. Viruses do not respond to antibiotic treatment; antibiotics work only on bacterial infections. COVID-19 is primarily a respiratory illness that in some cases causes pneumonia. Another effect, according to the autopsies in Italy, is lung damage caused by blood clotting. But that doesn’t change the fact that COVID-19 is caused by a virus.
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false
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Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,
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"When it comes to treating COVID-19, the world has it all wrong, a Facebook post claims. ""Autopsies prove that COVID-19 is a disseminated intravascular coagulation — pulmonary thrombosis. It is now clear that the whole world has been attacking the so-called coronavirus pandemic wrongly due to a serious pathophysiological diagnosis error,"" the lengthy post begins. Autopsies performed by Italian pathologists, the post continues, show that COVID-19 ""is not pneumonia, but it is disseminated intravascular coagulation, or thrombosis, which ought to be fought with antibiotics, antivirals, anti-inflammatories and anticoagulants. If this is true for all cases, that means the whole world is about to resolve this novel pandemic earlier than expected."" The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) We’ve seen the terms so many times, but it doesn’t hurt to review. COVID-19 is an abbreviation for coronavirus disease 2019 — a name given by the World Health Organization three months after the disease was discovered in Wuhan, China, in December. As the various names suggest, the novel (as in new) coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19 is a virus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Antibiotics do not work against viruses; they only work on bacterial infections. As Texas A&M University-Texarkana virologist Ben Neuman describes it, ""COVID-19 starts out in the lungs like the common-cold coronaviruses, but then causes havoc with the immune system that can lead to long-term lung damage or death."" The technical term cited in the Facebook post — ""disseminated intravascular coagulation"" — is ""a rare but serious condition that causes abnormal blood clotting throughout the body’s blood vessels,"" according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, a U.S. government agency. ""It is caused by another disease or condition, such as an infection or injury, that makes the body’s normal blood clotting process become overactive."" As the post indicates, Italian pathologists did perform autopsies on people with COVID-19. But their study didn’t contradict what COVID-19 is; it merely reported on how the disease can damage lungs. The pathologists examined the lung tissues of 38 COVID-19 patients who died in hospitals in northern Italy. They concluded that ""the virus remains in lung tissue for many days, even if in small quantities, possibly being the trigger of the mechanism that leads to and feeds lung damage."" Their findings were posted in a preliminary study April 19. That study has not been peer reviewed, meaning it has not yet been evaluated by experts for formal publication in a medical journal. One of the pathologists on the study, Dr. Aurelio Sonzogni of Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo, confirmed to PolitiFact that the study does not contradict the fact that COVID-19 is a virus that cannot be treated with antibiotics. Rather, his study found that lung damage caused by blood clots is one possible effect of COVID-19. The study has been accepted for publication in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, a London-based medical journal, he said. ""Autopsies prove that COVID-19 is"" a blood clot, not pneumonia, ""and ought to be fought with antibiotics,"" a Facebook post claimed,"" and the whole world has been wrong in treating the ""so-called"" pandemic. The novel coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19 is a virus. Viruses do not respond to antibiotic treatment; antibiotics only work on bacterial infections. COVID-19 is primarily a respiratory illness that in some cases causes pneumonia. Another effect, according to the autopsies in Italy, is lung damage caused by blood clotting. The post is false and ridiculous — ."
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21378
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"Ron Paul Says Rick Perry wrote a letter ""supporting Hillarycare."
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It's correct that Perry sent a letter to Hillary Clinton commending her efforts as the head of the president’s health care task force at a time when the president’s general goals and some possible specifics of the plan had been reported. Yet Perry's letter, dispatched more than five months before the plan was finalized, is clearly a request that the task force consider the interests of rural Americans.
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false
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Health Care, Texas, Ron Paul,
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"Standing next to the other Texan seeking the Republican presidential nomination, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Lake Jackson suggested during a Sept. 7, 2011, debate that Gov. Rick Perry had flip-flopped on health care. ""You know, the governor of Texas criticized the governor of Massachusetts for Romneycare, but he wrote a really fancy letter supporting Hillarycare,"" Paul said, referring to two well-known health care overhaul plans that were debated about a dozen years apart. ""Romneycare"" is a term that critics use to refer to a 2006 Massachusetts health care law signed by then-Gov. Mitt Romney, who is also currently seeking the Republican presidential nomination. Many Republicans have criticized the law as a government intrusion into the health care system, including through its mandate that residents obtain health coverage. As PolitiFact has noted in previous fact-checks, the Massachusetts law is similar to the act that President Barack Obama signed into law in 2010. For this article, we’re reviewing only whether Perry wrote in support of what critics call ""Hillarycare."" We’re not judging that label. Days after entering office in January 1993, President Bill Clinton created a task force to write health care overhaul legislation to bring costs under control and extend coverage to the nation’s uninsured. He selected his wife, Hillary, to lead it. In September 1993, President Clinton outlined his plan in a speech to Congress, and two months later, legislation was formally introduced by Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell of Maine. According to a 1994 analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation, Clinton’s proposal for universal coverage built on an employer-based health insurance system, requiring individuals to have coverage and employers to provide coverage for their workers and contribute to their premiums. The plan also would have created ""health-purchasing alliances"" in which private insurers and providers would compete for business from people and businesses. A September 1993 New York Times news article reported that Americans ""would be guaranteed a generous basic package of coverage, negotiated separately in each state by alliances of consumers with insurance companies and medical groups."" During the Sept. 7 debate, Perry did not dispute that he had written a letter to the first lady in 1993 when he was the Texas agriculture commissioner. ""We were hoping that she would be able to come up with something that would not leave (out) the agriculture men and women — because I was the agriculture commissioner at that particular point in time,"" Perry said. ""We had no idea it was going to be the monstrosity that's known as Hillarycare."" Perry’s letter — dated April 6, 1993, and posted online Aug. 30, 2011, by the conservative website Daily Caller — was sent on Texas Department of Agriculture stationery. It opens with Perry saying that he thinks Clinton's ""efforts in trying to reform the nation's health care system are most commendable."" He continues: ""I would like to request that the task force give particular consideration to the needs of the nation's farmers, ranchers, agriculture workers, and other members of rural communities. Rural populations have a high proportion of uninsured people, rising health care costs, and often experience lack of services."" Perry then details some of the health care delivery problems in rural areas of Texas, including hospital closures and shortages of providers ""within a safe driving distance."" The letter continues: ""I have made economic development for rural Texans a high priority in my Administration. Leadership, education, infrastructure systems, and health care facilities can do much towards aiding a rural community to prosper."" In closing, the letter revisits its opening, stating that Perry thinks Clinton's efforts are ""worthy"" and asking that she ""remember this constituency as the task force progresses."" The letter was last brandished against Perry in 2005 when U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison was considering challenging him in the 2006 Republican gubernatorial primary. In a March 2005 news article, though, the Houston Chronicle described Perry’s letter as falling ""far short of actually being an endorsement"" of the Clinton health care plan. However, the story said, the letter was penned at a time when some commentators were already describing Clinton's idea for a ""government-sponsored HMOs and health care cooperatives as 'socialism.' "" The Chronicle article quotes Perry's 2006 campaign manager, Luis Saenz, as saying that when the letter was written, ""I don't know that anybody knew what the final efforts were going to be."" In an Aug. 30, 2011, radio interview with Sean Hannity, who also has a Fox News Channel program, Perry said he wrote the letter because he didn't want the Clinton administration ""to overlook a very important constituency."" Perry said he had no idea that the ""end product"" would be ""this monstrosity of a bill."" Fair enough? Not so fast, said Gary Howard, a spokesman for the Paul campaign, who told us in an email that key aspects of the Clinton health care plan were already known before Perry signed the letter to the first lady. He pointed to a news article published in the Los Angeles Times the day before the date of Perry's letter. The April 5, 1993, article says that although many key details of the reform plan remained unsettled, ""the broad outlines"" were emerging. The story included specifics, including that the plan would likely create new ""government-certified regional health insurance purchasing cooperatives"" and impose a requirement that employers provide insurance to their workers. We checked to see what Austin American-Statesman readers were learning about the work of the health care task force around the same time. In the second half of March and first week of April 1993, the newspaper published at least 10 news and opinion articles related to the task force or its work, including reports on possible reform ideas and reactions to them. On April 3, 1993, the Statesman published a Los Angeles Times story on its front page noting that the Clinton plan was expected to lead to universal health coverage and a guaranteed set of health benefits for all Americans. The article quoted Ira Magaziner, a leader of the Clinton task force, as saying that care would be delivered under a ""managed competition system,"" with residents of a geographic area choosing among several health plans that meet government standards. The story also says the Clinton proposal would require businesses to provide health coverage for their employees. Workers could either choose their company's plan or select one offered by ""local buying organizations,"" which the employer would pay for, according to the article. The next day, the Statesman published another Times article; it details three mechanisms that the task force was reportedly considering to impose price controls on health care services. Our ruling It's correct that Perry sent a letter to Hillary Clinton commending her efforts as the head of the president’s health care task force at a time when the president’s general goals and some possible specifics of the plan had been reported. Yet Perry's letter, dispatched more than five months before the plan was finalized, is clearly a request that the task force consider the interests of rural Americans."
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11571
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New laser treatment takes aim at toenail fungus
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Near the end of this story, we meet a man named “Richard,” and describes him as “a retiree in Fairfax who did not want his full name associated with toenail fungus”. We wish the Washington Post had considered a similar level of discretion when choosing to pursue this story. Even though it tosses in a few counterpoints, and crucial cost information, the overwhelming impression left by this story is that lasers are the answer for fungal nails. It’s hard to understand what prompted a paper as good as the Post to devote this much space to an expensive cosmetic treatment with no proven health benefits or even long-term cosmetic benefits. News outlets, of course, have to cover new and emerging trends in treatment, but they should not throw most of their weight and credibility behind the new while slighting the old, as this story did. Some estimate that 10% or fewer of adults in the US experience toenail fungus. For most it is a minor nuisance. For some, especially those with diabetes, it can be a major problem. It is hardly the public health menace that the story suggests.
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false
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Washington Post
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The story did a good job on this point. It noted that one treatment “costs about $1,000 and is not covered by insurance.” It put this into a larger context by saying, “Last year, Americans spent $354 million on prescription and over-the-counter treatments for toenail fungus, according to IMS Health, a health-care information company.” And it described at the end of the story how one patient has tried to fend off reinfection by buying a $130 sterilization kit for his shoes. The benefits are not well quantified. The FDA approved the Pinpointe FootLaser noting it is, “substantially equivalent to the predicate devices and is safe and effective for use for the temporary increase of clear nail at 6 and 12 months following treatment in patients with onychomycosis.” We are unable to locate any studies comparing it or any laser to prescription drugs in the treatment of toenail fungus. We think that the story was a bit over the top in its enthusiasm. The story provides absolutely no information on harms or potential harms of the laser approach. While the risk may be low, lasers do present risks. Instead, the story says, “Kominsky has treated 400 to 500 patients with the PinPointe laser. Compared with oral medication, he says, ‘the odds of success are better with the laser; plus, there’s no side effects. '” A doctor selling laser treatments should not be allowed to make these kinds of claims without proof. The folks at Novartis have every right to be miffed that they were held to a higher standard. We did appreciate that the story mentioned reinfection. “Even John Strisower, the founder of PinPointe USA, says patients should expect at least a minimal reinfection within five years after laser treatment.” For some reason, the story takes a shot at the one of the more proven treatments for foot fungus. “The most common oral treatment, Lamisil, works for about two out of three patients, according to Lamisil’s FDA-approved prescribing information, but it has been associated with rare cases of serious liver problems. Other potential side effects include diarrhea, headache, rashes and changes in taste. According to Lamisil’s manufacturer, Novartis, the relapse rate is 15 percent one year after completing treatment.” There is no similar information presented for these laser treatments. Instead, there is a subhead that says, ‘No side effects.’ Only one study is mentioned, and it’s for a laser treatment not yet approved by the FDA. The complete lack of evidence should have been a bigger issue in the piece. This is where the story really sunk low. It frames the story like “Jaws” for people with funky feet. “For people with toenail fungus, there is no good time to wear sandals. Not even at the beach in July. Toenail fungus causes nails to become thick, yellow and brittle in a way that looks pretty ugly and can be painful.” We can just see the readers reaching for their shoes as they read that lead. No way are they going to the beach after reading this. It gets worse, though. “Sufferers can spend years and hundreds of dollars trying to clear the infection with drugs, topical treatments and home remedies, sometimes to no avail.” When will the agony end, the readers ask themselves. Cue the dramatic music, as Washington podiatrist Stephen J. Kominsky leaps up out of the page to say: “The problem is huge. It is bigger than you can imagine. …I would say 70 percent of the patients who come into my office have fungal infections on their toenails.” Kominsky goes unchallenged for most of the article, despite his apparent lack of documented proof for any of his statements and the fact that he has every incentive to want to sell these treatments to the feet shy masses. Finally, profiling one patient who “did not want his full name associated with toenail fungus” paints this as a scourge of society. This is some pretty classic disease-mongering at play. There are multiple sources quoted and some are critical of laser treatment, but, on balance we thought too much weight was given to a conflicted physician and a conflicted study. The physician who is quoted the most frequently is heavily selling these treatments. And the only study presented as proof of the laser treatment’s efficacy is also the only study being promoted on the website of the company highlighted in the story, PinPointe USA. The author of that study is the head of PinPointe’s Advisory Panel. http://pinpointefootlaser.com/news-and-events/press-releases/dr-adam-landsman-appointed-head-of-pinpointe-usas-advisory-panel This should have been noted in the story. The story does mention multiple alternatives, but it also knocks each one of them down. Lamisil “has been associated with rare cases of serious liver problems” and other “potential side effects include diarrhea, headache, rashes and changes in taste.” Then the story quotes a podiatrist who does not use lasers but never says what he does use. Instead, he lists a litany of treatments that don’t work. “Firestone also says that over-the-counter antifungal nail creams and ointments rarely work because they can’t penetrate the nail root. Home remedies such as tea tree oil, bleach and vinegar also don’t work, he says.” Then we are introduced to Richard, the first-name-only guy with foot fungus. He is presented as a success story for laser treatments. The story says, “his nails were fully cleared of the yellowed, thickened look after a year.” We think that, on balance, the story did not fairly compare the new approach with existing alternatives. Instead, it stacked the deck against these alternatives, leading readers to conclude that lasers would be the best choice. The story says, “Last year, the Food and Drug Administration cleared the first laser, PinPointe, for “temporary increase of clear nail” in patients with onychomycosis, the medical term for a fungal infection of the nail. The FDA cleared a second one, GenesisPlus, in April. Practitioners have been using other lasers on toenail fungus since about 2009.” This covers the necessary bases. There are many claims of success in this story but no proof that the treatment is truly novel or that it truly represents “hope.” Lasers have been used off label to treat toe nail funges for several years, as the story notes. The story is not based on a news release. We are going to give this one the benefit of the doubt but wonder where some of the information about the success rate with the Pinpointe FootLaser comes from. The only source we could locate was the company’s press release noting approval of the device by the FDA.
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27519
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Columbia Records mistakenly released a Byrds album without a title.
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Much as we like to think that all aspects of artistic efforts are deliberately infused with meaning, sometimes random chance and coincidence have their say as well. For a similar story involving a different band’s album title, check out our “No Answer” page.
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true
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Entertainment, byrds, hidden messages, music legends
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By 1970 the Byrds, who had started out so promisingly just five years earlier with two #1 hits (“Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!”) had undergone more personnel changes than the manager’s office at Yankee Stadium under George Steinbrenner. Gene Clark quit the group in 1966; David Crosby was fired in 1967 and drummer Michael Clarke also took his leave shortly afterwards; Gene Clark then rejoined the band, only to quit a second time three weeks later, reducing the Byrds to a duo. Two new musicians, Kevin Kelley and Gram Parsons, were recruited in 1968 to fill the gap created by the departures of Crosby and Clarke, but Parsons resigned from the Byrds less than five months later and was replaced with Clarence White, while Kelley hung on only a few months longer before being sacked in favor of Gene Parsons. That newly-revamped line-up lasted only a month before Chris Hillman opted out as well, leaving Roger McGuinn as the sole remaining original Byrd. Hillman’s replacement, John York, managed to serve out most of 1969 before he too was given his walking papers. When veteran musician Skip Battin was invited to join the Byrds as their bassist in late 1969, Roger McGuinn was optimistic that he had finally assembled a stable line-up for his band. (He was right: this version of the group lasted two and half years, longer than any other incarnation of the Byrds.) Accordingly, McGuinn and his bandmates sought a name for their first album together that would express their faith in the viability of the resurrected Byrds. Suggestions such as “Phoenix” and “the first Byrds album” were considered, but the double album (half studio tracks and half live recordings) that finally hit record store shelves in mid-1970 bore the odd title of (Untitled): Why (Untitled)? Was it a perverse joke? A sign of resignation at being unable to come up with an acceptable title? In fact, the unusual title was an accident, the result of a record company’s mistake. The details of how the album came to be called (Untitled) differ slightly depending upon the source, but evidence confirms the accidental origins of the name. As Roger McGuinn explained the title’s origins in an advertisement for the album: “Actually it was a mistake. Somebody from Columbia called up our manager and asked him what the title was. He told them it was ‘as yet untitled’ and so they went ahead and printed that”: The Byrds’ producer-manager, Terry Melcher, related a slightly different version of events, claiming that he had written ‘Untitled’ on the official label copy sheet sent to the record company because the group had not yet settled on a name for the album, and before anyone realized what was happening the albums had been pressed up as (Untitled). (The fact that the name printed on the album sleeves included parentheses makes Melcher’s explanation the more likely one.)
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4887
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Idaho House passes ‘opt-in’ sex education bill.
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A bill that would require parents to “opt in” before their children can receive sex education in school has cleared the Idaho House on a party-line vote.
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true
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Legislature, Education, Health, Legislation, Boise, Sex education, Bills, Idaho Falls, Idaho
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The bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Barbara Ehardt of Idaho Falls, now heads to the Senate side of the GOP-controlled Idaho Legislature. The legislation would require parents to specifically opt-in before their children can attend sex education lessons at public schools. That’s the opposite of the current system, in which all students receive sex education as part of the standard health curriculum unless their parents opt out. Ehardt says the sex education classes have normalized sexual behavior and that parents don’t understand what is currently being presented to their kids. She says the bill will allow parents to better direct their children’s education. “Parents have no say, no understanding of that which is being presented,” Ehardt said. She said some schools bring in guest educators who go beyond the basic curriculum to discuss topics like oral or anal sex and who describe abstinence as choosing not to do any sexual activity that carries a risk of pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases. Ehardt also said students are sometimes told they can get access to birth control at local clinics without parental permission. “Parents have the right to direct and educate their children,” she said, noting that Arizona, Utah and Nevada have similar opt-in rules. Rep. Jake Ellis, a Democrat from Boise, said currently between 2 and 3 percent of students opt out of sex education, and the bill would make the exception the rule. He said concerns about the curriculum should be solved by addressing the curriculum, not by targeting the process by which parents decide whether their child will take the class. “It’s very likely that fewer young adults will get this information and that leads, quite frankly, to more unprotected sex,” Ellis said. “If you are concerned about the content you heard, there are other ways to remedy that.” Rep. Sally Toone, a Democrat from Gooding, is a certified health education teacher. She says the state defines sex education as the study of reproductive anatomy and physiology, and the bill could force teachers to give parents two weeks’ notice so they have time to opt in before teaching lessons on genetics, communicable diseases, or basic anatomy. Sex education has become an increasingly contentious issue, said Rep. Gary Marshall, a Republican from Idaho Falls. To many families, the decision on sex education is a question of purity and chastity, he said. “There are still hundreds and probably thousands of families in Idaho who still hold a more traditional view of sex, sexual relations,” Marshall said, urging his fellow lawmakers to support the bill. The bill passed on a 56-14 vote, with all Republicans voting in favor and all Democrats voting against.
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7412
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New frontier in cancer care: Turning blood into living drugs.
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Ken Shefveland’s body was swollen with cancer, treatment after treatment failing until doctors gambled on a radical approach: They removed some of his immune cells, engineered them into cancer assassins and unleashed them into his bloodstream.
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true
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AP Top News, Cancer, International News, Tumors, Washington, Politics, Genetic Frontiers, Health, Business, Seattle, Science, North America, Lymphoma, U.S. News
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Immune therapy is the hottest trend in cancer care and this is its next frontier — creating “living drugs” that grow inside the body into an army that seeks and destroys tumors. Looking in the mirror, Shefveland saw “the cancer was just melting away.” A month later doctors at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center couldn’t find any signs of lymphoma in the Vancouver, Washington, man’s body. “Today I find out I’m in full remission — how wonderful is that?” said Shefveland with a wide grin, giving his physician a quick embrace. This experimental therapy marks an entirely new way to treat cancer — if scientists can make it work, safely. Early-stage studies are stirring hope as one-time infusions of supercharged immune cells help a remarkable number of patients with intractable leukemia or lymphoma. “It shows the unbelievable power of your immune system,” said Dr. David Maloney, Fred Hutch’s medical director for cellular immunotherapy who treated Shefveland with a type called CAR-T cells. “We’re talking, really, patients who have no other options, and we’re seeing tumors and leukemias disappear over weeks,” added immunotherapy scientific director Dr. Stanley Riddell. But, “there’s still lots to learn.” T cells are key immune system soldiers. But cancer can be hard for them to spot, and can put the brakes on an immune attack. Today’s popular immunotherapy drugs called “checkpoint inhibitors” release one brake so nearby T cells can strike. The new cellular immunotherapy approach aims to be more potent: Give patients stronger T cells to begin with. Currently available only in studies at major cancer centers, the first CAR-T cell therapies for a few blood cancers could hit the market later this year. The Food and Drug Administration is evaluating one version developed by the University of Pennsylvania and licensed to Novartis, and another created by the National Cancer Institute and licensed to Kite Pharma. CAR-T therapy “feels very much like it’s ready for prime time” for advanced blood cancers, said Dr. Nick Haining of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, who isn’t involved in the development. Now scientists are tackling a tougher next step, what Haining calls “the acid test”: Making T cells target far more common cancers — solid tumors like lung, breast or brain cancer. Cancer kills about 600,000 Americans a year, including nearly 45,000 from leukemia and lymphoma. “There’s a desperate need,” said NCI immunotherapy pioneer Dr. Steven Rosenberg, pointing to queries from hundreds of patients for studies that accept only a few. For all the excitement, there are formidable challenges. Scientists still are unraveling why these living cancer drugs work for some people and not others. Doctors must learn to manage potentially life-threatening side effects from an overstimulated immune system. Also concerning is a small number of deaths from brain swelling, an unexplained complication that forced another company, Juno Therapeutics, to halt development of one CAR-T in its pipeline; Kite recently reported a death, too. And, made from scratch for every patient using their own blood, this is one of the most customized therapies ever and could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. “It’s a Model A Ford and we need a Lamborghini,” said CAR-T researcher Dr. Renier Brentjens of New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which, like Hutch, has a partnership with Juno. In Seattle, Fred Hutch offered a behind-the-scenes peek at research underway to tackle those challenges. At a recently opened immunotherapy clinic, scientists are taking newly designed T cells from the lab to the patient and back again to tease out what works best. “We can essentially make a cell do things it wasn’t programmed to do naturally,” explained immunology chief Dr. Philip Greenberg. “Your imagination can run wild with how you can engineer cells to function better.” TWO LONG WEEKS TO BREW A DOSE The first step is much like donating blood. When leukemia patient Claude Bannick entered a Hutch CAR-T study in 2014, nurses hooked him to a machine that filtered out his white blood cells, including the T cells. Technicians raced his bag of cells to a factory-like facility that’s kept so sterile they must pull on germ-deflecting suits, booties and masks just to enter. Then came 14 days of wait and worry, as his cells were reprogrammed. Bannick, 67, says he “was almost dead.” Chemotherapy, experimental drugs, even a bone marrow transplant had failed, and “I was willing to try anything.” GENETICALLY ENGINEERING CELLS The goal: Arm T cells with an artificial receptor, a tracking system that can zero in on identifying markers of cancer cells, known as antigens. For many leukemias and lymphomas, that’s an antigen named CD19. Every research group has its own recipe but generally, scientists infect T cells with an inactive virus carrying genetic instructions to grow the desired “chimeric antigen receptor.” That CAR will bind to its target cancer cells and rev up for attack. Millions of copies of engineered cells are grown in incubators, Hutch technicians pulling out precious batches to monitor if they’re ready for waiting patients. If they work, those cells will keep multiplying in the body. If they don’t, the doctors send blood and other samples back to researchers like Riddell to figure out why. WHAT’S THE DATA? Small, early studies in the U.S. made headlines as 60 percent to 90 percent of patients trying CAR-Ts as a last resort for leukemia or lymphoma saw their cancer rapidly decrease or even become undetectable. Last week, Chinese researchers reported similar early findings as 33 of 35 patients with another blood cancer, multiple myeloma, reached some degree of remission within two months. Too few people have been studied so far to know how long such responses will last. A recent review reported up to half of leukemia and lymphoma patients may relapse. There are long-term survivors. Doug Olson in 2010 received the University of Pennsylvania’s CAR-T version for leukemia. The researchers were frank — it had worked in mice but they didn’t know what would happen to him. “Sitting here almost seven years later, I can tell you it works,” Olson, now 70, told a recent meeting of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Bannick, the Hutch patient treated in 2014, recalls Maloney calling him “the miracle man.” He had some lingering side effects that required blood-boosting infusions but says CAR-T is “giving me a second life.” SCARY SIDE EFFECTS “The more side effects you have, that sort of tells everybody it’s working,” said Shefveland, who was hospitalized soon after his treatment at Hutch when his blood pressure collapsed. His last clear memory for days: “I was having a conversation with a nurse and all of a sudden it was gibberish.” As CAR-T cells swarm the cancer, an immune overreaction called “cytokine release syndrome” can trigger high fevers and plummeting blood pressure and in severe cases organ damage. Some patients also experience confusion, hallucinations or other neurologic symptoms. Treatment is a balancing act to control those symptoms without shutting down the cancer attack. Experienced cancer centers have learned to expect and watch for these problems. “And, most importantly, we’ve learned how to treat them,” said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld of the American Cancer Society, who is watching CAR-T’s development. FIGHTING SOLID TUMORS WILL BE HARDER CAR-Ts cause collateral damage, killing some healthy white blood cells, called B cells, along with cancerous ones because both harbor the same marker. Finding the right target to kill solid tumors but not healthy organ tissue will be even more complicated. “You can live without some normal B cells. You can’t live without your lungs,” Riddell explained. Early studies against solid tumors are beginning, targeting different antigens. Time-lapse photos taken through a microscope in Riddell’s lab show those new CAR-T cells crawling over aggressive breast cancer, releasing toxic chemicals until tumor cells shrivel and die. CARs aren’t the only approach. Researchers also are trying to target markers inside tumor cells rather than on the surface, or even gene mutations that don’t form in healthy tissue. “It’s ironic that the very mutations that cause the cancer are very likely to be the Achilles heel,” NCI’s Rosenberg said. And studies are beginning to test CAR-Ts in combination with older immunotherapy drugs, in hopes of overcoming tumor defenses. HOW WILL PATIENTS GET THE FIRST CAR-T THERAPIES? If the FDA approves Novartis’ or Kite’s versions, eligible leukemia and lymphoma patients would be treated at cancer centers experienced with this tricky therapy. Their T cells would be shipped to company factories, engineered, and shipped back. Gradually, more hospitals could offer it. Because only certain patients would qualify for the first drugs, others would have to search for CAR-T studies to try the treatment. A drug industry report lists 21 CAR-T therapies in development by a dozen companies. “This is the hope of any cancer patient, that if you stay in the game long enough, the next treatment’s going to be just around the corner,” said Shefveland, the Hutch patient. ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content .
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9359
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First marijuana-derived drug approved, will target severe epilepsy
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This Washington Post article announces approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of the first drug made directly from a compound found naturally in marijuana plants. It is meant to treat rare, genetic forms of severe childhood epilepsy, and the article goes to some lengths to make clear the FDA’s view that the approval does not constitute government support for marijuana in general, or for the growing commercial availability for self-prescribed medicinal use by the public. The news story further emphasizes that the marijuana compound — CBD — contains too little of the psychoactive part of the plant, THC, to cause the “high” associated with recreational use. The story would have been strengthened had it included a discussion about the evidence on which the FDA based its approval. It also doesn’t address the cost of the drug or the diverse and sometimes severe side effects identified in a substantial number of patients who participated in clinical trials, which also are not mentioned. For a comparison, see this recent 5-star review of a CNN story from May that looks at one of the studies that led to the approval. The FDA’s approval of this drug is highly newsworthy and will be of great interest not only for those seeking help for the rare seizure disorders the new drug, Epidiolex, is intended to treat, but also for other diseases and symptoms such as pain and nausea. At the same time, the FDA has come under increasing criticism for approving risky drugs without much evidence they work, making it vital that journalists scrutinize approvals.
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mixture
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Epilepsy
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Some reports suggest the cost of Epidolex will be high and insurance coverage is unclear. The article should have addressed these issues. Some would argue that FDA approval automatically means that benefits and risks of a new drug have been quantified to experts’ satisfaction. But that is not necessarily the case and readers with an interest in this drug would be better informed if some of the clinical trial evidence had been included in the story. As it stands, the article offers no information at all about reduction in seizures of those who take the drug, or a basis for which to compare its value to other treatments for severe epilepsy. The FDA release about the agency’s approval lists the most serious side effects, many of which are common, including liver damage, depression, suicidal thinking, anorexia and insomnia. But the news story does not mention them. As noted above, there is no description of any of the evidence used by the FDA to evaluate the new drug. No mongering here. There is a quote from a neurologist with the American Epilepsy Society, however he consults for drug companies and the society has received substantial donations from a subsidiary of the drugmaker manufacturing this drug. This should have been flagged for readers. The article does note that parents are giving their affected children “unregulated” CBD formulations, and although there are also other drug treatments and (although of unproven value) some efforts at surgery to abate the seizures, these offer less than good solutions, as the article notes. The article does not state exactly when the drug will be on the U.S. market, but generally, FDA approval coincides with market availability. The article makes clear that this is a “milestone” FDA approval and in what way. This did not rely solely on the FDA’s news release.
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15501
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"John Oliver Says ""Florida is a model"" for successful pretrial release programs."
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"Oliver said ""pretrial service programs have succeeded around the country,"" namely Florida, adding, ""And it is a truly frightening state of affairs when Florida is a model for progressive change."" Experts in pretrial justice, several of whom talked with Oliver’s staff, said certain counties within Florida have demonstrated success with pretrial services as a way to reduce jail costs and eliminate overcrowding in jails. But they said he went a bit too far in leaving his viewers with the idea that Florida is among states that go above and beyond for defendants. There are pockets of progress, advocates said, but the commercial bail bonding industry is also strong in the state, and not every county has pretrial services. Oliver’s claim rates claim Half True. Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the Florida Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability."
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mixture
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Criminal Justice, Crime, PunditFact, John Oliver,
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"Poking fun at Florida is oh-so-easy. So HBO host and news-comedian John Oliver surprised us, and maybe even himself, on Last Week Tonight when he hailed Florida as a model for the country for a component of its judicial system — and not for, say, assaults with a slice of pizza, or something like that. Oliver criticized the money-bail system that exists throughout most of the country in his June 7 episode, saying it leaves people who are too poor to make bail for non-violent offenses behind bars, which drives up jail costs and destroys livelihoods. As an alternative, Oliver made the case for pretrial service programs. With these services, he said, a person who is arrested would be interviewed by a specialist to see if he or she poses a flight risk or is dangerous. The specialist makes a recommendation to a judge, and the judge decides whether to send the person home, where he or she may be monitored with drug tests, ankle monitors and phone calls about court dates. ""And pretrial service programs have succeeded around the country in places ranging from Oregon to Florida,"" Oliver said. ""And it is a truly frightening state of affairs when Florida is a model for progressive change."" He added, ""Did you know by the way that under Florida law, if you possess over 5 grams of meth, you can marry it. That’s a fact. That’s a legal fact. That’s an actual photo that ran in a newspaper’s wedding section in Florida. And yet even counties in Florida recognize that our money bail system is broken."" As he described that ""fact,"" this image appeared: For the record, it is not a ""legal fact"" that you can marry meth in Florida. That was a joke. However, we did want to unpack his more serious claim that Florida is a ""model for progressive change"" for its successful pretrial release programs. That wasn’t meant to be a joke. Oliver’s staff did not comment for this fact-check. Pretrial justice experts we consulted said while Florida has some positive things going for it, calling it a nationwide model is a bit of a stretch. Cherise Fanno Burdeen is executive director of the Pretrial Justice Institute, which supports alternatives to money bail. (The institute is also petitioning Gov. Andrew Cuomo to end New York’s money bail system after the suicide of Kalief Browder, who was kept in Rikers Island prison for three years without trial in part because he could not make bail after being accused of stealing a backpack). Burdeen, who said she spoke to Oliver’s team before the show, said she would not have hailed Florida as a progressive pretrial services model. Washington, D.C., and Kentucky, yes. Oregon and Colorado, sure. But Florida? ""That’s probably not a statement I would make,"" Burdeen said. ""It’s definitely more nuanced."" In the mid 1970s, amid national reforms, some Florida counties started pretrial service programs — mainly because of jail overcrowding. Programs exist today in 29 of 67 counties. Not all states have done that, Burdeen said. But Florida does not offer pretrial services statewide, and ""it certainly has a long way to go in terms of other needed components of reform,"" she said. One example: Only a few counties use accredited standards for assessing an arrested person’s flight risk and danger to the community before trial. The counties that are accredited by the Florida Corrections Accreditation Commission are Alachua, Broward, Lee, Miami-Dade, Orange and Volusia, which combined are home to 7.2 million residents, or 36 percent of the state's estimated population. Florida could be considered loosely ""progressive,"" Burdeen said, because pretrial programs exist in most counties where the vast majority of criminal case filings happen. In 2013, Miami-Dade County served more than 10,500 people, Broward County served more than 6,000, and Palm Beach, Polk and Pinellas counties served more than 5,000, according to the annual report of pretrial service programs in the state by the Florida Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability. The point of the bail system is to ensure a defendant showed up for court, and sometimes the only way to do it is to keep him or her in jail, said Bob Dekle, University of Florida College of Law legal skills professor. ""Florida’s model for pretrial detention and release is a fair, equitable model,"" he said. ""I don’t know that it’s on the outer fringes of the avant garde in turning people loose from jail, and I rather doubt it, but I don’t believe that it is regressive. It’s just there and that’s what it is."" For virtually all crimes except capital offenses, Florida law says the presumption of release should be on nonmonetary conditions. Still, Burdeen said most counties rely on a bond schedule for crimes. ""If you can pay it out, you get out, if not you go to first appearance,"" she said. ""Almost without a doubt the judge continues that amount from the schedule; if not, you back to your cell."" Experts also pointed out that ""pretrial services"" means something different depending on the jurisdiction. In Florida’s Monroe County, home of the Florida Keys, pretrial services workers interview defendants, review their criminal histories and develop recommendations for a judge based on a point-scoring system that helps determine if they should be released on their own recognizance or released under supervision of the pretrial services agency. The judge can also choose to set a money bond amount. In Pinellas County, pretrial services are not run by a court or a county agency — they're run through the sheriff's office. When someone is arrested, booking deputies have the option of setting a recommended bond for an offense or a higher or lower bond depending on the circumstances. Often the low bond is to release the defendant at the jail on his or her own recognizance, known as ROR. If a defendant remains in jail until the first appearance, the judge could still decide to change the booking deputy's bond or recommend unsupervised or supervised ROR, which could include check-ins or electronic monitoring. When a judge is unsure, pretrial services staffers can conduct their own investigation into a defendant's background and advise the judge accordingly. ""It's a very, very useful tool to manage the jail population,"" said Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. Spurgeon Kennedy, National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies vice president, said the vast majority of American counties do not have pretrial programs, so the fact that Florida has some is a positive in his group’s view. That said, the money-bail system remains prevalent and powerful throughout the state. ""Unfortunately, Florida uses money primarily, and that’s the reason why we would hesitate to say what is happening in Florida is a model,"" Kennedy said. ""But you do have these programs."" Kennedy would look elsewhere for states closer to pretrial service utopia. In Washington, D.C., as Oliver also highlighted, the Pretrial Services Agency helps judges in the D.C. Superior Court and U.S. District Court by recommending release conditions for defendants that are based on their circumstances and are usually non-financial. And Kentucky abolished its commercial bail system in 1976, relying instead on a single statewide agency employing pretrial officers who interview people in jail and facilitate their release. Our ruling Oliver said ""pretrial service programs have succeeded around the country,"" namely Florida, adding, ""And it is a truly frightening state of affairs when Florida is a model for progressive change."" Experts in pretrial justice, several of whom talked with Oliver’s staff, said certain counties within Florida have demonstrated success with pretrial services as a way to reduce jail costs and eliminate overcrowding in jails. But they said he went a bit too far in leaving his viewers with the idea that Florida is among states that go above and beyond for defendants. There are pockets of progress, advocates said, but the commercial bail bonding industry is also strong in the state, and not every county has pretrial services. Oliver’s claim rates claim . Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the Florida Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability."
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2617
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Will starving yourself help you live longer? Maybe not.
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The longevity diet’s premise is seductively simple: cutting your calorie intake well below your usual diet will add years to your life.
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true
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Health News
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New research published on Wednesday, however, shows the extreme, emaciating diet doesn’t increase lifespan in rhesus monkeys, the closest human relatives to try it in a rigorous, long-running study. While caveats remain, outside experts regarded the findings as definitive, particularly when combined with those from a similar study. “If there’s a way to manipulate the human diet to let us live longer, we haven’t figured it out yet and it may not exist,” said biologist Steven Austad of the University of Texas Health Science Center’s Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, who wrote an analysis of the study in Nature. Since 1934, research has shown that lab rats, mice, yeast, fruit flies and round worms fed 10 percent to 40 percent fewer calories than their free-eating peers lived some 30 percent longer. In some studies, they lived twice as long. Such findings have spawned a growing community of believers who seek better health and longer life in calorie-restricted (CR)diets, as promised in the 2005 book “The Longevity Diet,” including 5,000 members of the CR Society International. The research has also prompted companies like Procter & Gamble and Nu Skin Enterprises to develop drugs to mimic the effects of calorie restriction. The new study, from the National Institute on Aging, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, suggests a surprising disconnect between health and lifespan. It found that most of the 57 calorie-restricted monkeys had healthier hearts and immune systems and lower rates of diabetes, cancer or other ills than the 64 control monkeys. But there was no longevity pay-off. “You can argue that the calorie-restricted animals are healthier,” said Austad. “They have better cholesterol profiles, less muscle loss, less disease. But it didn’t translate into greater longevity. What we learn from this is you can un-link health and longevity.” The NIA study, launched in 1987, is one of two investigating whether eating just 70 percent of the calories in a standard lab diet extends life in a long-lived primate. The Wisconsin National Primate Research Center’s study, begun in 1989, also uses rhesus monkeys, whose physiology, genetics and median lifespan (27 years) are closer to humans than are the rodents in earlier calorie-restriction research. Initial results were promising. In 2006 the NIA group reported that calorie-restricted monkeys had younger-seeming immune systems. Wisconsin reported that after 20 years of eating like birds, the monkeys were less likely to get heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other diseases of aging. They also lived longer: By 2009, 80 percent of the free-eating Wisconsin monkeys had died of age-related illness, but only 50 percent of calorie-restricted monkeys had. Those findings, the scientists reported at the time, showed “that CR slows aging in a primate species.” Experts on aging have since waited for the NIA to weigh in, and the verdict was a shock: “The calorie-restricted monkeys lived no longer than the other monkeys,” NIA’s Julie Mattison, who helped lead the study, told Reuters. The oldest animals in each group had the same incidence of tumors, heart disease and general deterioration. While the abstemious monkeys had some improved health markers such as cholesterol and triglyceride levels, Mattison said, “that didn’t translate into better survival.” The NIA study showed that even monkeys starting calorie restriction early in life, from 1 to 14 years of age, had no lifespan edge over their gourmand peers. With 19 of the 40 monkeys whose eating was restricted starting in youth still alive, the NIA scientists calculated, the chance that they will outlive free-eating monkeys is less than one-tenth of 1 percent. Perhaps more surprising, health markers were often worse in monkeys that began calorie restriction as young adults than older ones, the opposite of what scientists expected. And more of the animals that started calorie restriction when young died of causes unrelated to aging than did their free-eating peers. “There may be something about calorie restriction that makes animals more susceptible to death from other causes,” said Austad. Scientists offered several explanations for why the NIA’s findings differ from more encouraging results in the Wisconsin study. The Wisconsin monkeys’ diet had seven times the table sugar (28 percent of calories, like Americans’ diets) as the NIA’s (4 percent). The Wisconsin control monkeys also ate however much they wished; the NIA control monkeys ate a fixed amount and, as a result, weighed less. That suggests the longevity diet didn’t really extend lifespan in the Wisconsin monkeys: It only seemed to because the control monkeys ate themselves into an early grave. “Comparing calorie restriction to what you think is a normal diet but is in fact an unhealthy diet with too much food and too much sucrose can trip you up,” said Austad. “If you keep your control animals to a healthy weight, as the NIA did, a diet that produces extreme emaciation has no further effect on longevity.” Most problematic, many of the Wisconsin study’s calorie-restricted monkeys died of causes unrelated to aging, such as anesthesia used in some experiments and gastrointestinal bloat. Only by not counting those deaths did the Wisconsin scientists find a statistically significant longevity effect, said Wisconsin’s Ricki Colman, a leader of that study. It is too soon to know how the NIA study will affect the development of drugs aimed at replicating calorie restriction’s benefits without the hunger pangs. They include mannoheptulose, a compound derived from unripe avocados that “tricks cells into thinking they ate less,” said George Roth, CEO of privately held GeroScience. Roth helped launch the NIA study and is a co-author of the new paper. He believes there is still good evidence in favor of calorie restriction, including the Wisconsin study’s findings. GeroScience is working with Procter & Gamble to use mannoheptulose as a lifespan-increasing supplement for dogs and hopes to raise money for a clinical trial in people. LifeGen Technologies, co-founded by a leader of the Wisconsin study, is testing a nutraceutical that mimicked some genetic changes seen with calorie restriction in rodents. The company was bought by Nu Skin Enterprises in 2011. The NIA and Wisconsin teams are continuing to collect data to see if calorie restriction suddenly proves more beneficial. “But what I take away from these studies is that extreme emaciation may not be the correct paradigm,” said University of Texas biologist Austad. “If I were them (companies or scientists banking on this), I’d be worried.”
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10591
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The amazing power of an experimental cancer drug
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"This nicely written article describes the highs and lows of a patient treated with the “smart” drug Gleevec, used to fight a rare form of fatal leukemia known as CML as well as a rare cancer known as gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) that is caused by a mutation in a gene named kit. The author, a physician and former president of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, notes that Gleevec was developed to treat metastatic stromal tumors that have spread throughout the body and do not respond to surgical resection, radiation, or more-standard chemotherapies. He briefly summarizes the history of this drug and its place in current cancer treatment. This approach (a ""My Perspective"" piece written by a physician)—telling the compelling story of a drug and of a difficult cancer through the unfolding case of a single patient—can have its strengths and weaknesses. In this instance, one strength is that readers get a feel for what it might be like to live on the roller-coaster of a terrible disease as new therapies attempt to smooth out the rough ride. Unfortunately, the story lacks important information that would help readers assess the evidence on this therapy, its potential harms, and its cost-effectiveness. According to the best available evidence, the drug is capable of dramatically shrinking (by about 50%) kit-positive GIST in about half of patients who take it, apparently including the type of patient profiled in this piece. Yet we do not learn this when we read the story. Moreover, “smart” drugs that attempt to spare healthy cells as they kill cancer cells have costs—both in side effects and dollars. Though most patients seem to tolerate Gleevec well, the article does not mention recently reported harms of the medication. (See “Harms of Treatment” above.) Nor does it mention its financial costs. As a staff-written article in the previous day’s edition of the Boston Globe explained, “smart” drugs are very expensive ($3000 to $8000 per month for breast and lung cancer drugs, respectively). Indeed, the earlier Globe article cautions that such high costs are an important consideration and could divide cancer patients of the future into “haves” and “have-nots.” But if people didn't read the previous article and only read this, they learned nothing of cost."
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mixture
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"Though a staff-written article in the previous day’s edition of the Boston Globe explained that “smart” drugs are very expensive ($3000 to $8000 per month for breast and lung cancer drugs, respectively), this article failed to mention cost. The earlier Globe article cautioned that such high costs are an important consideration and could divide cancer patients of the future into “haves” and “have-nots.” (See http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2007/03/12/a_moving_target/?page=1). But if you only saw this story, you didn't learn about costs. The article does not provide estimates of Gleevec’s absolute or relative benefits. A recent systematic review concluded that about half of patients taking Gleevec who have advanced unresectable and/or metastatic, KIT-positive GIST (like the patient in the Globe story) will experience a dramatic shrinkage of the tumor (at least a 50% reduction), though it is not possible to predict which patients will respond well. (Health Technol Assess. 2005;9:1-142.) The article explains that Gleevec and other “smart” cancer drugs “destroy cancer cells yet cause minimal damage to normal cells.” Though most patients seem to tolerate the drug well, the article does not mention recently reported harms of the medication. According to a recent systematic review, ""all Gleevec-treated patients experienced adverse effects.” (Health Technol Assess. 2005;9:1-142.) The most serious events are tumor hemorrhage in some 5% of patients. Common serious events include gastrointestinal complications (bleeding, obstruction, perforation, or rupture) and low white blood cell counts. Other common side effects include swelling from fluid (edema), nausea, diarrhea, and muscle pain. Some patients taking Gleevec for gastrointestinal stromal tumors or chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) may also develop low phosphate levels, or hypophosphate, perhaps from accelerated vitamin D metabolism. (N Engl J Med 2006; 354:2006-13) Left untreated, chronic hypophosphate can impair the ability of bone to renew itself, or lead to rickets and osteomalacia (a painful condition characterized by soft bone that easily bends). A case study reported that a patient taking Gleevec developed a blood clot in the pelvis that moved to the lung, a rare but fatal event. (J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2006;25:607-10.) The article does not sufficiently explain the nature or quality of the clinical evidence to support the use of Gleevec in patients with GIST. According to a recent systematic review, there are “no randomized trials that have directly compared [Gleevec] with the current standard treatment in patients with advanced GIST.” Moreover, the reviewers added, “There are many uncertainties surrounding [Gleevec] prescription, such as the length of time patients should be on [Gleevec], the dose, drug resistance and the optimum time-point in the disease course at which to give the drug.” (Health Technol Assess. 2005;9:1-142.) As the Globe article implies, it is also unknown how many months or years Gleevec may extend the life of patient."
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31105
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Fukushima scientists have warned that fish in the Pacific Ocean will never again be safe for human consumption due to radioactive contamination
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This claim misrepresents a questionable blog post as a scientific investigation in order to use a flashy quote, and further challenges credibility by mixing together a variety of out-of-date themes based on blog posts from four years before.
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false
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Science, fish, fukushima, newspunch.com
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On 5 August 2017, the conspiracy-peddling website Your News Wire published a story — devoid of any citations or named sources — with the headline “Fukushima Officials: Humans Should Never Eat Fish Again.” “Fukushima scientists,” the writer claims, have concluded that “the days of eating fish from the Pacific ocean are well and truly over” thanks to widespread contamination from the 2011 tsunami and resulting nuclear disaster: According to one scientist, TEPCO [Tokyo Electric Power Company], the company in charge of monitoring the plant, has data that shows radiation pouring into the Pacific Ocean non-stop for the past six years. According to other scientists who have examined the radiation levels of fish in the ocean, the days of “eating fish from the Pacific ocean are over”. If the phrase “your days of eating fish from the Pacific Ocean are over” sounds familiar, it’s because this quote has been used in a variety of fear-mongering posts related to Fukushima since 2013. The claim doesn’t originate with a scientist, but with a man named Gary Stamper, who wrote an opinion piece for the Collapsing into Consciousness blog — a web site and forum devoted to issues surrounding the collapse of civilization. Many of the claims made in the Stamper piece stem from fears and media reports generated by a 5 August 2013 admission from TEPCO that waters leaking from Fukushima reactors into the Pacific were more radioactive than previously reported. However, most of the claims in this post are overblown or outright false, and assertions of a connection between animal die-offs and Fukushima radiation remain unsubstantiated. Your News Wire then continues into another unsourced section of vague, largely inaccurate, and wholly out-of-date information about radiation leaking from the reactor: The contaminated water is believed to contain traces of radioactive iodine, cesium, and strontium-89 and 90. Despite efforts from the Japanese government to bring the problem under control, the fish have been saturated by the continuous radiation being pumped into the ocean. The contamination has also resulted in the closure of fishing industries. Worryingly, new studies reveal that fish caught off the West coast of the United States and in Canada are also testing positive for radiation poisoning. This contamination was substantial, and its effects were later detected in western North America. However, claims that this contamination has been continuing at the same rate into the present are incorrect, according to director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Center for Marine and Environmental Radioactivity, who spoke to PBS Newshour in 2016 about this very topic: More than 80 percent of the radioactivity from the damaged reactors ended up in the Pacific — far more than reached the ocean from Chernobyl or Three Mile Island. Of this, a small fraction is currently on the seafloor — the rest was swept up by the Kuroshio current, a western Pacific version of the Gulf Stream, and carried out to sea where it mixed with (and was diluted by) the vast volume of the North Pacific. These materials, primarily two isotopes of cesium, only recently began to appear in the eastern Pacific: In 2015 we detected signs of radioactive contamination from Fukushima along the coast near British Columbia and California. […] These signs, and the many more signs from samples we’ve collected on both sides of the Pacific, show that releases have continued, but that at current rates, it would take 5,000 years to equal the amount of cesium released in the accident’s first few months. As we have written about in detail, it is technically accurate to say that radiation tied to Fukushima has been detected in at least one salmon found in 2015 in Washington state. This fish had an unambiguous chemical marker linking it to the Fukushima reactor. However the level of radiation detected was equal to or less than the amount of radiation found naturally in any fish in the Pacific Ocean, and was therefore not indicative of a direct health risk.
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28915
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"Men's rights activist ""Roosh V"" organized a ""make rape legal"" event across 43 countries on 6 February 2016."
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Bayer’s chief executive on Thursday acknowledged the German maker of pharmaceuticals and crop chemicals was facing massive challenges from a wave of lawsuits over an alleged carcinogenic effect of its Roundup weedkiller.
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mixture
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Politics, daryush valizadeh, make rape legal, return of kings
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“We have lost two cases in lower courts. That is why the company is massively affected. You see it in our share price,” CEO Werner Baumann said in a panel discussion at an academic business event in Cologne. “You see it selectively, mainly here in Germany and in France - less so in the USA - in our reputational scores,” he added. Bayer has seen about 30 billion euros ($34 billion) wiped off its market value since August, when a U.S. jury found Bayer liable because Monsanto, acquired by Bayer for $63 billion last year, had not warned of weedkiller Roundup’s alleged cancer risks. It suffered a similar courtroom defeat last month and more than 10,000 cases are pending. “There’s lots of politicking, campaigning and propaganda that goes entirely against the current regulatory status of our products. That has prompted U.S. lawyers to sue for damages - a big industry in the USA - following an outlier assessment of the potential risk by a subordinate organization,” Baumann added. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the European Chemicals Agency and other regulators across the globe have found that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is not likely carcinogenic to humans. However, the World Health Organization’s cancer arm in 2015 reached a different conclusion, classifying glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans”. Bayer is legally challenging the verdicts and has stressed that regulators across the globe have found the product to be safe.
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4081
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Idaho officials confirm 2 cases of vaping-related illness.
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Public health officials confirmed Tuesday that two people in Idaho have developed a serious lung disease linked to vaping.
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true
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Lung disease, Health, General News, Public health, Idaho
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The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced the two patients, one a minor and the other a young adult, were hospitalized for a time but are now recovering at home. Three more suspected cases were being investigated, said department spokeswoman Niki Forbing-Orr, and said officials expected that number to increase. “Last week we didn’t know about any cases,” said Forbing-Orr. “We’ve asked clinicians to be on the alert for signs of this respiratory illness, and I think as word gets out we will probably have more cases, unfortunately.” The outbreak of vaping-related lung disease has sickened roughly 450 people in at least 33 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The federal agency said five people had died nationwide as of Friday; a sixth death was reported in Kansas on Tuesday. All of the suspected and confirmed cases in Idaho have been in people between the ages of 15 and 30, said Forbing-Orr. State officials are asking health care providers to watch for any signs of respiratory illness in patients who use vaping products, and to report any possible cases to public health officials. Symptoms can include shortness of breath, chest pain, fever, fatigue, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. “We are investigating each report and looking for things that might be common among the patients as well as asking about the types of vaping products and devices people have used to try and pinpoint the source of these illnesses,” Deputy State Epidemiologist Dr. Kathryn Turner said in a statement. Neighboring states have also reported cases, including one death in Oregon and illnesses in Utah and Montana. The use of vapes and other e-cigarette devices has grown in popularity in recent years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention annual survey of risky behavior by youth found that a little more than 14% of Idaho high school students reported using an electronic vapor device at least once in the past 30 days in 2017, compared to a national rate of just over 13%.
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9260
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New HIF-2 kidney cancer therapy more effective than current treatment, study shows
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This is a mouse study of a product called PT2399 from a class of drugs called HIF-2 inhibitors that have purportedly been shown to be “more effective and better tolerated than the standard of care drug” in the treatment of kidney cancer. While this is promising research, appropriate language to say that this is a very small, very preliminary and non-definitive rodent study was largely missing. A novel compound can be very exciting for the researchers, those who are making and promoting it, and the institution that has a financial interest in its success, but that excitement needs to be tempered with a ‘reality check’ on the challenges of translating animal research to human outcomes. from observers unconnected to the research. Without that, the news release reads as a mere PR exercise, designed to generate premature (yet possibly unfounded) excitement. [Editor’s note: The news release says, “In the study in Nature, investigators show that HIF-2 inhibition was able to control metastatic kidney cancer even after 7 lines of prior therapy. See video.” However, the release contained no link to the video so the review was completed without viewing the video.] If it is true that nearly 400,000 Americans are currently diagnosed with kidney cancer, and it produces an additional 60,000 new cases each year (according to the National Cancer Institute) then this research could be of a very large public health importance. Unfortunately, this release doesn’t discuss the effectiveness and problems with current treatment in humans. The study’s key findings that the “HIF-2 inhibitor was more active than sunitinib and that it was active against tumors progressing on sunitinib” as well as being “better tolerated” could be a real advance if such advantages are later shown to be seen in people. The key bit of missing information is that mice that gain weight on the drug (when the comparator mice were “sickly and lost weight”) are still mice, and no amount of tweaking of these results will magically transform results that are directly applicable in humans. Even if new biomarkers are identified that determine which mice would be most likely to benefit from HIF-2 therapies, we may be decades away from having a compound that is proven to work in humans. Sometimes rodent research can be terribly hopeful, and described in hyperbolic terms, but turn out later not to be terribly helpful. Institutions that present animal research as applicable to humans run the risk of raising false hopes in desperate patients.
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mixture
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kidney cancer,mice studies,UT Southwestern Medical Center
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No costs mentioned. If a release claims that a drug is “more effective and better tolerated than the standard of care drug,” it should also be prepared to give some cost specifics. We are told that “mice transplanted with kidney cancer from over 20 patients” found that “the HIF-2 inhibitor PT2399 controlled cancer in half of the tumors.” This is unsatisfactory on a number of levels. How many mice? How well did the comparator mice do? What does “controlled cancer” mean? Were the differences statistically or clinically meaningful? These are, admittedly awkward questions, but the kind of questions that need to be explained in a press release that claims “New HIF-2 kidney cancer therapy more effective than current treatment, study shows.” Other than explaining that some of the kidney cancers were ‘resistant’ to the drug’s effects, we learn nothing about the potential adverse effects of the new treatment. While “mice on sunitinib were sickly and lost weight,” the mice on the new drug gained weight, according to the release. That is hardly sufficient information to know whether the new treatment was well tolerated. Perhaps weight gain was due to fluid retention. The biggest problem with the quality of the evidence is that there were no caveats or cautions about the research’s applicability to humans. We’d like news releases to be more honest in this regard: if this is very preliminary, and very tentative research, it could still be newsworthy, but please say so. No obvious disease mongering. The news release was particularly fulsome in explaining the multiple, overlapping conflicts of the researchers, the sponsoring pharmaceutical company and the academic institution that has a financial stake in this discovery. Well done. While the treatment was compared to another kidney cancer drug, sunitinib, we don’t really learn what other alternative treatments outside of sunitinib or PT2399 are used to treat kidney cancer. It’s pretty clear this is an experimental drug, so experimental it doesn’t even have a name, just a codename: PT2399. It is pretty clear this is a novel approach, and we do get some explanation of why HIF-2 may have been disregarded in the past. While the headline and lead sentences are overt exaggerations, we’ve dealt with that issue elsewhere in the review. The release doesn’t otherwise rely heavily on sensationalist terms. As mentioned above, there is a potential that some patients might be given false hope from the release if they are unfamiliar with the long trial process ahead.
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7498
|
New Africa coronavirus crisis looms with internal spread.
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The coronavirus has now been confirmed in at least 30 of Africa’s 54 countries, officials said Monday, and regional power South Africa warned of a new crisis once the virus begins to spread at home and into crowded low-income communities.
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true
|
Liberia, Health, Ebola virus, Tanzania, Africa, International News, South Africa, China, Somalia, Travel, Virus Outbreak, Europe, General News
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The most alarming confirmation of a first case came from Somalia, the Horn of Africa nation with one of the continent’s weakest health systems after nearly three decades of conflict. Tanzania, Liberia and Benin also announced their first cases. African nations have begun imposing travel restrictions as many confirmed cases come from abroad. Algeria cut off all air and sea contact with Europe, effective Thursday, and Botswana barred travelers from 18 high-risk countries. South Africa announced it will revoke nearly 10,000 visas issued to people from China and Iran, two of the hardest-hit countries, in January and February. It also will require visas from several hard-hit countries that had been visa-free, including the United States and Italy. Both are dramatic steps that target important business partners at a time when South Africa’s economy has again slid into recession. In response, France’s embassy urged French citizens visiting South Africa to leave as soon as possible. “The internal transmission risk is now setting in,” South Africa’s health minister, Zweli Mkhize, told reporters a day after the country declared an unprecedented national disaster. It has 62 cases, all from abroad. Health officials are investigating two cases of possible local transmission. “The reality is this: For now, individuals that have been infected thus far are people who can afford going on holiday abroad or they travel for business. Those individuals also have accommodation for self-quarantine,” the minister said. “However, when this outbreak starts affecting our poor communities where families do not have enough rooms or spaces to quarantine those affected, we will experience a crisis.” South Africa might have to impose a “lockdown” if these and other new measures including travel restrictions and school closures don’t work within two weeks, the health minister said: “It’s going to be very hard.” South Africa has one of the most developed health systems in Africa, and global health experts have openly worried for weeks that the virus could quickly overwhelm countries on the continent with weak health systems. Somalia is one of them. Health Minister Fawziya Abikar said the country’s first confirmed case was in a Somali national who had recently arrived from abroad. Somalia’s government quickly announced that international flights to the country would no longer be allowed as of Wednesday. Large parts of Somalia remain under the control of the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group, which has been hostile to aid groups and often carries out deadly attacks in the capital, Mogadishu. The insecurity will hurt efforts to contain the virus. In Liberia, the executive director of the country’s environmental protection agency tested positive after arriving last week from Switzerland. Liberia, along with neighbors Sierra Leone and Guinea, was devastated by an Ebola outbreak from 2014 to 2016 that killed more than 11,300 people. “There is no cause for panic,” Information Minister Eugene Nagbe said. Tanzania’s health ministry said the country’s first confirmed case was a a 46-year-old Tanzanian woman who recently traveled from Belgium. Tanzania came under unusual criticism from some global health officials last year after the East African nation was accused of not sharing information about a possible Ebola virus case. For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But severe illness can occur, especially in the elderly and people with existing health problems. Worldwide, over 169,000 people have been infected, 6,500 have died and over 77,000 have recovered, most of them in China. Across Africa, some health experts worried that other virus cases were going undetected. “We have to ask the question: How strong are our monitoring systems, especially those in rural areas or with limited technology? That is a reality on the continent and perhaps why we have not yet seen a surge in cases,” public health researcher Dr. Shakira Choonara told The Associated Press. Professor Cheryl Cohen with South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases expressed concern that the current numbers could rise rapidly. “The major area for the virus is now Europe, and we are connected more to Europe and U.S. than we are with China,” she said. ___ Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda; Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia; Mohamed Sheikh Nor and Abdi Guled in Mogadishu, Somalia; and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed. ___ Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak ___ The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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35134
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Parents can receive a case of baby formula during the COVID-19 pandemic by calling the number on the back of the company's product.
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As a partner for both parents and healthcare professionals, we know our products play a vital role in a family’s life. We are here to help navigate the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation and ensure families can access our nutritional formulas, foods and beverages as the response to the pandemic evolves.
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false
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Medical, COVID-19
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In March 2020, as the COVID-19 coronavirus disease continued to spread around the globe, worried citizens started to stock up on supplies to “wait out the storm” in the relative safety of their homes. As store shelves were temporarily emptied, a viral message started to circulate on social media that claimed anyone looking for baby formula during this pandemic could obtain some by simply calling the number on the back of one of these products: This viral meme reads: “For parents who cannot find formula in stores for their babies right now grab the can of formula that you do have, and call the number on the back and they will send you a whole case during this time!” This is not true. You can’t receive a free case of baby formula simply by calling the number on the back of a product. This claim appears to have originated out of whole cloth. One red flag that indicates this post contains faulty advice is that no specific company is identified in the message. We searched the websites of some of the larger baby formula brands, such as Gerber and Enfamil, and found no announcements about how parents could obtain baby formula via this method during the pandemic. The Motherload, a Facebook group for mothers, reached out to Aptamil Customer Services and quoted the company as saying the rumor was false. From the Facebook post: “I’m afraid this is not true and I’m really sorry to hear that people are spreading false rumours at such a worrying time. The World Health Organisation guidelines on the promotion of breastmilk substitutes STRICTLY prohibit us from giving out free milk under ANY circumstances.” And a spokesperson for that company also confirmed to Yahoo News that the rumor was false: “This is not true and I’m really sorry to hear that people are spreading false rumours at such a worrying time. “The World Health Organization guidelines on the promotion of breastmilk substitutes strictly prohibit us from giving out free milk under any circumstances.” A spokesperson for Gerber confirmed to us via email that this rumor wasn’t true. Gerber also told us that families can find information about discounted products on the website gerber.com/coupons: The Gerber spokesperson told us:
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25804
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“Herd immunity has been reached.”
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We have not reached herd immunity against the coronavirus, and scientists say we aren’t close to achieving it in the United States. Scientists estimate herd immunity will probably be reached when 60% to 70% of the population has been infected.
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false
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Public Health, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,
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"Sharing a graph of COVID-19 testing trends in the United States, a recent Facebook post claims that ""HERD IMMUNITY HAS BEEN REACHED."" ""In fact,"" the post says, ""it was probably reached in May."" The post points to two ""bumps"" in the data. The first bump, it says, reflects when at-risk patients were tested for COVID-19 in hospitals. The second bump reflects when testing became more available to more people, according to the post. ""We’re looking at the downward trend of that second bump,"" the post says. ""Ask any biostatistician what it means when you test hundreds of thousands of people a day for an infectious disease and return a consistently lowering positivity rate. I’ll give you a clue: it means heard immunity has been reached and the virus is dying out."" (The misspelling of ""herd"" is in the original post.) This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) We’ll cut to the chase before drilling down into the details: No, we have not reached herd immunity, a subject we’ve written about before. Scientists generally say herd immunity could play a role in curbing the spread of the coronavirus before a vaccine becomes available. The idea is that once a disease infects enough people in a community, if the infection confers immunity, then there are fewer people left who can still transmit the disease, so the spread slows. For the coronavirus, scientists estimate herd immunity will probably be reached when 60% to 70% of the population has been infected. The graph featured in the Facebook post shows daily changes in COVID-19 tests performed in the United States and test positivity rates over the months. It’s available on Johns Hopkins University’s website. But Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins, said it ""cannot in any way be used to assess whether or not we’ve achieved herd immunity."" The Facebook post, she said, is a ""completely inappropriate interpretation of what it’s showing."" Rather, she said, test positivity is a measure specialists use to gauge whether a community is conducting enough testing. Because the rate of people testing positive for COVID-19 can change depending on the number of tests administered, it doesn’t necessarily reflect how many people are becoming infected. Low positivity rates, for example, could result from simply testing a large number of uninfected people, she said. Plus, asymptomatic people who are infected and possibly spreading the disease may never get tested. Scientists use serological surveys of a representative sample of the population to estimate what fraction of a community has likely been infected with COVID-19, Nuzzo said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has done this, and according to its most recent findings, ""no one is near herd immunity, even in the hardest-hit places in the United States."" ""Other countries, including places like Sweden that have not implemented the same level of shutdowns like the United States — their surveys say the same thing: that the vast majority of us remain susceptible to this virus,"" she said. We contacted several other specialists for help parsing the claims in the Facebook post. We even asked a biostatistician, as the post suggested. ""This post is not accurate,"" said Natalie Dean, a biostatistics professor at the University of Florida. Because test positivity is low in some areas, like New York, and high in others, like Florida, it’s ""not particularly meaningful to look at the entire United States as one unit,"" she said. ""While numbers in some of the hotspot states appear to be stabilizing, it is hard to know for sure, because testing capacity is strained and there are significant backlogs."" That makes daily positivity numbers less reliable. Still, she said, decreasing 911 calls for respiratory distress in some cities and indicate that the spread of COVID-19 is slowing down. That’s likely due to policy and behavioral changes in different communities. But broadly in the United States, COVID-19 is ""spreading like wildfire,"" said Andrew Noymer, a population health and disease prevention professor at the University of California-Irvine. When testing increases, the percentage of positive tests can decrease simply because more people are being tested, he said. ""So percent positive testing going down doesn’t mean anything."" The Facebook post, he said, ""is just a bunch of mumbo jumbo."" Jaquelin Dudley, a professor of molecular biosciences at the University of Texas at Austin, said it’s possible there are areas where herd immunity has been established, ""but there are still many unknowns, including lack of testing for asymptomatic individuals or missing the right point during infection for testing."" At this point, though, we can’t accurately predict a timeline for when there will be herd immunity throughout the United States, she said."
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10474
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‘Liberation procedure’ for multiple sclerosis sparks debate
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"The article’s tone mimics the roller-coaster nature of these debates: stories of miraculous recoveries, ""groundbreaking"" research by mavericks, yet also caution by skeptical experts, conflicting evidence, and calls for more trials. It could’ve navigated this debate with a bit less emotion and fewer poignant adjectives, but in truth it’s tough to summarize in a flat way the suffering of patients, their hope for a better life, and their anger at the hesitancy to disseminate what they see as an answer to their prayers. So yes, the article could’ve been less emotionally charged, and no doubt some readers will focus on the hopeful anecdotes, such as those at the beginning and end. But all and all, we think it does a solid job of hanging counterweights on that positive emotion, adding many cautionary statements — sometimes from the practitioners of liberation themselves. Our favorite line, and maybe the heart of the issue, is when it shows Dr. Bonn citing the need for rigorous studies, while understanding patients’ frustration, their suffering, and the roller coaster ride they’ve been on. It expresses empathy without false hope."
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true
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"We read that Paulette O’Leary (of Toronto) paid $13,000 for the procedure at a US medical center. However, as it seems the procedure was performed as part of a clinical trial, we’re unsure how generalizable her costs were to other situations — to what other patients or insurance companies might pay. Since the article implies that liberation is not commonly available outside of clinical trials, we’ll take this mention of costs as sufficient for an experimental procedure. There’s a mixed bag here. First, the most salient statement that liberation ""offers quality-of-life improvements that are impossible with any of the seven approved MS drugs"" (See criterion for Compare the new approach with existing alternatives? – below.). Maybe we’ve misunderstood the author’s intent; maybe ""offers improvements"" was intended to mean ""offers the hope for improvement,"" commenting on patient point-of-view of the potential instead of evidence for the reality. The author seems clear elsewhere that the benefits are uNPRoven. However, the sentence as written is so broad, it has to earn a strikeout on this criterion. Now to the rest of the article. Although formal clinical evidence on benefits isn’t covered, we’re given a sense of the outcomes from certain studies and, anecdotally, from certain physicians. The article mentions that Dr. Bonn treated only three MS patients, ""but the results were good."" That statement is way too vague, and whether it was the journalist or Bonn’s take, it shouldn’t be reported without clarification. What exactly does ""good"" mean — miraculous benefits? Temporary? Encouraging? Then we hear that Dr. Scalfani has given the procedure to about 20 patients, ""a few with ‘miraculous’ results,"" the first developing a clot. That’s not data but it shows the limits to the anecdotal benefits mentioned earlier, ie, most of his patients did not have miraculous results. Earlier we read, generally, that ""not all MS patients get better after angioplasty."" Such qualitative statements fit with the earlier report of Zamboni’s study of the not universal prevalence of CCSVI in MS, and its appearance in two comparator groups of people. While it’s early to quantify outcomes, since the article isn’t covering any particular late-stage study, there is enough focus on harms to counterbalance the anecdotal benefits available at this time. We’re told that up to 47% of Zamboni’s cases (in a study? in practice?) had re-narrowing of veins after angioplasty. We hear about the complications at the Stanford study using stents, one open-heart surgery and another death. The author states that patients with MS feel they are being discriminated against because ""in their view, they have little to lose."" It’s important then that we’re told the serious potential complications of balloon angioplasty in general (and the associated medications if stents are implanted), ie, ""rare"" vein ruptures and clots. It would’ve been better to quantify these more knowable harms. We’re also told of the experience of angioplasty, threading a tube deep through a vein while under sedation. We also hear the potential perils of having an experimental procedure done by physicians who are new at it. Of note was the story of the blood clot that developed the first time Dr. Sclafani’s did the procedure. The article qualifies the preliminary level of evidence in several explicit ways, observing that many experts are unconvinced, citing some of the conflicting evidence regarding the contribution of CCSVI and the outcomes for liberation, and stating that the clinical hero of the story, Dr. Bonn, himself ""sees the need for rigorous studies."" A particularly important passage in the article comes when we’re told that MS societies are spending their money on studies of diagnosis and epidemiology, not treatment. It highlights that we’re not even sure of the role of these veins, which needs to be established before addressing whether the treatment is appropriate or effective. We give props to the reporter for devoting space for Ms. O’Looney, of the MS society, to address patients’ urgency for the procedure. The rationale for their approach sets a cautious, fair-minded tone for the rest of the article. It seems that many readers would walk away thinking that there is no clinical evidence yet to support the use of the procedure, but that trials are ongoing and desired. The article may have benefited from a little more weight on the lack of clinical trials on liberation and the difference between that type of evidence and pathophysiological evidence (eg, Zamboni’s studies of the underlying vein disorders). It’s also good, for evaluating the quality of evidence, to know the number of patients involved when outcomes are described, and the article mentions the rough numbers of patients in the Zamboni study and Scalfani’s anecdotal series. An exception to the fairly balanced discussion of the evidence comes near the end when the author states that liberation ""offers quality-of-life improvements that are impossible with any of the seven approved MS drugs."" There is nothing that substantiates this claim from the information provided. (See criterion for Compare the new approach with existing alternatives? – below.) We were torn about how to judge this criterion. The story seems to imply – although it’s not crystal clear – that angioplasty is only for MS patients found to have the CCSVI condition. And the story does raise doubts – ""poor vein drainage doesn’t bother everyone who has it."" But the story could have done a better job in explaining that multiple sclerosis is a disease that has a variety of presentations. Some patients have very indolent disease over a long period of time without serious progression. The story could have been clearer that this may not be appropriate for all patients with MS. For example, some patients have MS that is quiescent. Should they have their blood vessels fixed? Nonetheless, we’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt on this criterion. The article includes optimistic interviews with patients and physicians, but also cautionary interviews with Ms O’Looney and admissions of treatment failures and selective success from Dr. Scalfani. Dr. Bonn himself, the story’s hero and smiling face in the photo, states that there’s a need for rigorous studies. Conflicts of interest from the physicians quoted and MS Society interviewee are given. We would have liked to hear more about, or specific examples of, those ""skeptical experts"" mentioned generically, so we can judge their potential interests ourselves. The article claims that liberation offers quality-of-life improvements that are impossible with any of the approved drugs, which modify the immune system. The claim is not substantiated, and we think it goes too far considering that, without evidence of efficacy, we don’t know how many MS patients receive such improvements with liberations, or if trials will prove any statistically significant benefit. Presumably the FDA-approved drugs have a body of clinical evidence, so anecdotes do not put liberation on equal footing with these drugs for comparison. The statement could’ve been softened to refer more to the procedure’s potential, which is essentially hypothetical without evidence. The article implies that the procedure is experimental, not reimbursed, and that some doctors who had been performing it outside a clinical trial have been told to stop for legal reasons. We’re also told of patients going to Bulgaria and Poland to have the procedure. We think these pieces of information sum up to a picture that liberation is not commonly available in the US, pending clinical trials. It would’ve been better if the availability was explicitly stated. We’re told that liberation is a novel application of angioplasty, which is commonly used for vessel conditions like coronary heart disease. The article also traces some therapeutic mechanisms and speculated mechanism for the pathology underlying this treatment. It’s clear that this story didn’t rely on a news release."
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3982
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Gnat-borne disease turns up in Minnesota deer for 1st time.
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Animal health officials say a disease carried by gnats has turned up in Minnesota deer for the first time.
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true
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North America, Animals, Health, Deer, Minnesota, Animal health
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The Minnesota Board of Animal Health confirmed the first cases of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease — or EHD — in a small herd of captive white-tailed deer in Goodhue County. Officials say six of seven animals died of the disease earlier this month. The remaining buck appears health and is showing no signs of the disease. While this is the first detection of the disease in Minnesota deer, it is widespread across North America. The disease was previously detected in two Minnesota cattle in Brown County in 2012 and Murray County in 2013. The virus is transmitted between deer by biting midges, or gnats. There are no known health risks to people.
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27741
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"A California pastor praised the Orlando nightclub shooting, saying that it's a tragedy more homosexual ""predators"" and ""pedophiles"" didn't die."
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"A California pastor praised the Orlando nightclub shooting, saying that it's a tragedy more ""predators"" and ""pedophiles"" didn't die."
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true
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Politics, orlando nightclub massacre
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A California pastor responded to the June 2016 shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people and injured over 50 more by praising the gunman and stating that the victims “deserve what they got.” In a sermon delivered the morning after the massacre by Pastor Roger Jimenez of the Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento (and posted to YouTube) Jimenez preached that his congregants should not be grieving for the victims of the shooting at a gay nightclub, equating homosexuals with pedophiles and asserting it was a “tragedy that more of them didn’t die”: “Are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today?” Um no. I think that’s great. I think that helps society. I think Orlando, Florida, is a little safer tonight. The tragedy is that more of them didn’t die. The tragedy is I’m kind of upset he didn’t finish the job — because these people are predators. They are abusers. I wish the government would round them all up, put them up against a firing wall, put the firing squad in front of them and blow their brains out.” Jimenez later doubled down on his remarks, asserting again that Orlando had been made safer through the deaths of dozens of innocent nightclub patrons: “As far as the Bible is concerned, they crossed a line. The sin they performed is worthy of death,” he said. “I realize our society doesn’t take that, but that’s what the bible says. If someone does something that’s worthy of death and they end up dying, I’m not gonna mourn them.” “I think [Orlando is] safer now because of these deaths, and the reason I think that is because I believe all of these homosexuals are pedophiles, and the Bible — see our culture and our society puts them in these categories — gay, lesbian, whatever, but that’s not found in scripture. And I understand the world does not want to accept that, that’s fine. I’m saying as a Christian, the Bible puts people in two categories: normal/natural, unnatural.” As the Sacramento Bee noted, however, the Baptist church with which Jimenez is associated is an independent one (not “Southern Baptist”) unaffiliated with any mainstream order of the Baptist faith: Who is this preacher? Longtime leaders in Sacramento’s faith community say they have never heard of him. On its website, Verity is described as an “independent, fundamental, soul winning, separated, King James Bible believing Baptist church.” Verity does not appear to be affiliated with any order of the Baptist faith. That means Jimenez can say whatever he wishes without any accountability to a larger religious community. “It’s like opening up a store and calling it whatever,” said Jerlen Young-Nelson, media director for the National Baptist Convention, America’s oldest and largest African American religious convention, which boasts an estimated membership of 7.5 million people. “He is a pastor because he calls himself a pastor,” said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. “A pastor who is not accountable is a pastor who can actually facilitate an atmosphere of spiritual corruption. A lack of oversight serves as fodder for theologically erroneous teaching. Why do we legitimize every Tom, Dick or Harry like this? … I condemn his entire presentation.” Additionally, no scientific research supports a commonly claimed linkage between homosexuality and child molestation: The empirical research does not show that gay or bisexual men are any more likely than heterosexual men to molest children. This is not to argue that homosexual and bisexual men never molest children, but there is no scientific basis for asserting that they are more likely than heterosexual men to do so. And many child molesters cannot be characterized as having an adult sexual orientation at all; they are fixated on children.
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11180
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New prostate cancer test shows greater accuracy
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"This story reported on early, preliminary results with a new test that might be used for prostate cancer. The story missed an opportunity to put the news of yet another new way to detect prostate cancer into perspective. When giving the facts, rather than the number of biopsies, it would have been helpful to simply show the number of men diagnosed and the number of men who actually die to let the sheer epidemiology of the disease help men to understand that this cancer isn't always a killer. At least the story could have included one line that screening is controversial regardless of method chosen, because it isn't yet clear if treatment saves lives. The emphasis of the story was on how this test might result in fewer false alarm (false positive) test results than the current PSA test. But one would also want to know how well the test finds cancer, and no information was given about that. In TV news, graphics and pictures carry as much or more weight as the words scripted or voiced in interviews. At the beginning of the piece there was a graphic that stated: ""Prostate cancer in the U.S. – 1.6 million men undergo prostate biopsies each year."" That graphic, setting the stage for the story – can be misleading and confusing to viewers. It could easily be inferred that 1.6 million men each year develop prostate cancer. And therefore we rate it as disease-mongering. The American Cancer Society estimates that during 2007 about 218,890 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the United States – a number not provided in the story. The story interviewed the principal investigator and one other leading urologist. However, it did not disclose what was abundantly clear even in a Johns Hopkins news release: the principal investigator receives a share of the royalties received on sales of the test. He is also a paid consultant to the manufacturer of the test. There were no quotes from anyone expressing skepticism about the development. Even the ABC news website had a story with three different experts quoted saying it is too early to draw any conclusions about if and when the test will gain widespread acceptance. But TV viewers heard none of that."
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false
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"There was no mention of costs – not of the current PSA test, not of what the new test may cost, not of biopsies. The story attempted to explain benefit only in terms of how often false positive test results were avoided, but there was no discussion of how sensitive the test was in correctly identifying prostate cancer when it did exist. The story suggests that false positives are the only drawback to prostate cancer screening as it is currently performed (with PSA test). But that ignores the important fact that prostate cancer screening is not yet proven effective, nor is it proven that treatment of early detected prostate cancer is effective. Since it is not yet known whether the POTENTIAL benefits of prostate cancer screening (regardless of test used) outweigh the KNOWN harms, the issue of prostate cancer screening remains controversial. And that controversy was not mentioned, which is a flaw in the story. There was no discussion of the quality of the evidence nor any discussion of how the new test was tested. In TV news, graphics and pictures carry as much or more weight as the words scripted or voiced in interviews. At the beginning of the piece there was a graphic that stated: ""Prostate cancer in the U.S. – 1.6 million men undergo prostate biopsies each year."" That graphic, setting the stage for the story – can be misleading and confusing to viewers. It could easily be inferred that 1.6 million men each year develop prostate cancer. And therefore we rate it as disease-mongering. The American Cancer Society estimates that during 2007 about 218,890 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the United States – a number not provided in the story. The story interviewed the principal investigator and one other leading urologist. However, it did not disclose what was abundantly clear even in a Johns Hopkins news release: the principal investigator receives a share of the royalties received on sales of the test. He is also a paid consultant to the manufacturer of the test. There were no quotes from anyone expressing skepticism about the development. Even the ABC news website had a story with three different experts quoted saying it is too early to draw any conclusions about if and when the test will gain widespread acceptance. But TV viewers heard none of that. There was no mention of the many other attempts in the research pipeline to develop a better prostate cancer test. There was also no mention of the fact that any men has another important option: not being tested. The story makes it clear that this is early, preliminary research on a test not yet approved by the FDA. The story established that this is a new and different way of looking for prostate cancer. We can't judge if the story relied solely or largely on a news release."
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7222
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Romania investigates man who posed as plastic surgeon.
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Authorities in Romania are investigating an Italian citizen who allegedly posed as a plastic surgeon in clinics around Bucharest.
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true
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Bucharest, Romania, Kosovo, Health, International News, Europe
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The College of Medics said Tuesday that it hadn’t issued Matteo Politi, who used the alias Matthew Mode, with a license to practice. Romanian health authorities, who must also issue a separate permit to doctors, say he was given one in March 2018 after submitting a fake diploma claiming he’d qualified as a doctor in Kosovo. Libertatea newspaper reported that a nurse became suspicious, saying he didn’t know how to wash his hands or put on surgical gloves properly. In one case, a nurse reported that a breast implant surgery lasted four hours instead of one. Health Minister Sorina Pintea blamed private clinics for allowing Politi, reported to be 38, to work without a permit. Health authorities are looking into how he obtained a permit. According to reports, Politi had worked as a plastic surgeon in a number of private clinics in the capital, Bucharest, for about a year. The Italian-owned Monza Group said Tuesday it was suing him. It said he’d performed just one operation, in December 2018. Italian media reported in 2011 that Politi received a suspended 18-month sentence for having posed as a doctor without a license. Reports said he had only completed middle school, yet managed to work in hospitals in Verona, Brescia, Turin and Pordenone using the name of a real doctor, Luigi Vincenzo Politi. There were no immediate reports of patients suffering as a result of the Romanian surgeries. Politi’s whereabouts wasn’t immediately known.
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19217
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"President Obama has worked to change Medicare for the worse"" by ""creating an unelected, unaccountable panel with the power to deny coverage of certain treatments."
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Ohio Republican Party says Obama has hurt Medicare, creating an unaccountable panel with the power to deny coverage
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false
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Ohio, Health Care, Medicare, Ohio Republican Party,
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"The Affordable Care Act, the health care reform law known commonly as Obamacare, remains a hot button subject in political campaigns. Not surprisingly, many claims made about the law in the 2010 campaign season are circulating again. Several appear in a brochure the Ohio Republican Party sent to voters in support of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. The brochure is aimed specifically at seniors. It says they can count on Romney, but not on President Obama, who ""has worked to change Medicare for the worse."" One of the ways Obama has done that, the mailing says, is by ""creating an unelected, unaccountable panel with the power to deny coverage of certain treatments."" That statement echoed several similar claims PolitiFact has checked about the health care law and the unelected Independent Payments Advisory Board, or IPAB for short. For this fact-check, we will borrow from our previous items to explain the board and the brochure's claim. Some of our information comes from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that studies health care, which put out a primer in 2010 about the board and a longer paper in 2011. Just what is IPAB? The board was created by the 2010 health care law in response to criticism that Congress has been unwilling or unable to slow the increasing costs of Medicare, the federal program that pays for seniors’ health care. Under the health care reform law, if Medicare spending growth is projected to exceed pre-set targets, the IPAB must come up with plans to slow that increase. If Congress does not act on the recommendations within a set time, IPAB’s recommendations automatically go into effect. (For a more detailed explanation of how this would work, we recommend this April 2011 report from the independent Kaiser Family Foundation.) The IPAB can reduce how much the government pays health care providers for services, reduce payments to hospitals with very high rates of readmissions, or recommend innovations that cut wasteful spending. Some argue that because the IPAB can reduce what the government pays health care providers, its decisions could ultimately impact what services are available to patients. But IPAB recommendations themselves would not apply to any particular individual. Rather, they would be across-the-board policy recommendations applied to the entire program. Given the claim's wording that IPAB could ""deny coverage of certain treatments,"" some readers could get the wrong impression that the board would review individual patient treatments and deny care. That’s not the case. Still, the IPAB has become one of the more contentious points of the health care law; even some members of Congress who voted for the overall health care law don’t like the IPAB. Congress held hearings earlier this year on repealing the board. The hearings were organized by opponents of the IPAB, but people who testified raised concerns that IPAB’s powers are so limited that its only real recourse is to reduce payments for doctors and other health care providers, which could end up putting pressure on patient care. We should note that these concerns are also present under the current system, in which Congress takes a more active role. Limits on its powers There are restrictions on what IPAB can recommend in the name of cost savings. It cannot raise rates, reduce benefits, drop beneficiaries or ration care. Here’s the exact language from the law itself: ""The proposal shall not include any recommendation to ration health care, raise revenues or Medicare beneficiary premiums under section 1818, 1818A, or 1839, increase Medicare beneficiary cost-sharing (including deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments), or otherwise restrict benefits or modify eligibility criteria."" The brochure calls the IPAB an ""unelected, unaccountable panel."" Its 15 full-time members aren’t elected. But that doesn’t mean they’re unaccountable. • They’re appointed by the president and approved by the Senate. • They can’t serve more than two six-year terms. • Their recommendations can be rejected by Congress. • They must follow disclosure and ethics guidelines, and they can’t perform other jobs as they serve. • They can be removed by the president for ""neglect of duty"" or ""malfeasance in office,"" though not for any other reason. In addition to limiting the reasons a board member might be removed, lawmakers sought to insulate the board’s decisions from special-interest lobbying: Its recommendations are fast-tracked in Congress and go into effect automatically if lawmakers fail to act. Implementation of its recommendations isn’t subject to administrative or judicial review. So while their decisions are protected by law, board members are to some degree accountable. In particular, they could fail to win a second term, or get fired by the president. The mailing by the Ohio Republican Party said ""President Obama is weakening Medicare as we know it"" by ""creating an unelected, unaccountable panel with the power to deny coverage of certain treatments."" Truth-O-Meter rating There’s an small element of truth in the claim. Board members aren’t elected. And the board will make decisions that arguably could impact the availability of services. But it’s a stretch to say the members of the board are entirely unaccountable. They’re appointed by the president and approved by the Senate. The president can fire them for neglect of duty or malfeasance.They’re required to recommend cuts to Medicare in years that other cost-saving measures don’t meet growth targets — but Congress can overrule their recommendations. And describing the board as having ""the power to deny coverage of certain treatments"" could lead readers to believe the board will sit around a table and talk about individual cases, like whether grandpa can get his bypass or not, and that’s not the case. The board won’t look at individual patients or deny individual treatments. Instead, it will make system-wide recommendations to rein in the future growth of Medicare spending, and it makes those recommendations within limited parameters. Those are critical facts that would give a different impression. On the Truth-O-Meter, the claim in the GOP mailer rates ."
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39539
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This is a prayer request from a woman in Texas named Vicky Field. She says her son, Chad was shot in the head in Iraq.
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Pray for Chad, a soldier shot in the head in Iraq
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true
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Appeals, Military, War
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Vicky’s son is named Chad Snowden. This prayer request first started circulating in November or December of 2004 and became widely circulated. According to a U.S. Army website, Chad was wounded by a sniper on November 13, 2004 while on patrol in Iraq. An article from May 5, 2005 in the Hood County News in Granbury, Texas, says that Chad is home and has recovered enough that he’s thinking about going to college. According to the article, the sniper’s bullet hit Snowden just above and behind his left eyebrow and exited the right side. From the time his mother first heard of his injuries it was only five days from the time that he was regarded as extremely critical until he could be moved from Iraq to Germany for treatment. Then once in Germany, he was kept for only a day until being moved to Water Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. While there, he and his mother met President and Mrs. Bush as they visited wounded soldiers and their families at Walter Reed. Chad’s injuries were such that only a small part of his brain was damaged. In a short time, he was ready to be moved from Walter Reed to a military rehabilitation trauma brain injury hospital but, according to the article, that was delayed because of an overload of paperwork required. Vicky shot into action and has since become employed by the Department of Defense project to help people like Chad who’ve gotten lost in the paperwork. She works with the newly formed Military Severely Injured Joint Operations Center and makes sure that veterans are connected to military benefits. Her first project was for a reservist from Texas named Eric Richardson. He spent three months in the desert in Kuwait with boots that were a size too small and came away with a rare nerve condition that he says spread throughout his body including his brain. Now his memory is bad, his vision and hearing are affected, and he cannot walk. Vicky Field discovered that the roof in Richardson’s home is leaking and some of the ceiling has collapsed including in his 4-year-old child’s bedroom.She ran into a roofer at a gas station, told him about the Richardsons, and got the roof fixed. There is a toll-free hotline for the Military Severely Injured Joint Operations Center at 888-774-1361. Last updated 7/22/05 Comments
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3831
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Pelosi moves on drug prices despite falling-out with Trump.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is plowing ahead with her bill to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices despite a breakdown in relations with her chief bargaining partner on the issue — President Donald Trump.
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true
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Seniors, Medication, Health, General News, Legislation, Politics, Business, Medicare, Prices, Prescription drugs, Bills, Nancy Pelosi, Donald Trump
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The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the legislation would save Medicare $345 billion over seven years, partly because some seniors would no longer have to skimp on costly medicines, and they’d stay healthier. A separate estimate from nonpartisan analysts at the Department of Health and Human Services found that households would save $158 billion over 10 years. But the budget office also cautioned that squeezing drugmakers could mean that some new medications — 3% to 5% — won’t make it to market. Such trade-offs were front and center Thursday as House committees considered the legislation. The Energy and Commerce committee as well as the Education and Labor panel voted largely along party lines to advance the bill. Ways and Means held a hearing. Democrats and Republicans say Pelosi is moving quickly to get the bill ready for a floor vote. “These are jaw-dropping savings,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., who chairs the health subcommittee of Energy and Commerce. “This is legislation that is going to make a true, tangible difference in the lives of the American people.” Eshoo said the money could be used to provide dental, vision and hearing benefits for Medicare recipients or could be reinvested in drug research at the National Institutes of Health. But at another hearing before Ways and Means, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, caustically dubbed the Pelosi bill the “Fewer Cures for Patients Act.” Brady said the budget office finding that one consequence could be fewer drug approvals should be a stop sign for lawmakers. Although supporters of the legislation note that the CBO said only a small share of new drugs would be affected, Brady said, “One cure lost is one cure too many.” The legislation from Pelosi, D-Calif., would authorize Medicare to negotiate prices for the costliest drugs — including insulin — using lower prices paid in other economically advanced countries as the reference point. The budget office says that could result in price cuts of 40% to 55% for pharmacy drugs subject to negotiations. The bill would allow private insurance plans to also get Medicare’s price. As a hammer to force companies to negotiate, Pelosi would impose steep sales taxes on the medications at issue. Overall, budget analysts estimated the legislation would cut industry revenues by $500 billion to $1 trillion over 10 years. The CBO says those numbers are preliminary. Congressional Republicans are broadly opposed to allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, so the legislation has no chance in the Senate unless Trump gets behind it. As a candidate, Trump called for Medicare negotiations, and as president, he’s repeatedly complained that countries with cheaper medicines are taking advantage of U.S. consumers. Pelosi’s office has been in communication with top White House officials for months. Congressional Republicans say negotiations are best left to insurers that administer Medicare’s prescription drug benefit. If Trump’s anger over the Pelosi-initiated impeachment probe sinks the effort, lawmakers of both parties would face voters next year with nothing to show on a top consumer issue. The White House had no comment on the budget estimates. A poll this week found broad public support for Medicare drug negotiations, as well as for Pelosi’s idea of taxing companies that won’t come to the table. But the survey from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation also showed that support can shift to opposition if people are told there could be limits on research or access to new medications. A leading policy expert on drug costs said Pelosi has framed a crucial question: What’s the right balance between fostering innovation and keeping drugs affordable? “The savings are so large that you can’t pretend for a second we don’t have to look at this,” said Peter Bach, director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. CBO hasn’t said what kinds of new drugs could be kept off the market — whether they would be copycat medications or if life-changing medications would be affected, too. “We reduce average prices by 55%, and we will lose some new drugs — between 2.5% and 5% — that’s the estimate,” said Bach. “Some people will say we want everything.” Economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, head of the center-right American Action Forum public policy group, said he’s not so sure that only drugs of marginal value will be sacrificed. He said he’s not worried about major drug companies but rather about smaller research-oriented outfits that have to raise considerable sums from private investors to keep going. Will their money dry up? “The guys sitting out there in the venture capital world are going to say, ‘We’re not going to do drugs anymore,’” said Holtz-Eakin. “And you can’t get that money back.”
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38239
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Claims that safflower oil and/or conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) supplements can help you lose weight, particularly in the belly area, have been circulating for years.
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CLA Safflower Oil Leads to Weight Loss, Less Belly Fat
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unproven
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Food / Drink, Health / Medical
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There’s not enough scientific data to determine whether or not claims that CLA safflower oil promotes weight loss, and “busts belly fat” — but available research casts serious doubt on those claims. Most safflower oil weight loss claims are based on a single study from 2009. The study, which was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, compared how safflower oil and CLA helped 55 obese, post-menopausal women lose weight over a 36-week period. Researchers concluded safflower oil (identified as SAF in the paper) led to an average 6.3% reduction in the trunk region, or belly, and that ” this magnitude of reduction has not been reported in an intervention that used a linoleic acid–rich oil.” The weight loss, the researchers concluded, occurred without diet or activity changes. The overall conclusion was that both safflower oil and CLA “may be beneficial for weight loss, glycemic control, or both.” It’s important to note, however, that the study concluded that CLA safflower oil may help promote weight loss — not that it actually does. That distinction was raised by Dr. Russel H. Greenfield in a blog post that appeared at Dr. Oz’s website in 2012 under the headline “Safflower Oil: Use a Fat to Lose Fat?” Greenfield notes that the 2009 study raised questions about safflower oil’s weight loss capabilities — but the study didn’t attempt to answer them: Keep in mind that good research is very hard to do. The researchers behind these data are applauded and honored for their efforts – they have generated a hypothesis that can (and should) be tested. That is not the same, however, as saying the results imply that anyone interested in losing abdominal fat should begin taking a safflower oil supplement. Dr. Greenfield also notes the study’s limitations, particularly that it only studied 55 subjects and that all of them were post-menopausal women who were obese and suffering from type 2 diabetes. There’s no indication of what impact the safflower oil could have on weight loss in younger women, or those without diabetes: All the people involved were postmenopausal women with type II diabetes, begging the question of what the effects might be in men or younger women. Adverse effects occurred but were not specified. In addition, safflower oil was compared to CLA, an agent that has been reported to increase insulin resistance – the comparison may thus not be fair from the get-go. Beyond that, the approach calls into question some very basic assumptions about the types of fat in our diet. Omega-6 fatty acids are essential to our health, though they have been demonized in some circles due to the relative lack of omega-3 fatty acids in Western-style diets. It is important to get an adequate amount of omega-6s, found primarily in vegetable oils, as well as omega-3s, coming mainly from cold-water fish. And a 2015 comprehensive review of previous studies that was undertaken to determine if claims about the health benefits of CLA safflower oil could be backed up by data didn’t yield encouraging results. The study, published in the scientific journal Nutrition & Metabolism, found that varying results among different studies show that “CLA is not eliciting significantly promising and consistent health effects so as to uphold it as neither a functional nor medical food”: It seems that no consistent result was observed even in similar studies conducted at different laboratories, this may be due to variations in age, gender, racial and geographical disparities, coupled with type and dose of CLA supplemented. Thus, supposed promising results reported in mechanistic and pre-clinical studies cannot be extrapolated with humans, mainly due to the lack of inconsistency in analyses, prolonged intervention studies, follow-up studies and international co-ordination of concerted studies. Briefly, clinical evidences accumulated thus far show that CLA is not eliciting significantly promising and consistent health effects so as to uphold it as neither a functional nor a medical food. Still, a simple Google search shows that many health and wellness outlets have latched onto the 2009 study and have marketed CLA safflower oil as a natural way to lose belly fat. There have also been claims that country singer Blake Shelton used safflower oil to lose over 90 pounds. Despite lots of unanswered questions on social media, we couldn’t find any official comments or statements to support those claims: The manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements are responsible for making sure their products are safe BEFORE they go to market. If the dietary supplement contains a NEW ingredient, manufacturers must notify FDA about that ingredient prior to marketing. However, the notification will only be reviewed by FDA (not approved) and only for safety, not effectiveness. So, CLA safflower oil weight loss claims have not been verified by the FDA, and available scientific research casts serious doubt on them. At this time, CLA safflower oil weight loss claims are unproven, and consumers should consult their physicians before taking any new dietary supplements. Comments
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34580
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Hillary Clinton disparaged nurses in the 1990s, remarking that they were just overpaid 'maids' or 'babysitters.'
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Hillary Clinton has been a major political figure for nearly 25 years. While it’s true that the Internet is not a comprehensive database of everything that ever occurred in the history of the world, evidence of such a controversial public remark that widely “seen” by average citizens would surely have surfaced at some point by now if it existed.
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unproven
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Politics Politicians, hillary clinton, nurses
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A persistent rumor that has been attached to Hillary Clinton for many years now, holding that sometime in the 1990s she made a disparaging remark about nurses. Although this rumor has been circulating for at least a decade now, concrete information about what she actually said, when she said it, or how the public was made aware of the comment has still not come to light. The rumor generally asserts that at sometime indefinite place and time, Hillary Clinton allegedly referred to nurses as “glorified baby sitters” or “”under-educated, overpaid maids.” For example, on 6 February 2008 a user posted a message to the AllNurses forum inquiring about the former: OK, there are a lot of people at work saying that at some time Hillary Clinton said that nurses pay is way too high and that they are just glorified baby sitters. Has any one else heard this. I’ve looked at may sights on her and can’t find it. If she did say that, it needs to be made known. Nurses are a large voting population. I hope for her sake she didn’t say that. Is that part of her medical reform plan? As is often the case with apocryphal broadcast legends, many users responded by asserting that they distinctly remembered Clinton’s making such a remark but could offer nothing documenting the event — attributing the lack of evidence to Clinton’s statement’s supposedly having been made before Internet usage became widespread: OK people, I have done my searching. (sorry it took so long, back to school) I was told by the people I went to for this information that because it was said, or rumored back in 1993, the level of information of that type was limited in cyberspace, so it will remain a rumor with no substantiated documentation When a similar rumor was mentioned in the same forum in July 2016, this time holding that Clinton had called nurses “overpaid” and “nothing but doctor’s handmaidens,” users again explained away the lack of evidence by asserting that this statement was made before “everything [was] documented online”: Some of us are old enough to remember what many in the media choose to forget. (Believe it or not, not everything is documented online). Shortly after Bill Clinton was elected President, Hillary did indeed say that nurses were overpaid and were nothing but doctor’s handmaidens. Although evidence is lacking, there’s no shortage of accusations. In 2007, Clinton was accused of having said that “nurses are overpaid and undereducated,” and in August 2016 the image displayed above, holding that Clinton once called nurses “overpaid maids” was circulated on social media. The fact is, so many people could not legitimately have “seen” or “heard” Clinton make such a remark, as claimed, unless it was covered by the news media at the time — and yet no one has turned up any news source, print or broadcast, documenting that she ever said any such thing. That the event might have occurred before the days of widespread Internet usage is not sufficient to explain away the lack of proof — Bill Clinton’s infamous “$200 haircut” occurred at about the same time as his wife’s alleged remark did (1993), yet there is ample contemporaneous documentation of the former to be found both online and in archival sources. So how did this rumor get its start? Hillary Clinton was an advocate for health care reform during her time as First Lady, and in 1993 she chaired the Task Force on National Health Care Reform. According to the Hillary Clinton Quarterly, she delivered her first speech on the subject on 18 June 1993 to a panel of governors in Woodstock, Vermont. What follows are a few quotes from this speech which may have been misremembered, misinterpreted, exaggerated, or spun into any of the aforementioned accusations: We can no longer write a blank check for health care in this country. We will have to ask everyone — workers, employers, doctors, nurses, other health care providers, hospitals — to do their part. [W]e are proposing a wholesale reduction in the frustrating and wasteful paperwork that eats up the health care system. When you look as Ira [Magaziner] and I have at the volumes of regulations that have been put into effect over the years, the stacks and stacks of forms, you ask yourself where did all this bureaucracy come from? The short answer is that it came from everywhere. It comes from private insurers. It comes from the government. Forms were created to make sure forms were filled out properly. It makes it impossible often for the most vulnerable people to get the care that they need. It also has undercut the delivery of care because as the number of health insurance companies grew — today there are more than 1,500 — so did the number of forms. The result is that instead of a system in which patient care and doctor decision-making and nurse caring drive the system, paperwork does. Most nurses now spend nearly half of their time filling out forms. Most physicians now spend an extraordinary percentage of their income contributing to the bookkeeping and accounting necessary to fill out forms. Patients don’t know how to read these bills. They don’t understand these forms. Those of us who’ve gone to school longer than we like to admit can’t understand these forms. And yet we are continuing to be deluged by them because that is the excuse for not getting to the heart of the problem. We now need to make it clear that what is going to count is quality outcomes, not paperwork processing. If we do that, then consumers will see a health care system made understandable and easy — one insurance form for everybody, a report card for quality that is understandable so that choices can be made, no hidden fine print. Doctors and nurses will finally be able to do what they were trained and educated to do — keeping people healthy, not filling out forms. Parts of that speech could have been twisted into a political attack accusing Clinton of saying that nurses were “overpaid” and “babysitters,” even though the context of her speech makes it clear that she was talking about a broken health care system and not accusing nurses of being under-educated or overpaid. The rumored accusations also don’t fit the general attitude that Hillary Clinton has expressed toward nurses, nor nurses towards her. In 2008, Clinton praised nurses as she “walked a day” in one of their shoes: The American Nurses Association (ANA) has also endorsed Hillary Clinton, both during both her presidential campaign in 2008 and again in 2016: The American Nurses Association (ANA) today announced its endorsement of Hillary Clinton for President of the United States. ANA represents the interests of the nation’s 3.4 million registered nurses and is the leading member-based organization for nurses in the United States. “Hillary Clinton has been a nurse champion and health care advocate throughout her career and believes empowering nurses is good for patients and good for the country,” said Pamela F. Cipriano, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, president of ANA. “We need a president that will make it a priority to transform the country’s health care system into one that is high quality, affordable and accessible.” As first lady, Clinton led early efforts to reform the U.S. health care system so that Americans would have access to affordable, high quality health care services. Notably, she worked with Republicans and Democrats to help create the successful Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides health coverage to more than 8 million children and has helped cut the uninsured rate for children in half. We’ve reached out to the ANA for comment about Clinton’s alleged remarks disparaging nurses, and while we have not yet heard back, the ANA did respond to a detractor on Twitter with a challenge to provide proof that Clinton made such comments. As expected, the response was one of the “I can’t find it, but I know I heard it” variety: @ANANursingWorld you'll be happy to know I cnt find it but knowing you won't take my word 4 it HRC did say it I heard it myself on the news. — Barbie Luther (@barbie_luther) August 16, 2016
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5218
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2020 hopeful Hickenlooper meets Columbine shooting survivors.
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Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Tuesday met with survivors of the Columbine High School attack and other survivors of the state’s mass shootings just four days before the 20th anniversary of the Columbine massacre.
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true
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Shootings, Colorado, Health, Columbine - 20 years later, Aurora, Politics, Denver, North America, School shootings, John Hickenlooper, Mental health
|
Hickenlooper, who is seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, has been touting gun control measures he signed following the 2012 Aurora theater shooting, which killed 12 people. But Tuesday’s event had a somber tone and barely touched on the reliable Democratic vote-getting issue of gun control, instead veering into an inconclusive discussion of the need for improved mental health services for both the victims of mass shootings and for potential perpetrators. Hickenlooper kicked off the hourlong discussion at a Denver church by noting recent suicides of survivors of last year’s Parkland High School shooting and of the father of one of the children killed in the Sandy Hook massacre. The former governor, who’s called for federal funding of more long-term counseling for those affected by mass shootings, asked the group about the lingering impact of the trauma. Tom Mauser, whose son Daniel was one of 13 people killed at Columbine, worries there’s been too much emphasis on “be strong” after recent attacks. “You need to balance that with the reality that some people are still traumatized,” he said. Democratic state Rep. Rhonda Fields, whose district includes the site of the Aurora massacre and whose son was killed earlier in an unrelated homicide, is concerned that resources aren’t getting to those who need them. “There is a ripple effect when it comes to mass shootings,” she said. “I don’t know if people know how to ask for help sometimes because the focus seems to be on the parents or the students who were right there.” Coni Sanders, whose father, Dave Sanders, was the lone teacher killed at Columbine, now runs a mental health provider. She said she’s seen improvements in the system after 20 years. But Sanders worries about the underfunded mental health system in general. She counsels domestic abusers and others referred by courts but said it’s almost impossible for people with mental health issues to find help outside the criminal justice system. Absent a threat that they may imminently harm someone, they’re often waved away, she said. “Unless you go to an emergency room and actually are in crisis, there’s no help,” Sanders said. Mauser added that people often deflect calls for gun control with references to mental health but said that truly tackling mental health issues will cost a great deal of taxpayer money. Hickenlooper, who noted that the state invested $30 million more in mental health care after Aurora, said discussion of mass shootings often centers around gun control, which, he said, is good. But, he added, they need to be broader. “This is something we really haven’t addressed,” Hickenlooper said.
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9037
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Drug shown to reverse brain deficits caused by alcohol
|
This release reports on an early study using mice to evaluate the potential usefulness of tandospirone, a drug to treat both the anxiety and depression that follows binge drinking, as well as curb the negative effects on neurogenesis (the growth and development of neurons) that alcohol can cause. The release states in the second paragraph that this is a mouse study but then several times it suggests that the findings will be applicable in humans. Only human clinical trials can show if this is the case. The release doesn’t quantify any improvements, define any potential harms from the drug, name who funded the work or offer any insights into conflicts of interest. While it mentions the drug is now available in China and Japan, it offers no information on its probable cost if approved for sale in the West. The release headline doesn’t mention that this study took place in rodents. As a result, some news story headlines are echoing that this drug has been found to reverse brain effects of alcohol, never making it clear that the results apply only to rodents. Alcoholism is a major challenge to patients, their loved ones and to public health as a whole. Drugs that might positively affect its damage, and perhaps even reverse it — as this release suggests — would be a great benefit. But this release reports only on very preliminary work done in animals which has yet to be shown transferable to human medicine. The release should have offered more specific information and more caveats as to its applicability.
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false
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alcohol consumption,brain cell regeneration,Queensland University of Technology
|
There is no mention within the release as to the cost of this drug, although it is readily available in both China and Japan. Readers have no indication whether the drug is cheap or expensive, an important factor when evaluating its usefulness among those battling binge drinking and alcoholism. The news release assumes that binge-drinking in selectively-bred rodents and the brain and behavior changes they evidence have some relevance to humans. Quantification of benefits are irrelevant since rodent drinkers are not the same as human drinkers. Some evidence on human benefit is needed. As to the benefits of using tandospirone in mice, the release provides the following: “….two weeks of daily treatment with the drug tandospirone reversed the effects of 15 weeks of binge-like alcohol consumption on neurogenesis – the ability of the brain to grow and replace neurons (brain cells).” Simply saying it “reversed the effects” or “the drug was effective” isn’t adequate for conveying any potential benefits from the drug’s use. When it comes to potential harms from using the drug, the release only offers the following: “It is commonly used there [in Asia] and shown to be highly effective in treating general anxiety and well tolerated with limited adverse effects.” What are those limited effects? How often do they occur? Are they greater or lesser than the side effects of other drugs used in curbing heavy drinking? A caution on the the potential toxicity of the drug if taken with alcohol should have been included. The release states in the second paragraph that the research was done in adult mice. That, however, is overshadowed by the headline, the lead paragraph, and quotes by the researchers that suggest the findings will automatically transfer to humans — a highly speculative conjecture. While animal studies are essential to discoveries leading to improvements in human medicine, the degree to which their results are duplicated in human trials varies greatly. Stories and releases reporting advances evolving from animal research need to be clear throughout that the findings may — or may not — be replicated in humans. One mention isn’t sufficient. The release does not appear to commit disease mongering. The release makes no mention of the funding sources of this research, nor does it provide any information on potential conflicts of interest. There is no mention in the release as to alternative drugs that are used to treat heavy drinking, although there are some, or any mention of any non-drug approaches to curbing drinking. The release clarifies that “This drug is relatively new and available only in China and Japan.” The release points out that the drug is not just meant to curb drinking but is also aimed at both reducing the anxiety and depression which may follow binge drinking, and suggests that it may alter the reduction in neurogenesis that excessive alcohol use can lead to. It’ important to remember that any claims of novelty apply to mice enrolled in this study only. Related drugs in the same drug class (5-HT1a receptor partial agonist which also include Buspirone (buspar), Abilify (aripiprazole) and Seroquel (quetiapine) have long track records in human disease but no established role in the treatment of alcohol use disorder per se. While the claim may be novel in mice treatment, drugs in this class have already been used to treat anxiety in people with AUD and comorbid anxiety disorder. The release takes the wrong tack when it suggests that a model of selectively-bred mice exposed to alcohol for two hours every 24 hours has relevance to what it refers to as human “alcoholism.” Without an explanation, the cautious reader should worry that the diagnosis of “alcoholism” in rodents is itself close to disease mongering, without any explanation of the mouse model of disease being validated in humans. We also found the release’s final quote troubling: “While it could possibly have that effect, it might be able to help reboot the brain and reverse the deficits the alcohol abuse causes — both the inhibition to the brain’s ability to regenerate, and the behavioural consequences that come from what alcohol is doing to the brain, like increases in anxiety and depression.” These are pretty strong claims to be made based only on early studies in mice!
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17052
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More whites believe in ghosts than believe in racism.
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"Abdul-Jabbar said, ""More whites believe in ghosts than believe in racism."" While we don’t know what research he was citing to support his point, Abdul-Jabbar’s claim is a stretch based on the polls we found and the pollsters we consulted. Depending on the question, you could argue that as many as about 6 in 10 white Americans believe in ghosts, though other polls present a smaller ratio. Abdul-Jabbar, meanwhile, seems to have interpreted polling about white Americans’ views of discrimination as their belief in racism. We'll be happy to revisit this fact-check if someone points out a poll we missed. Polling we found supports the theory that white Americans are less likely than black Americans to think that blacks are being discriminated against. But those polls don’t measure whether white Americans think racism exists in this country. Experts told us that defining racism is difficult in terms of a poll and that a comparison with believing in ghosts is problematic. Abdul-Jabbar fails to acknowledge the wide disparity on polls dealing with ghosts, inaccurately describes the polling on racism and makes a shaky comparison between the two."
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false
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Polls and Public Opinion, PunditFact, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,
|
"The May 4 Sunday news shows sought outside-the-Beltway perspective for talking about American race relations, booking stars from the basketball and music industries to analyze racist comments made by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling. Guests included Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am and former basketball stars Kevin Johnson (now the mayor of Sacramento, Calif.) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Abdul-Jabbar, who worked under Sterling for three months as a Los Angeles Clippers coach in 2000, offered his thoughts on the controversy last week in a Time op-ed, saying Sterling’s racially disparaging remarks revealed in a leaked voicemail were not a surprise given other discrimination over recent years. On the set of ABC’s This Week with host George Stephanopoulos, the retired six-time NBA champ said racism remains part of American culture. ""This is a problem. I did a little bit of research. More whites believe in ghosts than believe in racism,"" he said. ""That’s why we have shows like Ghostbusters and don’t have shows like ‘Racistbusters.’ "" We set out to find whether his catchy comment comparing white attitudes on ghosts and racism is accurate. We tried to contact Abdul-Jabbar through Twitter and ABC’s media team but could not reach him by our deadline. Polls on white Americans and ghosts A number of polls over the years have examined Americans’ belief in the supernatural, including ghosts. The problem is the surveys are often not broken down by race and the questions are not universally framed. People are generally more likely to say they believe in ghosts than that they have interacted with one. Non-white Americans are more likely than whites to say they believe in ghosts, and women are more likely to believe in paranormal activity than men, said Carson Mencken, a Baylor University sociology professor and director of the Baylor Religion Survey, a national random sample of U.S. households completed every three years with Gallup. According to the most recent survey results, in 2010, about 56 percent of whites say ghosts either absolutely or probably exist, which is ""pretty consistent over time,"" said Mencken, who co-wrote Paranormal America: Ghost encounters, UFO sightings, Bigfoot hunts and other Curiosities in Religion and Culture. (Within that rate, 22 percent said they absolutely exist, he said.) That’s a bit higher than other surveys we found, but Baylor professors said results can skew widely depending on the way a question is framed. A Harris Poll of 2,250 people surveyed online in November 2013 found that 42 percent of all Americans, and 42 percent of whites, said they believe in ghosts. The overall average was down from 51 percent of all adults who said they believed in ghosts in a 2003 Harris Poll. That 11-year-old survey, which included response rates by race, showed 51 percent of whites as saying they believe in ghosts, compared with 43 percent of blacks and 59 percent of Hispanics. Another poll, by the Huffington Post and YouGov.com, found 45 percent of Americans say they ""believe in ghosts, or that the spirits of dead people can come back in certain places."" We were unable to find a breakdown of the December 2012 survey by race. Another September 2013 poll of 1,000 Americans by the Huffington Post and YouGov.com asked if they agreed with the statement ""I believe some people have experienced ghosts."" Sixty percent of whites agreed, compared with 62 percent of both black and Hispanic respondents. Showing just how much the way a question is worded can affect answers, a 2011 poll by The Economist/YouGov found 36 percent of white Americans say they generally believe in ghosts. The takeaway: The number of white Americans who say they believe in ghosts ranges from 36 percent to 62 percent depending on the year, survey and question. Polls on white Americans and racism We were unable to find a poll that asked Americans if they ""believe"" racism exists. Nor do pollsters ask, ""Are you racist?"" ""People are obviously unlikely to tell pollsters they are racists,"" said Karlyn Bowman, a polling expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. ""So I don't know how to interpret what he said."" Still, we found many polls examining white Americans’ attitudes on race relations, with a lot of recent polling conducted amid the summer 2013 Trayvon Martin trial. Gallup has done a lot of work on this subject. Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport produced a July 2013 video analyzing highlights in polling research on U.S. race relations. These questions peel away American attitudes on race and show clear disconnects. When asked if new civil rights laws are needed to reduce discrimination against blacks, 53 percent of blacks said yes compared with 17 percent of whites. When asked if the justice system is biased or not, 68 percent of blacks and 25 percent of whites said yes, ""a huge racial gulf there,"" Newport says. In yet another interesting Gallup question, 15 percent of whites said the fact that blacks have on average worse jobs, income and housing than whites was mostly due to discrimination, with 83 percent saying the cause was something else. One Gallup question that got at the issue a little more directly (but several years ago in 2009): ""Do you think racism against blacks is or isn’t widespread in the U.S.?"" Forty-nine percent of whites said it is widespread, while 48 percent said it was not widespread. We looked at other surveys, too, recognizing there are probably so many that we could not have reviewed them all by our deadline. A May 2013 poll for the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found 57 percent of whites said there was some or a lot of discrimination against blacks (88 percent of blacks said they saw a lot of or some discrimination against blacks). A 2006 CNN survey found 66 percent of whites say racism is a ""very serious"" or ""somewhat serious"" problem. Finally, a 2011 study by the Harvard Business School and Tufts University found white Americans feel they are more discriminated against than blacks. The ""reverse racism"" sentiment is notable, researchers said, ""because by nearly any metric—from employment to police treatment, loan rates to education—statistics continue to indicate drastically poorer outcomes for black than white Americans."" The takeaway: The results, again, vary depending on the question — but none of them truly measure whether white Americans believe racism exists. In general, polls seem to suggest blacks are more likely to see racism as a problem than whites, but a plurality of whites acknowledge discrimination exists in some form in at least two polls we saw. But even these comparisons to Abdul-Jabbar’s claim are not perfect, as those polls measured whether discrimination was widespread or asked respondents to measure the amount of discrimination against blacks, not just acknowledge whether it was present. ""The problem with the comparison is how do we measure racism? Racism takes a lot of forms. It’s much, much harder to say, ‘Do you believe in racism?’ than ‘Do you believe in ghosts?’ "" said Kevin Dougherty, a Baylor University associate sociology professor. ""As a rhetorical flourish, I think it’s an effective one,"" Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll, said of Abdul-Jabbar’s statement. But a serious look at empirical data shows it is ""far too complex to just be captured in one kind of rhetorical comparison."" Our ruling Abdul-Jabbar said, ""More whites believe in ghosts than believe in racism."" While we don’t know what research he was citing to support his point, Abdul-Jabbar’s claim is a stretch based on the polls we found and the pollsters we consulted. Depending on the question, you could argue that as many as about 6 in 10 white Americans believe in ghosts, though other polls present a smaller ratio. Abdul-Jabbar, meanwhile, seems to have interpreted polling about white Americans’ views of discrimination as their belief in racism. We'll be happy to revisit this fact-check if someone points out a poll we missed. Polling we found supports the theory that white Americans are less likely than black Americans to think that blacks are being discriminated against. But those polls don’t measure whether white Americans think racism exists in this country. Experts told us that defining racism is difficult in terms of a poll and that a comparison with believing in ghosts is problematic. Abdul-Jabbar fails to acknowledge the wide disparity on polls dealing with ghosts, inaccurately describes the polling on racism and makes a shaky comparison between the two."
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9440
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IUDs Are Linked To A Lower Cervical Cancer Risk, Study Finds
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This is a story reporting results of a systematic review of studies about the relationship of IUDs to cervical cancer. After combing through multiple studies, the researchers identified 16 high-quality studies. Evidence in those studies indicated women with IUDs are 30% less likely to get cervical cancer, the story said. But we wanted to know: 30% less than what? What is the incident rate in women with IUDs — and women without them? To its credit, the story points out that these were observational studies, meaning they weren’t actual clinical trials, and more evidence is needed before women should make the decision to get an IUD just as a way of preventing cervical cancer. The results of this research reaffirm earlier studies suggesting that there is a reduced risk of cervical cancer associated with the use of IUD’s. However, until an experimental trial is conducted, readers should take the findings with a grain of salt.
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mixture
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Cervical cancer,IUD
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The exact cost of an IUD wasn’t mentioned in the story, but it did allude to the low cost of the product. The story also missed an opportunity to articulate the economic issues associated with HPV vaccine availability, namely the manufacturing cost of the vaccines and the profitability focus of the pharmaceutical industry. The story explained that women who used an IUD were 30% less likely to develop cervical cancer but did not provide any quantification of that number. Readers need to know: 30% less than what? The incidence of the disease would have improved the story and placed the 30% reduction into perspective. There are approximately 400-500,000 case of cervical cancer diagnosed annually with a 50% death rate overall worldwide. The incidence of the disease varies widely with an incidence of approximately 16/100,000 in developing countries compared to approximately 10/100,000 in the developed world. Although this story did a great job on most counts, it didn’t mention potential harms of IUDs. Cramping, spotting between periods, and heavier periods are all possible side effects. The bigger issue that the story could have mentioned, though, is that IUDs don’t protect against other STIs. The writer was careful to quote the authors of the study about the limitations of the quality of evidence. This was a synthesis of previously existing evidence, all of which were observational studies. Observational studies can demonstrate that two things are associated, but they don’t prove that one causes another. That is, they can suggest correlation, but not causality. That came across clearly. No disease mongering here. Cervical cancer kills hundreds of thousands of women across the world every year. Unfortunately, the story depended on quotes only from the lead author of the study. Verification of the significance of study findings by an independent expert would have strengthened credibility of the story. The story did a good job of comparing IUDs to vaccines and regular screening, even going into the details of when and how often each of those should occur, and making it clear that IUDs are not yet a proven option for cervical cancer prevention. IUDs have been available to women for decades. The only issue the story might have considered further is how available they are in low-income nations where vaccines and regular screening are not accessible to many women. This story reported the findings of a systematic review. That means it’s not going to be breaking news. What it does, though, is to synthesize existing research and make clear exactly what the state of current knowledge about the topic is. The author appears to have interviewed the lead author of the study in addition to reading the news release. The story also quotes statistics from the World Health Organization.
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15906
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Nearly one in five women in America has been a victim of rape or attempted rape.
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"Obama said that ""nearly one in five women in America has been a victim of rape or attempted rape."" A well-respected survey by the CDC found that 19.3 percent of women reported experiences that are considered to be rape or attempted rape under the survey’s guidelines. There are other surveys, using a different methodology, that show lower rates of rape, but researchers say the data in the CDC study is at least as credible, if not more so. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information."
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true
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National, Criminal Justice, Crime, Sexuality, Women, Barack Obama,
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"On the occasion of this year’s Grammy Awards, President Barack Obama released a public-service announcement targeting sexual violence, particularly against women and girls. In his videotaped statement, Obama mentioned a statistic about the prevalence of rape -- with a frequency that was startling enough to provoke several PolitiFact readers to ask us to check it out. ""Right now,"" Obama said, ""nearly one in five women in America has been a victim of rape or attempted rape."" Is that statistic correct? We took a closer look. We’ll start by noting that this is a different statistic than one that drew some criticism when the Obama White House and other political figures raised it last year. Vice President Joe Biden, for instance, said, ""One in five of every one of those young women who is dropped off for that first day of (college), before they finish school, will be assaulted in her college years."" Biden and others were referring to college campuses -- unlike Obama’s most recent comment, which was referencing overall patterns in the population. We’ll discuss the evidence for both ""one in five"" statistics in a moment, but first, let’s look at where Obama’s recent claim came from. The CDC study The number comes from the 2011 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, which was released in September 2014 by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The survey was based on landline and cellphone interviews with more than 12,000 people who were 18 years or older, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The survey’s summary table shows that 19.3 percent of women interviewed reported experiences that the authors categorized as rape or attempted rape. That’s ""nearly one in five,"" so on the broad figure Obama cited, he correctly reported the CDC’s finding. What qualified as rape in the survey? This is where it gets a bit complicated. The three subcategories listed are: • ""Completed forced penetration,"" 11.5 percent. • ""Attempted forced penetration,"" 6.4 percent. • ""Completed alcohol- or drug-facilitated penetration"" without the ability to consent, 9.3 percent. However, you can’t just add up all three subcategories -- you’d get 27.2 percent, which is significantly higher than the survey’s overall rate for rape of 19.3 percent. CDC explained that the subcategories are derived from the overall rape estimate, and they overlap. Within each estimate, victims are counted only once, but due to the possibility of re-victimization, the same respondent may be represented in multiple categories, CDC spokeswoman Courtney Lenard said. Comparing the CDC study with the campus study As we noted, the campus study had some methodological problems. The biggest was that researchers surveyed undergraduates at two unnamed large public universities (one in the Midwest and one in the South) -- a sampling that may not be valid for the entire country. Large universities may not be representative of experiences at mid-size or small colleges. Further, the two colleges selected may not even be representative of large campuses. In addition, the results for the campus survey were gleaned from 5,446 Web-based responses. Web-based polls yield a lower response rate than other methods, and researchers say that could skew results. By contrast, the CDC study was based on the tried-and-true technique of telephone polling -- and used a far larger, and more random, sample. It’s also worth noting that the studies had slightly different scopes. The campus survey was about ""sexual assault,"" which included not only rape but also ""forced touching of a sexual nature (forced kissing, touching of private parts, grabbing, fondling, rubbing up against you in a sexual way, even if it is over your clothes)."" By contrast, the CDC figures cited by Obama focused exclusively on cases of penetration or attempted penetration. For these reasons, we consider talking points based on the CDC study to be significantly more credible than those based on the campus study. Experts agree. Last year, when we interviewed Mary Koss, a public health professor at the University of Arizona, she told us that the Campus Sexual Assault Study ""is not the soundest data (the White House) could use."" For this fact-check, however, she said the CDC provides the best available data. Obama, she said, is ""basically right. No survey is perfect, but this survey is considered very sound in the field."" We do see one legitimate reason for caution. The CDC study takes a public-health approach in its methodology, asking respondents about their past experiences without looking at whether the activities may have qualified as crimes per se, as our friends at the Washington Post Fact Checker have noted. Surveys that take a criminal-justice approach, by contrast, focus on activities that were presumed to have been criminal. Because of this methodological difference, criminal-justice surveys tend to report significantly lower rates of rape than public-health surveys do. For instance, the CDC study came up with 1.9 million cases of rape in 2012, whereas the National Crime Victimization Survey found far fewer rapes -- 347,000 -- over the same period. So, given two survey methods to choose from, Obama picked the one that produced the higher number. Ordinarily, we take issue with claims that cherry-pick results. In this case, however, we aren’t as critical of his decision, since independent scientific experts have long questioned whether criminal justice surveys under-report instances of rape. Notably, in 2014, the National Research Council concluded that under-reporting of rape in the National Crime Victimization Survey was ""highly likely."" William D. Kalsbeek, an emeritus professor of biostatistics at the University of North Carolina and co-chair of the National Research Council panel, told PolitiFact that ""the search continues for the best way to measure rape and sexual assault in population surveys. Our panel found that the broader, behavior-based definition of rape and sexual assault used by (the CDC study) is preferable to the more limiting, legal-based definition"" used in the criminal-justice survey. Our ruling Obama said that ""nearly one in five women in America has been a victim of rape or attempted rape."" A well-respected survey by the CDC found that 19.3 percent of women reported experiences that are considered to be rape or attempted rape under the survey’s guidelines. There are other surveys, using a different methodology, that show lower rates of rape, but researchers say the data in the CDC study is at least as credible, if not more so. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, so"
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7186
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Hawkins mulls Green Party presidential bid.
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Howie Hawkins, a three-time candidate for New York governor, is considering a presidential run for the Green Party.
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true
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Howie Hawkins, New York, Elections, Universal health care, Syracuse
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Hawkins announced this week that he has formed an exploratory committee to lay the ground work for a White House campaign next year. Hawkins has run for governor as a Green Party candidate three times, winning more than 100,000 votes to place third in last year’s race. The 66-year-old Syracuse resident is a former Teamster who supports greater use of clean energy, more funding for education and universal health care. He notes that he began calling for a “Green New Deal” years before it become a popular cause among Democrats. __ This story has been corrected to say that Hawkins placed third in the 2018 election, not fourth.
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4169
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Groups want tougher U.S. Steel fine for Lake Michigan spill.
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The leaders of 18 environmental and civic groups have joined a push for U.S. Steel to face tougher penalties over a spill of hazardous substances from a northwestern Indiana plant into Lake Michigan.
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true
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Environment, Indiana, Lake Michigan, Lakes
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The groups, which include the Alliance for the Great Lakes, Save the Dunes and the Hoosier Environmental Council, submitted a letter to a federal judge in Hammond arguing that the fine of about $600,000 included in a proposed settlement with the U.S. Justice Department is inadequate. “The proposed civil penalty ... does not reflect the seriousness, duration or magnitude of egregious (pollution) permit violations” at U.S. Steel’s Midwest Plant in Portage, Indiana, said the letter dated Dec. 18. Federal officials reached the settlement with U.S. Steel last year in response to an April 2017 spill at the plant into the Burns Waterway, a Lake Michigan tributary about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Chicago. That spill involved the release of 902 pounds of hexavalent chromium, a toxic heavy metal that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said might be carcinogenic if ingested, while the plants was permitted to discharge about a half pound per day, according to court documents. The spill prompted the temporary closure of several beaches in and around the Indiana Dunes National Park and a water treatment plant at nearby Ogden Dunes temporarily stopped drawing water from from the lake as a precaution. The Justice Department in November asked U.S. District Court Judge Theresa Springmann to move ahead with approving the settlement, saying that it included “stringent and detailed requirements related to the operation and maintenance of the facility.” The deal also includes U.S. Steel reimbursing the EPA $350,000 for its response costs and the National Park Service more than $250,000 for its response costs and damages. U.S. Steel promised to take steps to improve its wastewater processing monitoring system to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and Indiana law. The city of Chicago and the Surfrider Foundation environmental group, which have sued U.S. Steel over the spill, also have objected to the deal. Chicago’s lawyers argue in a recent court filing that the fine is “actually too low to deter additional violations,” including smaller spills that have happened at the plant since the settlement was announced in April 2018. Springmann hasn’t set a date for deciding whether to approve the settlement. The protesting environmental groups also want the company to face specific requirements for notifying the public about any future spills and more robust monitoring of hazardous substances released from the plant. “It is of grave concern that this revised Consent Decree will not deter another spill into Lake Michigan or bring U.S. Steel into compliance,” their letter to the judge said.
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7826
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Colorado governor signs recreational marijuana regulations into law.
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Governor John Hickenlooper on Tuesday signed into law measures to regulate the recreational use of marijuana in Colorado, including blood-level limits for motorists and setting up a voter referendum to impose a tax on the non-medical sale of cannabis.
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true
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Health News
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Colorado House of Representatives Assistant Majority Leader Dan Pabon said the legislation reflected the “will of the voters” who charged lawmakers with setting up the regulatory system after approving legalization in a vote last November. One of the bills signed by Hickenlooper calls for a referendum in November on setting a 15 percent excise tax and an additional 10 percent sales tax on marijuana sales. Other measures included in the legislative package are setting blood limits for driving while under the influence of marijuana at 5 nanograms per milliter, and limiting purchases of marijuana to non-Colorado residents at one-quarter of an ounce. “The laws ... signed today put the health and safety of our kids front and center,” said Pabon, a Democrat. “They drive a stake into the heart of a large black market while creating a regulated, legitimate industry.” House Republican leader Mark Waller, who sponsored the driving-under-the-influence legislation, said Colorado is in “new and foreign territory” in implementing its marijuana laws and it was vital to add a public safety component. “Equipping law enforcement with the tools they need to ensure people make safe decisions behind the wheel is critical to maximizing public safety,” he said. Voters in Washington state also approved legalizing recreational marijuana use last November. Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, which ran the campaign for the Colorado pot legalization ballot initiative, said it is “only a matter of time” before other states follow the lead of Colorado and Washington. He said Colorado’s retail marijuana stores were expected to open in early 2014. Colorado and Washington are among nearly 20 states and the District of Columbia that allow the use of medical marijuana. The federal government still lists it as a dangerous narcotic and it remains illegal under federal law to take the drug for any purpose. After the Colorado legislature passed the bills, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver said the Justice Department was considering what its response will be to the marijuana legalization movement. In Washington state, the Liquor Control Board is required to establish regulations for the state’s recreational marijuana industry. Earlier this month the agency released a set of draft rules that said marijuana must be grown indoors and tested for contaminants and potency. Licenses to grow, process and sell the drug would each cost $1,000 per year on top of a $250 application fee under the proposed guidelines.
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31071
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"An ""anti-fascist"" stabbed a man in Colorado after mistaking him for a white supremacist because of his haircut."
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If convicted, Witt could face up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,650 for falsifying a police report.
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false
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Uncategorized, alt-right, anti-fascit, antifa
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On 16 August 2017, Joshua Witt, 26, posted on his personal Facebook page a photograph of a bloody wound on his left hand, which he alleged was the result of being attacked by a man with a pocket knife who assumed he was a neo-Nazi. Since sharing his story with his Facebook friends, the post has gone viral and his story has become the subject of several blog posts and news stories. Witt said on Facebook he was getting out of his car at a Steak ‘n Shake restaurant in Sheridan, Colorado, when a man approached and asked him if he a neo-Nazi while simultaneously swinging a small blade at him. Witt said he threw his hands up in response, which blocked the weapon from hitting his head but resulted in a laceration to his hand that required three stitches. Witt reported the incident to police and described the attacker as an African-American man who ran toward a nearby bike path inhabited, known to be inhabited by transient people. On his Facebook pager, Witt wrote: Sooooooo apparently I look like a neo-nazi and got stabbed for it … luckily I put my hands up to stop it so he only stabbed my hand…. please keep in mind there was no conversation between me and this dude I was literally just getting out of my car … So I went to get a shake after the chiropractor and as I got out of my car all I hear is “you one of them neo-nazi?” As the dude was swinging a small pocket knife over my car door …. then he took off running and I was just sitting there in shock like what the heck dude I have no tattoos that would indicate anything like that. There is nothing on the car that I am aware of that might suggest it. My head is not shaved However, on 28 August 2017, Sheridan police reported that Witt had not in fact been attacked, but had in fact purchased a small knife at a sporting goods store, which he accidentally cut himself with. He subsequently called police to the parking lot and fabricated a story about being attacked. In a statement to the media, Sheridan police Chief Mark Campbell said: Sheridan Police became suspicious of his story for various reasons which included the following: Video surveillance in the area did not show anyone running from the scene of the attack as Witt claimed. Sheridan Police detectives located a person who matched the description provide by Mr. Witt. This person who is a transient and lives in the area was cleared as a possible suspect. Based on the above facts and new information learned from Witt in his interview Sheridan Police reviewed video from a nearby sporting goods store. That video revealed the following additional information: Store video showed Mr. Witt shopping in the store minutes before the alleged attack. Store video showed Mr. Witt purchasing a small knife in the store. On August 24, 2017 Sheridan Police, re-interviewed Mr. Witt. Where he was confronted with all the information listed above. Mr. Witt subsequently admitted to accidentally cutting himself with the knife while parked in his car in front of the sporting goods store and admitted making up the story about being attacked. In the days since Witt wrote the post, it had been shared thousands of times and became the subject of sensationalized reports claiming the person who attacked him was an “anti-fascist” or “antifa,” often masked, black-clad far-left activists that have gained notoriety in recent months for violently opposing white supremacist rallies in places like Berkeley, California. For example, Breitbart.com reported: Joshua Witt, 26, was leaving his car to enter a Steak ’n Shake in Sheridan, Colorado, and claims his long-on-top, buzzed-on-the-sides haircut was the reason for the stabbing as a confused anti-fascist accused him of being a neo-Nazi. Fox News reported a similar story. As of 28 August 2017, both stories are still live on those respective web sites. However, no one from “antifa” attacked Witt, and the man he claimed attacked him was cleared of wrongdoing by police. This is hardly the first time a hoax gained popularity by blaming violent attacks on members of the black community. In early March 2017, Breana Harmon Talbott, an 18-year-old Texas woman, was arrested for filing a false report claiming she had been abducted and sexually assaulted by three black men. In 2015 a Texarkana woman used make-up to mimic injuries and falsely claimed on social media she was attacked at a Wal-Mart by three black people.
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8390
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North Korean lecturers say there are confirmed coronavirus cases in the country: RFA.
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North Korean authorities told citizens in public lectures that there were confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the country as early as the end of March, in contrast to official Pyongyang claims that it has not had any confirmed cases, Radio Free Asia reported on late Friday.
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true
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Health News
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The lecturers, speaking to organisations and neighbourhood watch groups, said there were COVID-19 cases within the country, without giving any numbers, Radio Free Asia (RFA) said, citing two sources, one in Pyongyang and one in Ryanggang province. The lecturers said the confirmed cases were in Pyongyang, South Hwanghae province and North Hamgyong province, RFA reported. North Hamgyong is in the northeast region of the country, while South Hwanghae is in the southwest. Pyongyang had previously reinforced border checks and ordered foreigners from any country that has reported a case of COVID-19 to spend 30 days in quarantine, flying dozens of diplomats out of the country in early March. North Korean authorities are “looking into whether there is still any space for infectious diseases to enter, in line with the complete blockade of borders, airspace and territorial waters” until the global virus pandemic is under control, state media KCNA said on Saturday.
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10268
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Taking aspirin could increase cancer survival by 20 percent
|
Aspirin is one of the most well-studied drugs on the planet, in terms of treating headaches, aches, and pains as well as in helping out those who are at risk of heart disease — the biggest killer of people in developed nations. This release promotes a study that looks at the common drug’s effect on the second-biggest killer, which is cancer. The meta-analysis crunched the data of five randomized trials and 42 smaller studies that focused on colorectal, prostate, and breast cancers and — most importantly — the effect of a low-dose aspirin regimen on the survival of those patients, as well as how their cancer spread over a period of about 5 years. The correlation is eyebrow-raising, with a reduction in death and cancer spread in the neighborhood of about 20%. On the downside, this release doesn’t really get into what might be causing this reduction, or even define what “low-dose aspirin” means. It also doesn’t adequately discuss the risks (e.g. bleeding, allergies, and stomach ulcers) and skips over a couple of other basics that would have been helpful to journalists and readers alike. Behind heart disease, cancer is the biggest killer of people in developed nations. Each year the disease kills about 176 in every 100,000 people in the UK, and roughly 171 in every 100,000 people in the US. Any treatment that that can improve survival — especially low-cost, non-invasive methods — deserves attention. Aspirin is one of the best-studied drugs on the planet, and its risks and side effects are as well known as a preventative treatment for people who are at risk of heart disease, or who’ve had strokes or heart attacks before. Aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been studied for use in the prevention of cancer. The best data exists for low-dose aspirin and colorectal cancer prevention. The US Preventative Task Force released a final recommendation in April 2016 suggesting certain adults (ages 50-59) might reduce their risk of developing both colorectal cancer and cardiovascular disease if they undertake long-term use (10 years) of low-dose aspirin. The current study examines whether aspirin could improve survival among patients who already have cancer. The authors suggest benefit but admit that the data is limited and mainly comes from observational studies.
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mixture
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Academic medical center news release,Cancer
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The release doesn’t touch on cost but because aspirin is so widely available, and its cost so minimal, we’ll mark this one “not applicable.” We’re told that, during a given span of 5 years, a low-dose aspirin regimen in a patient with colorectal, prostate, or breast cancer is associated with a 15-20% reduction in death and spread of cancer. We generally want to see absolute (actual number of patients or volunteers) as well as relative risk reduction numbers. However, the study only provides relative risk data. Nevertheless, we think it’s incumbent upon news release writers to present benefits data in terms that are meaningful for readers. And if those results aren’t included in the study being described, news release writers should press their sources for more detailed and complete information. The only risk of harm in the release is a passing mention of intestinal bleeding in cases of colorectal cancer. Briefly mentioning the handful of other risks would have greatly improved this release. Even small doses (80-325 mg) of aspirin can reduce the body’s ability to clot wounds, and consequently promote bleeding. Giving aspirin to patients being treated for cancer may be presumed to increase bleeding risk, especially if the patient has low platelets as a result of chemotherapy. Some people are also allergic to aspirin, which can complicate asthma. A regular dose of aspirin can also increase the risk of bleeding stomach ulcers. Importantly, 21 out of 36 studies included in the meta-analysis of aspirin and the three cancer types had no data on bleeding. We appreciated the fairness of the release. In addition to highlighting the correlation in better survival with low-dose aspirin, it also called out its weaknesses. Those included a lack of important data (e.g. on bleeding) and a need for new, randomized trials to test their hypothesis. We found the cause-and-effect language (“could increase survival”) used was inappropriate for a study whose conclusions are based almost entirely on observational studies. The release also doesn’t make clear when the aspirin is to be used. Is it during active treatment of the cancer with chemotherapy? Is it after the primary treatment is provided? One could imagine concern with using aspirin in regimens associated with bone marrow suppressing effects. The implication is that this should be part of standard cancer treatment, but not enough information is provided to make it clear. In reviewing the published study, there are comments about how it was hard to perform the analyses due to differences among studies. Given the statements in the release about patients using this evidence to decide on the role for using aspirin as part of cancer treatment, we think that that these additional details should be provided. We didn’t see any evidence of stoking fears about disease; the language is grounded and straightforward. Funding sources and potential conflicts of interest weren’t noted in the release. The study, published in PLoS ONE, however, declares no conflicts of interest and — curiously — no support or funding, either. But since this type of study is based on analyzing others’ results, we’ll go out on a limb to assume that the researchers’ institutions backed it in the form of their usual salaries. In any case, we want to see these items clarified in news releases. The alternative approach to going on a low-dose regimen of aspirin — i.e. not doing so — is assumed but not made clear. But we’ll award points to the release for smartly quoting one of the study authors on seeking out the advice of a doctor before taking aspirin regularly. The release doesn’t address availability but we know aspirin is available in pretty much any convenience store on Earth. We’ll rate this “not applicable.” The release makes an indirect claim of novelty by summarizing the research as an effort to look at “its role in the treatment of cancer.” The novelty of the work is pretty clear: Take a whole bunch of smaller studies and, through strength in numbers and careful analysis, see how low-dose aspirin might help or hinder cancer patients. And the number that emerges is impressive. While aspirin and other NSAIDs have been proposed for use in cancer prevention, especially colon cancer, use as a treatment for cancer itself is novel. We didn’t see anything glaring in the body of the release. The headline: “Taking aspirin could increase cancer survival by 20 percent” captures attention but might have been more faithful to the study by making it clear than only a correlation was found between aspirin and lowered cancer risk.
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14564
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Drug overdoses are now the second-most common cause of death in New Hampshire.
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"New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan said, ""Drug overdoses are now the second-most common cause of death in New Hampshire."" Drug deaths are a growing cause of death in the state, and have certainly outpaced car accidents, diabetes and breast cancer, the three examples Hassan cited. But overdoses are not the second leading cause of death, still falling behind heart disease, stroke, and a host of other ailments."
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false
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New Hampshire, Drugs, States, Maggie Hassan,
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"During her recent State of the State address, Gov. Maggie Hassan dropped a startling statistic about New Hampshire’s opioid problem. ""Drug overdoses are now the second-most common cause of death in New Hampshire,"" said the two-term Democrat. ""Today, more Granite Staters are killed by overdoses than by diabetes, breast cancer or motor vehicle accidents."" Much has been reported about the rapid rise of drug overdose deaths in New Hampshire. More than 400 people died from a drug overdose in 2015, up from 326 overdose deaths in 2014, and 192 in 2013. The issue has taken a role in the 2016 presidential contest. During a recent ABC News Republican debate, moderator David Muir cited Hassan’s claim. But are overdoses now the second leading cause of death in the state, beating out diabetes, breast cancer and motor vehicle accidents? PolitiFact New Hampshire decided to have a look at the numbers. Hassan’s camp cited a chart created by New Futures, a statewide advocacy organization that focuses on substance abuse. The bar chart, titled ""In Perspective -- New Hampshire Deaths,"" stacks up drug deaths against other mortality statistics from 2014. Drug overdose deaths rank second in the chart, behind Alzheimer's disease, which led to 351 deaths in 2014. Those two causes of deaths are followed by diabetes (310), flu and pneumonia (226), kidney disease (175), breast cancer (170), motor vehicle deaths (138) and a host of other cancers. The slide, however, doesn’t include every cause of death, and leaves out several conditions that led to far more deaths than drug overdoses and alzheimer's disease in 2014. Heart disease caused 2,464 New Hampshire deaths in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During the same year, Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease and stroke killed 680 and 474 Granite Staters respectively, the CDC reported. The point of the slide, however, is not to rank causes of death, but rather to contrast similar mortality causes and put drug deaths into perspective, according to New Futures spokesman Joe Gallagher. ""The slide does not attempt to rank drug overdoses as the second leading common cause of death in New Hampshire, nor does the slide account for all causes of death in the state,"" he said in an email. So, where exactly do drug overdoses stand among causes of death? It depends on how one classifies mortality rates. While the New Futures slide breaks out different forms of cancer, for example, the CDC lumps all cancer data together and names the disease the leading cause of death in New Hampshire. All forms of the cancer killed nearly 2,700 people in the state 2014. Heart disease followed cancer as the second leading cause of death in New Hampshire, according to the CDC data. ""Accidents"" -- which includes things like car crashes and drug overdoses -- ranked third, and left 716 people dead in 2014. Even if one breaks out different forms of cancer and heart disease, the leading causes of death in those categories still outnumbered drug overdose deaths in 2014, according to the New Hampshire Division of Vital Records Administration. Lung cancer was the underlying cause of 730 New Hampshire deaths in 2014. Atherosclerotic heart disease led to 687 deaths in the state that same year, according to division statistician Nicholl Marshall. Hassan went on to cite specific conditions that drug overdoses have surpassed, including diabetes, breast cancer or motor vehicle accidents. New Futures pointed us to data from the American Cancer Society, which shows breast cancer killed an estimated 170 Granite Staters in 2014, far fewer than the 326 killed by drug overdoses. Diabetes killed 300 people in New Hampshire during 2014, according to the CDC, again fewer than the state’s drug deaths that year. And, finally, motor vehicle accidents accounted for 102 deaths in 2014, according to the New Hampshire office of the chief medical examiner. Our ruling New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan said, ""Drug overdoses are now the second-most common cause of death in New Hampshire."" Drug deaths are a growing cause of death in the state, and have certainly outpaced car accidents, diabetes and breast cancer, the three examples Hassan cited. But overdoses are not the second leading cause of death, still falling behind heart disease, stroke, and a host of other ailments."
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11355
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Study: New device boosts heart failure survival
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Overall, this story does a good job of reporting that a continuous-flow heart assist device performed better than an older, pulsatile-flow model in selected patients with advanced heart disease who were not considered candidates for heart transplants. It highlights the cost as well as the potential benefits of the device. It clearly points out that the manufacturer of the device sponsored the study and that many of the researchers consult for it or other device makers. However, the story may give readers an exaggerated sense of the value of this device by saying it could help “many older people with severe heart failure” without clearly describing the narrowly defined group of patients that was included in this trial. What’s more, although more than half of the patients who received the new device either died, suffered a stroke or had to have surgery to fix a failed device, the story quotes only patients who reported glowingly positive experiences. The story also appears to have confused survival rates with the combined endpoint of survival without either a stroke or device failure. The story says that four times as many patients survived for two years with the new device; but the study reports that the two-year survival rates were 58 percent and 24 percent – more than doubling survival, not quadrupling it.
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mixture
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The story notes that the device costs $80,000 and that the implantation surgery costs about $45,000. It featured comments about how this new device will add to the substantial cost of advanced heart failure treatment. The story also pointed out that cost-effectiveness studies have not yet been done. It would have been useful to see the costs of this newer device compared to those associated with existing devices. The story reports the primary finding that after two years 46 percent of patients who received the new device were alive without having suffered a stroke or device failure, compared to 11 percent of the patients receiving the older device. It also pointed out that the study included 200 patients. However, it appears that the story misstates the results somewhat by saying the new device meant four times as many patients survived for at least two years. The 46 percent to 11 percent comparison includes patients who suffered a stroke or a device failure. The study reports that the two-year survival rates were 58 percent for patients with the new device compared to 24 percent for those who received the older device, more than doubling survival, but not quadrupling it. And rather than citing only relative risk reduction figures, absolute data should have been provided. Considering that more than half of the patients either died, suffered a stroke or a device failure, the story paints an overly rosy view of patient outcomes by featuring only patients who report glowingly positive experiences. The story notes that 14 percent of the patients receiving the new device died soon after the surgery. However, it did not mention the risk of strokes caused by bleeding, the risk of infection from the wires leading to the devices external power pack or other adverse events. And although patients in this trial who received the newer device required far fewer surgeries to replace or repair their pumps, the story should have noted that 12 patients who got the newer device (9 percent) needed to have surgery to replace a failed device. The story reports the size and key features of the trial comparing new and old heart assist devices. However, it did not point out that patients and their doctors could likely tell which type of device was implanted and that this knowledge could have biased their evaluations of the effectiveness of the devices. Nevertheless, that potential bias would not have altered the primary outcomes of survival, stroke or device failure that the story highlighted. Although this story does not exaggerate the seriousness of heart failure, it overstates how widely the new device is likely to be used based on the latest trial. The lead sentence says the new device could be a potential treatment for many people with severe heart failure, but in their New England Journal of Medicine article the authors wrote, “the trial was performed in a select patient population, and applicability to the broader population of patients with heart failure… would be speculative.” The story includes independent experts. It also clearly points out that the trial was sponsored by the manufacturer of the device and that many of the researchers consult for the company or other device makers. The story mentions that heart transplants are one option for patients with heart failure. However, it does not discuss drug management, which is the most common treatment for people with heart failure. Because this story does not include details about the kind of patient who might be a candidate for this new device, readers may get the sense that drug treatment is relatively ineffective for typical heart failure patients and that this new device may offer many heart failure patients a better option, even though this latest trial included only patients with heart failure so advanced that standard therapies were losing their effectiveness. The story notes that the new device is available and approved for patients who need temporary support while awaiting a heart transplant and that this study looked at how it compared to an older design that is also available to patients who are not candidates for heart transplants. It would have been helpful to also point out that the surgery to implant the device is challenging and that there are a limited number of surgeons and centers with experience using this new device. The story provides a brief outline of the history of heart assist devices and how they are progressively shifting from being temporary supports for patients awaiting transplant to long-term treatments for patients who may never be candidates for a transplant. It notes that the new feature of the device used in the trial is that it pushes blood continuously, rather than attempting to mimic the pumping pulses of a natural heart. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.
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36127
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People should avoid foods colored black with activated charcoal, as the ingredient negates the effect of prescribed medications and oral contraceptives.
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Spooky Season, Activated Charcoal in Food, and Medication
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mixture
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Fact Checks, Viral Content
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On September 19 2019, a Facebook user shared a warning (archived here) that urged fans of the “spooky season” to avoid foods colored with activated charcoal due to its purported ability to prevent your body from absorbing medications.Alongside images of black-colored pancakes, ice cream, and coffee, text proclaimed:As we head into the spooky season just a reminder: IF YOU TAKE MEDICATIONS DON’T FALL FOR THE ACTIVATED CHARCOAL TREND!! Why? Because activated charcoal is used in oral overdose cases to BOND TO MEDICATIONS AND HARMFUL CHEMICALS TO PREVENT YOUR BODY FROM ABSORBING THEM. Why was I yelling? Because it’s rather serious, especially if you take meds that you can’t miss a dose of.Thousands of readers shared the warning, but no additional information accompanied the post. A number of separate articles reported a “trend” of activated charcoal coloring in Instagram-friendly baked goods and dishes, owing to its unique ability to add depth of coloring to black foods.A stub-like Wikipedia page titled “Charcoal in Food” was only created in 2017, suggesting that the practice was not exceedingly common until Instagram began driving interest in pictures of food. In May of that year, Self magazine shared a gallery of activated charcoal-colored foods along with advice to avoid such items for the same reasons cited in the post. In the piece (titled “The Activated Charcoal Food Trend Is Pretty, but You Should Definitely Avoid It”), its author concludes that the use of activated charcoal in food is necessarily detrimental based on its use in medical settings:Doctors use activated charcoal to treat poisoning and drug overdoses, because it binds with the substance before your body absorbs it. But when you eat charcoal, it can also bind with stuff that you don’t want to get rid of — like vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients — which obviously isn’t great. It can also keep your body from fully absorbing any medications you’ve taken while eating charcoal-filled foods. Not to mention, there are claims that it causes intestinal blockage… So unless you’re looking to suck some of the nutrients out of your body, you probably don’t want to consume any of these trendy foods or drinks. Activated charcoal is ineffective — and potentially harmful. Which is all the more reason to look, not eat. With that in mind, here are 14 pretty charcoal foods that got the Instagram treatment.On first glance, that article appeared to quote spokeswoman for of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Alissa Rumsey in reference to its claims. But on closer inspection, the item simply reiterated commentary provided by Rumsey on the efficacy of charcoal-based detoxification diets — not the risks posed by charcoal flavored foods.In October 2017, the University of Utah’s Health blog examined the use of activated charcoal in foods as a colorant and a health supplement. That article mentioned constipation as a possible effect, and also surmised it could be problematic with respect to some medications (but adding a laundry list of mitigating factors. )Noting that specific health benefits for activated charcoal solely as a supplement were unsupported, the site added:What has been proven about activated charcoal is that it can be helpful in some instances of poisoning. The charcoal binds to the poison and keeps it from entering the blood stream. However, it is not always the best option. It should not be used unless the poison was recently ingested, and the patient is alert and aware. Also, it should not be used in cases where the poison in question is a liquid, a caustic agent, or a hydrocarbon like gasoline. “Activated charcoal should only be given in healthcare facilities,” [Amberly Johnson, Poison Information Specialist with the Utah Poison Control Center] said. “We do not recommend at home use of activated charcoal for poisonings.”Poisons aren’t the only substances activated charcoal can bind to in the stomach. It can also bind to foods you have eaten blocking the absorption of nutrients and medications you may have taken reducing their effectiveness. “If you are taking a medication that requires a certain dosage to be effective you may be putting yourself at risk,” said Johnson.In August 2018, food magazine Bon Appetit looked at the rise of activated charcoal in black-colored food. An expert consulted for the piece once again referenced clinical use of the substance to prevent the absorption of ingested poisons, but noted that there was only “some” evidence that it negated the absorption of vitamins:“Activated charcoal has long been used in hospitals to remove poison from the gastrointestinal tract before it’s absorbed into the body,” says Maya Feller Ms, RD, CDN. Charcoal has made the jump from poison control and ER rooms to wellness-minded cafes over the past few years, but that doesn’t mean you should be adding it to your supplement rotation. Activated charcoal may be advertised as a “detoxifier” for fixing hangovers and overindulging on french fries, but it doesn’t just target “bad” particles — it sucks up whatever it can get, including valuable nutrients and even medication. “There is some evidence that activated charcoal has been shown to bond to vitamins, which means it may remove them from your system,” says Feller. “I would caution against daily use especially for people that are taking prescription medications or supplements.”Bon Appetit‘s article may have inadvertently fueled the rumor that activated charcoal rendered birth control pills ineffective, as its author expanded on Feller’s remark by referencing that segment of medications in particular:“The amount of activated charcoal included in detox drinks is usually not substantial enough to make a difference one way or the other, and any purported health benefits are likely negated by the bonding of the charcoal to the nutrients in the drink.” In other words, drinking a charcoal latte before or after a meal can potentially limit the amount of nutrients your body actually gets and even render prescriptions like oral contraceptives ineffective.The article concluded by advising readers “don’t expect the charcoal soft-serve to make you healthier,” typically encompassing the opinions provided in food reporting on activated charcoal. Most of the experts consulted provided clinical context, as activated charcoal is primarily used in hospitals, which largely consisted of opinions that the substance was inefficient for detoxification, and additional speculation that in some instances, it could have an adverse effect when taken with certain medications. However, in that context, they also indicated that other factors such as dosage and timing factored into the potential effects of charcoal on prescribed medications and oral contraceptives.It appeared that most forays into the effects of activated charcoal on medications came immediately back around to birth control, and unsurprisingly a number of articles tackled the specific question of whether eating a black-bun burger could render oral contraceptives ineffective. In June 2017, Insider.com reported that gynecologist Alyssa Dweck, MD “confirmed to INSIDER that it’s true” that activated charcoal in foods interfere with oral contraceptives. But then the article went on to say:And charcoal is so good at its job that, in certain circumstances, it really can absorb your birth control’s active ingredients before your body gets a chance to. This, of course, can make the pill less effective at preventing pregnancy.The good news is that small amounts of charcoal aren’t likely to cause a problem.“I’d say if you’re eating, like, one ice cream with activated charcoal, you’re going to be fine,” Dweck said. “But if you’re taking in a big [dose], you’re going to possibly have a bigger problem.”In that interview, Dweck confirmed what was already apparent — activated charcoal inarguably can be used in clinical settings to prevent absorption of specific substances. But Dweck went on to say that the small amount in non-supplement forms (such as a food colored with activated charcoal) was not likely to affect birth control. The article then went on to note that other contraceptives were not affected at all:Dweck recommended leaving at least two hours between your pill and big doses of charcoal, like you might find in supplements or products included in “cleanse” diets.And remember that this warning applies only to birth control pills you ingest: The effectiveness of the IUD, the implant, the NuvaRing, the shot, and the patch won’t be affected by charcoal in the stomach.A gynecologist consulted by Bustle.com in November 2017 said that activated charcoal as food coloring didn’t pose much risk at all:“While the risk is very low, charcoal could potentially decrease the effectiveness of birth control pills. In my opinion, it is not enough to avoid activated charcoal altogether,” Dr. Will Cole, a functional medicine practitioner and health and wellness expert, tells Bustle in an email. “However, if you want to take all precautions and still enjoy black charcoal ice cream, just be sure to avoid consuming it at least two hours before and after taking your birth control,” Dr. Cole says. “Every person is different though, so one person may be more sensitive to charcoal’s affects than another.”A small 2001 study published in the medical journal Human Reproduction involved administering five grams of activated charcoal four times daily to women taking oral contraceptives to prevent ovulation (and thus, pregnancy.) During the study, none of the patients administered 20 grams of activated charcoal daily as well as oral contraceptives ovulated.Nevertheless, myriad articles referenced the speculated risk without any additional input from gynecologists and obstetricians alongside alarming headlines such as “You Need to Skip This Food Trend If You’re on Birth Control — or Face Major Consequences.” One claimed no clinical trials had been conducted to examine the possible risk posed by activated charcoal to oral contraceptive users, but the above-linked research was published in 2001.Many articles presented headlines in the form of a question, going on to examine the general rising popularity of activated charcoal as a colorant in food. In addition, some of those same articles revisited earlier pieces declaring activated charcoal a poor “detoxification” supplement, before speculating that it could still render birth control pills ineffective.A popular Facebook post from September 2019 claimed that activated charcoal in food specifically posed a “rather serious” risk to people taking prescribed medication, but did not substantiate that claim. Despite the social media claims and blogosphere panic, we found no reported adverse effects in the years since activated charcoal as a colorant became popular. Articles speculated that activated charcoal affected birth control in particular, but when consulted, experts stated the risk was slim to none. In clinical research from 2001, administration of activated charcoal did not lead to ovulation in any of the women in a study examining its effect on oral contraception.
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34513
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"President John F. Kennedy proclaimed that ""nobody can stop an assassination"" just before he was shot and killed in 1963."
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Bushfires burned dangerously out of control on Australia’s east coast on Saturday, fanned by high temperatures and strong winds that had firefighters battling to save lives and property, as a change in wind conditions merged several large fire fronts.
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unproven
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Politics, jfk assassination, john f. kennedy
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By late evening, Victoria had 14 fires rated at emergency or evacuate warning levels, and New South Wales had 11 rated emergency, with more than 150 others burning across the states. New fires had started, and others had broken containment lines. “There are a number of fires that are coming together - very strong, very large, intense fires that are creating some of these fire-generated thunderstorms,” New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said at an evening briefing. “And unfortunately we’ve still got many hours to go of these elevated and dangerous conditions.” The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said conditions were deteriorating rapidly as a gusty southerly wind change pushed up the coast and smoke plumes from the fires triggered storms. Authorities are worried the fires could turn out to be worse than New Year’s Eve, when they burnt massive tracts of bushland and forced thousands of residents and summer holidaymakers to seek refuge on beaches. In Victoria, Premier Daniel Andrews said while conditions were difficult, the job of firefighters had been made easier by tens of thousands of people following advice to evacuate. It may be Sunday or later before damage assessments can be made. Prime Minister Scott Morrison put the national death toll from the current fire season, which began in September, at 23. Twelve of those are from this week’s fires alone. In updates, the NSW RFS repeatedly delivered the same blunt advice to those who had not evacuated at-risk areas: “It is too late to leave. Seek shelter as the fire approaches.” Residents used social media to post photos of the sky turning black and red from the smoke and glare of the fires, including in the Victorian town of Mallacoota, where around 1,000 people were evacuated by sea on Friday. The first of those evacuees arrived near Melbourne on Saturday morning after a 20-hour journey by boat and a second ship with about 1,000 people landed in the afternoon. The federal government announced an unprecedented call up of army reservists to support firefighters as well other resources including a third navy ship equipped for disaster and humanitarian relief. Andy Gillham, the incident controller in the Victorian town of Bairnsdale, said the area had avoided the worst of the fires on Saturday but stressed this was an exceptional fire season. “In a normal year, we would start to see the fire season kick off in a big way around early January and we’re already up towards a million hectares of burnt country. This is a marathon event and we expect to be busy managing these fires for at least the next eight weeks,” he said. * Click on links to see maps posted by emergency services in NSW and Victoria to predict the spread of fires on Saturday: bit.ly/2QnjU9L and bit.ly/2sL7dfR Following are highlights of what is happening across Australia: * Temperatures topped 113 degrees in much of the Sydney metropolitan area, with Penrith recording a high of 120 according to the BOM. Canberra, the national capital, recorded a temperature of 111.2 just after 4 p.m., which the chief minister said was a record for the territory. *As the fires have flared, many towns have been isolated as major and minor roads are closed. Some fires are generating their own storm systems, which create the risk of lightning strikes generating new fires. * A late southerly wind change on Saturday dramatically lowered temperatures, but also brought wind gusts of 43-50 miles per hour that caused some major fires near the border of Victoria and New South Wales states to merge and strengthen. * In South Australia, two people died on Kangaroo Island, a popular holiday spot not far off the coast. South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said more than 247,000 acres have burned there, about one-quarter of the total area. * Six people remain unaccounted for in Victoria, Premier Andrews said on Saturday, down from 28 reported on Friday. * The focus on Saturday is preventing more loss of life, authorities said. National parks have been closed and people urged earlier this week to evacuate large parts of NSW’s south coast and Victoria’s north eastern regions, magnets for holidaymakers at the peak of Australia’s summer school holidays. * Morrison confirmed that his visit to India and Japan scheduled for mid-January had been postponed due to the fires. * More than 13 million acres of land has been burnt this fire season.
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36000
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After a person's death, embalming their corpse is not required by law and the bereaved are allowed to hold funerals inside a home.
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The Good Advice Hidden in a ‘Fun Funeral Facts’ Meme
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true
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Fact Checks, Viral Content
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Pointed advice in a popular Facebook meme are solid advice for consumers facing the tough decisions that come with the bereavement process, two experts told us.“People make the mistake of walking into the funeral home and treating the funeral home director almost like he was your minister,” said Joshua Slocum, executive director of the advocacy group the Funeral Consumers Alliance (FCA).He’s not your minister, is he? He’s more like your car dealer. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy. It doesn’t mean there’s something immoral about making a profit from the dead; there’s nothing immoral about it. But they are not our therapists and they are not our clergy. Their mortgages only get paid by the coffins we buy.The popular Facebook post was first published in March 2019:“The meme is great!” said mortician and activist Caitlin Doughty, whose YouTube channel Ask A Mortician is listed as a resource for readers.It’s a clear distillation of the points myself and my colleagues have been trying to get the public to understand for years. I love it anytime this information can get out there to folks.While it includes arguments for consumers to know their rights, the post makes some specific claims:Doughty covered natural burials in a December 2017 video, confirming that they are legal across the United States.In the video, she explained that natural burials — in which unembalmed corpses are wrapped in a bio-degradable shroud or put inside a casket made of biodegradable material, then buried three or four feet in the ground — can be less harmful toward the ground and water supply around it than a regular cemetery burial.“The pathogens present in a corpse buried in a shallower natural grave are killed off quickly and efficiently, leaving little to no chance of contamination,” she said. “When a corpse is buried closer to the surface of the Earth in a shroud or bio-degradable casket it has access to oxygen flow.”The increase in access to oxygen, Doughty explained, allows bacteria to create enough heat as it breaks down the body’s tissues to kill off most, if not all, of the pathogens present in the body at the time of death.In a separate statement to us, Doughty offered advice for anyone more curious about investigating natural burials.“Simple as this sounds, your best tool may just be the search term ‘natural’ or “green burial” and then your city,” she said. “‘Green burial Cleveland’ or ‘Natural burial Tacoma.’ That’s a great place to start your research into the different options in your area.”Doughty also covered home funerals in a July 2018 video in which she explained that those types of services provide the bereaved with both 24-hour access to the deceased and more leeway overall, though there are some requirements attached.If the deceased passed away at a hospice or nursing home, Doughty said, their loved ones still have the option of taking them home for the purposes of holding a funeral there. If they died while receiving hospice care at the home, a hospice nurse or doctor will report the death. But in the event of an unexpected death, she added, family members must report the event to the authorities before holding any sort of service.“The police will report the death to the coroner,” Doughty explained. “Don’t go straight into the magical home funeral without notifying the authorities, or it goes from ‘beautiful ritual’ to ‘concealment of a crime. '”She also noted that 12 states — Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, and Nevada — do require those making home funeral arrangements to enlist a funeral director to “supervise” matters including transportation of the body or filing of death certificates.Slocum, who co-wrote a book covering regulations on funeral homes around the US, also vouched for the claims in the meme, noting that several states require embalming, refrigeration, or cremation of the deceased party’s body to be conducted within 48-72 hours or a “reasonable period” following the person’s passing.According to the FCA:Embalming is rarely required by law. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission and many state regulators require that funeral directors inform consumers that embalming is not required except in certain special cases. Embalming is mandated when a body crosses state lines from Alabama and Alaska. Five other states—California, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota and New Jersey—require embalming when the body leaves those states by common carrier (airplane or train).Slocum also emailed us specific tips for those preparing to deal with funeral arrangements:By law, Slocum said, funeral homes are required to provide prospective clients with a list of their prices at the beginning of any discussion regarding possible services. But he said that it is not uncommon for practitioners to ignore that mandate.As the Los Angeles Times reported in October 2015, a series of undercover inspections by the FTC revealed that 27 out of 100 funeral homes across six states failed to list their prices as required.“Most people are only going to buy a funeral for somebody else one time in their life. You get no practice to do this. People have no idea what they’re buying and have no idea what they’re required to buy and what might be a sales job. That’s the only reason we have these regulations,” he said:Unfortunately they don’t always get followed. The only way that Americans can protect themselves from overspending or being talked into a funeral that’s beyond their budget: we have to not be willing victims. You cannot rely on government regulations to protect you from this. You have to be an active customer.Doughty did note that there are funeral directors who agree with the claims in the meme and promote alternative services to their clients, and she also urged people to shop around before preparing services for the departed.“Remember: it’s not disrespectful to ask questions, to call around, to see what different funeral homes offer. If it’s too difficult for you right after a death, perhaps ask a trusted friend to do it,” she said. “You can save yourself a lot of money and ensure you’re getting exactly what you’re looking for by doing so.”
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11426
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Today’s Matters of the Heart: Dr. Nancy’s Personal Wake-Up Call
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This long (almost 6 minutes – very long for TV news) segment was, nonetheless, almost completely devoid of evidence and of data. So it rode the single personal anecdote of the network’s medical editor, her vague complaints of feeling “tired, short of breath, just not feeling like myself”, and her path to getting a CT scan of her coronary arteries. The segment was presented in a manner we deem as disease-mongering, likely to frighten many women into thinking THEY needed such a scan. A line like the following – “The symptoms of heart disease in women can be so subtle, the disease process so quiet, so insidious, that many women don’t get in to see their doctors until it’s too late” – demands some data to back it up. How often is this case? How representative was the medical editor’s story? But without data and without evidence, there were heaps of squishy, unverified claims. The medical editor said, “There’s no doubt that plaque is a result of the cheeseburgers I ate as a teenager.” No doubt? Sorry, that doesn’t cut it. The segment failed to indicate that the kind of picture provided by the CT angiography may not actually change the course of treatment in cases like the medical editor’s. She earlier explained that she had an elevated cholesterol level, which likely would have been treated with cholesterol lowering medication anyway. So it is unclear how the CT angiography provided her with any benefit. Studies have not consistently shown that imaging test results improve adherence to treatment. There was also no mention of the harms of incidental findings – things the CT finds that only cause worry but don’t help with diagnosis or treatment. All in all, the six minutes could have been used much more wisely. But the networks – NBC in particular (with recent stories about their own Mike Taibbi, George Lewis and now Nancy Snyderman) love to tell their own health sagas – whether or not they include evidence and data that viewers need.
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false
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"The story indicated that CT angiography was not routine and that it was ‘expensive’. The story failed to provide any framework for understanding how expensive. Does expensive mean several hundred or several thousand dollars? Is it something that is or is not commonly covered by insurance? Is it something that only TV doctors can have access to and afford? This could have been explained. The benefit presented in this segment was the relief of symptoms experienced by the medical editor. The viewer has no context for understanding how commonly this benefit occurs. There was no real discussion about how the picture of the medical editor’s coronary arteries actually influenced her treatment, other than for it to serve to motivate her about treatment. That said – there is actually no evidence that having a picture of one’s heart helps a person to adhere to treatment any better. In addition, the segment did not provide any insight about how often the test actually provides information that results in decreased heart attack risk. The long segment was completely devoid of data. The segment did briefly mention that the quality of the CT angiography institution can result in differences in radiation exposure. However this was not an adequate discussion because it leaves it up to the viewer to grasp the implications of differing exposures and clearly does not provide any indication of the magnitude of the risk involved. The segment failed to indicate the picture provided by the CT angiography did not actually change the course of Dr. Snyderman’s treatment. She earlier explained that she had an elevated cholesterol level, which likely would have been treated with cholesterol lowering medication. The daily aspirin she reported to be taking likely derives from the recommendation from the United States Preventative Services Task force – which stipulates that both the potential benefits and harms of aspirin therapy should be discussed. It is unclear how the CT angiography provided her with any benefit. Studies have not consistently shown that imaging test results improve adherence to treatment. There was also no mention of the harms of incidental findings – things the CT finds that only cause worry but don’t help with diagnosis or treatment. This segment did not actually provide viewers with any indication of the sort of evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of medical therapy for the reduction of heart attack risk. Instead, an inaccurate statement was made suggesting that lifestyle changes alone have been shown to impact the risks from heart disease. The medical editor’s personal story is presented as sufficient indication about the best approach to treatment. This sends the inappropriate message that anecdote is as well grounded as information from clinical trials. The segment was introduced with the concept that heart disease is the #1 cause of death for women in the United States. Does this vary by age? Starting there and going on to present the idea that symptoms are often vague suggests that all viewers can conclude that heart disease is likely lurking around the next turn. The segment relied on the narrative of a single doctor-patient, discussed by the doctor of that doctor-patient. The segment should have included comments from some independent cardiologist about the role of CT scans and of optimal medical therapy to reduce heart attack risk. There was no discussion about the options available for diagnostic testing nor about approaches to treatment. This story was a mixed presentation of information about a particular diagnostic test and medical therapy for the treatment of coronary artery disease. In terms of the diagnostic test, although it was made clear that there were some issues about radiation exposure differing among sites, there was no discussion about the availability of the test. Is it available in some hospitals, most hospitals, in speciality clinics? What does ""not routine"" really mean? Regarding treatment for heart disease, although statin and daily aspirin use were mentioned in passing, they appeared to be rolled into what was categorized as ‘lifestyle changes’. The viewer was not given any sense about how common or uncommon was the use of these particular medications for the treatment of heart disease. The segment adequately discussed the relative novelty of CT angiography. It did not adequately explain its limited utility. Did not rely on a press release."
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9619
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This isn’t hype: Canadian doctors just reversed severe MS using stem cells
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The dirty, hot and dangerous work of battling bushfires might be physically exhausting for Raymond Lowe, but he is not stepping aside any time soon.
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true
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Multiple sclerosis,stem cell therapy,stem cells
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Lowe is part of a four-person crew from the Rural Fire Service (RFS) in New South Wales (NSW) state who are all in their 60s and have given up their time over Christmas to tackle some of Australia’s fiercest fires, in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Lowe is a volunteer and says that for him, the greatest reward is the fellowship among those fighting the fires. “There’s always going to be that desire to get out because it’s the camaraderie that you find out here,” said Lowe. “It’s hard to describe the feeling and how genuine everyone is and just how good it is to be able to help.” Lowe, a school administrator, is part of the biggest volunteer rural fire service in the world with more than 72,000 members who regularly work shifts of up to 14 hours to protect their communities and those around them. Volunteer firefighting has long been Australia’s primary defense against catastrophe but the intensity of this year’s fire season sparked a political debate over whether firefighters should be compensated for their time. The bushfires have destroyed more than 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) across the country, dwarfing the terrain burnt by fierce fires in California during 2019. There have also been eight deaths linked to the fires, including two firefighter volunteers. Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday said volunteer firefighters in NSW would be compensated up to A$6,000 ($4,186) if they spent more than 10 days in the field this fire season. Previously, Morrison had suggested that payment of firefighters was not a priority. For another volunteer, Ian White, retirement has meant he has more time to help his community than full-time workers. “Because I’m retired I can take the load off these younger blokes,” White told Reuters. “As long as I’m healthy enough I’ll keep doing it because that takes the pressure off them.”
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29883
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Senator Bernie Sanders said in a speech that cops were to blame for crime.
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All of this has led to the tragic reality that we — the United States of America — have more people in jail than any other country on earth. We have more people in jail than China which is an authoritarian state with a population many times our own. And we should lay it all right out on the table. People in American jails are disproportionately people of color. That’s the reality in America today. That’s a reality that has to change.
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false
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Junk News, bernie sanders, blue news network, criminal justice reform
|
In February 2019, a bit of text supposedly documenting a portion of a speech delivered by Senator Bernie Sanders, in which the Vermont legislator allegedly blamed police for crime began to circulate on social media: “The way criminals have been treated by law enforcement when they break the law is nothing short of a national disgrace. How are criminals supposed to show they can behave better if they are locked inside cages [jails] like animals by law enforcement?” He continued, “Just because someone car-jacked someone on a Tuesday doesn’t mean they can’t be a changed person Thursday and perhaps if the cops weren’t creating a culture of fear, criminals wouldn’t feel the pressure to commit these crimes; it’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy and it’s time for a change.” The Thin Blue Brotherhood Facebook page, for instance, shared this text if it were an “ACTUAL QUOTE” from Sanders: This quote, however, can’t be traced back to any remarks delivered by the 2020 Democratic presidential contender. This statement originated with a satirical article published on the BlueNewsNetwork website on 16 February 2019. That website states in its “About Us” page that all of its content is satirical in nature: If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is a satirical news website. While some stuff may bear a strong resemblance to the truth, we assure you it is most decidedly bullshit. We are just a few bored cops who thought we would make sport of triggering people and having a little fun at the expense of rookies, dispatchers, and troopers. If you don’t like what we are doing here, I am sorry to tell you that we do not care. Have a great life, and stress less about the things you cannot control, like what we write on this site. For the cops on the road, you have our respect, even if we tease you a little. Be careful, and come home safe. Although the rumor that Bernie Sanders had “blamed cops for crime” during a speech originated with a satirical article, the Vermont senator has expressed criticism of the criminal justice system. During his 2016 presidential campaign, for instance, Sanders said that criminal justice reform was the “civil rights issue of the 21st century“: For too long in this country politicians have used getting tough on crime as a wedge issue to win elections. It is clearly about time to start talking — as we have in this election — about the really disastrous effects of too many politicians trying to win too many elections by locking too many people up.
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26430
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"The Gates Foundation ""has the patent for this coronavirus."
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The Gates Foundation has not been assigned any patents related to the novel coronavirus. The philanthropy is funding the development of potential vaccines for COVID-19.
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false
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Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,
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"Bill Gates is one of the leading voices on a timeline for a coronavirus vaccine. Some Facebook users say that’s because the billionaire philanthropist stands to profit from one. An April 20 post includes several claims about Gates and his connection to the COVID-19 pandemic. The one that caught our eye says the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ""has the patent for this coronavirus."" ""Pay attention will ya,"" reads the title of the image. The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) (Screenshot from Facebook) We’ve fact-checked several or misleading claims about the Gates Foundation’s connection to the coronavirus and a potential vaccine. The charity is a frequent target for online disinformation about the pandemic. This Facebook post is also bogus. It’s similar to one of the earliest hoaxes we saw about the coronavirus in January, which originated on the conspiracy website Infowars. We looked through all of the patents assigned to both Gates and his foundation by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. As of now, none of them have to do with the novel coronavirus. Federal guidelines stipulate that there is an 18-month confidentiality period after the first filing date. That means Gates or his foundation could have applied for a patent within the past 18 months and it would not be publicly listed. There is no known treatment or vaccine for the coronavirus. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said a vaccine could take at least a year and a half to roll out. The Gates Foundation is funding some of the 70 potential vaccines that are currently in development. The philanthropy said in a Feb. 5 statement that it is investing up to $60 million to ""accelerate the discovery, development and testing of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics"" for the coronavirus. Gates and his philanthropy frequently apply for patents with partner organizations. But as of now, they’re not listed on a future vaccine patent. We reached out to the Gates Foundation for comment. It pointed us to a fact-check from USA Today that debunks a similar claim. The Facebook post is inaccurate."
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18900
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"Since the federal Violence Against Women Act was adopted in 1994, ""cases of domestic violence have fallen by 67 percent."
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"U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore said that since the Violence Against Women Act was adopted in 1994, ""cases of domestic violence have fallen by 67 percent."" Her statement is generally on the money, though a bit dated. It also needs some clarification -- namely that there are factors in addition to the law that are linked to the decrease."
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true
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Criminal Justice, Crime, Women, Wisconsin, Gwen Moore,
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"Domestic violence is so common that one in four women and one in seven men ""have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner,"" according to a national survey done by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So, could it also be true that incidents of domestic violence have fallen dramatically? On Dec. 11, 2012, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., and 119 other members of Congress signed a letter calling on House leaders to hold a vote on re-authorizing the Violence Against Women Act. Moore was among the lead writers of the letter, which declared that since the federal law was adopted in 1994, ""cases of domestic violence have fallen by 67 percent."" Nearly two decades have passed, but a two-thirds drop is sizable. Is Moore correct on the number? And, if so, to what extent is the law responsible for the decline? The law and the numbers The Violence Against Women Act gives money to state and local law enforcement entities to investigate and prosecute violent crimes against women. After the law’s adoption in 1994, Congress re-authorized it in 2000 and 2005, but failed to do so before its session ended in December 2012. Supporters of reauthorization hope to take up the matter again in 2013, possibly as early as January, said Moore spokeswoman Nicole Williams. Moore, of Milwaukee, is a longtime advocate for domestic violence victims. In December 2010, we rated as True her statement that in Wisconsin, ""deaths from domestic violence"" were ""at the highest in 10 years."" In the latest attempt to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, versions of the 67 percent decrease claim were also made by others: the White House, in a fact sheet; the left-leaning MoveOn.org political advocacy group, in a TV ad; and a U.S. Justice Department official, in testimony to Congress. When we asked Moore’s spokeswoman for evidence to back the figure, Williams cited a Justice Department report from September 2011. But we found a more recent report from the department, issued in November 2012, two weeks before Moore’s letter. Williams said ""we are now transitioning to using"" the figures in that report. The new report was based on ""nonfatal victimizations reported and not reported to the police"" against persons age 12 or older from a nationally representative sample of U.S. households. The first finding in the report: from 1994 to 2010, the rate of nonfatal intimate-partner violence in the U.S. declined by 64 percent. The rate dropped from 9.8 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older to 3.6 per 1,000. Intimate partner violence was defined to include rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault by a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend. The 64 percent figure is nearly as high as the 67 percent decrease Moore claimed. But Moore mentioned the Violence Against Women Act and the decrease in the same breath, not saying one caused the other, but suggesting there was a strong connection. So let’s see what role the law played in reducing domestic violence. Why are numbers declining? The Violence Against Women Act contains provisions that could lead to a reduction in domestic violence -- through raising awareness of the offense as a crime, locking up violators and deterring potential offenders. According to a May 2012 report by the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan arm of Congress, the law provides grants to, among other things: The National Network to End Domestic Violence, which is pushing for reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, credits the law for declines in domestic violence. And a 2002 University of North Carolina study estimated that the law had saved billions of dollars in social costs by reducing incidents of domestic violence. But it’s also clear that other factors bear on the decline. Carnegie Mellon University researchers in 2003 concluded that three other factors were key in declines in domestic violence incidents between 1993 and 1998 -- an increase in legal services for victims; improvement in women’s economic status; and the aging of the population. Barbara Paradiso, director of the Center on Domestic Violence at the University of Colorado Denver, told us that the Violence Against Women Act is one reason for the decline in domestic violence. But experts debate over what factors are most responsible, she said. Our rating U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore said that since the Violence Against Women Act was adopted in 1994, ""cases of domestic violence have fallen by 67 percent."" Her statement is generally on the money, though a bit dated. It also needs some clarification -- namely that there are factors in addition to the law that are linked to the decrease."
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16564
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"Police in the United States are allowed to use tear gas even though it ""has been classified as a chemical weapon and banned in international conflict since 1993."
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"The meme said police in the United States use tear gas even though it ""has been classified as a chemical weapon and banned in international conflict since 1993."" The Chemical Weapons Convention did outlaw the use of tear gas in warfare, though that went into effect in 1997, not 1993. However, the meme glosses over some context. It tries to leverage the Chemical Weapons Convention’s decision to ban tear gas as evidence of why the technique should be illegal for policing, yet that very same convention explicitly allows its use for domestic law enforcement purposes. The claim is accurate but needs clarification."
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true
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National, Criminal Justice, Legal Issues, Foreign Policy, Facebook posts,
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"Law enforcement officers in Ferguson, Mo., have used tear gas extensively in the wake of the police-shooting death of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old unarmed African-American. The conflict in Ferguson led one PolitiFact reader to ask us to check the accuracy of a social-media meme now circulating that addresses the legality of tear gas. The meme -- posted by the group OurTime.org, an advocacy group for young Americans -- said, ""Tear gas has been classified as a chemical weapon and banned in international conflict since 1993. Why is its use allowed by U.S. police forces?"" The post had garnered 143,000 likes, 42,000 shares, and 35,000 comments by late August. We wanted to know if it was accurate. First, some background on tear gas. It is a broad term for chemical compounds that temporarily make people unable to function by causing irritation to the eyes, mouth, throat, lungs, and skin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pepper spray and CS gas are among the most commonly used. The CDC says that ""prolonged exposure, especially in an enclosed area, may lead to long-term effects such as eye problems including scarring, glaucoma, and cataracts, and may possibly cause breathing problems such as asthma."" However, the agency adds that ""if symptoms go away soon after a person is removed from exposure to riot control agents, long-term health effects are unlikely to occur."" Has tear gas been 'banned in international conflict since 1993'? This is close to being accurate. The Chemical Weapons Convention bans the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer or use of chemical weapons. And tear gas qualifies under the convention as a chemical weapon. Specifically, Article I (5) of the convention says, ""Each State Party undertakes not to use riot control agents as a method of warfare,"" while Article II (7) defines ""riot control agent"" as: ""Any chemical not listed in a Schedule, which can produce rapidly in humans sensory irritation or disabling physical effects which disappear within a short time following termination of exposure."" The meme is incorrect, however, when it comes to the year the convention came into force. It was finalized in 1993 but took effect on April 29, 1997 -- 180 days after the 65th country, Hungary, ratified the treaty, as the convention set forth. The United States is covered by this provision, the Senate having ratified the convention five days before it went into force. In addition, there may be a gray area for use by the military. When President Gerald Ford signed an earlier, decades-old agreement covering chemical weapons, the Geneva Gas Protocol of 1925, the United States reserved the right to use tear gas in a limited number of contexts, such as for controlling a riot at a prisoner-of-war detention area -- just not against troops engaged in battle. Anthony Clark Arend, a Georgetown University professor of government and foreign service, said he believes that this limited exception would also hold water under the Chemical Weapons Convention. How relevant is that to police? This part is more murky, because the same convention being touted by the meme’s authors specifically states that law enforcement use within a country is permitted. ""Law enforcement including domestic riot control purposes"" is ""not prohibited under this convention,"" says Article II (9) (d). This bifurcation between a permitted domestic use and a banned international use is unusual in such accords, said Brian Finlay, managing director of the Stimson Center, a think tank that focuses on global security issues. As for how it happened, there’s a backstory. According to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the international group that helps enforce the Chemical Weapons Convention, riot control agents were ""the topic of long and heated debates"" during negotiations of the convention. In the end, a compromise was reached, the group says, allowing the use of tear gas for riot control but prohibiting it for warfare. Indiana University law professor David P. Fidler, who has studied the issue, said that while there’s been some controversy over what this article of the convention permits in some contexts, ""law enforcement use of tear gas has not been one of them."" When we contacted OurTime.org, co-founder Jarrett Moreno told us that ""the focus of our post was raising an ethical and moral question: If we can't use tear gas on our enemies, why is it acceptable to use on our own citizens? After Ferguson where we saw children, disabled people, and members of the press being hit with tear gas while exercising their First Amendment rights, why are they being contained with something that we don't even use on the battlefield?"" Experts acknowledged that the treatment of tear gas under the convention is somewhat paradoxical, and it stems in part from horse-trading by convention negotiators. But they added that there are other, more substantive reasons as well. • The use of any type of gas on a battlefield is problematic. ""Part of the thinking is that soldiers in the field don't have the ability to readily distinguish in the heat of battle if a gas being used is tear gas or something more lethal,"" said Richard Price, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia who has studied the issues. The negotiators, he said, thought that, ""as a practical matter, it was best to ban them all"" on the battlefield. • There are few immediate alternatives to tear gas for riot control. There are strategies to prevent riots, including better community relations, a less militaristic appearance, and improved training, all of which have been raised in relation to Ferguson. But once rioting is under way, police need tools to control it -- and ""even though tear gas is far from perfect,"" said David A. Koplow, a Georgetown University law professor, ""it continues to be used in that role because there’s nothing else better."" Israel has deployed an organic riot-control agent dubbed ""skunk water,"" described by a BBC journalist as the ""worst, most foul thing you have ever smelled. An overpowering mix of rotting meat, old socks that haven't been washed for weeks -- topped off with the pungent waft of an open sewer."" However, it is sprayed from water cannons, which in the popular imagination are associated with their use against civil rights protesters in the 1960s, making them highly unsuitable for use in a scenario like the one in Ferguson. Projectiles such as rubber bullets can be effective, but they can cause serious injury or, if poorly aimed, death. An emerging technology called the Active Denial System -- or more colloquially, the ""pain ray"" -- creates millimeter-wave frequencies that impart a searing sensation of heat on the skin, but amid concerns, the United States military has been slow to adopt it. Meanwhile, new forms of ""incapacitating chemical agents"" that use anesthetic chemicals have been proposed, but they have drawn the concern of such groups as the International Committee of the Red Cross. The problem with new-generation chemical techniques, said Fidler of Indiana University, ""is that their physiological effects are stronger than tear gas, which creates the potential for more injuries and other health harms. Tear gas is well understood as a riot control agent, and it seems to function well enough for law enforcement purposes. • A lack of desire for change. There is little sign that the convention’s signatories have any desire to reconcile the tear gas paradox. ""There is certainly an argument to be made that the fundamental segregation of these two issues is inherently unreasonable,"" said Finlay of the Stimson Center. ""That said, this is very unlikely to change, as it is both a matter of treaty law as well as customary international law today. There is not much appetite among states to alter the status quo."" Our ruling The meme said police in the United States use tear gas even though it ""has been classified as a chemical weapon and banned in international conflict since 1993."" The Chemical Weapons Convention did outlaw the use of tear gas in warfare, though that went into effect in 1997, not 1993. However, the meme glosses over some context. It tries to leverage the Chemical Weapons Convention’s decision to ban tear gas as evidence of why the technique should be illegal for policing, yet that very same convention explicitly allows its use for domestic law enforcement purposes. The claim is accurate but needs clarification, so"
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12076
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"The Graham-Cassidy health care bill does ""include coverage of pre-existing conditions."
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Trump said the Graham-Cassidy bill does include coverage of pre-existing conditions. The bill does address pre-existing conditions, and if states want billions of dollars in federal aid, they must show they intend to keep coverage accessible and affordable. But the other parts of the bill allow states to give insurance companies a free hand in charging those people higher premiums. Professors who study the U.S. health care system said the bill’s language protecting people with pre-existing conditions is vague and subject to broad interpretation. Plus, they said the bill’s reduction in funds going to two-thirds of the states will make it harder for them to protect people with past health problems. Under no circumstances do the protections in the bill equal the ones Americans have today under the Affordable Care Act. They are less. There’s an element of truth in Trump’s tweet but it obscures critical details.
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false
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National, Health Care, Donald Trump,
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"President Donald Trump said the latest Republican bill to get rid of Obamacare raises no concerns on coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. The question has become a sticking point in the repeal effort. Before the Affordable Care Act, insurers could deny coverage to people who had cancer, asthma or some other illness. The law banned that practice. ""I would not sign Graham-Cassidy if it did not include coverage of pre-existing conditions,"" Trump tweeted. ""It does! A great Bill. Repeal & Replace."" I would not sign Graham-Cassidy if it did not include coverage of pre-existing conditions. It does! A great Bill. Repeal & Replace. Trump is not entirely wrong, but his tweet papers over some pitfalls in what the bill offers. The key section lies in the bill’s rules for state waivers from many regulations in the Affordable Care Act (starting at page 8 in the bill.) If a state says it ""intends to maintain access to adequate and affordable health insurance coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions,"" then it can allow insurance companies to charge sick people more than healthy ones. Under the current rules, insurance companies can’t do that. They can’t factor in health, period. In addition, current Affordable Care Act rules limit the range for premiums and say companies can’t charge an older person more than three times what they charge a younger person. The waiver does away with those limits (starting at the bottom of page 12 in the bill). A state’s commitment boils down to maintaining ""access to adequate and affordable health insurance coverage."" ""That’s not nothing"" in terms of protecting people with pre-existing conditions, said Indiana University health care law professor David Gamage. But beyond that, Gamage said the protection for pre-existing conditions gets murky. ""The bill says states have to do something, but what that something is is unclear,"" Gamage said. ""And it’s overwhelmingly likely that what some states do will won’t be as robust as what people have now."" The health consulting firm Avalere found that 34 states plus the District of Columbia would see net funding cuts under the bill sponsored by Sens. Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham. The Kaiser Family Foundation had a similar finding. One way or another, it costs money to cover people with known health conditions, and most states would have less of it. On top of that, Gamage said, Affordable Care Act regulations spread some of the costs across the private sector. Those regulations would go away, too, meaning it would be up to the states to make up the difference. Cassidy spokesman Ty Bofferding disagreed. ""We have guaranteed issue and expect states to use invisible risk-sharing (where states reimburse insurers for higher cost people) or other policies to cover pre-existing conditions or face misuse of funds penalties,"" Bofferding said. That might be a sincere hope, said law professor Wendy Netter Epstein at DePaul University, but the bill’s language doesn’t back it up. ""The terms ‘adequate’ and ‘affordable’ are very much subject to interpretation,"" Epstein said. ""What is adequate and affordable for one person may not be for another. And it almost certainly doesn’t mean that those with pre-existing conditions have to be charged the same as those without."" If states fell short, Epstein said Washington regulators could try to hold their feet to the fire and press them to do better with their federal money, but ""we can anticipate a whole lot of litigation."" And even a win for Washington might not mean much in practice. ""Folks who are sick and need health insurance coverage now don’t have the luxury of time to let these legal debates play out,"" Epstein said. Both Epstein and Gamage said in theory, states might find ways to squeeze much more health coverage out of each dollar. Or failing that, they might decide to put much more of their own money into health care and re-establish rules modeled on the Affordable Care Act. But they said neither outcome is likely. Epstein said there’s an underlying disagreement on what it means to cover people with pre-existing conditions. Under the Affordable Care Act, those people got the same kind of coverage at the same price as others. ""But that’s not what President Trump and Sen. Cassidy mean when they say that the bill continues to require coverage for people with pre-existing conditions,"" Epstein said. ""They mean that insurers will have to continue to cover people, but not at the same rates. And the policies don’t have to provide the same coverage."" Trump said the Graham-Cassidy bill does include coverage of pre-existing conditions. The bill does address pre-existing conditions, and if states want billions of dollars in federal aid, they must show they intend to keep coverage accessible and affordable. But the other parts of the bill allow states to give insurance companies a free hand in charging those people higher premiums. Professors who study the U.S. health care system said the bill’s language protecting people with pre-existing conditions is vague and subject to broad interpretation. Plus, they said the bill’s reduction in funds going to two-thirds of the states will make it harder for them to protect people with past health problems. Under no circumstances do the protections in the bill equal the ones Americans have today under the Affordable Care Act. They are less. There’s an element of truth in Trump’s tweet but it obscures critical details."
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31080
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"Law professor Alice Ristroph wrote in the Atlantic magazine that the 2017 solar eclipse, its path, or those who viewed it, were ""racist."
|
On 12 January 2017, President Barack Obama took up that suggestion, issuing a memorandum on “Diversity and Inclusion in Our National Parks” that directed federal agencies (among other actions) to engage in conducting “active outreach to diverse populations” and “identifying and making improvements to existing programs to increase visitation and access by diverse populations” — “particularly minority, low-income, and disabled populations and tribal communities.”
|
false
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Politics, conservative tribune, daily caller
|
In August 2017, two right-wing web sites falsely reported that a law professor had written that a 2017 solar eclipse was “racist.” First, the Daily Caller published an article headlined “The Eclipse Is Racist Because It Fails to Affect Enough Black People, the Atlantic Suggests,” stating that “The Atlantic, a once-great magazine, has determined that the total eclipse of the sun due to occur on Monday will fail to affect enough black people.” The following day, the Conservative Tribune asserted in a similar vein: “Are you looking forward to Monday’s solar eclipse — the first full eclipse to hit the United States in decades? You filthy, filthy racist. That’s at least the take of Brooklyn Law School professor Alice Ristroph, who used a staggering 4,544 words in The Atlantic to explaining why the phenomenon of the moon blocking the sun just wasn’t diverse enough for her tastes.” Both web sites were referring to an essay by Alice Ristroph, a professor at Brooklyn Law School in New York. Her essay, originally published in Democracy under the title “Blackout,” and republished by the Atlantic on 18 August 2017, did not state — or even imply — that the eclipse itself or the path of its totality were “racist.” Nor did Ristroph say or imply that the eclipse would not be visible to “enough” black people, or that those who chose to view the eclipse were “racists.” Instead, Ristroph penned a lyric essay that used the path of the eclipse as a literary mechanism to explore the United States’ troubled racial history of “totality” and “division.” In noting that the path of the eclipse would cross sections of the United States in which there lived “almost no black people,” Ristroph was clear to state that this circumstance was a coincidence (from an astronomical standpoint) but used that fact as an opportunity to examine the historical reasons why some areas of America remain predominantly non-black. Along the way, she discussed different visions of “totality,” such as Oregon’s original goal of being an all-white state, and General William Tecumseh Sherman’s vision of “total war” during the U.S. Civil War. At no point did Ristroph use the word “racist,” and she explicitly made the (blindingly obvious) point that the eclipse itself did not harbor any racial prejudice: It has been dubbed the Great American Eclipse, and along most of its path, there live almost no black people. Presumably, this is not explained by the implicit bias of the solar system. It is a matter of population density, and more specifically geographic variations in population density by race, for which the sun and the moon cannot be held responsible … The shadow of the moon doesn’t care where it falls or who lives below. In 2015, the Daily Caller similarly prevaricated about a New York Times opinion piece on the subject of low visitation rates at national parks by minorities. Under the headline “Now America’s National Parks Are Racist,” the Daily Caller wrote: The cozily white opinion pages of The New York Times attacked the National Park Service and America’s majestic national parks as racist because way too many white people visit them. Also, the visitors are old. And about 80 percent of the park service’s employees are white. Thus, “minorities are unwelcome.” One again, the Daily Caller completely misrepresented the thrust of a race-related discussion. The New York Times article in question, by Glenn Nelson, did not decry either America’s national parks or the National Park Service as being “racist,” nor did that word appear anywhere in Nelson’s piece. The gist of Nelson’s article was that attendance at U.S. national parks by minorities was comparatively low, that a primary reason for that phenomenon was unfamiliarity with national parks among minorities, and that the National Park Service should try to encourage broader visitation through outreach aimed at clearing up such unfamiliarity. Nelson did not assert, as the Daily Caller misrepresented, that “minorities are unwelcome” at U.S. national parks. In fact, he argued the opposite — that the National Park Service should attempt to dispel the misperception among minorities that they were not welcome at national parks: [M]any minorities say they know little about the nation’s parks or what to expect when visiting them. In the 2011 park service survey, nonwhites were more than three times as likely as whites to say that the parks provided poor service and were not safe to visit. And those responses were from nonvisitors, which means that perceptions had congealed into reality among what should be an important constituency for the parks. We need to demolish the notion that the national parks and the rest of nature are an exclusive club where minorities are unwelcome. The park service[‘s] … outreach should be tailored to minorities and delivered where they log in, follow, Tweet, view or listen. The park service needs to shout to minorities from its iconic mountaintops, “We want you here!”
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10553
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Study shows differences in pancreatic cancer treatments
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The story felt like a recitation of the journal article, with no evidence of any independent reporting or analysis. To make things worse, it had a glaring error on the quality of life data. Bringing information about this new study to the public is important because it represents a substantial advance in treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately this story misinterpreted the findings about quality of life – and so misled readers.
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false
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Cancer,CNN
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No discussion of costs. One of the online commenters on the CNN website wrote: “What is the cost for these treatments? How long would the person live with no chemotherapy, just drugs for pain management? If a person wants to pay for these treatments on their own dime that’s one thing. But as a society that shares limited resources for health care can we really afford to spend inordinate amounts to prolong a person’s life a couple months? Not heartless, just pragmatic.” Another wrote, in response: “I was one who was fortunate enough to be on Gemcitabine (at $2,000 per prescription for 6 weeks) after a whipple and radiation. That was almost 7 years ago. I have been able to further my education, re-marry, and watch my young son grow into a young adult.” Yet the story itself was silent on costs. The story barely explained the benefits seen in the study, and failed to put them into the context of what pancreatic cancer patients face as well as the competing USA Today story did. The story was badly incomplete and confusiong in reporting on harms. First, it inaccurately reported that “the quality of life for patients on FOLFIRINOX was not as good….After six months, only 31% of patients on FOLFIRINOX reported a decent quality of life, compared with 66% of those on gemcitabine.” That’s wrong. The researchers reported: “At 6 months, 31% of the patients in the FOLFIRINOX group had a definitive decrease in the scores on the Global Health Status and Quality of Life scale versus 66% in the gemcitabine group. Significant increases in the time until definitive deterioration in the quality of life were also noted in the FOLFIRINOX group for all functional and symptom scales.” So quality of life was BETTER, not worse in the Folfirinox group. And the reporting of harms was oddly incomplete. The story stated: “At least 5% of patients on the drug combination suffered from low white blood cell counts, fatigue, serious diarrhea, a loss of feeling in their feet and hands, as well as hair loss.” Why did the story report that statistic instead some of these easily explained in the journal article: 75 of those in the Folfirinox group (46%) had neutropenia compared with 35 in the Gemcitabine group (21%) 21 of those in the Folfirinox group (13%) had diarrhea compared with 3 in the Gemcitabine group (2%) 15 of those in the Folfirinox group (9%) had sensory neuropathy compared with 0 in the Gemcitabine group ??? There was no evaluation of the quality of the evidence – only a recitation of data reported. No independent expert perspective provided. No disease-mongering of pancreatic cancer in the story. No independent source is cited. We thought USA Today did a much better job, ending their story with this independent expert perspective: “…doctors are testing other drug combinations to treat pancreatic cancer. She’s hopeful that these combinations will work as well or better than Folfirinox, with fewer serious side effects. Folfirinox “is going to be one of a host of options” for patients, Azad says ” There was no independent perspective in this story and no such comparison with other approaches being researched for pancreatic cancer. The availability of the drugs was not discussed. This was a story about a French study. Are the drugs widely available in the US? The story never explained. The relative novelty of Folfirinox was never established or explained. Not applicable. We can’t be sure of the extent to which the story relied on any news release, as no one is interviewed.
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7382
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Sanofi walks back after saying US would get vaccine first.
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French pharmaceutical group Sanofi promised Thursday that it would make its COVID-19 vaccine, when ready, available in all countries, hours after the company’s CEO said the United States will get first access.
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true
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Racing for a Remedy, Understanding the Outbreak, Health, General News, International News, Business, Emmanuel Macron, Edouard Philippe, Virus Outbreak, Europe, United States
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Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson’s comments that a vaccine would go first to the U.S. prompted an angry reaction from the French government. “Equal access for all to the vaccine is not negotiable,” French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said in a tweet. French President Emmanuel Macron was described by his office as also being “upset” by Hudson’s comments. Macron is pushing for vaccines to be considered a “common good” for humanity that must not be subject to market pressures. Philippe said he spoke to Serge Weinberg, chairman of the Sanofi board, about the vaccine and received “all the necessary assurances” that it would be distributed in France. There will be a follow-up meeting with Sanofi officials at Macron’s office next week. Hudson told the Bloomberg news agency that the U.S. government has the right to the largest pre-order of an eventual COVID-19 vaccine “because it’s invested in taking the risk.” But Sanofi then walked back from that position in a statement Thursday that said “we have always been committed in these unprecedented circumstances to make our vaccine accessible to everyone.” At the same time, Sanofi also appealed for the European Union to make it easier to get a vaccine to market. The president of Sanofi France, Olivier Bogillot, told broadcaster France Info that the U.S. is accelerating regulatory requirements to develop and produce a vaccine. “Europe needs to do the same thing,” he said. Commission health spokesman Stefan De Keersmaecker said the EU’s executive arm is “fully engaged to (...) advance research on promising vaccines.” “The vaccine against COVID-19 should be a global public good,” he said. “And its access should be equitable and universal.” Sanofi said its cooperation with U.S. agency BARDA allows the company “to initiate production as early as possible.” The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has funded the development of the vaccine. Sanofi pushed for “similar measures” from the EU. “We are having very constructive conversations with the EU institutions and the French and German government among others,” it said. Dozens of vaccine candidates in earlier stages of development are being pursued around the world, yet a vaccine is likely to be a year or more away. ___ AP reporters John Leicester and Samuel Petrequin contributed. ___ Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
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15071
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More preschoolers are shot dead each year than police officers are in the line of duty.
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Kristof said that more preschoolers are shot dead each year than are on-duty police officers. For children aged 0-4, that is accurate for the past six years. For children aged 3-5, the statement is true in most years, but not in every year.
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true
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PunditFact, Guns, Nicholas Kristof,
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"The Oregon shootings raise the question of what can be done to reduce the frequency of gun violence. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof argued in favor of smaller steps that might enjoy public support, such as requiring safe storage at home and a 10-year ban for anyone convicted of domestic violence or assault. Kristof said the country would do well to tackle this problem as a matter of public health. To drive home that point, he made a grim comparison. ""In America, more preschoolers are shot dead each year (82 in 2013) than police officers are in the line of duty (27 in 2013), according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FBI,"" Kristof wrote in an Oct. 3, 2015 op-ed. A reader asked us to see if that was accurate. We found that it was, and for more years than the one he cited. We also stress-tested his comparison by defining preschoolers more narrowly than he did and for the most part, the comparison still holds up. The Federal Bureau of Investigation tracks the deaths of law enforcement officers, whether they serve in the smallest sheriff’s department or a large federal agency. In 2013, 26 officers died in shootings. (Kristof was off by one because he included a non-shooting death.) Counting the deaths of preschoolers is a bit more complicated. You have to decide the age range that defines a preschooler, and whether to include both accidental and intentional killings. We learned from Kristof that he took preschoolers to mean every child from a newborn to 4-years-old, and he included gun deaths under all circumstances. Since public health routinely focuses on accidents, that is consistent with Kristof’s approach and gun violence normally includes homicide. Kristof said he picked his age group based on the definition used by the U.S. Education Department. The agency’s guide to Title 1 services (aid for lower income children) leaves the range rather open-ended. It says ""For the purpose of Title I, children from birth to the age that the LEA (Local Education Agency) provides a free public elementary education may receive preschool services."" Some school districts might take children at age 5, in others, it might be 6. Kristof’s 0 to 4 seems defensible. However, we also found that the CDC often considers preschoolers to be children from the ages of 3 to 5. We used both age groups when we pulled death statistics from the CDC’s WISQAR fatal injury database. This table using FBI and CDC data shows the results. For the age range Kristof used, firearm deaths of preschoolers exceeded those of law enforcement officers in every year back to 2008. For the more restricted CDC age range, his statement held up in four out of the past six years. Our ruling Kristof said that more preschoolers are shot dead each year than are on-duty police officers. For children aged 0-4, that is accurate for the past six years. For children aged 3-5, the statement is true in most years, but not in every year."
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26223
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Tom Tiffany Says the state “health secretary says don't go to hospitals or clinics, now the tourism secretary says don't recreate.”
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Tiffany claimed that Wisconsin officials asked residents not to recreate outdoors or go to the doctor Officials from the Department of Health Services said that they recommended telehealth visits instead of in-person appointments, to combat the spread of COVID-19 Officials from the Department of Tourism said that they want residents to enjoy the outdoors, and have provided a toolkit to help them do it safely.
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false
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Health Care, States, Wisconsin, Coronavirus, Tom Tiffany,
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"U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican who won an open seat in Congress in a May 11, 2020 special election, is off to Washington -- but still has his sights set on state government and how it is handling the coronavirus crisis. Tiffany, who spent nearly seven years as a state Senator before winning the seat, tweeted this on May 26, 2020: ""First the health secretary says don't go to hospitals or clinics, now the tourism secretary says don't recreate. What next, the education governor saying no school this fall?"" The tweet linked to an online article from a Madison-based TV station. It came on the day Democrat Gov. Tony Evers’ stay-at-home order originally was going to expire. (The order was lifted May 13, 2020 under a state Supreme Court ruling.) We can’t look into the future, of course, so we’ll have to set aside the bit about what school may look like this fall. But we can look back and see what Department of Health Services secretary Andrea Palm and the Department of Tourism secretary Sara Meaney said in regard to the COVID-19 outbreak. Did Palm say ""don’t go to hospitals or clinics?"" And did Meaney say ""don’t recreate""? No. And: Not exactly. When we asked Tiffany for backup for the claim, his staff pointed to a May 24, 2020 story from WMTV, a Madison-based NBC news affiliate, as it related to tourism and Meaney. This is the article that was linked in his tweet. With a headline of ""Wisconsin tourism officials encourage people to not travel to seasonal homes,"" the article noted Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer and went on to say: Travel Wisconsin urged people to stay at their permanent residences when the 'safer at home' order was first announced in March and a month later the department's stance hasn't changed. ""Straight up answer, as the Wisconsin Department of Tourism we are not advising that people travel outside their home communities to recreate,"" Sara Meaney, Secretary of Wisconsin Department of Tourism, said. The rationale: As people travel to cabins and summer homes, it could help spread the coronavirus and potentially overwhelm small healthcare systems in northern communities. In the article, Meaney acknowledged the state can’t stop people from traveling, and suggested those who do travel within the state take personal precautions, such as using face masks, and call ahead to see if any restrictions are in place where they are going. When asked about the statement, Department of Tourism spokesman Craig Trost pointed us to an online toolkit focused on ways to stay safe while enjoying the outdoors. The toolkit, created with help from the Department of Health Services, includes guides to safely enjoying parks and trails, going boating, fishing, cycling, camping and walking, using ATVs and UTVs, as well as a guide to going to the beach. The toolkit includes this line: ""We encourage all land managers, communities, and businesses that support outdoor recreation to use these tools to help create a consistent statewide message inviting Wisconsinites to get outside, stay safe, and be well."" So, while Meaney discouraged state residents from traveling Up North, the department does not say to avoid any kind of recreation. What’s more, state parks are still open for hiking, along with many boat launches, trails and other recreational sites. When it comes to hospitals and clinics, a Tiffany staffer said the congressman was ""referring to the cancellation of elective surgeries, DHS encouraging patients to use virtual doctor visits instead of in-person, and DHS recommending that dentists postpone all elective treatments."" But those examples have problems as well. The April 2, 2020 news release from the Department of Health Services, cited by Tiffany, called on residents to use telehealth options during the COVD-19 public health emergency. Department spokeswoman Jennifer Miller said the agency has never advised against going to see a doctor, but has supported using telehealth -- that is, video visits and the like -- in some cases to get care. ""We want people to stay connected to their medical providers now more than ever, and to call their doctor especially if they are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19,"" she said in an email. Indeed, health facilities -- including dentist offices -- were declared essential during Evers’ stay-at-home order. That said, some hospitals limited elective surgeries and some doctors cut back on in-person visits due to concerns over the transmission of the coronavirus. Likewise, any dentist offices delayed routine things, such as teeth cleanings. Those decisions were made by the health care providers and institutions, though, not mandated by the state. And those institutions have started to take in-person appointments and schedule surgeries again. Tiffany claimed top state officials called on residents not to travel and not to see doctors. While the tourism secretary discouraged folks from traveling to cabins and tourist areas in parts of the state with fewer hospital beds, the department website is focused on safe travel -- not no travel. And when it comes to seeing doctors, the health secretary advocated using virtual visits where possible, but did not suggest residents avoid treatment."
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8299
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U.S. coronavirus death toll climbs to over 33,000: Reuters tally.
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U.S. coronavirus deaths rose above 33,000 on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally, even as President Donald Trump laid out White House guidelines for reopening the economy.
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true
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Health News
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The United States is the world’s worst-affected country with fatalities doubling in just a week. Deaths rose by nearly 2,200 on Thursday, with a few U.S. states yet to report, after a record single-day increase of 2,507 Wednesday. Seven Northeastern states on Thursday extended a shutdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak until May 15. The extensions, and stay-at-home directives, came as Trump touted his plan for the least-affected states to reopen May 1 or sooner. The shutdown has crushed the nation’s economy, sinking it to levels not seen since the Great Depression nearly a century ago as more than 20 million Americans have sought unemployment benefits after losing their paychecks from shuttered businesses and industries. U.S. coronavirus cases totaled more than 665,000 on Thursday, up nearly 28,000. New cases rose by 30,000 on Wednesday, the biggest increase in five days, according to the Reuters tally.
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28554
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On 1 September 2017, a new law will come into force in Texas, making it harder for consumers to get paid for property insurance claims related to weather.
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The claims contained in viral Facebook posts on 27 August 2017 are a largely accurate description of the provisions of HB 1774, but they do lack important context and do not make it clear to readers that the law only affects how claims are dealt with in the event that someone decides to sue an insurance company. These posts do not include that most insurance claims are settled out of court, and will therefore not be directly affected by the change in the law.
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mixture
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Politics, harvey, hurricane harvey, insurance
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On 27 August 2017, as the full damage to Texas from a storm of historic proportions was not yet fully known, a number of social media posts began to spread, alerting readers to a change in Texas law around insurance claims in the event of weather damage. One Facebook user posted the following: EFFECTIVE FRIDAY, the laws governing insurance claims in Texas will change to your detriment. To take advantage of current law, YOU MUST FILE YOUR CLAIM, IN WRITING, BY THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, regardless of whether your damage occurred before that date. That is, it does not matter if your DAMAGE occurred before the effective date. To take advantage of current law you must actually file a claim by Thursday. It must be (1) IN WRITING, and (2) SPECIFIC ABOUT WHAT DAMAGE YOU ARE CLAIMING OCCURRED. The changes were made by H.B. 1774. The provisions in that bill hamper your ability to challenge your insurance company if they slow pay, low pay, or deny your claim. (Among other things, It lessens the penalties for their failure to pay your claims or their slow-paying them, and it limits your ability to collect attorneys fees, so you’d have to pay to sue out of your own pocket.) Again, this law makes it harder for you to get the insurance companies to pay what they are supposed to pay when they are supposed to pay it. Former Texas state representative Glen Maxey wrote: In the 2017 Legislative Session, a majority of your state lawmakers changed the laws which help property owners recover losses after a storm like Harvey and hampered your ability to hold your insurance company accountable if they slow pay, low pay, or no pay. Well, the new law goes into effect SEPTEMBER 1!! This law will make it harder for you to get the insurance companies to pay what they are supposed to pay when they are supposed to pay it. And on 29 August, Rep. Joaquín Castro encouraged Texans affected by Tropical Storm Harvey to file their claims before 1 September: Texans: be sure to file for #Harvey relief before Sept 1. #TXlege passed a bill making it harder to dispute weather-related property claims. — Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) August 28, 2017 Texas House Bill 1774 does indeed introduce changes to the way property damage insurance claims are dealt with in the state, but only in the event of a litigated dispute over a claim. Most insurance claims are settled out of court, and so the potential benefit in filing a claim before 1 September 2017 (which is itself marginal) will likely not apply in most cases. The real benefit would be in filing a lawsuit before 1 September, but for obvious practical reasons, it is extremely unlikely that someone whose home has been destroyed or extensively damaged days earlier, would be in a position to do this. The law was signed by Governor Greg Abbott on 26 May 2017. What the law changes The first major provision in the law is that an individual or business filing a lawsuit in relation to a weather-related property damage insurance claim (including flood damage) will have to give their insurance company 61 days’ notice before initiating litigation. According to an analysis published by the independent House Research Organization in the Texas House of Representatives: [The law] would require an insured [person] making a claim against an insurer or agent relating to damage to real property caused by an earthquake, earth tremor, wildfire, flood, tornado, lightning, hurricane, hail, wind, snowstorm, or rainstorm to provide written notice to the insurer at least 61 days before filing the claim. This pre-suit notice would have to provide a statement of the acts giving rise to the claim, the specific amount alleged to be owed, and amount of reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees already incurred by the claimant. This notice would be admissible as evidence in a civil action or alternative dispute resolution. The second major provision in HB 1774 is that it imposes a claim recovery threshold in order for individuals to recover the full amount of their attorney’s fees, if they decide to go to court. If, in the event of a lawsuit, a jury decides to award a plaintiff 80 percent or more of the amount they are claiming, then all that individual’s attorney’s fees will be covered. If a jury decides to award 20 percent or less, none of their attorney’s fees are covered: The bill would require the court to award the full amount of reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees if the amount to be awarded in the judgment divided by the amount alleged to be owed was at least 0.8, not limited by statute, and recoverable. The court would be prohibited from awarding attorney’s fees if this fraction was less than 0.2, or if the claimant failed to provide pre-suit notice. We consulted two experts on insurance: Etti Baranoff, an associate professor of finance at Virginia Commonwealth University and a former regulator at the Texas Department of Insurance, and Dalit Baranoff, a historian of insurance policy who runs the Risks and Consequences blog. They told us the bill is designed to discourage consumers from taking a claim to court and filing exaggerated claims, but otherwise doesn’t change the process of settling claims out of court. HB 1774 should not have any effect on homeowners’ ability to recover claims from insurers. The law has nothing to do with payment of insurance claims. It only applies if a lawsuit is involved. The vast majority of insurance claims will be settled without any dispute. Where it does come into play, is if a policyholder disagrees with an insurance settlement, in which case litigation is still an option. This is where the 61-day waiting period comes into play, which the Baranoffs say is “meant to encourage mediation and out-of-court settlement”, and the 80/20 rule in the new law will make it harder for people to recoup their legal costs if they decide to sue. The reasoning behind this, according to the Baranoffs, is to discourage inflated or exaggerated claims, since claimants will be less likely to be awarded 80 percent or more of a relatively large claim and are therefore more likely to have to pay some attorney’s fees if they do. Indeed, the stated purpose of HB 1774 was to stop a historic increase in the number of hailstorm-related property damage insurance claims, something the bill’s sponsor State Representative Greg Bonnen called “the worst lawsuit abuse we have in the state” (Relevant portion begins at 3:50). Tanya Pierce, Associate Professor of Law at Texas A&M University, previously practiced in the area of complex litigation and insurance coverage. She told us there is only one potential benefit to homeowners in filing a written claim before 1 September 2017: [Filing a written claim with the insurance company before 1 September] protects them from a small provision of the act that limits the insurance company’s liability on the interest that they would have had to pay as additional damages. Again, however, this benefit only accrues if the homeowner later decides to sue the insurance company. Under current law, Pierce says, an insurance company would have to pay 18 percent interest on whatever they owed in the event that a consumer successfully sues them for a delayed payment. Under the new law, she points out, companies would have to pay a lower rate of interest arrived at by adding 5 percent to the interest rate determined under Sec. 304.003, Financial Code (Sec. 2c). So there is a potential benefit in filing a claim before 1 September 2017, but only if you then later file a successful lawsuit in the event of a dispute over your payment. Conclusion The new law will not have a direct effect on insurance claims that are settled out of court, and most insurance claims are settled out of court. However, the law could make it slower and more difficult for homeowners to get paid what they believe they are owed if they start litigation after 1 September 2017. It will also make suing insurance companies more financially risky. If a consumer were to file a lawsuit against their insurance company before 1 September, they could experience a significant benefit from having done so. However, if their home has been extensively damaged just before 1 September 2017 (by historically catastrophic flooding, for example), it is extremely unlikely they would be able, practically speaking, to find and hire an attorney and file a suit before 1 September. They would also have to have a reasonable basis to sue — a dispute over their claim, or an insurance company’s refusal to pay, for example — a process that there simply wasn’t time for between the arrival of Tropical Storm Harvey on 26 August and the enactment of the new law on 1 September. The only potential benefit from filing a claim before 1 September is that if someone later decides to sue the insurance company and wins, the company will be obliged to pay them the higher, pre-September rate of interest on what they owe.
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3820
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Eyeing 2020, House empowers Medicare to negotiate drug costs.
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Sharpening their 2020 election message, House Democrats on Thursday pushed through legislation that would empower Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and offer new benefits for seniors.
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true
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Seniors, Health, General News, Legislation, Politics, Elections, Medicare, Prices, Prescription drugs, Bills, Nancy Pelosi
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The vote along party lines was 230-192. Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bill would cap Medicare recipients’out-of-pocket costs for medicines at $2,000 a year. It would use about $360 billion of its projected 10-year savings from lower drug costs to establish Medicare coverage for dental care, hearing, and vision, filling major gaps for seniors. But the legislation has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate, and the White House has issued a veto threat. Still, Democrats saw a victory in the message their bill sends to voters. “I think that it is going to be too hot to handle for the Republicans,” said Pelosi, D-Calif. She is claiming bragging rights because her bill would deliver on the promise that Donald Trump made as a candidate in 2016, when he said he would “negotiate like crazy” to lower prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients. It’s a pledge that Trump has backed away from as president. For months, Pelosi’s office and the White House had talked privately about Medicare negotiations. But the sides went their own ways partly because administration officials concluded her approach could never win support among congressional Republicans. Trump now favors a bipartisan compromise in the Senate that would limit drug price increases and cap what seniors pay out-of-pocket, but would not authorize Medicare negotiations. Negotiations are “the heart of the matter,” Pelosi insisted. High prescription drug prices consistently register as the public’s top health care concern. But it’s unclear in a capital divided over Trump’s impeachment that any major legislation will pass before next year’s elections. Pelosi’s bill “is a serious proposal but everyone knows that the Senate isn’t going to go for it,” said John Rother, CEO of the National Coalition on Health. “It is about legislating, but even more it’s about establishing a platform that Democrats can run on going into the next election cycle and lays the groundwork for legislative activity in 2021,” Rother said. His organization is an umbrella group that represents health care industry groups and consumers. The pharmaceutical industry is strongly opposed to the bill. Among the groups backing it is AARP. Medicare’s popular prescription drug benefit is delivered through private insurers. Republicans say the government has no business setting prices for medicines. They argue that the hit on the pharmaceutical industry’s bottom line will stifle innovation, discouraging investment in the hunt for cures for Alzheimer’s and other intractable illnesses. “Drugs that save lives will not be around,” said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. “Innovation goes on the rocks; lives will be lost.” House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California accused Democrats of putting politics over solutions, “catering to their progressive base by opening the door to a government takeover of our prescription drug market.” Republicans point to a major concern about the legislation: that it would result in fewer drugs coming to market. But there’s debate about the extent of the expected impact. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates about 3% to 10% fewer new drugs. The White House Council of Economic Advisers says it could be much higher, up to one-third of new medications. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., who helped write the Pelosi bill, said Republicans predicting the drug pipeline will dry up are using scare tactics. “Any drug that’s out there, we’re going to have access to,” he said. “The U.S. would still be the biggest market.” The bipartisan Senate bill the White House is now backing steers clear of negotiations. It would cap seniors’ out-of-pocket costs, at $3,100 a year, and require drugmakers to pay Medicare rebates if companies raise prices above inflation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., hasn’t said if or when he’ll bring it to the floor. Inflation rebates are included in Pelosi’s bill as well, so there’s considerable overlap. But Pelosi’s measure goes further with several unique features, including: — Medicare would be authorized to negotiate prices for costly medications, using a formula based on lower prices paid in other economically advanced countries. — Drugmakers that refuse to negotiate would be hit with steep sales taxes for the medication at issue. Republicans say proposed taxes as high as 95% are unconstitutional. The budget office projects that most pharmaceutical companies would opt to accept lower prices from Medicare. — Private health insurance plans would be able to receive Medicare’s discounted prices. Congressional budget experts estimate the price negotiations provisions of Pelosi’s bill would save $456 billion over 10 years. After subtracting for new Medicare benefits, that still leaves money for medical research, community health centers, and countering the opioid epidemic. Democrats have named the drug legislation after the late Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who early on sought a dialogue with Trump on drug prices. Cummings, as chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, was a target of Trump outbursts on Twitter.
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8119
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Thailand reports 106 new coronavirus cases and three deaths.
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Thailand has recorded 106 new coronavirus cases and three more deaths, a health official said on Tuesday.
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true
|
Health News
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The country now has 827 cases and 4 fatalities since the outbreak began. The three deaths were patients who had other health complications, including a 70-year-old man who had tuberculosis, a 45-year-old man who had diabetes and a 79-year-old man who had health problems, Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a Public Health Ministry spokesman, said. Since the start of the outbreak, 57 patients have recovered and gone home, while 766 are still being treated in hospitals.
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34586
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The Democratic National Convention's organizers published a Craigslist ad seeking actors to replace missing or ejected delegates.
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"What's true: A Craigslist ad appeared purporting to seek ""actors"" for a ""national convention."" What's false: The ad was not traced back to the DNC. What's undetermined: Who placed the ad; whether it was a joke or protest."
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unproven
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Politics Ballot Box, craigslist, dnc walkout, dncleaks
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On 26 July 2016, a number of Bernie Sanders’ delegates left the Democratic National Convention as part of a planned walkout, and not long afterwards an advertisement was posted to Philadelphia’s Craigslist purporting to seek hundreds of paid “actors” to fill “empty seats” at a national convention. Given that only one big national convention was occurring at that time and that Philadelphia hosted the DNC, there was little mystery as to who or what the posting referenced. It read: Actors Needed For National Convention (Philadelphia) compensation: $50.00 Looking for 700 people to be utilized as actors during the National Convention. We currently have a number of empty seats that will need to be filled as we are currently removing a number of people and need to refill their seats for the remainder of the conference. You will be paid $50.00 each night for the remainder of the convention. You will be required to cheer at all times and will be asked to dress properly and possibly wear some promotional material. A number of social media users took the posting at face value, and it circulated rapidly as a commentary on the rocky events of the DNC. But there were a number of reasons the advertisement was very likely fake, the largest being its obvious overtones of political theater. The ad was littered with what appeared to be references to events leading up to the convention, and appears to have surfaced after coverage of both the walkout and photographs of empty seats. Another was the mode of transmission: Craigslist. Many protesting Sanders supporters cited Wikileaks’ “DNCLeaks” (a vast dump of 20,000 DNC e-mails on the eve of the convention) as a reason for their grievances, and those leaks included a proposal to plant fake Craigslist ads smearing Donald Trump. In a chain of e-mails, DNC staffer Christina Freundlich sought approval on a plan to create a “microsite” and stated a digital team that “created a fake craigslist jobs post for women who want to apply to jobs one of Trump’s organizations”: Multiple Positions (NYC area) Seeking staff members for multiple positions in a large, New York-based corporation known for its real estate investments, fake universities, steaks, and wine. The boss has very strict standards for female employees, ranging from the women who take lunch orders (must be hot) to the women who oversee multi-million dollar construction projects (must maintain hotness demonstrated at time of hiring). Title: Honey Bunch (that’s what the boss will call you) Job requirements: * No gaining weight on the job (we’ll take some “before” pictures when you start to use later as evidence) * Must be open to public humiliation and open-press workouts if you do gain weight on the job * A willingness to evaluate other women’s hotness for the boss’ satisfaction is a plus * Should be proficient in lying about age if the boss thinks you’re too old Working mothers not preferred (the boss finds pumping breast milk disgusting, and worries they’re too focused on their children). About us: We’re proud to maintain a “fun” and “friendly work environment, where the boss is always available to meet with his employees. Like it or not, he may greet you with a kiss on the lips or grope you under the meeting table. Interested applicants should send resume, cover letter, and headshot to jobs@trump.com<mailto:jobs@trump.com> In another e-mail DNC Communications Director Luis Miranda criticized fellow staffers over a staged protest with poor turnout, citing the following tweet: Three person protest outside the RNC. Sad! pic.twitter.com/MkX4bv30cr — Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) May 12, 2016 Miranda ended the chain of e-mails with a directive to employ interns for such events if unspecified “allies” failed to “deliver bodies” in time for photo ops: Yes, but going forward, when our allies screw up and don’t deliver bodies in time, we either send all our interns out there or we stay away from it.. we don’t want to own a bad picture[.] The DNC “actors” advertisement appeared to be either a humorous or satirical attempt to weaponize those controversial tactics against the party itself.
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8008
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Trump says coronavirus guidelines may get tougher; one million Americans tested.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that federal social distancing guidelines might be toughened and travel restrictions with China and Europe would stay in place as he urged Americans to help fight the coronavirus with tough measures through April.
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Health News
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Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, said more than 1 million Americans had been tested for the coronavirus, which he called a milestone. The president announced on Sunday that the recommendations, which include encouraging people not go gather in groups larger than 10 and to avoid dining in restaurants or bars, would be through the end of next month after initially being put in place for 15 days to curb the virus’s spread. “The guidelines will be very much as they are, maybe even toughened up a little bit,” he told reporters on Monday. Trump, who has faced criticism for playing down the pandemic in its early stages, urged everyone to follow the restrictions. “Every one of us has a role to play in winning this war. Every citizen, family, and business can make the difference in stopping the virus. This is our shared patriotic duty. Challenging times are ahead for the next 30 days and this is a very vital 30 days,” he said. White House coronavirus task force response coordinator Deborah Birx said federal guidance was important because all states were facing the same levels of risk. “When you look at all of the states together, all of them are moving in exactly the same curves,” she said. “That’s why we really believe this needs to be federal guidance, so that every state understands that it may look like two cases, that become 20, that become 200, that become 2000, and that’s what we’re trying to prevent.” Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he expected a coronavirus outbreak in the fall as well, but he said the nation would be better prepared to respond. Trump said his administration would take a look at a suggestion from former Food and Drugs Commissioner Scott Gottlieb that all Americans wear a mask when out in public to help halt the spread of the virus. “After we get back into gear ... I could see something like that happening for a period of time, but I would hope it would be a very limited period of time,” he said. Trump said the United States had begun to acquire personal protective equipment from overseas. “We’re getting it from all over the world and we’re also sending things that we don’t need to other parts,” he said. Trump said he had just spoken with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and that the United States would be sending Italy about $100 million worth of medical supplies that are not needed in the United States. Trump lauded an announcement from Ford Motor Co and General Electric’s healthcare unit that they would be producing 50,000 ventilators in 100 days. He also noted that General Motors and other U.S.-based companies would be making ventilators as well. “As we outpace what we need, we’re going to be sending them to Italy, we’re going to be sending them to France, we’re going to be spending them to Spain ... and other countries as we can.”
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10282
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Celator Announces Phase 3 Trial for VYXEOS™ (CPX-351) in Patients with High-Risk Acute Myeloid Leukemia Demonstrates Statistically Significant Improvement in Overall Survival
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Image shows blue-fluorescing Vyxeos nano-liposomes being engulfed by leukemia cells. Credit: Celator PharmaceuticalsThis is a company announcement of the results of a phase 3 trial of its new chemotherapy drug Vyxeos (cytarabine: daunorubicin) Liposome for Injection (also known as CPX-351) compared to the standard therapy (cytarabine and daunorubicin, or 7+3) in patients with high risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The study results have not yet been published. Despite the use of some exaggerated language over the implications of this study, and the lack of a cost reference, the news release delivered plenty of data about the benefits in the treatment group versus the comparator group. The release appears thorough in summarizing the study, although we can’t be sure since the results haven’t been made available for independent assessment. AML is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, where abnormal white blood cells grow rapidly and accumulate in the bone marrow, interfering with the production of normal blood cells. Any chemotherapy advance that can extend the lives of patients with high risk AML without adverse drug effects is highly welcomed. It is possible that the liposome formulation of these two previously used chemotherapies will help patients survive longer than other therapies and be an advance in a disease where there are very few options and low survival rates. It’s important to assess this release now since the manufacturer indicated it plans to seek U.S. and European regulatory approval for the drug this year. It should be pointed out that the Vyxeos injection appears to combine the same drugs used in the standard therapy, but with a nano particle liposomal membrane package delivery system.
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Cancer,industry/commercial news releases
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There was no discussion of the costs of the treatment. The news release gave extensive data on median overall survival (9.56 months compared to 5.95 months for patients receiving 7+3, the standard treatment) and the “percentage of patients alive 24 months after randomization” (31.1% in the treatment arm compared to 12.3% on the 7+3 arm). It also, helpfully, added the “sixty-day all-cause mortality” as 13.7% versus 21.2%, in favor of patients treated with the intervention drug. The release notes that the treatment gives a Number Needed to Treat (NNT) of about 7, which is very good. (NNT is a measurement of the impact of a therapy by estimating the number of patients that need to be treated in order to have an impact on one person.) The median survival doesn’t look as good. In about half of the patients, there is a four month or less increased survival. This implies that there is a group that has much longer survival. To see that there is a clinically important survival benefit (14% absolute increase) does make a difference. The release noted that serious harms from the drug were comparable to the standard therapy and listed the adverse events including infections, febrile neutropenia, bleeding, cardiac, gastrointestinal, general systems, metabolic disorders, musculoskeletal, nervous system, respiratory, skin and renal. One word of caution about the harms. The study was not blinded (according to its listing on ClinicalTrials.gov) and these adverse effects may have been subjectively found, potentially biasing the results. We are not given enough information about this in the news release. The release gives us a solid overview of the study design with this statement: “The randomized, controlled, Phase 3 trial (Protocol NCT01696084), enrolled 309 patients at 39 sites in the United States and Canada, and compared VYXEOS to the conventional cytarabine and daunorubicin treatment regimen (commonly referred to as 7+3) as first-line therapy in older (60-75 years of age) patients with high-risk (secondary) AML.” What would have helped is knowing the numbers of patients in each arm (this information was not conveyed) and the extent to which there were dropouts or others who didn’t complete the study. The trial notes that it employed an Intention-to-Treat analysis which can involve missing data because sometimes patients withdraw due to the adverse effects of the intervention. If that happens you don’t know how those patients fared. Are we sure these results reported complete outcome data for all randomized trial participants? No, we’re not, and that omission can reduce the quality of the evidence. What we don’t know about the intention to treat analysis is whether they had the outcome event of survival or death recorded for each patient. Patients lost to follow up in whom no outcome was measured would be left out of this type of analysis. We do know that the study is not blinded and we can’t make any decision on potential for bias if we don’t know how and by whom the measurements were made. This is a serious disease and there was no evidence of disease mongering. We do learn that in patients over 60 with this disease, “the 5 year survival rate is less than 10%. In high-risk (secondary) AML, overall survival is lower…” We aren’t told anything about the relationship between the study’s principal investigator, Dr. Jeffrey E. Lancet, and Dr. Gail Roboz and Celator, the company whose drug they are discussing. If there is or isn’t a financial conflict of interest, that needed to be spelled out in the news release. We do know that Scott Jackson, chief executive officer of Celator Pharmaceuticals, has obvious financial ties to the company whose drug he is praising. The release gets a satisfactory rating for devoting plenty of space to describing the new drug’s advantages in terms of survival advantage over the comparator, or current standard of care. Are there other treatments that are useful in treating high risk AML? We never get that information. This would have been much stronger if a statement about the studies of the non-liposomal formulation of the drug was given. We learn that the company hasn’t yet sought regulatory and marketing approval for the new drug but will be doing so soon. The news release makes a few different claims to novelty. For example: “First therapy to demonstrate statistically significant improvement in overall survival….” “VYXEOS represents a novel approach to developing combinations of drugs in which molar ratios of two drugs with synergistic anti-tumor activity are encapsulated in a nano-scale liposome in order to maintain the desired ratio following administration.” While that statement may not be precisely true — a review of the literature finds that there are at least a dozen liposomal drugs in development — it does, however, appear to be the first drug to use a fixed molar ratio in the liposomal packets to deliver the drug to the cancer. Some exaggerated language was used by those describing the implications of the study, including a prediction that the drug will become “a new standard of care” even prior to regulatory approval, and calling the findings “a major step forward,” “an important advance,” and a “major milestone,” for the company making it.
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36071
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"Four images of bizarre ""gory"" mushrooms are authentic, unaltered, and representative of specific natural fungi."
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The Most Chilling Mushrooms in the World — the Charms of the Fungi Kingdom
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true
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Fact Checks, Viral Content
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On August 14 2019, the Facebook page “Freaked” shared the following post of the “most chilling mushrooms” in the world, a post that became popular ahead of Halloween that year:Above four purported examples of mushrooms (and another 26 in an album) a caption said:The most chilling mushrooms in the world .. The charms of the Fungi Kingdom 🍄A single image to the left showed something that looked like a cross between a mushroom and a sandworm. That fungus is real. It is called Clathrus archeri — also known as “Devil’s fingers” or “octopus stinkhorn.” The image in this meme appeared at the top of Reddit’s r/WTF in June 2018:The Clathrus Archeri fungus resembles alien tentacles sprouting from an egg from WTFAn Inverse article published subsequently about the image quoted mycologist Andrew N. Miller, Ph.D. of the Illinois Natural History Survey about the viral photograph. Miller explained that its attributes helped flies find and spread its spores:“Some people like flowers. Some like fungi,” [Miller] tells Inverse. C. archeri, known also as the “octopus stinkhorn,” is no rose, but its bright red arms, which burst through its white “egg” with an alarming pop, have a certain grotesque beauty to them. Even the black slime on its tentacles, home to all of its spores, has the same shimmering slickness as an oil spill. Its eye-watering odor, likened to the sharp smell of rotting meat, is a harder sell, but Miller says even its nostril-singeing stench plays an important evolutionary purpose … “What it does is attract insects, especially flies,” he says. “Flies come to the top of the stinkhorn and they eat that mucus. They’re basically not only eating spores — they’re getting spores all over their wings and feet, then the fly flies off and disperses the spores for the fungus.”At the top left of the four images was Hydnellum peckii, also called bleeding Hydnellum, the red-juice tooth, the bleeding tooth fungus, and the Devil’s tooth. In October 2015, National Geographic reported:Spotted in Europe and North America’s Pacific Northwest, the bleeding tooth fungus mainly resides among moss and pine needle litter in coniferous forests … Despite its horrific appearance, the mushroom isn’t poisonous. We still wouldn’t recommend eating it — the taste has been described as very bitter pepper.A third image on the middle left showed Auricularia auricula-judae, an ear-like fungus with a jelly texture. That fungi was sometimes called Judas’s ear “because ‘it was believed that when Judas hanged himself on an elder tree, these ear-shaped excrescenses were condemned to appear on elders thereafter. '”At the bottom right of the four images was an inky cap mushroom, and it appeared as a photograph shared to Reddit’s r/pics in 2015 by since-suspended karma farmer u/pepsi_next:The Inky Cap Mushroom is as interesting as it sounds from picsKarma farming accounts rarely append useful information to their posts, but this one is legitimate. Inky cap mushroom is formally called Coprinopsis atramentaria. It is usually edible, but can be poisonous when combined with alcohol — leading to another name, “Tippler’s Bane.”Images seen in the Facebook post appeared on Twitter in August 2019, and in an October 2017 BuzzFeed post titled “17 Terrifying Plants And Fungi That Look Incredibly Gory.” That post appeared to be entirely reliant on a since-deleted Twitter thread; a BuzzFeed employee requested permission to embed it in its entirety:@Cat_Whitney Hi Cat – would you be OK with me including your list of spooky plants in a post for BuzzFeed? I would credit you at the top.— Becky Barnicoat (@beckybarnicoat) October 23, 2017A version of the post is archived, but without the original images.All four of the “most chilling mushrooms in the world” are real and accurately described, and most of the longer list appeared to have been taken from @Cat_Whitney’s October 2017 Twitter thread. Mushrooms in the image set were often posted to Reddit and Imgur too, as examples of “creepy plants” or “gory nature.”
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1023
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Unsubstantiated claims Muslim doctor sterilized women raise tensions in Sri Lanka.
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On May 23 Sri Lankan newspaper Divaina, known for its nationalist stance, published a front page article alleging a Muslim doctor had secretly sterilized 4,000 Sinhala Buddhist women after caesarean deliveries.
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true
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Health News
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The doctor, who was not identified in the article, was also described as a member of the National Thowheed Jamath, one of two local Islamist groups blamed for bombings that killed more than 250 people in hotels and churches on Easter Sunday. Reuters has no independent evidence to support these claims. The article was produced roughly a week after Buddhist mobs in the North Western Province of Sri Lanka had destroyed Muslim homes, stores and mosques in rioting triggered by the coordinated bombings in the capital Colombo and two other towns. Divaina’s editor-in-chief, Anura Solomons, told Reuters the paper’s story was based on police and hospital sources, whom he said he could not identify. Allegations a Muslim doctor might be forcibly sterilizing Buddhists are particularly incendiary on an island where hardliners within the Buddhist majority have accused Muslims of seeking to use a higher birth rate to spread their influence. Two days later, a doctor, Segu Shihabdeen Mohamed Shafi, was arrested. Police said he was accused of acquiring properties with money of a suspicious origin. Police are also probing the sterilization claims and have called on any potentially affected women to come forward. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera told Reuters Shafi was charged under a money laundering act, but declined to provide further information on the financial charges he faced or the sterilization claims. Shafi’s lawyer, Faris Saly, said the probe was flawed because the authorities did not call for evidence of sterilizations until after Shafi’s arrest, adding that all the allegations were unsubstantiated. Shafi is a prominent physician in the province’s Buddhist heartland of Kurunegala, a district with a high concentration of army personnel and the constituency of nationalist ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa, now the leader of the opposition. The case has further raised the temperature in the area, with monks from the majority Sinhala Buddhist community protesting against Shafi in front of the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital where he works. “If these allegations are proven, it will show that they want to destroy the Sinhala race,” said Pradeep Kumar, a 38-year-old driver waiting in a crowded hospital hallway as his wife lodged a statement detailing how Shafi had delivered their daughter by C-section 11 years ago. He added the couple were concerned after hearing about the case as they had been trying unsuccessfully to have a second child for six years. Shafi’s family said he was being framed. “He is being targeted because of political problems and jealousy. I cannot exactly tell who it is, but there is a group,” said his wife Fathima Imara, 43, a kidney doctor at the same hospital. In an interview, Imara described her husband as a devout Muslim and caring physician. He has not been a member of a militant group, she said. Shafi was also a smart investor, she said, using earnings from his hospital work and a family-owned medical testing center to amass stakes in some 10 properties. It would be impossible to surreptitiously block women’s fallopian tubes during caesarean sections, when a half-dozen staff members were on hand, she added. The hospital’s director, Dr A.M.S. Weerabandara declined Reuters’ request to interview Shafi’s direct colleagues, saying they were busy. Meanwhile, Imara has stopped working and pulled their three children from school. She said her husband, whom she visited at the Colombo Criminal Investigation Department on Saturday, was being treated well, but that his mood was dark. “From time to time, he is crying,” said Imara. Weerabandara said the hospital started investigating the allegations of mass sterilizations following media reports. More than 600 women have lodged statements about Shafi, that hospital authorities refer to as “complaints,” since the accusations were made public. Several told Reuters they simply wanted to be checked. “I saw Shafi was arrested and people were complaining so I thought I would also,” said homemaker Amali Konara, 32, whose son Shafi was delivered by C-section in March. Weerabandara said the women who have come forward had not been medically examined yet because the hospital was still receiving statements. He was unable to provide a timeline for the testing, which he said was complicated and required planning. The newspaper article was amplified on the day it was published when a pharmacology professor in North Central Province, Channa Jayasumana, wrote about the allegations of Buddhist women being sterilized without their knowledge in a Facebook post alongside a picture of Shafi - the first time he was publicly linked to the claims, his wife said. Jayasumana told Reuters he spoke to 20 doctors who identified the doctor mentioned in Divaina as Shafi. Jayasumana declined to provide the doctors’ contact details but said he passed on their information to police. The post, which was shared more than 1,200 times, had a photo of an article in which Shafi said he had performed some 8,000 caesarean sections in his career. The post also highlighted that Shafi had stood for office for a Muslim party. Shafi did unsuccessfully run in a 2015 parliamentary election with All Ceylon Makkal Congress, a Muslim party allied with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party. Jayasumana told Reuters he was a health policy advisor to the party of former President Rajapaksa, who is a rival of Wickremesinghe. But Jayasumana, a professor at the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, stressed Shafi’s case was not political. Rajapaksa, the local MP, has called on authorities to compensate potential victims. Hilmy Ahmed, vice president of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, said the Shafi accusations were largely “stage-managed” by Rajapaksa supporters to create anger at the government ahead of this year’s presidential election. He was not able to provide evidence to back his statement. Rajapaksa rejected the accusations, stressing that complainants were speaking out independently. Neither Wickremesinghe nor President Maithripala Sirisena have publicly spoken about the case, which has provoked a media storm in Sri Lanka. They declined to comment for this article.
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6346
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Steel mill sorry for spill that killed fish, closed beaches.
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A steel company apologized for a spill of cyanide and ammonia that led to a fish kill and prompted the closure of beaches along Lake Michigan.
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Lake Michigan, Fish, Lakes, Parks, National parks, Science, General News, Indiana, Wastewater, U.S. News
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ArcelorMittal issued a statement Friday night saying it “apologizes and accepts responsibility for the incident from the Burns Harbor facility.” The National Park Service closed the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk beach areas at Indiana Dunes National Park and waters out to 300 feet (91 meters). The nearby city of Ogden Dunes also closed its beach. The fish kill occurred near a yacht club and marina in Portage, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Chicago ArcelorMittal said the spill resulted after its Burns Harbor mill “experienced a failure at the blast furnace water recirculation system. This isolated event resulted in the release of wastewater containing elevated levels of ammonia and cyanide.” “The recirculating system has been repaired and normal operations have resumed. Although sampling is ongoing, we are confident that the facility’s wastewater system is operating within normal ranges,” the statement said. The statement did not say when the spill occurred, but Portage Mayor John Cannon told The (Northwest Indiana) Times that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and others learned of it Monday. The state agency has said the mill released the chemicals into the Little Calumet River’s east branch. It was unclear how much of the two chemicals entered the Lake Michigan tributary. The Portage Port Authority, a local marina development and various individuals have filed notice of their intent to sue ArcelorMittal for violations of the Clean Water Act, attorney Thomas Dogan told the newspaper. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cyanide “is a rapidly acting, potentially deadly chemical that can exist in various forms” including cyanide salts, which are used in metallurgy for electroplating, metal cleaning and removing gold from ore.
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7966
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China starts to report asymptomatic coronavirus cases.
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Chinese health authorities began on Wednesday reporting on asymptomatic cases of the coronavirus as part of an effort to allay public fears that people could be spreading the virus without knowing they are infected with it.
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true
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Health News
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China, where the coronavirus emerged late last year, has managed to bring its outbreak under control and is easing travel restrictions in virus hot spots. But there are concerns that the end of lockdowns will see thousands of infectious people move back into daily life without knowing they carry the virus, because they have no symptoms and so have not been tested. Up to now, the number of known asymptomatic cases has been classified, and it is not included in the official data, though the South China Morning Post newspaper, citing unpublished official documents, recently said it was more than 40,000. In an effort to dispel public fears about hidden cases of the virus, the government has this week ordered health authorities to turn their attention to finding asymptomatic cases and releasing their data on them. Health authorities in Liaoning province were the fist to do so on Wednesday, saying the province had 52 cases of people with the coronavirus who showed no symptoms as of March 31, they said in a statement on a provincial government website. Hunan province said it had four such cases, all of them imported from abroad, it said in a statement on its website. The National Health Commission is due to start reporting aggregate, national data on asymptomatic cases later on Wednesday. There is debate among experts about how infectious asymptomatic cases are but the commission has said all cases would be centrally quarantined for 14 days.It said 1,541 people with asymptomatic coronavirus infections were under observation as of the end of Monday. China has had more than 81,000 cases of the coronavirus and 3,305 deaths.
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7533
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Amid virus, Saudis close Islam’s holiest sites to foreigners.
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Saudi Arabia on Thursday closed off the holiest sites in Islam to foreign pilgrims over the coronavirus, disrupting travel for thousands of Muslims already headed to the kingdom and potentially affecting plans later this year for millions more ahead of the fasting month of Ramadan and the annual hajj pilgrimage.
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Dubai, AP Top News, Iran, Religion, United Arab Emirates, International News, Saudi Arabia, Middle East, Flu, Ramadan, Travel, Epidemics, United Nations, Asia Pacific, Virus Outbreak, Europe, General News, Health, Islam
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The unprecedented move, which wasn’t taken even during the 1918 flu epidemic that killed tens of millions worldwide, showed the growing worry about the virus across the Middle East, which has more than 360 confirmed cases. The region’s hardest-hit nation is Iran, which is Saudi Arabia’s biggest nearby rival, with the death toll reaching at least 26, the largest behind only China, where the epidemic began. The number of infections in Iran has spiked by over 100 to at least 254, but a World Health Organization official said he believes that figure is “a substantial underestimate of the true number.” Those Iranians who have fallen ill include Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar, better known as “Sister Mary,” the English-speaking spokeswoman for the students who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and sparked the 444-day hostage crisis, state media reported. Saudi Arabia barred pilgrims from Mecca, home to the cube-shaped Kaaba that the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims pray toward five times a day, and also the holy city of Medina. Authorities also suspended entry to travelers holding tourist visas from nations affected by the virus. “We expect that this will give Saudi Arabia a chance to really strengthen their own disease control measures for the moment,” said Rick Brennan, the WHO’s emergency director for the Eastern Mediterranean. The kingdom’s Al Saud ruling family stakes its legitimacy in overseeing and protecting the sites, and it appeared to reflect worries about pilgrims spreading the virus. The outbreak’s epicenter in Iran is the holy city of Qom, where the faithful are drawn to a famous Shiite shrine that has stayed open despite calls by the civilian government for it and other sites to be closed. Authorities have canceled Friday prayers in Qom, Tehran and other cities. There have been no confirmed cases of the virus in Saudi Arabia, although infected Saudis are under care in neighboring Bahrain. “We ask God Almighty to spare all humanity from all harm,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement announcing the decision. By leaving the suspension of travel to the holy sites open-ended, Saudi Arabia has raised the possibility of disruption for Ramadan and the hajj. The news shocked the world’s Muslims, many of whom save their entire lives for a chance to see the Kaaba and walk along the path of the Prophet Muhammad and visit his tomb in Medina. Some of them who are already headed to Saudi Arabia heard about the ban as they reached airports in Pakistan, Indonesia and Turkey. Authorities at Cairo’s international airport said the decision created “intense confusion” and “extreme anger” among thousands of passengers waiting for flights. Reinforcements were called to control the crowd as the news broke, according to security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t allowed to talk to reporters. “This is a long-awaited journey for me and my four members of family,” said Achmad Warsito, a disappointed pilgrim in Indonesia. “No words can describe how I feel today.” Disease outbreaks have always been a concern surrounding the hajj, which is required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their lives. Pilgrims fought off a malaria outbreak in 632, cholera in 1821 killed an estimated 20,000, and another cholera outbreak in 1865 killed 15,000 before spreading worldwide. More recently, Saudi Arabia faced danger from a different coronavirus, one that causes the Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS. The kingdom increased its public health measures during the hajj in 2012 and 2013, urging the sick and the elderly not to take part. In recent years, Saudi officials also instituted bans on pilgrims coming from countries affected by the Ebola virus. Since the new coronavirus emerged in December, it has sickened 82,000 people globally and caused more than 2,800 deaths from the illness that has been dubbed COVID-19. While millions attend the hajj, which this year is set for late July into early August, millions more visit the kingdom’s holy sites year round. Those other pilgrimages are referred to as the umrah, which drew 7.5 million people in 2019 alone. One of the biggest times for the umrah is the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins at the end of April. The exact dates for the hajj and Ramadan always depend on the sighting of the moon due to the lunar calendar. Pilgrims spend upward of 10 days at holy sites, mingling in tight quarters. Many are older, have pre-existing diseases and come from countries “with suboptimal disease surveillance,” according to a letter Thursday in The Lancet medical journal. Respiratory infections already are the most-common illnesses. “We do not need to wait for the first case to emerge in Saudi Arabia’s holy sites,” the letter said. “The time for preparedness is now.” Dr. Ziad A Memish, a Saudi professor who studies infectious diseases and co-signed the letter, welcomed the kingdom’s decision. “This is a very tough decision,” he told The Associated Press. “But with the rapid spread of COVID-19 and a lack of good diagnostics, preventative vaccines and therapeutics, this is the best decision that could be taken at such difficult times.” Kristian Ulrichsen, a research fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, called the Saudi decision “unprecedented.” “Given the worldwide spread of the virus and the global nature of the umrah, it makes sense from a public health and safety point of view,” he said, “especially since the Iranian example illustrates how a religious crossroads can so quickly amplify the spread and reach of the virus.” Dalia Samhouri of the WHO’s regional health emergencies department told AP that the Middle East “is plagued by emergencies,” adding that two-thirds of its 22 countries are “directly or indirectly facing complex emergencies.” She said weak health systems increase the vulnerabilities of populations and the risk of disease spread so that they “may not have the capacity to early detect and rapidly respond to the COVID-19.” Brennan, the WHO regional director, said “the biggest area of concern” was Iran. “We believe the figure 250 is a substantial underestimate of the true number,” he said. “And that’s because our disease surveillance now, our documentation, hasn’t really caught up with the disease yet. But we expect in the coming days that the numbers will increase substantially.” Iran’s Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour seemed to address that, saying new labs in Iran were conducting tests and the number of confirmed cases could continue to rise. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised medical workers, calling their efforts “very invaluable.” The virus has struck the official in charge of Iran’s response, as well as at least two lawmakers. The state-run IRNA news agency reported that Ebtekar, the Iranian vice president and hostage-takers’ spokeswoman, had been infected and had quarantined herself at home. She had attended a Cabinet meeting Wednesday with President Hassan Rouhani and other top officials and appeared pale in video on state media. During the 1979 hostage crisis, Ebtekar threatened to “destroy” the Americans if a military raid tried to rescue them. IRNA separately reported 81-year-old cleric Hadi Khosroshahi, Iran’s former ambassador to the Vatican, died of the coronavirus infection at a Tehran hospital after falling ill in Qom. ___ Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Isabel DeBre and Maggie Michael in Cairo; Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia; Andrew Wilks in Ankara, Turkey; and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed.
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26496
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“Mass vaccination for COVID-19 in Senegal was started yesterday (4/8) and the first 7 CHILDREN who received it DIED on the spot.”
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There is not yet a COVID-19 vaccine. Seven children weren’t vaccinated and then died in Senegal.
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false
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Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,
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"Scientists around the world are racing to develop vaccines against COVID-19 and some trials are underway. There aren’t, however, ""mass vaccinations"" happening in Africa that are causing kids to die, as a recent Facebook post claims. ""Mass vaccinations for COVID-19 in Senegal was started yesterday (4/8) and the first 7 CHIDLREN who received it DIED on the spot,"" it says. This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) The misinformation seems to stem from a video post on Facebook on April 4 that claimed to show the arrest of someone who allegedly injected vaccines into children near Dakar, according to France 24. A French voiceover in the video says: ""There is a big scandal in Senegal. There is a guy who came into a house to get kids vaccinated for coronavirus. He vaccinated seven children who died on the spot."" But France 24 noticed that the voiceover covers another voiceover in Wolof, one of the national languages spoken in Senegal. In the Wolof version of the video, the voiceover says: ""He’s a guy who came to the neighborhood today with injections supposedly against the coronavirus. He entered the house of the Mbodji family. He said he is there to administer vaccines."" The death of seven children isn’t mentioned. Alassane Mbodji, who lives at the house in the videos, told France 24 that ""everything that is said on social networks is . No one died of any vaccine. Our children are healthy."" She told the news station that a man came to the home and introduced himself as an agent of the Ministry of Health who was there to raise awareness about the threat of coronavirus. He wore a T-shirt with a health department logo, she said. ""But in the discussions, we quickly realized that he was not an agent of the Ministry of Health. He did not have a badge. He had cosmetic products for sale in his bag,"" she said. Because he was pretending to be a public agent to sell his products — flouting rules barring people from entering others’ homes — she reported him to the authorities, according to the story. A spokeswoman for Senegal’s health ministry told Agence France-Presse the Facebook claims were inaccurate. ""There is no vaccine,"" she said."
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2377
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"Britain sets out plans for first ""3-parent"" IVF babies."
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Britain proposed new regulations on Thursday that would make it the first country in the world to offer “three-parent” fertility treatments to families who want to avoid passing on incurable diseases to their children.
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true
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Health News
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The move was praised by doctors and but feared by critics, who say the technique will lead to the creation of genetically modified designer babies. The technique is known as three-parent in vitro fertilization (IVF) because the offspring would have genes from a mother, a father and from a female donor. The British plans come as medical advisers in the United States began a series of public hearings this week to consider whether there is scientific justification for allowing human trials of the technique. The treatment, only at the research stage in laboratories in Britain and the United States, would for the first time involve implanting genetically modified embryos into women. The process involves intervening in the fertilization process to remove faulty mitochondrial DNA, which can cause inherited conditions such as fatal heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders, blindness and muscular dystrophy. It is designed to help families with mitochondrial diseases - incurable conditions passed down the maternal line that affect around one in 6,500 children worldwide. Mitochondria act as tiny energy-generating batteries inside cells. Announcing draft plans to allow the technique and launching a public consultation on them, Britain’s chief medical officer Sally Davies said the proposed move would give women who carry severe mitochondrial disease the chance to have children without passing on devastating genetic disorders. “It would also keep the UK in the forefront of scientific development in this area,” she said in a statement. But David King of the campaign group Human Genetics Alert accused the government of “jumping the gun” in laying out new laws before the treatments had been thoroughly investigated. “If passed, this will be the first time any government has legalized inheritable human genome modification, something that is banned in all other European countries,” he said in a statement. “Such a decision of major historical significance requires a much more extensive public debate.” Although some critics of mitochondrial transfer say it is akin to creating designer babies, replacing faulty mitochondria with healthy ones would not be genetic engineering in the usual understanding of the term. It would not make a child smarter, sportier, more attractive, or otherwise different from what his genome and environment would produce in the normal way. Britain said the proposed new rules would be subject to public scrutiny and parliament’s approval. Many scientists, campaigners and medical experts welcomed the government’s decision. Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust international medical charity, urged the government to “move swiftly so that parliament could debate the regulations at the earliest opportunity and families affected by these devastating disorders can begin to benefit”. Peter Braude, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at King’s College London, welcomed the move, saying: “It is true that genetic alteration of disease risk is an important step for society and should not taken lightly.” “However the proposed changes to the regulations ensure it will be limited to informed couples, who understand from sad personal experience the significant effects of their disease, and are best placed to balance the risks of the technology with the possibility of having children without mitochondrial disease,” he added. Scientists are researching several three-parent IVF techniques. One being developed at Britain’s Newcastle University, known as pronuclear transfer, swaps DNA between two fertilized human eggs. Another, called maternal spindle transfer, swaps material between the mother’s egg and a donor egg before fertilization. A British ethics panel review of the potential treatments in 2012 decided they were ethical and should go ahead as long as research shows they are likely to be safe and effective. Because Britain is in the vanguard of this research, ethical concerns, political decisions and scientific advances are closely watched around the world. Britain’s public consultation on the draft regulations began on Thursday and was scheduled to run until May 21, 2014.
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5853
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US sexually transmitted disease hit another high.
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Health officials are reporting another record increase in infections from three sexually transmitted diseases.
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true
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Health, Sexually transmitted diseases, Chlamydia, Syphilis
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More than 2 million new cases of chlamydia (kluh-MID’-ee-uh), gonorrhea (gah-nuh-REE’-uh) and syphilis were reported in the United States last year — the most ever. The diseases are treatable with antibiotics. Rates for all three have been rising for several years. Health officials have said better testing and diagnosis have helped increased detection of cases, but also that treatment and prevention programs have been hurt by budget cuts. Chlamydia is the most common, with nearly 1.6 million cases reported last year. About 470,000 gonorrhea cases were reported, and 28,000 cases of the most contagious forms of syphilis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the numbers Tuesday. ___ Online: CDC report: https://www.cdc.gov/std/stats16/default.htm
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6691
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Apollo 11 at 50: Celebrating first steps on another world.
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A half-century ago, in the middle of a mean year of war, famine, violence in the streets and the widening of the generation gap, men from planet Earth stepped onto another world for the first time, uniting people around the globe in a way not seen before or since.
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true
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Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, AP Top News, Apollo 11 moon landing, General News, Moon, Michael Collins, U.S. News, Science
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Hundreds of millions tuned in to radios or watched the grainy black-and-white images on TV as Apollo 11′s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969 , in one of humanity’s most glorious technological achievements. Police around the world reported crime came to a near halt that midsummer Sunday night. Astronaut Michael Collins, who orbited the moon alone in the mother ship while Armstrong proclaimed for the ages, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” was struck by the banding together of Earth’s inhabitants. “How often can you get people around our globe to agree on anything? Hardly ever,” Collins, now 88, told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “And yet briefly at the time of the first landing on the moon, people were united. They felt they were participants.” He added, “It was a wonderful achievement in the sense that people everywhere around the planet applauded it: north, south, east, west, rich, poor, Communist, whatever.” That sense of unity did not last long. But 50 years later, Apollo 11 — the culmination of eight years of breakneck labor involving a workforce of 400,000 and a price tag in the billions, all aimed at winning the space race and beating the Soviet Union to the moon — continues to thrill. “Think of how many times you hear people say, ‘Well, if we could land a man on the moon, we could certainly do blah, blah, blah,’” said NASA chief historian Bill Barry, who like many other children of the 1960s was drawn to math and science by Apollo. “It really, I think, has become a throwaway phrase because it gets used so often. It gets used so often because I think it had an impact.” For the golden anniversary , NASA, towns, museums and other institutions are holding ceremonies, parades and parties , including the simultaneous launch of 5,000 model rockets outside the installation in Huntsville, Alabama, where the behemoth Saturn V moon rockets were born. Apollo 11K and Saturn 5K runs are “go” at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. In nearby Titusville, the American Space Museum and local businesses will mark the exact moment of the moon landing by lifting cups of Tang, the powdered orange drink that rocketed into orbit with the pioneers of the Space Age. Armstrong, who expertly steered the lunar module Eagle to a smooth landing with just seconds of fuel left, died in 2012 at 82. Aldrin, 89, who followed him onto the gray, dusty surface, was embroiled recently in a now-dropped legal dispute in which two of his children tried to have him declared mentally incompetent. He has kept an uncharacteristically low profile in the run-up to the anniversary. Many of the Apollo program’s other key players are gone as well. Of the 24 astronauts who flew to the moon from 1968 through 1972, only 12 are still alive. Of the 12 who walked on the moon, four survive. A vast majority of Earth’s 7.7 billion inhabitants were born after Apollo ended, including NASA’s current administrator, 44-year-old Jim Bridenstine, who is overseeing the effort to send humans back to the moon by 2024. Back in 1961, NASA had barely 15 minutes of human suborbital flight under its belt — Alan Shepard’s history-making flight — when President John F. Kennedy issued the Cold War-era challenge of landing a man on the moon by decade’s end and returning him safely. At the time, the Soviets were beating America at every turn in the space race, with the first satellite, Sputnik, the first spaceman, Yuri Gagarin, and the first lunar probes. JFK’s challenge struck John Tribe, one of Cape Canaveral’s original rocket scientists, as impossible. “I was used to facing up to impossible things. We were in the rocket business, so we were doing some weird and wonderful things back in those days. But, yes, it was an unbelievable announcement at that time,” he said. “It took a lot of guts.” NASA’s Project Mercury gave way to the two-man Gemini flights, then the three-man Apollo program, dealt a devastating setback when three astronauts were killed in a fire during a 1967 test on the launch pad. The pace was relentless amid fears the Soviets would get to the moon first. Cape Canaveral’s Bill Waldron remembers working “seven days a week, 12 hours a day, six months at a clip” on the lunar modules. “You know how we got to the moon as fast as we did is because we burned people out,” said Homer Hickam, a retired NASA engineer whose autobiography, “Rocket Boys,” became the 1999 movie “October Sky.” “Come to Huntsville, go to the cemetery, look at all those young men who are dead down there. They worked themselves to death,” Hickam said. “Or better yet, go to the courthouse and look at all the divorce records. They abandoned their families.” The pressure was so intense leading up to the flight that Collins developed tics in both eyes. Collins privately gave the mission 50-50 odds of total success. Launch day — Wednesday, July 16, 1969 — dawned with an estimated 1 million people lining the sweltering beaches and roads of what had been renamed Cape Kennedy in memory of the slain president. Among the VIPs: Vice President Spiro Agnew, former President Lyndon Johnson and wife Lady Bird, aviation legend Charles Lindbergh, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov and TV’s Johnny Carson. Civil rights demonstrators who had descended on the launch site to question America’s spending priorities temporarily stood down to gaze skyward. The firing room was filled with 500 launch controllers and managers in white shirts and skinny ties, including Wernher von Braun, the German-born mastermind behind the Saturn V. The Saturn V stood 363 feet (110 meters) tall, the largest, most powerful rocket ever flown. Unbeknownst to most of the world, just two weeks earlier, the Soviets’ even mightier moon rocket exploded moments after liftoff, destroying the Kremlin’s moon dreams. At 9:32 a.m. EDT, the Saturn V roared off Pad 39A, its astronauts hurtling toward their destination and destiny 240,000 miles (386,000 kilometers) away. The command module, Columbia, and the attached lunar module, Eagle, reached the moon three days later. The next day, July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the surface in the lunar module. Collins wasn’t overly concerned about Armstrong and Aldrin getting down to the moon. Rather, he worried about them getting off the moon and back to the mother ship. He kept his fears to himself. “If it was unthinkable, it was unsayable also,” Collins told the AP. “We never discussed or hinted at their getting stranded on the moon. I mean, we were not fools, and we knew darn well that a lot of things had to go exactly right for them to ascend as they were supposed to do.” President Richard Nixon even had a speech prepared in case of disaster: “Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.” As it turned out, descent proved more alarming than ascent. With minutes remaining to touchdown, the Eagle was rattled by one computer alarm then another. Caution lights flashed. But flight controllers had rehearsed that very scenario right before the flight, and so guidance officer Steve Bales knew it was safe to proceed rather than abort. Then a boulder-strewn crater the size of a football field appeared at the target landing site, and Armstrong had to keep flying, looking for somewhere safe to put down. Aldrin called out the distance to the surface — 75 feet, 40 feet, 30 feet — as Mission Control informed the astronauts of the fuel remaining. Sixty seconds left. Thirty seconds. Finally came word from Armstrong: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” The time was 4:17 p.m. “You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again,” Mission Control’s Charlie Duke radioed back. (He would walk on the moon three years later.) Armstrong descended the nine-rung ladder first, his left boot, size 9½, touching the lunar surface at 10:56 p.m. Aldrin followed him out 18 minutes later. Working in one-sixth Earth’s gravity, they gathered rocks , set up experiments, planted an American flag stiffened with wires to make it look as if it were waving in the windless vacuum and took a congratulatory call from Nixon, who observed, “For one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all the people on this Earth are truly one.” Dave Waldrup of Reston, Virginia, watched on TV that day, his 15th birthday, and recalled thinking: “Wow! What are we going to do next? It’s literally not just the sky, but outer space is the limit. And I can’t wait to be part of it.” He went on to become an Air Force pilot and is now a volunteer at the National Air and Space Museum. The moonwalk lasted 2½ hours. The Eagle later reunited with Columbia, and the three astronauts headed home, splashing down July 24 in the Pacific. After spending 2½ weeks in quarantine in case they brought back deadly moon germs, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were given a ticker-tape parade in New York, followed by a frenzied monthlong world tour in which they met kings, queens and Pope Paul VI. Five more missions took men to the surface of the moon — Apollo 13 had to be aborted because of an explosion — before Project Apollo came to a premature end, the last three flights on the schedule scrapped. NASA put the entire Apollo tab at $25 billion, equivalent to more than $150 billion in today’s dollars. The first lunar landing, at least, lifted America’s spirits — indeed, the planet’s — when it needed it. “The Vietnam War, civil strife, racial strife, all kinds of stuff going on that was bad, which I wasn’t paying much attention to because I was working so hard in the space world. The Cold War and all of that,” said JoAnn Morgan, Apollo 11′s lone female launch controller. “It was such a demonstration of the power and the passion of our country.” She added: “I mean, literally, we did exactly what JFK said we would do.” ___ Follow AP’s full coverage of the Apollo 11 anniversary at: https://apnews.com/Apollo11moonlanding ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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9464
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New Product Is First to Claim It May Reduce Peanut Allergies
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This New York Times story covers the health claims of Hello, Peanut!, a powdered peanut product that allows parents to gradually expose their infants to peanuts, in accordance with pediatricians’ and allergists’ advice that the practice reduces the risk of children developing peanut allergies. The recently released, updated medical advice promoting early exposure to peanuts is a complete reversal from the American Academy of Pediatrics’ previous guidelines, which said that high-risk infants should avoid peanuts up to age 3. New guidelines are based on the results of one study conducted in 628 infants at high risk for peanut allergy, which found that early introduction of peanuts significantly decreased the frequency of the development of peanut allergy and modulated immune responses to peanuts. The story covers the science behind the change as well as a range of reactions concerning the new product and its qualified health claim. The story was strong on many points, though we wished it had better explained what a qualified health claim is, and why changing guidelines based on one study can be risky. While the story details the study that the qualified health claim is based on, it does not help readers understand how to interpret that limited evidence.
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true
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allergies,peanuts
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The story cites the product’s cost: $25 for the introduction kit and and $20 for the maintenance kit, which lasts for about three weeks. The story does not indicate how many weeks that proper use entails, but the randomized trial cited by the AAP in forming their recommendations (the Learning Early about Peanut Allergy (LEAP) study) continued peanut exposure until age 5. If Hello, Peanut! was used for the same duration, the total tab would be just over $1,900, a not-insignificant expense. Other less costly alternatives to include mixing smooth peanut butter into pureed fruits and vegetables – which is suggested by the AAP in the new guidelines. Yet, this alternative is not mentioned by the NYT. The LEAP study spurred the reversal in advice for exposing infants to peanuts, a decision that then led to the formulation and release of Hello, Peanut! as well as the qualified health claim it now carries. The NYT story details the fact that LEAP study results indicated that by the time infants turned 5, only 1.9% of the 530 allergy-prone children who had been fed peanuts regularly since infancy had developed an allergy, compared with 13.7% of the children who had not consumed peanuts. The story covers directions for Hello, Peanut!’s use in great detail, and also emphasizes that if a baby develops a reaction, parents should discontinue use and contact their pediatrician. The story also discusses potential harms of the product specifically in terms of unintended use. Quoted sources worry that consumers might mistake the product as a cure for peanut allergies as opposed to a preventative tactic. Feeding the product to a child with an existing peanut allergy would likely cause an allergic reaction. The story’s initial focus is the labeling on this product — FDA approved language allows the product to claim it “may reduce the risk of developing peanut allergy.” The language also requires this caveat: “the evidence supporting this claim is limited to one study.” While the story details the study that the qualified health claim is based on, it does not help readers understand how to interpret that limited evidence. The NYT could have devoted some text to describing exactly what a qualified health claim is and why the FDA made its decision to allow it to appear on this product, as well as the weaknesses inherent in basing wide-reaching guidelines on limited evidence. Peanut allergies can result in serious and potentially life-threatening reactions in kids who are exposed. No disease-mongering here. The story quotes the physician-developer of the product, government officials and physician-patient advocates. While we would have liked an expert source with no direct ties to industry or advocacy, we’ll rate this Satisfactory. The story notes that peanut butter can be diluted with water to make a soupy, infant-friendly, peanut-containing food at less cost than the packaged powder product. The story makes clear that the product is available for purchase and goes so far as to hyperlink to its website, where people can place an order. We’d call this establishing availability – sure. But it also might go a step beyond and risk actually advertising the product under scrutiny in the story. The main thrust of the story is the novelty of the FDA approving the claim of a health benefit with this product. The story does not appear to be based on a news release.
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38336
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A viral blog post titled “This Antibiotic Will Ruin You” warns about the long-term health dangers of flouroquinolones antibiotics that go by common names like Cipro, Levaquin, Avalox, and generics that end in “oxacin,””ox” or “quin”
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Health Warnings About Flouroquinolone Antibiotics
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true
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Health / Medical
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Health warnings about the dangers of flouroquinolone antibiotics that went viral in March 2017 are based on credible scientific studies — but there’s disagreement among researchers about how much risk flouroquinolones poses to normal people. Warnings about flouroquinolones went viral in March 2017 after a post appeared at the WordPress blogs site Mountains and Mustard Seeds under the headline, “This Antibiotic Will Ruin You.” No author is listed for the blog. The site publishes post on a range of topics, mostly centered on faith and spirituality. The author of the post writes that she was given flouroquinolones antibiotics to treat a urinary tract infection in 2010. In the years that followed, the author detailed a lengthy list of medical conditions that apparently resulted from her exposure to flouroquinolones: In 2010, I took Cipro for a UTI and it changed my life forever. A round of antibiotics literally changed the path I was walking, into a path that I couldn’t even crawl on. Multiple spontaneous tendon and ligament ruptures, spinal degeneration, and arthritis that is widespread. We are talking multiple joint dislocations and surgeries to most of my large joints and spine. Twenty surgeries in the last 7 years if you wanna count. I said T W E N T Y. Given that the author of the post isn’t identified, we can’t verify her personal experiences with flouroquinolones. And, while their are credible health advisories related to the antibiotic’s use, it’s safe to say that the author’s experience with flouroquinolones was far from normal. Flouroquinolones have been in widespread clinical use since 1989. These antibiotics work by preventing bacteria DNA from uncoiling, which is required for bacteria to replicate in the body. Today, flouroquinolones are broken down into two classes: an older group, ciprofloxacin, and a new group, Gemiflocin. There are a range of uses for these antibiotics, the American Family Physician reports: Clinical applications beyond genitourinary tract infections include upper and lower respiratory infections, gastrointestinal infections, gynecologic infections, sexually transmitted diseases, and some skin and soft tissue infections. In August 2015, the FDA advised medical providers to restrict flouroquinolone antibiotic use for certain uncomplicated infections in light of “disabling side effects” that can co-occur in patients: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is advising that the serious side effects associated with fluoroquinolone antibacterial drugs generally outweigh the benefits for patients with acute sinusitis, acute bronchitis, and uncomplicated urinary tract infections who have other treatment options. For patients with these conditions, fluoroquinolones should be reserved for those who do not have alternative treatment options. An FDA safety review has shown that fluoroquinolones when used systemically (i.e. tablets, capsules, and injectable) are associated with disabling and potentially permanent serious side effects that can occur together. These side effects can involve the tendons, muscles, joints, nerves, and central nervous system. The FDA has warned about increased risk of tendon rupture after fluoroquinolones use since 2008. A 2010 study found that “there is enough data to suggest that fluoroquinolones (FQs )should be used cautiously” in patients who could be more susceptible to tendon rupture and tendinitis: those older than 60, those receiving corticosteroid therapy, and those with renal failure, diabetes, mellitus or a history of musculoskeletal disorders. Patients greater than 60 years of age who were recently treated with a FQ for 1 to 30 days were at a 1.5-fold and a 2.7-fold greater risk for development of tendon disorders and tendon rupture as compared to patients less than 60 years of age, respectively.Some authors have recommended that patients with a history of Achilles tendinitis and advanced age should not be prescribed FQ antibiotics. Although the prevalence of FQ-induced tendon injury is low in the general population (0.14–0.4%), the risk of tendinitis/tendon rupture is substantially increased in patients with chronic renal failure, hemodialysis, and systemic corticosteroid therapy. So, it’s true that tendon problems have been found in people with certain pre-existing conditions, the data does not point to an increased risk to those who didn’t meet that criteria. Perhaps even more alarming, fluoroquinolones have been linked to neurotoxicity and brain disorders. But this isn’t a new development, having been listed as a possible side effect since 2004, Web MD reports: Peripheral neuropathy is damage to the nerves that send information to and from the brain and spinal cord and the rest of the body. Damage interrupts this connection, and the symptoms depend on which nerves are affected. In general, the symptoms are in the arms and legs and include numbness, tingling, burning, or shooting pain. Peripheral neuropathy has been listed as a side effect of fluoroquinolones since 2004. There have been reports of long-lasting nerve damage and disability in patients taking this type of medication. So, in the end, warnings about the side effects of fluoroquinolones — potential for tendon issues, spinal issues, and neurological issues — are accurate. However, the author of the Mountains and Mustard Seed blog post does not describe a typical drug reaction, based on scientific data. Even so, the FDA has modified it’s warnings about fluoroquinolones, and the serious risks cannot be ignored. That’s why we’re reporting this one as “mostly truth.” Comments
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32456
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Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein has stated that she opposes the use of vaccines.
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Dr. Stein’s stated position is that she “supports vaccinations” and acknowledges that “we have a real compelling need for vaccinations,” so it’s not true to say that she is on record as holding an anti-vaccination political position. However, her somewhat equivocal statements surrounding that issue allow for a fair bit of leeway and interpretation — many others who proclaim to “support vaccinations” in concept effectively undercut their positions by raising objections to the “vaccination process” or the “vaccination industry.”
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false
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Medical, green party, jill stein, reddit
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Scenes of dissent and disunity at the July 2016 Democratic National Convention raised the profile of Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, considered a secondary choice by some supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders. While Stein’s campaign made inroads with disgruntled progressives, a counterpoint repeatedly emerged: According to some opinion pieces and rumors, Dr. Stein (an internist with 17 years of field experience) opposes the use of vaccines. The rumor stemmed from an 11 May 2016 Reddit AMA (“Ask Me Anything”) hosted by Stein, in which she fielded questions from site users, during which she was asked “What is your campaign’s official stance on vaccines and homeopathic medicine?” Stein responded at length, but she mostly offered her views on the “medical-industrial complex” rather than addressing the subject of vaccinations and homeopathic medicine. She praised vaccines’ “huge contribution to public health” while tacitly criticizing mandatory vaccination policies and U.S. regulatory agencies: I don’t know if we have an “official” stance, but I can tell you my personal stance at this point. According to the most recent review of vaccination policies across the globe, mandatory vaccination that doesn’t allow for medical exemptions is practically unheard of. In most countries, people trust their regulatory agencies and have very high rates of vaccination through voluntary programs. In the US, however, regulatory agencies are routinely packed with corporate lobbyists and CEOs. So the foxes are guarding the chicken coop as usual in the US. So who wouldn’t be skeptical? I think dropping vaccinations rates that can and must be fixed in order to get at the vaccination issue: the widespread distrust of the medical-industrial complex. Vaccines in general have made a huge contribution to public health. Reducing or eliminating devastating diseases like smallpox and polio. In Canada, where I happen to have some numbers, hundreds of annual death from measles and whooping cough were eliminated after vaccines were introduced. Still, vaccines should be treated like any medical procedure — each one needs to be tested and regulated by parties that do not have a financial interest in them. In an age when industry lobbyists and CEOs are routinely appointed to key regulatory positions through the notorious revolving door, its no wonder many Americans don’t trust the FDA to be an unbiased source of sound advice. Monsanto lobbyists and CEOs like Michael Taylor, former high-ranking DEA official, should not decide what food is safe for you to eat. Same goes for vaccines and pharmaceuticals. We need to take the corporate influence out of government so people will trust our health authorities, and the rest of the government for that matter. End the revolving door. Appoint qualified professionals without a financial interest in the product being regulated. Create public funding of elections to stop the buying of elections by corporations and the super-rich. (It is true that the Green Party [not Dr. Stein herself] once included homeopathic and alternative medicine prominently in their platform, but that stance was officially dialed back in April 2016.) We contacted Dr. Jill Stein’s campaign for clarification on her position regarding vaccinations, and while we did not receive an immediate response, Stein shared our article and tweeted to proclaim that “of course I support vaccinations”: As a medical doctor of course I support vaccinations. I have a problem with the FDA being controlled by drug companies. — Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) July 29, 2016 On 30 July 2016, we received a response to our query from Press Director Meleiza Figueroa, who provided a statement from Dr. Stein to clarify her stance on vaccines: I think there’s no question that vaccines have been absolutely critical in ridding us of the scourge of many diseases — smallpox, polio, etc. So vaccines are an invaluable medication … We have a real compelling need for vaccinations. Nonetheless, David Weigel noted in the Washington Post that Dr. Stein’s statements echo language used by vaccination opponents, and that her call for vaccines “to be tested and regulated by parties that do not have a financial interest in them” may be misplaced: Stein’s warning about corporate influence in the vaccine approval process is often voiced by “anti-vaxxers.” In reality, most members of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee work at academic or medical institutions, not drug companies. But for Stein, the fact that people saw corporate and lobbying influence running rampant meant that some skepticism was warranted.
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41712
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The gap in UK life expectancies is falling.
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Not true. The life expectancy gap between rich and poor, and between the northeast and London, is rising.
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false
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health
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Men in Teesside have the same life expectancy as those in Ethiopia. Men in one very deprived ward of Stockton have the same life expectancy as men in Ethiopia, according to figures from the World Bank in 2017. This isn’t the case for Teesside as a whole. The gap in UK life expectancies is falling. Not true. The life expectancy gap between rich and poor, and between the northeast and London, is rising. Claim 1 of 3
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7719
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Desperate Mongolians send children into countryside to escape choking winter smog.
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Mongolia has extended school winter holidays in the world’s coldest capital and many families have sent children to live with relatives in the vast, windswept grasslands to escape choking smog and respiratory diseases such as pneumonia.
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true
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Environment
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The temperature is expected to drop to minus 32 degrees Celsius (minus 26F) in Ulaanbaatar on Monday night, as residents burn coal and trash to try to keep warm and concentrations of smog particles known as PM2.5 routinely exceed 500 mg per cubic meter, 50 times the level considered safe by the WHO. Mongolia, a former Soviet satellite landlocked between Russia and China, has invested public money and foreign aid to tackle pollution, but improvement has been slow, with residents saying inaction has been compounded by a corruption scandal that has paralyzed parliament. In a crowded township more than 40 miles from Ulaanbaatar, Jantsandulam Bold’s five grandchildren are breathing more easily after fleeing the capital. “Fresh air and sun are most important for kids to grow healthy and robust,” says Jantsandulam, 57, making milk tea for her grandchildren in her home, a thickly padded felt hut known as a “ger”, or in Russian, a “yurt”. “This little one had flu when he came here but the fresh air has treated him well,” she said, pointing at her five-year-old grandson. The children are nearing the end of a two-month break, with schools due to reopen next Monday. About 60 percent of Mongolia is covered by grassland, where the mining of copper, gold, coal and other minerals provides employment, while the Gobi desert envelops the South. But almost half the population live in Ulaanbataar. Reuters calculations based on U.S. Embassy data show annual average PM2.5 concentrations hit 100 micrograms in Ulaanbaatar in 2018. They soared to 270 in December. PM2.5 in China’s most polluted city of Shijiazhuang stood at an average 70 micrograms last year, down 15.7 percent from 2017. The World Health Organisation recommends a concentration of no more than 10 micrograms. The WHO said 80 percent of Ulaanbaatar’s smog was caused by coal burning in “ger” districts, where thousands of rural migrants, used to a nomadic lifestyle, have pitched huts. It estimates air pollution causes more than 4,000 premature deaths a year. A joint study by the U.N. International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Mongolia’s National Centre for Public Health said children living in one smog-prone district of Ulaanbaatar had 40 percent less lung function than those living in the countryside. “Air pollution aggravates respiratory diseases and children under five are most vulnerable as their organs are still not mature,” said Bolormaa Bumbaa, a doctor at Bayangol District’s Children’s hospital in Ulaanbaatar. Families have already set up a pressure group known as Moms and Dads Against Smog, but after the protests they organized in Ulaanbaatar were ignored, the group decided to focus on encouraging residents to take action to protect themselves, said Mandakhjargal Tumur, a group coordinator. “I don’t believe the government will do enough to reduce pollution in coming years,” she said. “That’s why we are now focusing on raising awareness.” At the Bayangol hospital, Ulzii-Orshikh Otgon, 34, was forced to bring her 10-month-old daughter Achmaa in with pneumonia for the second time in a month. “I believe it’s because of the pollution,” she said, adding that home air purifiers did little to help. “Just by opening the door, our home fills with smog,” she said while breastfeeding Achmaa in the waiting room. Doctors advised her to take her children out of Ulaanbaatar but she has no relatives in the countryside and rent is expensive. “Decision makers have said for years they are fighting pollution,” she said. “They just wasted billions of tugriks on useless stoves and processed coal, which don’t change anything.”
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1615
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Once 'King,' cotton farming on a long decline in U.S. south.
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Fields along the Mississippi River Delta once gleamed white in the autumn with acre upon acre of cotton ready to be picked.
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true
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Environment
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But to see the decline of a cash crop once nicknamed “King Cotton” one need look no further than the 300 acres (121 hectares) that Michael Shelton farms in Clarksdale, Mississippi, about 75 miles (120 km) down river from Memphis. The fields were recently cleared of wheat and soybeans, and just one long row of cotton, which Shelton, 65, said he planted “for memory.” “I wanted to say I planted cotton every year,” said Shelton, who is black and whose property includes the 40 acres (16 hectares) his ancestors acquired in the late 19th century, not long after the abolition of slavery. With cotton prices near their lowest in six years, Shelton is far from alone in cutting back on the crop. U.S. farmers this year planted the fewest acres of cotton since 1983, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. In the southern states of Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas, once the heart of cotton country, growers expect to harvest some of their smallest crops since the year after the U.S. Civil War ended, according to the oldest government data available. It’s not just low prices driving down cotton planting. This year marks the first the U.S. cotton farmers are getting by without a subsidy program that had long been the subject of a trade dispute between Washington and Brazil. For Shelton, the only one of eight siblings to go into farming, that is just the latest in a long line of hits his business has taken. “One thing I’ve found lately is it’s become an expensive business,” Shelton said. Many of the United States’ remaining 18,000 cotton farms - a number that’s fallen by half in less than 20 years - see themselves on the losing end of that long skirmish at the World Trade Organization. Washington paid $300 million to Brazil to settle the subsidy squabble and agreed to stop subsidy payment programs to cotton farms that totaled about $576 million in fiscal 2013, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. The farm law that passed last year phased out payments to farmers of many crops, leaving growers more exposed to market conditions. U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Nutrition described the shift as “not your father’s farm bill.” “The political climate has changed, that’s hurt cotton’s standing,” said John Robinson, an agricultural economist with Texas A&M University. “The old world doesn’t exist. That’s gone with the wind.” It has left some farmers feeling exposed to low prices and the potential of rising debt levels, ultimately raising the prospect of further exodus from the fiber in areas where growers can grow food crops such as corn, wheat and soybeans. Don Shurley, a cotton economist with the University of Georgia said the problem was an economic one: “Can cotton remain profitable to keep farmers growing it and stay in business?” With the price of cotton running at about 60 cents per pound, down 35 percent from 2014 highs, many farmers are finding it is costing them more to grow the crop than they earn. Falling demand has also taken a toll, with global consumption down 9 percent from a peak of 122.5 million bales nine years ago. The industry’s most pervasive worry ultimately is not cost, but consumption. Cotton has struggled to recover demand lost amid price spikes in 2008, 2010, and 2011, which drove consumers towards clothes made of other fibers, such as polyester and nylon. Other Southern cotton farmers have coped with the long slide in prices by planting ever more acres, following the lead of their Midwestern counterparts who plant corn and wheat, and eke out slightly more profit from larger-scale operations. Ronnie Lee, of Dawson, Georgia, has taken the large-scale route. Since starting out farming 35 acres (14 hectares) in 1987, he and now his three sons have steadily grown their operation to 30 times the size of Shelton’s. Today they plant some 9,000 acres (3,642 hectares) of owned and leased land, as well as picking cotton for others with their three $600,000 mechanical pickers, operating a crop-dusting service and running a gin that will pack as many as 90,000 bales of cotton this year. Despite the size, Lee emphasizes that his business is still a family farm. “We’re a true family farming operation,” he said during a rare lunch break on a recent rainy afternoon. “Why do I have to be small to be a family operation? A small guy today can’t survive.” (This story has been corrected to fix miles/kilometers conversion in paragraph 2)
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7529
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Virus death rate still uncertain as mild cases are missed.
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How deadly is the coronavirus that exploded from China? The answer reflects a hard reality about fast-moving outbreaks: As cases pop up in new places, the first to get counted are the sickest.
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true
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AP Top News, Understanding the Outbreak, Health, General News, Flu, China, United Nations, Death rates, Virus Outbreak
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A straight count of deaths reported worldwide suggests the new virus may be more deadly than the flu, according to the head of the World Health Organization. “Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. But the U.N. agency is reporting a number that health authorities know will keep fluctuating — and it’s far too soon to predict whether it ultimately winds up worse than flu or about the same. “In every outbreak there are at least two competing biases that make the case fatality rate look higher or lower,” said Dr. Marc Lipsitch of Harvard’s School of Public Health. Some ill people may die while many people with mild or no symptoms are being missed, he explained, “because the testing has been so variable and not adequate in many places.” WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE DEATH RATE? The WHO’s latest estimate that 3.4% of patients have died is in line with what the agency has been reporting for over a week. When it took a close look at what’s happening in China, WHO concluded 2% to 4% of patients in the city of Wuhan — the outbreak’s epicenter where a flood of early severe cases overwhelmed health centers — had died. By the time people elsewhere in China were getting sick, authorities were better able to test for the virus and uncover people with mild cases. Consequently, the death rate in the rest of the country was strikingly lower, 0.7%. That number has fluctuated since but is still pretty close — even though the number of deaths being reported every day in China is dropping as the outbreak stabilizes there. WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE WORLD? The outbreak has worsened in Iran, where as of Tuesday 4.4% of the more than 1,500 patients so far known to have COVID-19 have died. That number is helping to drive the global death calculation. Outside of Hubei province in China and Iran, the death rate globally as of Tuesday was about 1%. WHY ARE DEATH RATES HIGHER EARLIER IN AN OUTBREAK? In most places dealing with a sudden jump in illnesses, testing people with the earliest mild symptoms — a fever or cough — is low on the priority list. That means death rates may appear artificially high until authorities get a better handle on how widespread the illness really is. The U.S., for example, is still trying to ramp up its capability to test widely, amid criticism that person-to-person spread was going undetected. Further complicating all this math: Scientists have been taking in-depth looks at patients treated in different hospitals, an important step as authorities learn how to battle it. One such study in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine examined 1,099 patients in 500 hospitals in China, many of them beyond Wuhan. They put the death rate at 1.4%. In other words, who gets counted — and where — makes a difference. HOW DOES COVID-19 COMPARE TO OTHER DISEASES? A cousin of this new virus caused the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2003, and about 10% of SARS patients died. Flu is a different virus family, and some strains are deadlier than others. On average, the death rate from seasonal flu is about 0.1%, said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Even if the right number for the new coronavirus is 0.7%, that’s still worse than the average flu season. But again, the number of infections matters. Millions of people get the flu every year around the world, leading to an annual death toll in the hundreds of thousands. There’s no way to know how many people ultimately will get the new coronavirus. WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan says the new coronavirus isn’t as transmissible as flu, so “it offers us a glimmer ... that this virus can be suppressed and contained.” What’s the difference? Flu can be spread before symptoms appear, which helps fuel each year’s influenza season. WHO insists asymptomatic spread doesn’t appear to be driving the COVID-19 outbreak. WHO’S MOST AT RISK FROM COVID-19? Last week’s report by National Health Commission of China scientists shows how easy it is for many cases to be missed early on: 44% of patients had fever when they were admitted to the hospital, but 89% ultimately developed it. In all, 16% developed severe illness after hospital admission; about 5% were treated in an intensive care unit; and 2.3% needed machines to help them breathe. Older people, especially those with chronic illnesses such as heart or lung diseases, are more at risk of severe illness, although some younger adults have died. On average, WHO says people with mild cases recover in about two weeks, while those who are sicker can take anywhere from three to six weeks. ___ AP Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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23098
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I lost my health insurance and my doctor because of Obamacare.
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Republican House candidate Reid Ribble says he lost his health insurance and doctor because of federal health care reform
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false
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Health Care, Wisconsin, Reid Ribble,
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"When it comes to federal health care reform, for many the biggest concern is the most personal one: Can they keep their doctor? During the fierce debate over the proposal, President Barack Obama repeatedly assured voters they could keep their doctors. Now comes Reid Ribble, a Republican challenging two-term U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen (D-Appleton) in a swing seat in northeastern Wisconsin. He’s got a bone to pick with the president. This was the headline on a recent news release: ""Reid Ribble losing doctor, health insurance provider because of Obamacare."" ""I lost my health insurance and doctor because of Obamacare,"" Ribble says in the release. ""If I am elected to Congress, I will go to Washington to make sure no one else loses their doctor because of Obamacare."" That’s a powerful claim. And it could be potent, because Kagen -- who voted for the health care reforms -- is an allergist, prefers to be addressed as ""Doctor"" and includes ""M.D."" after his name on his official Congressional website. Let’s take a look at what happened. Ribble is chairman of The Ribble Group, which owns two Fox Valley roofing companies. Ribble says he sold the business last year to a relative, but an earlier PolitiFact Wisconsin item could not fully establish that was a fact. In any case, he remains chairman and a paid consultant. And he is covered by its health insurance carrier, Principal Financial Group. In September of 2010, Principal -- a Des Moines-based Fortune 500 company -- announced it was getting out of the health insurance business. Over the next 36 months, Principal will turn over coverage to UnitedHealth Group Co., one of the country’s largest health insurance providers. The change affects some 14,000 employers who provide coverage to 830,000 employees. For more than a decade, Ribble’s doctor has been N. Carter Noble, an Appleton-based family care physician who is part of the Affinity Medical Group. Principal has a coverage agreement with Affinity; UnitedHealth does not have an agreement with Affinity. Ribble’s coverage with Principal ends Dec. 31, 2010. That means Noble will be out of network if Ribble is covered by UnitedHealth. This is the central point cited in the campaign’s news release. So is Reid Ribble -- and presumably thousands of other Principal customers -- an early victim of health care reform? Hardly. Officials with Principal Financial told PolitiFact Wisconsin the decision was made because the company is primarily involved in retirement and asset management -- not health care. The company has $284.7 billion in assets under management, serves 18.9 million customers worldwide, and employs some 14,000 people. Health insurance generates about 3 percent of the company’s revenues, a percentage that is shrinking as other areas grow. ""The medical business continues to be one that undergoes rapid change, which would mean investing additional capital into the business to be able to offer competitive products,"" Principal’s chairman and CEO Larry D. Zimpleman said at the time of the announcement. ""For us, that just does not make sense."" A Principal spokeswoman, Susan Houser, said Ribble should not blame health care reform for the company’s decision: ""In addition to strategic fit going forward, we considered a number of other factors (including the regulatory environment), but our strategy and ability to invest in our growing businesses was the real driver. Our decision certainly did not hinge on (health care) reform, but it was among many factors."" In fact, Susan Voss, the Iowa State Insurance Commissioner, said, ""The issue of their leaving the health insurance market has been under review for almost a decade."" Congress gave final approval to health care reform and Obama signed it into law last spring. Some provisions have kicked in already, while others are years away from taking effect. The provision that requires employer-provided insurers to spend at least 80 percent to 85 percent of their premiums on coverage takes effect in January 2011. The company’s decision got pulled into the national health care discussion after comments from another executive, Dan Houston, president of Principal’s retirement, insurance and financial services businesses. He told the Wall Street Journal that health care reform will make it more difficult for small insurers to compete. Here’s what the Journal wrote: ""In the past, scale hasn’t mattered,"" said Mr. Houston. ""But with administrative costs getting the focus,"" the company would have to grow significantly to stay in the business. The New York Times called Principal’s decision ""another sign of upheaval emerging among insurers as the new federal health law starts to take effect."" The story quoted two health care experts -- Len Nichols from George Mason University and Robert Laszewski, a consultant in Alexandria, Va. -- as saying more small insurers are likely to take similar steps. That may play out. But nowhere did it say that Principal was getting out of the business solely because of health reform, as Ribble suggests. So where does this leave Ribble? After all, he certainly isn’t the first consumer to have to figure out his medical care because companies changed coverage. The Ribble Group -- or Ribble on his own -- could choose another insurance carrier, one that includes Affinity in its network. Affinity has its own insurance company, Network Health Plan, and also accepts patients covered by Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Ribble could continue to see his doctor, but presumably pay more because he is out of network. Or, once the changeover is completed, Ribble could change doctors. Where does that leave us? Ribble says he lost his insurance and his doctor because of federal health care reforms -- a great line for voters. But a line just the same. Principal Financial Group says it made a decision to get out of the insurance business, which made up 3 percent of its revenues -- a share growing ever smaller as other aspects grew. What’s more, the decision was under consideration for years before Obama and his health reform plan came along. Ribble isn’t losing his insurance, his ability to get insurance or even, to be technical about it, his doctor. He and The Ribble Group have choices available -- including an insurance carrier run by his favored health care system. His statement forces us to call for the burn unit: ."
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17934
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I’ve never supported legislation that invades people’s choices about contraception.
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"Cuccinelli, in a carefully-worded statement, says he’s never supported legislation that ""invades people’s choices about contraception."" While he’s never cast a vote on legislation that explicitly restricted birth control options, Cuccinelli for a decade has been one of the strongest anti-abortion voices in Virginia. He’s supported personhood bills that recognized life as beginning at the moment of conception or fertilization and bestowed human embryos with legal rights. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says such legislation could outlaw birth control pills and other forms of contraception that prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in a uterus. Cuccinelli’s wording also allows him to gloss over a vote he cast in 2003 against legislation that would have specified contraception does not constitute an abortion. So Cuccinelli’s claim has some accuracy, but omits his consistent support of bills that would have opened or protected legal avenues to challenge the use of certain contraceptives."
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mixture
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Abortion, Sexuality, Virginia, Ken Cuccinelli,
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"Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli is combating accusations that he’s tried to restrict the types of birth control Virginians could use. ""I’ve never supported legislation that invades people’s choices about contraception,"" Cuccinelli told reporters on Aug. 27 while campaigning in Northern Virginia. His comment was reported by The Washington Post and The Loudoun Times. Cuccinelli made a similar comment during a July 20 debate with Democrat Terry McAuliffe when he was asked by moderator Judy Woodruff, ""Would you again seek to make several forms of contraception illegal as you did several years ago?"" ""Well, I certainly didn’t do that several years ago,"" Cuccinelli replied. We examined Cuccinelli’s claim. At issue is his support of support of two ""personhood"" bills that sought to provide human embryos with legal rights. Both bills died in the General Assembly. Supporters say personhood laws provide a legal remedy to parents if an unborn child is killed by the negligent or criminal act of a third party. Opponents say the measures are a ruse to challenge abortion and contraception rights. In 2007, Cuccinelli as a state senator co-sponsored legislation that would have given pre-born humans the ""right to the enjoyment of life"" from the moment fertilization. Critics, including McAuliffe, say the bill would have outlawed birth control pills and other forms of contraception that prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in a uterus. As attorney general, Cuccinelli last year spoke at a rally for a similar bill that would have extended to human embryos and fetuses, from the moment of conception, ""all the rights available to others living in Virginia."" Anna Nix, a spokeswoman for Cuccinelli’s campaign, said her boss’s statements are accurate because the legislation he backed simply ""defined life and had no language or reference to any form of contraception or any access to contraception."" Nix added in a follow-up email that Cuccinelli ""does not believe the government should regulate contraception and supported this legislation because he is pro-life, and this bill would protect innocent life."" The debate on personhood’s effect on contraception centers on how various forms of birth control work. No one disputes that condoms and other forms of birth control that merely prevent fertilization would unaffected by a measure to provide legal rights to preborn children. But various forms of FDA-approved contraception can also work to prevent the implantation of fertilized egg in the uterus. For example, although birth control pills mainly work to prevent fertilization by preventing the release of an egg, they can also make the lining of the uterus inhospitable to implantation after its fertilized, according to WebMD. Emergency contraceptives if taken soon after intercourse can prevent the release of an egg to prevent fertilization. But if taken later, they can prevent the implantation of an egg. Some abortion opponents believe life begins at the moment of fertilization and consider anything that prevents a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus as tantamount to producing an abortion. That’s sparked concerns from supporters of contraceptive access that conveying rights to human eggs from the moment of fertilization could open the door to limiting birth control products that can prevent affect implantation. Nix, in her statement, did not spell out exactly how Cuccinelli defines ""contraception."" We asked if he includes in his definition any method that prevents implantation of a fertilized egg, but didn’t get a clear response. ""The pharmaceutical structure for contraception is one that changes with ongoing medical research,"" Nix said. ""Ken Cuccinelli is not interested in legislating contraception."" We should note that as a state senator back in 2003, Cuccinelli voted against a Democratic measure that would have specified contraception does not constitute abortion. The bill, which passed the Senate but died in the House, defined contraception as methods that block fertilization or prevent implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists weighed in on that debate last year warning that personhood laws being considered around the nation saying it threatened certain forms of contraception. ""Although the individual wording in these proposed measures varies from state to state, they all attempt to give full legal rights to a fertilized egg by defining `personhood’ from the moment of fertilization before conception (ie. pregnancy/implantation) has occurred,"" ACOG wrote. That would make condoms, spermicides and natural family planning ""the only legally allowed forms of birth control,"" the group said. In other words, the doctors said that only birth control devices that prevent sperm from joining an egg would remain legal. ""Thus, some of the most effective and reliable forms of contraception, such as oral contraceptives, intrauterine devices (IUDs) and other forms of FDA-approved hormonal contraceptives could be banned in states that adopt ‘personhood’ measures,"" ACOG said. Three days after ACOG’s statement, the Virginia’s 2012 personhood bill was approved by the Republican-led House on an almost straight party line vote. Democrats unsuccessfully offered an amendment that specified the legislation ""shall not be interpreted as affecting lawful contraception."" Two days later -- on Feb. 15, 2012 -- Cuccinelli endorsed the bill at rally on the Capitol grounds, although news stories contain no mention addressing contraception in his speech. The bill, however, died in the Senate. Both the 2012 and the 2007 measures may not have survived legal challenge even if they had passed. A.E. Dick Howard, a University of Virginia constitutional law professor, pointed out to us that the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 ruled that couples have a right of access to contraception. Our ruling Cuccinelli, in a carefully-worded statement, says he’s never supported legislation that ""invades people’s choices about contraception."" While he’s never cast a vote on legislation that explicitly restricted birth control options, Cuccinelli for a decade has been one of the strongest anti-abortion voices in Virginia. He’s supported personhood bills that recognized life as beginning at the moment of conception or fertilization and bestowed human embryos with legal rights. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says such legislation could outlaw birth control pills and other forms of contraception that prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in a uterus. Cuccinelli’s wording also allows him to gloss over a vote he cast in 2003 against legislation that would have specified contraception does not constitute an abortion. So Cuccinelli’s claim has some accuracy, but omits his consistent support of bills that would have opened or protected legal avenues to challenge the use of certain contraceptives."
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9365
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Automatic texting helps ease stress of chemotherapy in breast cancer patients
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This story covered a four-month randomized feasibility trial to see how well a text messaging system relieved stress of women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. Based on an abstract presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, the story provided some interesting data, such as older women were more likely to text back to seek information. But it skimped on important details like cost, availability and how big the benefits were. Quality of life has historically been overlooked in cancer care, so it’s nice to see a news story that highlights research aiming to improve it. On the other hand, technology isn’t a panacea and news stories should quantify the purported benefits just as they would for drugs and other interventions.
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false
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breast cancer
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How much would a texting system cost? Who would pay for it? Would it require extra staffing at the doctor’s office? This story left us wondering. The story reported that women with the texting tool “reported an overall lower level of distress and a higher quality of life during their therapy” and “felt they had better communication with their doctors” versus women who received an American Cancer Society pamphlet on chemotherapy. A research states at the four-month mark “the gap was huge” between the texting and control groups. But there are no numbers to quantify what’s “huge.” The story stated texting “also played a role in helping patients feel like they were in control of their treatment, particularly during the first month.” But there was no data to quantify that benefit. The story said texting “did not affect the odds of developing symptoms of depression,” but didn’t say how many women got depressed. The story also didn’t differentiate between receiving the twice daily texts (content unknown) with being able to text someone questions. It’s unclear which component of the texting tool was the most effective. There don’t appear to be any harms associated with text messages, barring potential distraction while driving. Hence, this criterion doesn’t apply. The story mentioned this was a feasibility trial, implying there might be bugs that have yet be worked out. It also said 100 women participated. Still, there’s not a lot of information to help readers determine the strength of the evidence. For example, it could have explained that, as the abstract stated, “Further research is needed to develop additional tailoring and personalization per participants’ feedback.” And that it was presented at a conference, which means it’s preliminary data, not published or peer-reviewed. The story didn’t explain the context of the twice daily texts. Was it just information? Was the piece of the texts that was most helpful having someone available at any hour of the day to answer questions? To me, it could be that the information received through texts was specific to that person’s situation versus a generic pamphlet. Also, they said in the first paragraph that it was a “designed to see if texting could relieve some of the anxiety that comes with the fatigue, hair loss and other body changes that can accompany anticancer drugs.” What about anxiety that is caused by the cost of treatment or figuring out your next medical appointment will reveal whether the treatment is effective? Without understanding the context of the texts, it’s hard to judge the quality of the evidence that the program was effective at reducing anxiety related to fatigue, hair loss, and body changes. No disease-mongering here. We couldn’t find good data on how common chemotherapy treatments are and how many patients might benefit from better support and clinician communication, but certainly the number is great. There were no independent sources. While we couldn’t identify any conflicts of interest, some of the researchers receive payments from industry. The article fell short by not indicating who funded the study. The story mentioned a control group that received pamphlets about chemotherapy. It wasn’t clear if that was the current standard method of helping women cope. Also, the story could have explored existing options such as such as online support groups or regular check-ins with a doctor’s office, or already existing ask-a-nurse lines that are open all the time for patients. The story mentioned this was a feasibility study, signalling the system isn’t available. Still, it could have explored whether any text messaging systems are being used for chemo patients. The story lacked context about the increasing use of text messaging for patients support, including during chemotherapy, and it didn’t explain how this system works. Did clinicians answer patients’ texts, or were the answers given by a computer? It’s not clear. The story didn’t rely on a news release.
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10178
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Calcium tied to lower cancer risk in older people
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This report on a study about the links between calcium intake and cancer risk does several important things well: It puts these findings in the context of other research It translates the calcium amounts into dietary choices It describes the methodology and conclusions clearly, and includes useful caveats It makes the useful distinction between the benefits of calcium from diet and supplements It packs in the viewpoints of four sources into a fairly short story The story’s biggest shortcoming is a failure to put the relative risk reductions in the context of absolute risk. It’s hard to tell how meaningful a 20 percent risk reduction of head and neck cancer is. One suspects the 7-year risk of those cancers in this population is very small, but we don’t know. There’s also an issue that isn’t captured by the criteria in this review but is worth mentioning nonetheless. It appears that most dietary calcium came from dairy products. If that’s true, do the researchers know whether something in the dairy products other than the calcium that is responsible for the risk reduction? The fact that calcium supplementation didn’t have the same protective effects as calcium-rich foods raises the question. The reporter should have too.
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true
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It’s not necessary to compute the marginal extra costs, if there are any, of a diet high in calcium. The study cites a few benefits linked to supplements, but they are not central enough to the story to require discussion of costs. The reporter generally does a good job explaining which levels of calcium intake showed benefits against which cancers in both men and women. It names the cancers that were reduced the most and least by calcium intake. It mentions those that appeared to be linked to supplements rather than food. But the report fails to put the risk reduction numbers in the context of absolute risk. The study shows men with high calcium intake were 16 percent less likely than those with the lowest calcium intake to get colon cancer over 7 years. But it fails to tell us how big the underlying colon cancer risk is for these men. If that risk is 1 percent, a 16 percent drop in that risk is of little significance. If the risk is 40 percent, that’s very different. The story fails to mention the risks of excessive calcium intake, which include kidney problems and malabsorption of other minerals. As a matter of course, such risks should be mentioned at least briefly. Having said that, the reporter gets points for stating that intake levels above 1,200 milligrams per day did not show addiitonal benefits. This should be sufficient to prevent people from taking reckless action to boost their calcium intakes to very high levels. The report does a commendable job of describing the strengths and weaknesses of the study, as well as its methodology and study population, without using jargon. The reader comes away understanding that the study was big but not as rigorous as some smaller trials. The reader understands that the results are not conclusive. The comment at the end, indicating that the study group is likely healthier than the population as a whole, is particularly useful. The story does not exaggerate the severity or prevalence of the 10 types of cancer studied. Nor does it dramatize the potential of calcium to prevent cancer. For such a short story, the reporter does a good job of sourcing. The story includes the thoughts of the lead researcher and three independent experts. It’s worth pointing out that none of the experts is quoted directly; their viewpoints are paraphrased. Other reporters might have made only two calls and included live quotes. Those stories likely would have less credibility, not more. The study is about the benefits of higher calcium intakes, and it distinguishes properly between calcium from diet and supplements. There are certainly other ways to reduce cancer risk in the studied population, but the story is framed in a way that makes it unncessary to get into that. The availability of calcium-rich foods and calcium supplements is not in question. The story makes no claims for the novelty of a calcium-rich diet or the study’s general findings. There is no evidence that the reporter drew excessively on the press release linked to the study.
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22011
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"Medicare ""only has about 50 percent of it paid for by either premiums or payroll taxes, and the rest is deficit spending ... or debt spending."
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Pawlenty says half of Medicare paid for with deficit spending
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mixture
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National, Medicare, This Week - ABC News, Tim Pawlenty,
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"In an appearance on ABC's This Week on May 29, 2011, Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty said the hard reality is that Medicare is ""going broke."" Medicare, Pawlenty said, ""only has about 50 percent of it paid for by either premiums or payroll taxes, and the rest is deficit spending and debit spending, or debt spending. So we have to fix it."" Medicare, which provides health care to about 50 million elderly or disabled Americans, is financed through a combination of funding streams: a Medicare payroll tax; general revenue (mostly from federal income taxes); premiums paid by Medicare users; and a tax on Social Security benefits and state payments toward the prescription drug benefit. We'll go a little deeper in the weeds. The program is financed through two separate trust fund accounts: the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund and the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund. Medicare payroll taxes go to the HI trust fund, which is primarily used to pay for inpatient hospital stays (otherwise known as Medicare Part A). The SMI trust fund is used to pay for physicians visits, outpatient care and prescription drug benefits (Medicare Part B and Part D). The SMI trust fund is funded primarily (about 75 percent) through general revenue, with most of the rest coming from patient premiums. Let's start with the first half of Pawlenty's statement, that ""only about 50 percent"" of Medicare is paid for by either premiums or payroll taxes. According to the 2011 Annual Report of the Boards of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds, Medicare expenditures came to $523 billion in 2010. Here's a breakdown of the revenue side of the equation: • Payroll taxes, $182 billion • Premiums, $61 billion • Taxation of benefits, $13.8 billion • General revenue, $205 billion • Transfers from states for prescription drug benefits, $4 billion If you break out premiums and payroll taxes, Pawlenty is correct that they covered about half the cost of Medicare in 2010. Okay, but what about the second half of the statement, that the rest of Medicare expenses came from ""deficit spending ... or debt spending."" Lisa Potetz of the Washington consulting group Health Policy Alternatives Inc. and co-author of a 22-page ""Primer on Medicare Financing"" in July 2009, said characterizing general revenue as ""deficit spending"" is misleading. Yes, she said, the government is spending more than it is taking in. But not all government spending is deficit spending. In order for Pawlenty's statement to be accurate, you’d have to assume only the deficit portion of the budget is used for Medicare. Using Pawlenty's logic, she said, you could instead put Medicare funding first and then say all of defense spending is deficit spending. Potetz also believes Pawlenty's comment misleads because from its start in 1965, the Medicare program was set up to be partially funded by general revenue. ""His comment suggests that these things (payroll taxes and premiums) are supposed to pay for the program and aren’t doing their job,"" Potetz said. ""It was never the case that it was going to be entirely funded through payroll taxes and premiums. It's a little misleading to suggest something went awry."" In fact, for years, the HI trust fund ran a surplus and was used to fund other parts of the federal budget. To the extent you consider that ""banked"" money, there was a balance of about $344 billion as of last year. In recent years, however, hospitalization and nursing home costs have outpaced the amount coming in from payroll taxes (a problem that is expected to get much worse in coming years as more baby boomers reach retirement age). As a result, the HI fund has been ""drawing down"" its surplus, and is expected to deplete it within several years. At that point, the gap between what's taken in from payroll taxes and the actual cost of hospitalization would have to be picked up by taxpayers. The SMI trust fund -- again, the fund used to pay for physicians visits and prescription drugs -- was set up so that a portion is paid through patient premiums, but the majority is paid from the general revenue. Last year, the government paid $205 billion from general revenue into the fund. Cost projections for that program are cause for alarm, but the financing of the program was always intended to come primarily from general revenue, Potetz said. Medicare expert Marilyn Moon of the American Institutes for Research, an independent policy group, said a shift from hospital care to more outpatient care and physicians services has put a strain on the SMI fund, as has the prescription drug benefit added in 2006. But it's misleading to call general revenues put into the fund ""deficit spending,"" she said. We asked Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant for some backup for Pawlenty's statement, particularly that the amount not covered by payroll taxes and premiums comes from deficit spending. Conant pointed us toward two sources. The first was a Dec. 1, 2010, NPR interview with Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former head of the Congressional Budget Office (and former chief economic policy adviser to U.S. Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign) who said, ""If you look past the next eight to 10 years, Medicare is the deficit problem. And there's simply no way we can address our fiscal problems without coming to terms with Medicare's future."" Conant also pointed to this warning from the 2011 annual report from the Medicare Board of Trustees: ""The drawdown of Social Security and HI trust fund reserves and the general revenue transfers into SMI will result in mounting pressure on the federal budget. In fact, pressure is already evident. For the sixth consecutive year, a 'Medicare funding warning' is being triggered, signaling that projected non-dedicated sources of revenues -- primarily general revenues -- will soon account for more than 45 percent of Medicare’s outlays. That threshold was in fact breached for the first time in fiscal 2010."" It's certainly true that the cost of Medicare is growing and that general revenue -- primarily from income taxes -- is shouldering a growing share of the load. In 2008, the Government Accountability Office concluded the exploding cost of Medicare and other entitlement programs such as Medicaid and Social Security had put the federal budget on an ""unsustainable fiscal path."" One could argue that added Medicare costs to a budget that is already running a deficit is simply adding on more deficit spending. But inasmuch as Medicare has always been supplemented by general revenues, we think it's a little misleading to characterize anything not paid by Medicare payroll taxes or patient premiums as deficit spending."
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7579
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Veterans with PTSD, anxiety turn to beekeeping for relief.
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Gently lifting a wooden frame containing dozens of Italian honeybees, Vince Ylitalo seemed transfixed as he and several other veterans inspected the buzzing insects.
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true
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New Hampshire, Anxiety, Health, Manchester, General News, Insects, AP Top News, Bees, Iraq, Veterans, U.S. News
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“This is really cool,” he said, pointing to a bee with blobs of orange pollen on its hind legs. Ylitalo, who has battled PTSD after serving nearly 40 years in the military including two tours in Iraq, didn’t seem bothered by the bees swarming around his head or crawling all over the entrance to their hive. Instead, the 57-year-old logistics expert said the several hours spent working on the two hives each week at the Manchester VA Medical Center in New Hampshire was a respite of sorts from his anxiety and depression. Known as an apiary, the hives are located next to a lilac garden off a busy street. “I’m in this program to help me get out of the thought process of all those problems that I have,” said Ylitalo, who has struggled since leaving the Army in 2017. “It helps me think of something completely different. ... I’m just thinking about bees.” Researchers are beginning to study whether beekeeping has therapeutic benefits. For now, there is little hard data, but veterans in programs like the one in Manchester insist that it helps them focus, relax and become more productive. The programs are part of a small but growing effort by Veterans Affairs and veteran groups to promote the training of soldiers in farming and other agricultural careers. Standing near Ylitalo in her white bee suit, Army veteran Wendi Zimmermann said bees have helped her deal with the anxiety she feels outside her home — even though she initially feared being stung. She and Ylitalo are among 12 veterans that have taken part in beekeeping since the program started in May. “It gives you a chance to shut down and not think about the outside world. It shows me there is a way to shut my brain down to get other things accomplished,” Zimmermann said. “Before, my mind would be filled with thoughts constantly and I wasn’t accomplishing daily tasks.” While some of the programs are geared to giving soldiers the skills to become farmers and commercial beekeepers, others aim to address the challenges facing those returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq with brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues. The programs are careful to say that beekeeping is just one of several benefits that could help a troubled veteran. “The anecdotes we have heard are fantastic,” said Alicia Semiatin, who heads the mental health program in Manchester. “Folks find that it is really something that they benefit from at the time they are doing the beekeeping and the benefits seems to be carrying over not only for days but weeks afterward. What more could you ask for from treatment than something to that degree?” Similar stories have been heard from beekeeping programs from Brockton, Massachusetts, to Reno, Nevada. Those running the programs said there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that beekeeping is making a difference for those who spend time managing hives and harvesting honey. Beekeeping gives them a sense of purpose, helps them relax and allows them to block out dark thoughts, they said. “Beekeeping affords us the opportunity to really kind of engage in a different way with the natural world,” said Adam Ingrao, a fourth-generation soldier who runs Heroes to Hives through Michigan State University Extension. “You’re not thinking about what happened in Afghanistan or Iraq. You’re thinking about what’s happening right here, right now.” Ford Motor Co. is providing space to Heroes to Hives at Henry Ford’s old farm near Ann Arbor. The free program provides a nine-month beekeeping course to veterans, about 80% of whom have a disability. In Reno, Ginger Fenwick started Bees4Vets with her husband, Daniel, in 2018 after spotting a 1919 pamphlet written by the government that advocated beekeeping for veterans returning from World War I with shell shock. Bees4Vets trains 10 veterans a year to manage some of its roughly 30 hives at the agricultural experiment station at the University of Nevada, Reno and resident’s backyards in nearby Sparks. Inspired by concerns about high levels of suicide among veterans, the program focuses on those with PTSD or traumatic brain injuries from Nevada and northern California. It also has teamed up with a University of Nevada, Reno professor who studies PTSD to research whether beekeeping is helping veterans in the program. If a majority shows improvement, the program plans to study why and how — and whether beekeeping could be helping. “If there was anything we could do to help one family, one person, then it would be all worth it,” Fenwick said. Each veteran gets two hives to manage for the year and learns skills like honey harvesting and wax processing. One veteran who completed the program wants to start a honey mustard business; another wants to make lip balms using bee wax. At the University of Minnesota, Rebecca Masterman runs its bee squad. One of its programs works with veterans who manage 18 hives on the grounds of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. She said the program’s main goal is to expose veterans to beekeeping, though it also promotes the therapeutic benefits of working with bees. She was cautious, however, about commenting on whether beekeeping could be treatment for veterans with PTSD. “We know that beekeeping is an amazing experience,” said Masterman, whose program is seeking funding to study its impact on veterans with PTSD. “But at the same time, we’re not trying to do therapy without setting up an actual program that would specifically do therapy.” ___ Householder reported from Superior Township, Michigan.
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8038
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German town converts gym hall to hold virus quarantine offenders.
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A German town has turned a gymnastics hall into a facility to hold potential offenders against quarantine rules that stipulate a 14-day isolation period for those who test positive for the coronavirus and those who come into contact with them.
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true
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Health News
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Equipped with 20 camping beds, mattresses, and toilets stacked with toilet paper - an increasingly hard-to-find commodity, the hall in the western town of Menden is empty for now. But council head Sebastian Arlt said he was open about who the facility might be used for. “We might house the homeless. It might also be used as additional capacity for hospitals if we have a situation like in Spain or France, if hospitals simply run out of space,” he said, standing in a hall that looked more like an army training facility than a gymnastics hall. “Or it could be used to house people who repeatedly defy the quarantine and deliberately put others in danger of being infected,” he added. “Then we could forcibly house them here.” Germany has recorded some 43,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 253 deaths. The government will need bed and intensive care capacity in hospitals should thousands of people need medical attention after contracting the virus. Restaurants, malls, gyms, cinemas and all non-essential businesses have been shut, and people have been instructed to stay at home unless they have to run essential errands or buy food. People have also been advised to stay 1.5 metres apart. Chancellor Angela Merkel has been in quarantine since Sunday after visiting a doctor who subsequently tested positive for the virus. Arlt said statistics in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia where Menden is located suggest that one if five people are not abiding by the quarantine rules. “The gym is fitted out like that to show quite plainly what happens to people who do not obey the rules,” he said. “We will use all methods available, and if we reach the conclusion that the situation will improve only if we use force, then we will do so with help from the police.”
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28576
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An image accurately states the rights a rape or sexual assault victim universally has in the wake of an attack.
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The rape and sexual assault flyer posted to Reddit offers a mixture of true, false, and likely region-specific information, running the risk of confusing rape and assault victims in the critical hours after an attack. Reference to the upper end of forensic and prophylactic services could lull individuals into a false sense of security, as does the lack of stipulation that minors or other at-risk individuals are often unable to seek medical care without police involvement.
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mixture
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Crime, rainn, rape, rape awareness
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On 2 August 2017, a Reddit user shared a photograph of an information flyer regarding rape and sexual assault to the subreddit r/interestingasfuck: The poster did not provide a source or context for the image, and appeared to interact on Reddit primarily in the form of submissions. The flyer read: DID YOU KNOW after a rape or sexual assault… Everything you do/don’t do is YOUR CHOICE Although the document appears to be a handout from a rape crisis or advocacy center of some description it also looks as if identifying information (indicating jurisdiction, among other things) had been cropped out, priming the image to be shared by a larger audience. Nothing claimed in the flyer was particularly bad or harmful advice, but it also targeted assault victims and made promises that might not always be true, such as that a hospital escort would be available. Further, statements about preventive care following an assault are worthy of double-checking, because of the decreased efficacy of such treatments over the course of hours following an assault. The meme’s first claim is that it is possible to seek medical treatment without reporting the rape or assault to the police, a statement that is gray at best. Confidentiality standards maintained by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) require sexual assault hotlines to adhere to privacy policies, but we found no sweeping guarantee in the United States that any third party was prohibited from reporting a suspected rape or assault to local authorities. According to the National Network to End Domestic Violence, Inc., in some situations mandated reporters are bound to report suspected assault or rape regardless of the victim’s wishes: Depending on to whom you report the abuse, if it involves a minor, there may be mandatory reporting requirements for minor victims. Many states require that health professionals, school officials, and counselors report any accusations of sexual assault, rape, or unlawful sexual contact to child protective services and/or to the police if the victim is a minor. Mandatory reporting requirements vary by state. You can look up your states specific laws on mandatory reporting requirements for minors in RAINN’s State Law Database. If you are a minor and you want to talk to an adult about sexual assault or abuse without having it be reported to the police or child protective services, it may be a good idea to ask the adult if s/he is a mandatory reporter before you talk to him/her. If s/he says “yes,” you can ask if s/he can refer you to someone who you can talk to confidentially (who is not a mandatory reporter). Alternatively, you may want to call a national or state hotline anonymously without giving any identifying information about yourself. A 2013 question-and-answer piece published by Cleveland’s Plain Dealer clarifies: There is no requirement [a victim] talk to police [if they visit a hospital following a rape or assault]. However, a hospital must inform law enforcement that a probable crime has occurred. If you are an adult, the report can be made without providing your name. In 2014, Canadian broadcast outlet CBC reported that a hospital visit does not automatically trigger police involvement in Canada, again stipulating that minors do not have the option of refusing police involvement. The meme also said that evidence can be collected for up to five days and would be held for six months in the event the victim opted to involve police at a later date. This is potentially misleading. According to the National Center for Victims of Crime [PDF], the length of time kits are held by law enforcement fluctuates: This varies from state to state, but is generally equal to the statute of limitations for sexual assault in that state and the amount of time proscribed in the state’s evidence retention laws. There may be reasons to keep the kit indefinitely because of future changes in the statute or technological advances that may provide for future testing. The same organization noted that advances in DNA testing enabled evidence collection in some cases for up to 96 hours (four days) after an assault. But 12 to 24 hours [PDF] is optimal for investigative purposes, and evidence can deteriorate at the upper end of that window: In general, once a body fluid dries to form a stain, the DNA is stable and, thus, can be analyzed over time. However, due to the adverse impact of various environmental conditions (mainly heat and humidity), biological material should be collected for use as evidence as soon as possible. In sexual assault cases, it is important to obtain evidence samples from the victim as soon as possible after the incident, preferably within 12-24 hours. Federal guidelines for sexual assault nurse examiners state that evidence in sexual assault cases should be collected within 72 hours, though some programs are expanding that deadline to 96 hours due to advances in DNA technology. With appropriate storage, DNA evidence collected properly and in a timely manner can be analyzed after the passage of any amount of time. In other words, four days is stretching the bounds of forensics, and not all jurisdictions hold samples for up to six months. In addition, advocacy groups routinely advise victims to avoid the following before collecting evidence: The meme went on to claim that testing for incapacitating drugs could occur between 24 and 72 hours after an assault, which is complicated by the breadth of substances that fall into that particular category. Although rohypnol (roofies) and gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) are commonly recognized as agents used to incapacitate victims, alcohol and benzodiazepines also are classed as drugs associated with date rape. GHB has a short half-life, but rohypnol can appear in tests for approximately 28 days. The range of drugs used to facilitate non-consensual sexual encounters is broad enough that a specific window of 24 to 72 hours does not fit that wide spectrum. Next, the flyer says that medications to prevent sexually transmitted disease and pregnancy must be started within 72 hours.” The World Health Organization’s guidance on post-assault care recommends something different: The decision to offer STI prophylaxis should be made on a case-by-case basis. Routine prophylactic treatment of all patients is not generally recommended. When agencies and organizations do recommend prophylactic antibiotics, we found no time limit included. With respect to emergency contraceptives, intra-uterine devices (IUDs) were considered effective for five days after a rape or unprotected sexual encounter. Oral emergency contraceptives (the “morning after pill”) are not typically recommended after 72 hours, and work best when used as soon as possible after exposure to pregnancy risk. The final bullet point appears specific to whatever entity originally published the list. The claim that victims can obtain an escort without a number to call or other resource provided is open-ended, and clearly not applicable in all situations. According to RAINN, there is a possibility (but no guarantee) victims can connect with the support described on the sheet: If you call the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE) or contact a local sexual assault service provider, you may be connected with an advocate who can talk to you about the examination and offer support. The advocate may also be able to accompany you during the actual exam. Be aware that if you invite someone other than an advocate into the exam room, they could be called as a witness if you decide to report the crime.
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2295
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Hangover cure is elusive but symptom relief fizzles and flows.
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Revelers are preparing to ring in the New Year with parties and celebrations, and those whose heads are still ringing will spend their first waking hours of 2015 searching for hangover relief.
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true
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Health News
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Although there are drinks, tablets and home-made remedies, a cure for the throbbing headache, nausea, fatigue and thirst that can follow a night of drinking has remained elusive. “There are no hangover cures,” said Dr. George Koob, director of the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health. Koob said there is evidence that low to moderate drinking can have beneficial health effects, but hangovers are a symptom of a bigger problem: excessive drinking. “There are no medications that you can take for a hangover,” he added in an interview, “and we’re not putting any money into it.” Along with increased thirst and dizziness, excessive drinking can irritate the stomach, cause blood vessels to dilate and lead to a drop in blood sugar causing general weakness and tiredness. There is no cure for excessive drinking but there are products ranging from tablets and drinks to IV infusions to relieve hangover symptoms. The makers of Blowfish offer a money-back guarantee if the effervescent tablets containing aspirin and caffeine sold over the counter do not work. “In terms of the guarantee, we do occasionally have people take us up on it,” said Blowfish founder Brenna Haysom, adding so far it has only been a few customers. Aspirin and Alka-Seltzer are other popular remedies. In Australia, high-dose, B-vitamin tablets have been used for decades. Researchers at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, found that lemon-lime soda was effective in cutting the length of a hangover. They examined 57 beverages ranging from teas, herbal drinks and sodas. Kevin Zraly, author of “Windows on the World Complete Wine Course” said dehydration plays a part in hangovers, so he drinks plenty of water. “That’s why for every glass of wine I consume, I will have two glasses of water,” he explained. For a more expensive option than a water bottle, hydration clinics have sprung up in London, Chicago, Miami and other cities to provide intravenous (IV) fluids. For a fee ranging from $150 to $250, a doctor will attach clients to an IV containing saline solution with electrolytes, Vitamin B supplements and other formulations to help them recover from hangovers and jet lag.
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5551
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Justice Ginsburg reports she’s on way to ‘well’ after cancer.
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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Saturday she’s “alive” and on her way to being “very well” following radiation treatment for cancer.
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true
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme courts, Cancer, Pancreatic cancer, General News, Politics, U.S. Supreme Court, Radiation therapy, AP Top News, Courts, Health
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Ginsburg, 86, made the comments at the Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington. The event came a little over a week after Ginsburg disclosed that she had completed three weeks of outpatient radiation therapy for a cancerous tumor on her pancreas and is now disease-free. It is the fourth time over the past two decades that Ginsburg, the leader of the court’s liberal wing, has been treated for cancer. She had colorectal cancer in 1999, pancreatic cancer in 2009 and lung cancer surgery in December. Both liberals and conservatives watch the health of the court’s oldest justice closely because it’s understood the Supreme Court would shift right for decades if Republican President Donald Trump were to get the ability to nominate someone to replace her. On Saturday, Ginsburg, who came out with the book “My Own Words” in 2016, spoke to an audience of more than 4,000 at Washington’s convention center. Near the beginning of an hour-long talk, her interviewer, NPR reporter Nina Totenberg, said: “Let me ask you a question that everyone here wants to ask, which is: How are you feeling? Why are you here instead of resting up for the term? And are you planning on staying in your current job?” “How am I feeling? Well, first, this audience can see that I am alive,” Ginsburg said to applause and cheers. The comment was a seeming reference to the fact that when she was recuperating from lung cancer surgery earlier this year, some doubters demanded photographic proof that she was still living. Ginsburg went on to say that she was “on my way” to being “very well.” As for her work on the Supreme Court, which is on its summer break and begins hearing arguments again Oct. 7, Ginsburg said she will “be prepared when the time comes.” Ginsburg, who was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1993, did not directly answer how long she plans to stay on the court. Earlier this summer, however, she reported a conversation she had with former Justice John Paul Stevens, who retired from the court in 2010 at age 90. Ginsburg said she told Stevens: “My dream is to remain on the court as long as you did.” Stevens responded: “Stay longer.” He died in July at age 99. Ginsburg said Saturday that she loves her job. “It’s the best and the hardest job I’ve ever had,” she said. “It has kept me going through four cancer bouts. Instead of concentrating on my aches and pains, I just know that I have to read this set of briefs, go over the draft opinion. So I have to somehow surmount whatever is going on in my body and concentrate on the court’s work.” Ginsburg’s appearance Saturday was not her first following her most recent cancer announcement. Earlier this week she spoke at an event at the University at Buffalo, where she also accepted an honorary degree. At the time she talked only briefly about her most recent cancer scare, saying she wanted to keep her promise to attend the event despite “three weeks of daily radiation.” ___ Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at twitter.com/jessicagresko.
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29068
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Letter from Indiana state representative accuses the Girl Scouts of being a radicalized organization that promotes abortions and homosexuality.
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Letter from Indiana state representative accuses the Girl Scouts of being a radicalized organization that promotes abortions and homosexuality.
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mixture
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Politics Sexuality, abortion, ASP Article, girl scouts
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In February 2012, Indiana state representative Bob Morris sent the above-quoted letter to House Republicans to explain why he refused to add his name to a resolution celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts (a resolution which was passed unanimously by the rest of the Indiana House), maintaining that the Girl Scouts are a “radicalized organization” that promotes abortions and homosexuality and serves as a “tactical arm” of Planned Parenthood. In response, Planned Parenthood of Indiana (PPIN) President and CEO Betty Cockrum issued the following statement: It was disappointing to read Rep. Morris’ inflammatory, misleading, woefully inaccurate and harmful words about Planned Parenthood, the Girl Scouts of America, and the President and First Lady.PPIN does not produce nor distribute the materials Rep. Morris referenced. Planned Parenthood of Indiana is first and foremost a provider of affordable, high-quality health care, serving more than 100,000 Hoosiers across the state. Our nonprofit provides preventive services such as life-saving cancer screenings, Pap tests, birth control, testing and treatment for STDs, as well as sexual health education and health counseling. As part of our sexual education services, we offer a variety of age-appropriate education services developed by trained professionals. On the national level, inflammatory and generally inaccurate claims about a partnership between the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood have been promoted primarily by anti-choice lawmakers seeking to place pressure on organizations to disassociate or distance themselves from Planned Parenthood. As part of their campaign against the Girl Scouts, these groups are also attacking the Girl Scouts’ policies on sexual orientation and gender identity. Planned Parenthood currently has no formal partnership with the Girl Scouts, but supports their mission and recognizes their century of contributions to our society. According to the Associated Press, Morris’ comments were dismissed by his fellow lawmakers: The scouts and Planned Parenthood have dismissed Rep. Bob Morris’ comments as absurd, as did Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma.Morris’ comments were the butt of jokes inside the House, with Bosma spending much of the day handing out Thin Mints to lawmakers. He joked that Morris’ comments led him to buy hundreds of cases of the famous Girl Scout cookies. “I purchased 278 cases of Girl Scout cookies in the last four hours,” said a clearly sarcastic Bosma, who closed the session by asking the former Girl Scouts in the chamber to stand up. At the end of the session, he brushed off the controversy, saying “I’ve been to the carnival before, and you don’t walk into every sideshow tent.” No other Republican representative expressed support for the letter. Morris’ comments about the Girl Scouts came in a letter he sent to House Republicans that said he had conducted some research on the Internet and discovered that the scouts are a “tactical arm” of Planned Parenthood. The Girl Scouts flatly denied Morris’ accusations, and Planned Parenthood of Indiana issued a separate statement calling Morris’ charges “woefully inaccurate.” Morris, in his letter to lawmakers, said some Christian conservatives who share his concerns have pulled their children out of Girl Scouts. He also pointed to a Colorado Girl Scout troop’s acceptance of a transgender child last month as another reason to leave the group. The Girl Scouts of America issued their own statement on the matter, saying: Regarding Representative Morris, if the freshman representative wishes to discredit the contributions that hundreds of thousands of Indiana women and girls have made through the Girl Scouts program over the last 100 years, then he’s entitled to his opinion. Not only is Rep. Morris off the mark on his claims, it’s also unfortunate in his limited research that he failed to discover that since 1917, every First Lady has served as the honorary leader of Girl Scouts including Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush and Laura Bush.We believe that leadership is about hearing from all sides of an issue before making up one’s mind. We only wish we had the chance to speak with Freshman Representative Morris before he distributed his letter Victor Inzunza, Director of Corporate Communications for Girl Scouts of the USA, also said that: As for the specific issues mentioned in Rep. Morris letter, in 2011 a Colorado chapter of the Girl Scouts initially refused, then allowed, a 7-year-old transgender girl to join their organization: The leader of a Girl Scouts troop in Denver initially told 7-year-old Bobby Montoya that he couldn’t join because, “he has boy parts.”But the organization had a change of heart, saying, “Girl Scouts is an inclusive organization and we accept all girls in Kindergarten through 12th grade as members. “If a child identifies as a girl and the child’s family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout.” Bobby Montoya was born with male genitalia but has been convinced since the age of 2 that he is a girl. His biggest worry, said his mother, is that he will have to change his name. “I believe he was born in the wrong body,” said Felisha Archuleta, who admitted that even she has difficulty switching from male to female pronouns when talking about her son. “I thought Bobby would grow out of it,” she said. “For birthdays, he asked for ponies. He had a princess birthday, and last year when he turned 7, he had a Rapunzel birthday. I have just basically supported him.” Bobby has told his mother he believed he was a girl ever since he was very young, said Archuleta. “He just liked girl stuff. When he was 4 or 5, he asked me, ‘Why didn’t you make me a girl? '” The issue of the Girl Scouts’ using a Planned Parenthood sex education pamphlet entitled “Happy, Healthy, and Hot” was touched on in a Daily Beast article about sisters Tess and Sydney Volanski, who left the Girl Scouts because they felt the Girl Scouts had a “pro-abortion mind-set” and a “radical feminist agenda”: The Volanskis’ gripe with the Girl Scouts began in earnest when the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) attended the U.N.’s Commission on the Status of Women. At the conference, 30 to 35 teenagers from around the world participated in the Girls Only Workshop, a panel discussion about global issues affecting girls.The Volanskis and their supporters say that during the workshop, a brochure about HIV health, family planning, and reproductive rights entitled “Happy, Healthy, and Hot” was distributed to the teen girls. According to the GSUSA, the brochure in question was not distributed at the WAGGGS workshop, but was from a different event at the conference. There was also a march for women’s reproductive rights at the conference — rights that include “accessible, affordable, and safe abortions,” according to the WAGGGS website. The events that transpired at the conference, as stated on the Volanskis’ blog, were perceived as part of GSUSA’s “corrupt” plan to promote “Planned Parenthood, promiscuity, and abortion to their members, as well as a political agenda.” The Girl Scouts have asserted that the national organization “maintains a neutral position on abortion and birth control,” but local chapters may partner with outside groups in covering those issues: The GSUSA officially maintains a neutral position on abortion and birth control. Because the organization has a two-tiered leadership structure, however, local or regional chapters have the autonomy to partner with organizations of their choice, which may include, say, Planned Parenthood affiliates (or, for that matter, conservative organizations).”In some areas of the country, Girl Scout troops or groups may choose to hold discussions about human sexuality and may choose to collaborate with a local organization that specializes in these areas,” said the GSUSA in a statement. “The topic is discussed from a factual, informative point of view and does not include advocacy or promotion of any social or religious perspective.” Last updated: 23 February 2012
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12958
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Miami-Dade is "the first community in the world to break the cycle of local transmission of the Zika virus.
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"Gimenez said Miami-Dade is ""the first community in the world to break the cycle of local transmission of the Zika virus."" The CDC says that Wynwood, an area in Miami, was the first to break local transmission in September. The last of four local transmission zones was lifted Dec. 9. There are some caveats about Gimenez’s claim, including that only one other county in the United States had local cases, and a far smaller number. Some other places took a far greater hit from Zika than Florida did. Experts caution that Zika cases could return to South Florida, a point Gimenez also acknowledged in his speech."
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true
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Public Health, Florida, Carlos Gimenez,
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"Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said that in 2016 the county became a global leader in fighting the mosquito-borne Zika virus. ""We were the first community in the world -- let me repeat that -- the first community and I believe the only community in the world to break the cycle of local transmission of the Zika virus,"" Gimenez said during his State of the County speech Jan. 18. However, Gimenez didn’t declare Zika dead forever -- he warned that the county must remain vigilant: ""We may be in the off season, but that does not mean that our work is over."" Gimenez, a Republican re-elected to his last term in November, has a point about local transmission. The last of the four local transmission zones were cleared in Miami-Dade by mid December 2016. However, he omitted some caveats about Zika transmission and Miami-Dade’s special circumstances compared with the rest of the world. Zika in Miami-Dade Zika has been around for decades. But the current outbreak started in 2015, when Brazil reported cases of more babies being born with abnormally small heads, a condition called microcephaly. That condition was connected to mothers infected with Zika. The Centers for Disease Control defines areas of active Zika virus transmission as having two or more locally acquired cases of Zika virus infection, within two weeks, within 1 square mile. Those cases must be in separate households, with travel and sex ruled out as potential causes. Using those guidelines, the Florida Department of Health declared active Zika transmission zones and then lifted them when 45 days passed without any new local cases in those zones. In July, the first local Zika cases were reported in Miami-Dade County. Over the next few months, the state declared four local Zika transmission zones. The state lifted the first zone, in Wynwood -- a trendy area near downtown Miami -- Sept. 19. That was the first community in the world to break local transmission, CDC spokesman Benjamin Haynes said. The state lifted the last of the four zones, in part of South Beach, on Dec. 9. But officials didn’t declare Zika entirely kicked to the curb forever; Miami-Dade remained a ""cautionary area"" according to the CDC. Officials warned that isolated cases could continue to appear -- the most recent one was Dec. 15. Let’s look at how Miami-Dade compared with some other areas in curbing Zika. In addition to Miami-Dade, only one other area in the United States had local Zika cases: Brownsville, Texas. Miami-Dade reported 257 cases of local transmission, while Brownsville reported six. The Texas Department of Health never declared a local transmission zone in Brownsville, but the CDC called it a ""cautionary area."" It’s difficult to compare Miami-Dade to other places where the Zika virus has been far more widespread. Brazil has had more than 128,000 cases and continues to battle Zika. Local transmission continues in Puerto Rico, which had more than 100 new cases this month and more than 37,000 since 2015. In Singapore, the government designated ""Zika clusters"" and announced that it had no more Dec. 15 after its last new case was reported Dec. 10. However, the ""only place it really stopped is in Florida,"" said Daniel Epstein, a spokesman for the Pan American Health Organization. There were other areas in the world where Zika dropped off before it hit Miami-Dade. For example, the outbreak in French Polynesia affected an estimated 28,000 people and lasted until 2014, said Monika Gehner, a WHO spokeswoman. Some caveats While Miami-Dade got kudos from the CDC for efforts to curb Zika, experts caution that it can return, particularly when the temperature rises. It’s too early to claim elimination, said Duane J. Gubler, an emerging infectious disease expert at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. ""The absence of reported cases for a few months does not confirm the transmission cycle is broken,"" she said. ""After a year with active surveillance, I would probably accept it."" Florida also has certain advantages compared with other places of the world that have been struck by Zika, including better access to testing patients to verify that the virus is actually Zika. Also, in South Florida, with air conditioning and screens and modest mosquito density levels, transmission is less likely than countries that have less of that protection, University of Florida biostatistics professor Ira Longini said. ""There is no cycle to break,"" he said. ""Sustained transmission is impossible, but you do get small outbreaks when introductions occur."" Our ruling Gimenez said Miami-Dade is ""the first community in the world to break the cycle of local transmission of the Zika virus."" The CDC says that Wynwood, an area in Miami, was the first to break local transmission in September. The last of four local transmission zones was lifted Dec. 9. There are some caveats about Gimenez’s claim, including that only one other county in the United States had local cases, and a far smaller number. Some other places took a far greater hit from Zika than Florida did. Experts caution that Zika cases could return to South Florida, a point Gimenez also acknowledged in his speech."
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9823
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Red wine prevents breast cancer? I’ll drink to that!
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It’s ironic that we just published two blog pieces last week that mentioned surrogate markers (both links appear in our comments below), and along comes this story trumpeting a finding that involved only surrogate markers – without any of the expected caveats. The LA Times publishes an excellent Healthy Skeptic column. The principles of that column needed to be employed in this story. How would you expect women who want to prevent breast cancer to react when they see a headline and a first sentence like the one this story had? But the story did not include the wisdom that appeared in the news release promoting the study: “Until larger studies are done, (one of the study co-authors) would not recommend that a non-drinker begin to drink red wine.”
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mixture
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breast cancer,red wine
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Not applicable. The cost of red wine is not in question. The story suggests benefits throughout: But the study it reported only pointed to surrogate markers – hormone levels – not to any outcomes that are immediately meaningful in women’s lives. The limitations of this finding simply weren’t discussed. Readers would be well advised to read last Friday’s blog post about The Ten Commandments of the New Therapeutics. Two of them came into play in this story: The story included past warnings about alcohol consumption for “women intent on warding off breast cancer.” As already noted, the story didn’t discuss the limitations of surrogate markers. Readers would also be well advised to see our blog post about a recent BMJ editorial, “The idolatry of the surrogate.” And, while it mentioned that this was a small study, it didn’t offer any comment about the limitations in trying to draw conclusions from such a tiny sample. Instead, it emphasized the researcher’s self-description of this as a “rigorous study.” Finally, the story does not mention that the findings are at odds with a systematic review of available evidence, which concluded, based on dozens of studies, that “alcoholic drinks are or may be a cause of various cancers, irrespective of the type of alcoholic drink. The causal factor is evidently alcohol (ethanol) itself. There is no significant evidence that alcohol protects against any cancer. The extent to which alcoholic drinks are a cause of various cancers depends on the amount of alcohol drunk.” There was no disease mongering of breast cancer. There was no second source, no independent source. That would have helped. The story compares red wine with the class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors. But that class of drugs has a long track record. This was a tiny, very short-term study of red wine. Yet the story allowed the researchers to assert that “this this was the first rigorous study to find that red wine is a ‘nutritional aromatase inhibitor in healthy premenopausal women.’ ” That’s a pretty bold comparison after such a preliminary finding. An independent expert probably would have challenged that, but the story didn’t provide any such challenge. Not applicable. The availability of red wine is not in question. The story offered some context about other wine-breast cancer research and pointed out how and why this result was different. The story didn’t rely solely or largely on a news release. Even the Cedars-Sinai news release, though, included more caveats than the story did. The news release stated: “that large-scale studies still are needed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of red wine to see if it specifically alters breast cancer risk. He cautioned that recent epidemiological data indicated that even moderate amounts of alcohol intake may generally increase the risk of breast cancer in women. Until larger studies are done, he said, he would not recommend that a non-drinker begin to drink red wine.” A bit different than the story putting “I’ll drink to that” in the headline, “might be the next big thing in breast cancer prevention” in the first sentence, and signing off with with “L’chaim!”
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8197
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Venezuela expands quarantine as number of coronavirus cases climbs to 33.
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Venezuela will implement a nationwide quarantine after detecting 16 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, President Nicolas Maduro said, adding that the total number of cases in the South American country had risen to 33.
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true
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Health News
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The country began a quarantine on Monday in a handful of regions, but many across the country went out anyway, saying they could not afford to stay indoors or skip work as the once-prosperous OPEC nation suffers an economic collapse marked by shortages of basic goods and a collapse in public services. In a state television address on Monday evening, Maduro said that the quarantine had been successful so far, but that more drastic measures were necessary. That came as governments across Latin America, which until recently had been less affected by the virus, took more drastic measures. “The real crisis... is just starting,” Maduro said, calling the nationwide quarantine “necessary” and “indispensable.” But earlier on Monday, Jose Luis Nieves, a 32-year-old foraging for food in a garbage dump by Caracas’ Plaza Venezuela, said he could not afford to stay indoors. He said he earns the equivalent of $2 a month recycling cardboard and plastic he finds in the street. “If we don’t work, we don’t eat,” he said, a dirty white mask hanging from his neck. “Otherwise my kids are going to die of hunger. We have to head out like always.” Maduro’s government is encouraging all Venezuelans to wear masks for protection, although the World Health Organization says healthy people should only wear one if they are caring for someone with the virus and that they are only effective if used in combination with frequent hand-cleaning. Venezuela has not yet confirmed any deaths from the virus, and Maduro said each of the patients who had tested positive had contracted it abroad. But the decay of the country’s public health system has raised alarm about whether Maduro’s government is in a position to control its spread. Opposition leader Juan Guaido said his team had obtained 3,500 protection kits for caregivers at five hospitals in the country. “If their daily work is already difficult because of a lack of water, electricity and basic items, with coronavirus the risk is exponential,” Guaido said in a video posted on social media Monday night. “The truth is that the Venezuelan state does not have the capacity to respond to this pandemic.” Maduro said Venezuela would receive shipments of medicine from Cuba, as well as protective gear and testing kits from China - two major allies who have stood by his socialist government as most Western countries have called on him to resign, arguing he rigged his re-election vote in 2018. Authorities on Monday set up military checkpoints on the main roads entering Caracas and were turning away some drivers, according to Reuters witnesses. Intelligence officials were also guarding entrances to some supermarkets in the city to ensure all customers were wearing masks. In the western city of Maracaibo, which was among the areas quarantined on Monday, some clothing stores, hardware stores, markets and other commercial establishments were functioning, while banks and gas stations were closed, according to a Reuters witness. “I put on my face mask and go out to work,” said Ivaldo Prieto, a 75-year-old street vendor. “Now we cannot even go to collect the pension because the banks are closed.” A collapse of oil prices in the past week threatened to further aggravate the six-year recession in Venezuela’s oil-dependent economy. Maduro said that at current oil prices, the value of a barrel of Venezuelan oil was below the cost of production. He said he had met with representatives of a leading private sector industry association on Monday, and said the government would provide a benefit to citizens to help them cope with the crisis, without providing details. “We need to guarantee the functioning of the economy during the quarantine,” Maduro said.
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