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33762	The face of the CPR training mannequin was modeled after the deceased daughter of the doctor who invented it.	"Many CPR students have been taught to check if a patient is unconscious by gently shaking the doll and calling, ""Annie, are you OK?"" But was there once a real ""Annie""?"	false	Medical, Emergency Room	Because potentially fatal accidents often occur when trained medical help is elsewhere, members of the general public have taken it upon themselves to learn CPR, a life-saving technique that is a combination of rescue breathing, which provides oxygen to the victim’s lungs, and chest compressions, which keep oxygenated blood circulating until an effective heartbeat and breathing can be restored. One of the tools that has helped many of them to master the requisite skills is the CPR dummy, a full-body or head-and-torso mannequin used for practicing the CPR routine. Some people have raised questions about the history behind that mannequin: I have just completed my recertification for a CPR class had again heard the story of how “Annie” the CPR doll came to be. I was wondering if the legend is true or not. As the story goes.. A Swedish doctor’s 16 yr old daughter drowned in an ice covered pond behind his house. When they got to her they did not do CPR on her because the paramedics did not have the training. When the DR asked why they did not do CPR it was explained that the only way to train CPR was on a cadaver — so the good DR then made “Annie” to help train others on CPR. “Annie” and the male version “Andy” were made to look like his daughter at 16, blond hair, short and named after her “Annie” as a tribute to her. While there are many CPR dummies or mannequins on the market, the face of the one most widely used was modeled on that of an anonymous young woman whose body was fished from the Seine around the turn of the 20th century. It was believed she had taken her own life, but since she was never identified, no details of her life were known and the events leading to her demise remain a mystery. The unknown girl was entered in the books at the Paris morgue as “ecadavre feminin inconnu” (unknown female cadaver) before her remains were disposed of in an unmarked pauper’s grave. A death mask was made of her features, but it is unclear if this was done in furtherance of attempts to establish her identity or because an unnamed morgue attendant was so taken by her visage that he took it upon himself to craft a memento of her beauty. (It is not true that death masks were routinely made of all decedents who graced the Paris morgue with their presence. Instead, beginning in 1881, the bodies of up to fourteen unknown persons would be laid out in a chilled room fronted by a plate glass window before which an endless train of the curious would pass, in hopes that some of the passersby would recognize some of the morgue’s unidentified guests. Unknown Paris, a volume of engravings from 1893 about the city’s less savory landmarks, said of it: “There is not a single window in Paris that attracts more onlookers than this.”) The death mask of the girl who came to be known as “L’Inconnue de la Seine” made it out of the morgue by unknown means and into the souvenir shops. Its serene beauty, displaying a calm repose the real girl had perhaps not known in life, spoke to people. The mask took on a life of its own, becoming a “must have” objet d’art, and several factories were engaged at once to produce it in vast numbers. In the mid-1950s, Dr. Peter Safar, a pioneer in emergency medicine, developed a method of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation combined with chest compression; in 1958 he presented a paper on this technique in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Safar believed his methods could be employed by those outside the medical field to save lives, provided these laypeople were given adequate training in his techniques. To more effectively teach this procedure to them, he envisioned having a life-sized doll that novices to cardiopulmonary resuscitation could practice on, and so he approached toymaker Asmund Laerdal with the idea of developing a realistic mannequin for CPR training. Laerdal took up the challenge. The face Laerdal used for his training dummy was that of “L’Inconnue de la Seine,” the by-then well-traveled death mask of an unknown Parisian girl. The modern CPR dummy was built in 1960 and sold under the name “Resusci Anne.” In North America she has been christened “CPR Annie.” Many a student of basic CPR has been taught to check if a patient is unconscious by gently shaking the doll and calling, “Annie, Annie, are you OK?” The legend collides with reality in that while the doctor behind the creation of CPR Annie did not model its face after that of his deceased daughter, he was indeed the father of a girl who died in childhood. In 1954, Dr. Peter Safar and his wife, Eva, produced a daughter, whom they named Elizabeth. This girl child came into the world prematurely, and soon after her birth she was diagnosed with severe asthma. She suffered from this malady throughout her brief life, which ended at age eleven in 1966 after she underwent an asthma attack and slipped into a coma.
26717	“The coronavirus was invented and patented in the USA and then planted in China.”	There is no evidence the coronavirus was “invented.” The best available information is that it originated with an animal in China and then infected humans.	false	China, Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, YouTube videos,	"Did someone invent and patent the coronavirus in the United States only to plant it in China? That’s what one YouTube video shared on Facebook claims in yet another bogus coronavirus conspiracy theory that attempts to conflate a real news story with misinformation: ""The coronavirus was invented and patented in the USA and then planted in China,"" reads the YouTube headline. But the seven-minute video, which had more than 81,000 views as of March 9, 2020, provides no evidence to back up the headline. Instead, it shows footage from an unrelated press conference. 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.) The video shows footage of U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling at an actual Jan. 28, 2020, news conference describing cases of ""Chinese economic espionage and research thefts in the United States."" But the video has been edited to include a jazz track and captions that were not a part of the original media event. During the press conference, Lelling announced the arrest of Harvard University professor Charles Lieber for allegedly lying about his participation in a Chinese program to recruit foreign talent to China. The Justice Department charged Lieber and two Chinese nationals in connection with aiding the Chinese government. Lieber allegedly lied about his contact with the Chinese program known as the Thousand Talents Plan, which the U.S. has previously flagged as a serious intelligence concern, and about a lucrative contract he signed with China's Wuhan University of Technology. How does this relate to the current coronavirus outbreak? It doesn’t. While Novel coronavirus 2019, or COVID-19, was first detected in China’s Wuhan Province, there is no connection between coronavirus and the investigation into Lieber’s activities involving Wuhan University of Technology: There is no mention of coronavirus in the news release or in news reports about the case. At one point in the YouTube video, a partial document is superimposed over the screen. It makes reference to ""United States Patent Rota et al. — Coronavirus isolate from humans"" and what appears to be a list of inventors, beginning with Paul A. Rota, of Decatur, Ga. That document is the patent awarded in 2007 to Rota and others for ""a newly isolated human coronavirus (SARS-CoV), the causative agent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)."" It was a patent for genetic sequencing and was filed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FactCheck.org explained. FactCheck.org and the fact-checking organization Snopes have both reported there is no link between Lieber and the new coronavirus. Here’s what we know about how coronavirus emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan: COVID-19 ""is a zoonotic virus"" — that is, it was spread from animals to humans — according to a report from 25 international experts, including some from China and the U.S., convened by the World Health Organization. Bats ""appear to be the reservoir of COVID-19 virus,"" but the intermediate host or hosts — that is, how it went from bats to humans — has not been identified. Such viruses often originate in bats, although they sometimes can jump to another species before infecting humans. Chinese researchers have found a possible link between COVID-19 and pangolins, a mammal entirely covered in scales. Early on, many of the patients in Wuhan had some link to a large seafood and live animal market, suggesting animal-to-person spread, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Later, a growing number of patients reportedly did not have exposure to animal markets, indicating person-to-person spread. There is no credible evidence to back a claim that the coronavirus was invented in the U.S. ""and then planted in China."" The best available information is that the virus originated in China with an animal and then spread to humans."
33495	Steve Burns of TV's 'Blue's Clues' died of a heroin overdose.	Celebrity death hoax held that the host of the children's show 'Blue's Clues' passed away after a heroin overdose.	false	Entertainment, Broadcast Legends, celebrity death hoaxes, Radio & TV	Steve Burns, former host of Blue’s Clues, the popular television show for preschoolers broadcast on Nickelodeon, is exceedingly healthy and not the slightest bit dead. He’s neither been run over by a car nor done himself in by a heroin overdose, the two most popular paths this particular rumor has taken. (Another version claims he was arrested for heroin possession. That too is false, as is the rumor about his being a porn star.) More elaborate versions of the tale claim that he’s been replaced on the show by a look-alike. Rumors about Steve’s demise began surfacing early in December 1998, much to the distress of Steve and his family. To help refute the claims, Burns guested on The Rosie O’Donnell Show on 17 December 1998, and he and Blue’s Clues co-creator Angela Santomero also appeared on Today to discuss how parents might talk to their children about the rumor. Nonetheless, this false tidbit continues to circulate no matter how often or in how many places Steve shows up very much alive. Some parallels have been drawn between the rumors of this TV show’s host’s demise and equally specious claims that Paul McCartney died and was replaced with a look-alike while with the Beatles. At least half-jokingly, some viewers point to various items on the show or behaviors of the host as “clues” to Burns’ death. Though not exactly yet on par with the ‘I buried Paul’ “proofs,” things are getting there. Rumors of very-much-alive celebrities being dead are not uncommon. French movie star Isabelle Adjani battled the rumor of her demise in 1987, when whispers of her languishing on a deathbed and finally kicking the bucket swept France. In common with Burns’ experience, a wealth of detail was often provided by those passing along the story. Some versions specified the hospital where she had supposedly been cared for and even the number of the hospital room where she drew her last breath. To combat the rumor, Adjani made heavily-publicized appearances on the national evening news, accompanied by the president of France’s Ordre des Medicins (comparable to the American Medical Association), who certified her to be in the pink of health. Even so, there were still those who believed the rumor. In a poll taken only one month after her debunking blitz, more than two million people expressed their unshaken conviction she was ill. However, the impact of such a rumor is not quite the same when applied to a children’s host: “It’s very different from Paul McCartney,” said Angela Santomero, the show’s chief writer and one of its co-creators. “It’s very different when these are 2- to 5-year-old children you’re talking about. Steve has become someone they trust, someone they almost have a play date with and go on adventures with, and thinking he might not be there anymore is really upsetting to them . . . It’s like losing a caregiver.” The easy answer about why this rumor took hold would be to pin it on society’s distrust of children’s hosts, as expressed in rumors about these nice, smiling men not being all they seem. (Such a theme shows up in the Uncle Don and Mr. Rogers legends.) Yet it might all be a lot simpler than that. In the same year he began with Blue’s Clues, Burns put in an appearance on the popular TV show Law and Order. In the episode “Cruel and Unusual” (original air date 19 April 1995), he played Kevin Jeffries, an apparently drugged-out kid who died while in police custody. It’s possible the current rumor has its roots in someone’s seeing “Steve of Blue’s Clues” die, albeit on a completely different TV show. This sort of confusion would also explain the recurring theme of a heroin overdose rather than some other manner of death’s being associated with him. The role he played on Law and Order was one of an autistic young man who died after police mistakenly attributed his strange behavior to drug use. To children unable to fully distinguish between an actor and his television role, seeing or hearing Steve “die” on one television program could lead to a belief that the actor himself had died. In January 2001, Steve Burns chose to leave Blue’s Clues after a five-year run as its host, and the show’s producers announced his character would be replaced on the show by Steve’s “brother” Joe, played by actor Donovan Patton. The new host was slowly phased in (episodes featuring Steve Burns continued to air until Donovan Patton made his debut in April 2002) until Burns took his final leave of viewers to pursue other opportunities: Burns left Blue’s Clues in 2002. He has explained that he left in part simply because he felt it was time to move on. He also wanted to pursue his career in voice-over artistry. Burns has also cited burn out as one of the reasons he decided to make his exit. There is a funny side to Burn’s exit as well. At the time of his departure, he had started to go bald. He despised the idea of wearing a wig picked out by the people who forced him to wear a striped rugby shirt and khaki pants on television every day. And so, he left to keep his integrity intact. Steve’s character was eased out of the show gradually not to upset or confuse young viewers. Steve was replaced by his younger brother, Joe (played by Donovan Patton). The show aired a three-part special where Joe came to the house to learn to play Blue’s Clues. Steve told viewers he was going to college and packed to leave. Joe took over playing ‘Blue’s Clues’ with the children and Blue and when Steve said goodbye, he thanked the children for helping him grow.
11284	Silent heart attacks: What you donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t know could kill you	British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc said on Friday its immunotherapy cancer treatment Imfinzi has been granted a speedy review by the U.S. medicines watchdog for the treatment of a particularly aggressive type of lung cancer.	false		The company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted its supplemental application and granted priority review to Imfinzi for the treatment of previously untreated late-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The FDA decision is a boost for the treatment as it competes against similar medicines from rivals Merck and Roche, and follows data in September which showed Imfinzi prolonged survival in SCLC patients when used with chemotherapy. AstraZeneca has already carved out a niche for Imfinzi, which boosts the body’s immune system to fight cancer cells, in the more common cases of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with an existing approval for use in situations where tumors have only spread in the chest. The FDA in March approved Roche’s immunotherapy Tecentriq for the treatment of SCLC. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo is also approved in cases where patients fail at least two other treatments. A final decision to approve Imfinzi for SCLC is expected in the first quarter of 2020, AstraZeneca said.
6048	Man who threatened Trump family, media figures gets 5 years.	A Seattle-area man with a history of severe mental illness has been sentenced to five years in prison for making threats against President Donald Trump’s family, synagogues and media figures.	true	Mental health, Prisons, Health, Media, General News, Jared Kushner, Gun politics, Seattle, Brian Moran, Donald Trump	Chase Bliss Colasurdo was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty in May. He was arrested after posting a photo showing a gun pointed at a picture of Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law. He also made online threats to kill Donald Trump Jr. He bought ammunition but was blocked from purchasing a handgun because the Secret Service flagged him. The 27-year-old Colasurdo has a history of paranoid delusions. His attorney suggested he should serve less than a year in prison followed by five years of supervised release and mental health treatment. U.S. Attorney Brian Moran said the case highlights the “frightening intersection of mental illness and weapons.”
27726	Photograph shows a protester face-to-face with an NYPD officer.	It isn’t apparent from the photograph alone whether the young woman who is seemingly “standing fearlessly, pressed breasts-to-chest with a New York City police officer, passionately shouting in unchecked defiance as another officer looks on passively from a few paces away” is in fact screaming at the officer seen directly in front of her. The positioning and facial expressions of the persons in the image suggest that the woman might have been looking beyond the cop to shout at someone or something behind him (outside the right-hand frame of the camera), with the officer in the foreground positioned so as to prevent her from approaching any closer to the object of her ire.	true	Politics, eric garner, NYPD, police shootings	In July 2014, Eric Garner was stopped by Daniel Pantaleo and several other NYPD officers on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. After Garner protested that he was tired of being harassed and denied that he was selling cigarettes, several officers attempted to arrest him; Pantaleo took part in the efforts to restrain Garner, wrapping his arm around Garner’s neck for about 15 to 19 seconds as the 43-year-old suspect yelled, “I can’t breathe!” eleven times while lying face down on the sidewalk. Garner remained lying on the sidewalk for seven minutes while the officers waited for an ambulance to arrive and was pronounced dead at the hospital approximately one hour later. The entire incident was captured on video and prompted widespread outrage after a medical examiner concluded that Garner had been killed by “compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police”: In December 2014, a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict Daniel Pantaleo of criminal wrongdoing in the death of Eric Garner, with jurors determining there was not probable cause that a crime was committed by the NYPD officer and delivering a vote of “no true bill.” The non-indictment of Pantaleo prompted another wave of protests, at one of which New York Daily News photographer Stephanie Keith snapped the award-winning picture of “a young white woman at the demonstration near the Barclays Center screaming in an officer’s face, her open mouth inches from the cop’s chin”:
57	France pledges debt relief for hospitals, unions call another strike.	France will absorb 10 billion euros ($11.1 billion) of public hospital debt, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Wednesday, in an emergency measure designed to end months of protests by disgruntled doctors and nurses.	true	Health News	Philippe also promised an extra 1.5 billion euros over three years for hospitals, including an 800 euro bonus for 40,000 nurses and carers earning less than 1,900 euros per month. “The hospital crisis is nothing new. But it has gone through one of its acutest phases in recent months,” said Philippe. “Healthcare workers can’t go on like this any longer.” The government had hoped the package would stave off further unrest by hospital staff as public anger toward pension system reform mounts. However, within hours, trade unions said the new measures were “very far from our members’ expectations” and called for a strike in hospitals across France on Dec. 17. French transport workers and civil servants are already due to go on strike on Dec. 5. The 10 billion euros to be hoovered up by the state over three years represents nearly one third of the total debt burdening the public hospitals’ balance sheets. The hospital protests began in March and thousands of health workers marched through Paris last Thursday carrying banners that read “Public hospitals in life-threatening emergency”. President Emmanuel Macron’s government faces a possible winter of discontent if doctors and nurses join up with other discontented groups such as transport workers, civil servants and students threatening to go on strike. Medics say multi-billion euro spending cuts have stretched a healthcare system that was once the envy of the world to breaking point, with elderly patients left for hours on trolleys and doctors exhausted by stressful conditions. Philippe said 300 million euros of the extra money would become available next year. That means a budget increase for hospitals of 2.4% in 2020, against the 2.1% rise proposed in the draft 2020 budget - figures that drew derision from some medics. “Three hundred million next year when we’re demanding four billion, you can see where the problem is,” Christophe Prudhomme, spokesman for the Association of Emergency Room Doctors, told BFM TV. “We’re demanding a shock to the system.” Mireille Stivala of the hard-left CGT union told Reuters: “There will be enormous disappointment.” France’s budget deficit is estimated at 2.2% of national output next year, so the government has some wriggle room to absorb the extra funds for the hospitals without pushing the deficit over the 3% limit set by the European Union. “My objective is not to increase indefinitely the public debt. It is to give our hospitals some room for maneuver,” Philippe said.
1973	Michelle Obama urges Africa to advance women's rights.	First Lady Michelle Obama urged young Africans Wednesday to fight for women’s rights and battle the stigma of AIDS, using her husband’s “yes, we can” campaign slogan to motivate youth across the continent.	true	Health News	U.S. first lady Michelle Obama participates during breakout sessions at the Young African Youth Leaders Forum in Johannesburg, June 22, 2011. REUTERS/Charles Dharapak/Pool Obama is on her second solo trip abroad as first lady to promote issues such as education, health and wellness. But her speech to a group of young women and men at Regina Mundi Church, which played a role in South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement, touched on much harder topics: race, discrimination, democracy and development. Obama, who is traveling with her mother and two daughters, cited the leaders of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and the civil rights movement in the United States as examples for the younger generation to follow. “It is because of them that we are able to gather here today...It is because of them that I stand before you as First Lady of the United States of America,” she said to applause. “That is the legacy of the independence generation, the freedom generation. And all of you — the young people of this continent — you are the heirs of that blood, sweat, sacrifice and love.” Obama appeared visibly moved when the audience stood and sang an impromptu serenade as she approached the podium. Placing her hands over her heart, she thanked the crowd and seemed to choke back tears. She spoke passionately about women’s rights, saying the young leaders should ensure that women were no longer “second class citizens” and that girls were educated in schools. “You can be the generation that stands up and says that violence against women in any form, in any place, including the home — especially the home — that isn’t just a women’s rights violation. It’s a human rights violation,” she said. “You can be the generation that ends HIV/AIDS in our time, the generation that fights not just the disease, but the stigma of the disease, the generation that teaches the world that HIV is fully preventable and treatable, and should never be a source of shame,” she said to applause. Obama was introduced by Graca Machel, Nelson Mandela’s wife. She and her family met Mandela at his home Tuesday. Mrs. Obama said she told Mandela that he had been an inspiration to her and her husband, the first black president of the United States. “I told him that words can’t express how much your life has meant to who my husband is and who I am,” she said. “You know what he said? ‘OK, thanks,’” she continued, laughing. “There’s nothing new I can say to Nelson Mandela. But I felt good about being able to just say: ‘This is your legacy’.” The first lady said President Obama had not known whether she would meet with Mandela. “I still haven’t talked to the president,” Mrs. Obama said Wednesday afternoon. “He talked to the kids last night. I was tired.” She used her husband’s famous campaign slogan, which helped him win the 2008 presidential election, to urge the church audience to follow through on the issues she addressed. “If anyone ever tells you that you shouldn’t or you can’t, then I want you to say with one voice — the voice of a generation — you tell them: “Yes, we can.”
36513	"Video shows an ""abortion doctor"" stating that he ""loves killing babies."	Climate change is harming human health as more people suffer from heat stress, extreme weather and mosquito-borne diseases including malaria, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.	mixture	Fact Checks, Viral Content	The U.N. agency, in a report issued a day after a climate summit began in Madrid, urged governments to meet ambitious targets to reduce heat-trapping carbon emissions saying it could save a million lives a year through lower air pollution alone. “Health is paying the price of the climate crisis. Why? Because our lungs, our brains, our cardiovascular system is very much suffering from the causes of climate change which are overlapping very much with the causes of air pollution,” Maria Neira, Director of WHO’s Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, told a news briefing. Yet less than 1% of international financing for climate action goes to the health sector, she said, calling it “absolutely outrageous”. Global temperatures could rise sharply this century with “wide-ranging and destructive” consequences after greenhouse gas emissions hit record levels last year, international climate experts warned last week. “WHO considers that climate change is potentially the greatest health threat of the 21st Century,” said WHO expert Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum. “The reason for that is that unless we cut our carbon emissions, then we will continue to undermine our food supplies, our water supplies and our air quality - everything that we need to maintain the good health of our populations,” he said. The same sources cause air pollution and climate change, Campbell-Lendrum said, adding: “So about two-thirds of the exposure to outdoor air pollution is from burning of fossil fuels.” “WHO estimates that over 7 million people a year die from indoor and outdoor air pollution. That is where the big win is,” he said. Some 101 countries responded to WHO’s survey about the risks from climate change - but not big players including India and the United States. “Over two-thirds have assessed that they have increased risks from heat stress, from injury and death from extreme weather, from food, water and vector-borne diseases and those range from everything from cholera to malaria,” Campbell-Lendrum said.
9577	Hospitals Try Giving Patients a Dose of VR	The story focuses on the potential use of virtual reality (VR) headsets as clinical tools for helping patients deal with pain by distracting them. The impetus for the story appears to be the fact that the field of VR technology is experiencing rapid growth, which is making VR equipment less expensive. While the story makes clear that a lot of research needs to be done on VR as a tool for addressing pain, it does mention multiple studies that have already been completed — but it doesn’t offer much information about what those studies found. It also could have shown more caution about the claims made. For example, the story cites unnamed “proponents of virtual reality” as saying that VR “can be an effective treatment” for Alzheimer’s disease, arachnophobia and depression, but that’s left unexplained. It also said “the price of a headset and software is tiny compared to the expense of keeping a patient in the hospital for an extra day.” However, there’s no indication that use of a VR headset will reduce extra hospital stays, so we’re not sure why those two things are being compared without at least some explanation that this is a purely hypothetical economic side-benefit. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, more than 25 million U.S. adults experience chronic, or daily, pain. And “nearly 40 million adults (17.6 percent) experience severe levels of pain.” Those are big numbers, and pain is a big problem. While there are quite a few treatments available, given the scope of the problem, any new advance in pain management is certainly newsworthy.	true	pain,virtual reality	The story notes the cost of specific VR headsets (from $599 to $799) and says that users would also need to have a computer (costing approximately $999) to run the relevant software. Presumably, the games or other content for the VR systems would also cost money, which the story doesn’t address. The story also does not address whether any of these costs would be covered by insurance or government programs (at this point, probably not). Benefits aren’t quantified. The story mentions that, in some studies, “patients reported less discomfort.” The story also notes that one of these studies found that patients “actually experienced less pain.” However, it’s not clear how much less discomfort and pain. A little bit? A lot? Instead, the story relies heavily on anecdote; for example, citing two patients who found VR useful in addressing their pain. On a side note, the story also cites “proponents of virtual reality” as saying that VR “can be an effective treatment” for Alzheimer’s disease, arachnophobia and depression — then doesn’t expand on this or even mention any of those conditions again. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary support. Repeating claims from unnamed proponents about conditions that aren’t the subject of the story, and then not subjecting those claims to any critical analysis, does a disservice to readers. The story doesn’t address potential harms. The types of consumer-focused VR technology being discussed in this article are relatively new, and the field is undergoing rapid growth. As such, it can be difficult to determine what harms associated with VR use, much less what the extent of those harms might be. However, that doesn’t mean that nothing is known about potential risks associated with VR. One VR technology provider offers an overview of potential risks associated with its headset, and those risks range from dizziness and seizure for adults and children, to the potential for developmental problems related to balance, hand-eye coordination and multi-tasking in children. We don’t expect stories to list all of the potential harms associated with any given intervention, but we do expect there to be at least some acknowledgment that risks exist. The story refers to at least two completed studies, but tells readers virtually nothing about them. Have they been published or presented at conferences? How many patients participated? Did they use control groups? Not only does the story tell us very little about the studies, it doesn’t even give readers enough information to look the studies up themselves if they’d like more information (assuming the studies are even publicly available). Since the story is wide ranging in its definition of “pain” giving the reader additional resources would have been very useful. No disease mongering here. The story quotes multiple sources, and clearly identifies whether a source was associated with related research or (in one case) had financial ties to the VR industry. The story mentions a variety of other pain treatment options. The story would have been stronger if it had discussed if any comparative studies have been done. For example, it refers to pharmaceuticals, but primarily in order to point out that drug use can lead to drug tolerance and be addictive. Similarly, the story mentions that “hypnosis, yoga, and meditation decrease your perception of pain” — but only in a context that indicates VR may use a similar mechanism to also reduce pain. Could VR work as well as these treatment options? Could it work better? Could it be used in conjunction with other pain treatment approaches? Those are questions the story doesn’t address. Even acknowledging that there is uncertainty in this area is useful to readers curious about this intervention. The story discusses the availability of various VR technologies, but — more importantly — the story also stresses that much more research needs to be done on VR’s utility as a means of effectively treating pain. For example, the story says: “VR’s effectiveness still has to be proven, particularly when trying to combat chronic pain”; and “VR has a lot of promise, but it’s too early for it to be the standard of care”; and “There’s a lot more research needed before VR is going to be widely accepted as a pain relief method.” The story is, in essence, focused primarily on the novelty of using VR to treat pain — how it might work, why it may become increasingly popular as VR prices drop, and how much work still remains to be done. As a result, we’ll give it a Satisfactory rating. However, there are some things that could have been much more clear. For example, one of the researchers who is discussed in the story — Hunter Hoffman — has been publishing articles on VR’s use to address pain since at least 2000. And a search of Google Scholar turns up more than a dozen studies on the subject, including a review article that was published in 2009. In short, while much work certainly does need to be done, there’s more work out there than the story might lead readers to believe. The story would have been stronger if it had given readers some inkling of what researchers have already learned, based on the available literature. The story does not appear to be based on a news release.
26283	Facebook post Says wearing face masks is more harmful to your health than going without one.	There’s no evidence that wearing standard masks, such as surgical masks or ones made of fabric, is harmful to the general public. Some people with preexisting respiratory conditions may be at risk with prolonged use of tight-fitting masks, like N95 respirators. Those masks aren’t recommended for the general public.	false	Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,	"To mask or not to mask? That’s a question many people are asking themselves — and arguing about — these days. Federal health officials initially discouraged masks for the general public, only to revise their guidance later. To make matters more complicated, social media posts are claiming that wearing a mask can be more dangerous than going without one. One post, in part, reads: ""It is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria that can end up in your mouth & down into your lungs. I have learned that there are many harmful effects of rebreathing Carbon Dioxide (CO2)."" Another says: ""Mask wearing reduces oxygen up to 60%. Increases risks of CO2 poisoning. Causes increased face touching. Viruses and bacteria saturate the outside. Touching mask and surfaces spread germs. Contaminants sit within mask fibers, get reinhaled. Fresh air is vital for immune health!"" The posts were flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) There’s no evidence that wearing masks is harmful for the general public, except for people with certain medical conditions. Carbon dioxide is a natural byproduct of the body and part of the air, and people breathe it in and out all the time. Too much CO2 can certainly be life-threatening, but only at significantly high concentrations, experts say. Hypercapnia, a condition that arises when there is too much carbon dioxide in the blood, can cause headaches, drowsiness, vertigo, double vision, disorientation, tinnitus, seizures, or suffocation due to displacement of air. CO2 makes up only about 0.04% of the air we breathe, and is considered life-threatening when its concentration is greater than about 10%. The posts don’t specify the kinds of masks or how long someone would need to wear one to generate unhealthy CO2 levels, but medical experts say the risk is quite low for the general public who wear a typical cloth or surgical mask. Linsey Marr, a professor in airborne disease transmission at Virginia Tech, said it's possible that loose fibers in the masks can be inhaled, as one post claims, but ""contaminants in these fibers would have off-gassed into the air already, unless the mask is fresh off the assembly line."" Prolonged use of certain face masks, particularly tight-fitting medical-grade ones like the N95 respirator, can cause problems for people with respiratory illnesses. ""I don’t think that the general public wearing homemade face masks really poses a CO2 poisoning issue,"" Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease expert and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, told PolitiFact. ""There is data, however, that prolonged use of an N95 mask can increase blood CO2 levels, and therefore we do not recommend people wear N95 masks for a prolonged period of time. We also do not recommend the general public wear N95 masks."" The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that the general public wear cloth face masks in areas where social distancing isn’t possible, and says certain medical-grade masks, like the N95, should be reserved for health care workers who are in direct contact with infected patients. The CDC also says that facial coverings should not be placed on ""young children under age 2, anyone who has trouble breathing, or is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance."" The agency told Reuters that while CO2 that slowly builds up in masks over time, the level is mostly tolerable for people exposed to it. ""You  might get a headache but you most likely (would) not suffer the symptoms observed at much higher levels of CO2,"" Reuters quotes the CDC as saying. ""The mask can become uncomfortable for a variety of reasons including a sensitivity to CO2, and the person will be motivated to remove the mask. It is unlikely that wearing a mask will cause hypercapnia. "" Dr. Thomas Tsai, a surgeon and health policy researcher at Harvard’s School of Public Health also said he hasn’t seen any credible data to support the posts. ""I wear masks every day for hours and hours at a time and I've never once suffocated and passed out from CO2,"" Tsai said. ""On the margins we could probably find extreme cases where someone, somewhere with some condition has had an issue with a mask but that's not the average. There is absolutely no data to suggest that wearing a standard surgical or cloth mask under normal situations is deleterious to your health."" Facebook posts say that wearing a mask causes health problems, particularly from breathing in too much exhaled carbon dioxide. There is no credible data to back that up. Experts say prolonged use of N95 respirator masks can increase blood CO2 levels for people with breathing problems, but those masks are not recommended for the general public, and using ordinary cloth or surgical masks poses little or no risk from CO2."
25672	Donald Trump Says Joe Biden “abandoned Scranton.”	Biden’s family did move to Delaware when he was a kid. But Trump’s retelling is a distortion of Biden’s enduring relationship with his hometown. Throughout his time in Congress, Biden was often called the state’s “third senator.” Biden’s Scranton ties have even been satirized twice by Saturday Night Live. The North American Free Trade Agreement that Biden supported in 1993 had a direct impact on Scranton’s manufacturing sector.	false	National, Elections, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump,	"Hours before Joe Biden accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, President Donald Trump held a campaign rally just outside Biden’s childhood hometown and accused him of having ""abandoned"" the place. Biden was 10 when his family moved away from Scranton. Speaking to supporters gathered in Old Forge, Pa., Trump said this about Biden and Scranton: ""He keeps talking about, ‘I was born in Scranton. I lived in Scranton.’ Yeah, for a few years, and then he left for another state. You know the state. But this Scranton stuff. That’s why I figured I’d come here and explain to you one thing. But I think you people know it better than I do. He left! He abandoned Pennsylvania. He abandoned Scranton."" Biden’s family did move to Delaware when he was a kid. But Trump’s retelling is a distortion of Biden’s enduring relationship with his hometown. Our research shows that Biden maintained close personal relationships and professional ties to Scranton in the more than six decades since he left. Trump and his campaign also say Biden abandoned the people of Scranton less literally by supporting free trade policies that decimated the city’s manufacturing sector. We’ll get to that one in a bit. Biden’s Scranton roots trace back to 1851, when his paternal great-great-grandfather Patrick Blewitt left Ireland after the potato famine and immigrated to the city. He was an engineer who helped design the layout of Scranton’s streets. Biden’s maternal great-grandfather James Finnegan also came to Scranton after his father immigrated from Ireland in 1849. Biden’s parents and both sets of grandparents met in Scranton. He lived in the city until 1953, when his father, who had been commuting to Wilmington to clean boilers for a heating and cooling company, decided to move the family there. But Biden continued to spend most of his summers and holidays with his mother’s family in Green Ridge, the predominantly Irish Catholic Scranton neighborhood of his early childhood. In a 2010 interview with GQ, Biden said he visits Scranton often and quipped that he shows up ""anytime Scranton needs something."" ""I don’t know how to say no to them. For real. I really don’t,"" Biden said. ""You know, it’s still home."" He returned to Scranton at least half-a-dozen times in the 1970s after he became a U.S. senator from Delaware, Scranton Times-Tribune clips show. Biden spoke at the annual Friendly Sons of St. Patrick of Lackawanna County dinner in 1973, a few weeks after losing his first wife and his daughter in a deadly car accident and being sworn into office at his sons’ hospital bedside. In 1976, he was the University of Scranton’s undergraduate commencement speaker. And in 1978, he held a campaign fundraiser dubbed a ""Scranton Salute,"" where then-Mayor Gene Hickey gave him a key to the city. Two Republicans, former Lackawanna County Commissioner Robert Pettinato and former Sheriff Joseph Wincovitch, helped host the fundraiser. Throughout his time in Congress, Biden was often called the state’s ""third senator."" Biden’s Scranton ties have even been satirized twice by Saturday Night Live. During his tenure as vice president and while campaigning, Biden visited the greater Scranton area at least 15 times, his official schedule shows, including in 2011 after flooding from Tropical Storm Lee caused hundreds of millions of dollars of property damage in Northeastern Pennsylvania. After touring the damage, Biden did what he often does when he visits Scranton on business: He caught up with childhood friends. The Times-Tribune reported that Biden met with friends from Green Ridge and their families at the Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport before boarding Air Force Two. One person who wasn’t there that day in 2011 was Charlie Roth, whom Biden had described as his ""closest friend for 54 years"" when he returned to Scranton to eulogize him in 2000. Another childhood friend of Biden’s was Jimmy Kennedy, a former Scranton district magistrate whom he called ""the maestro of our little gang."" Kennedy’s front porch overlooked the backyard of Biden’s childhood home on North Washington Avenue. And when Biden entered national politics, his Scranton friends were there to support him. Kennedy chartered a bus to Wilmington with other Biden supporters from Scranton in 1988 when Biden launched his first bid for the presidency. A Times-Tribune photographer captured him holding a banner at the campaign kickoff there that read, ""Scranton, Pa. Claims Biden."" (Kennedy died last year.) Two other close friends, Larry Orr and Tom Bell, went to the same school, worshiped at the same parish, and played in the same little league. Both men still live in the greater Scranton area and were quoted in a recent Times-Tribune story remarking that it feels like Biden never left. ""We used to joke about it,"" Bell, 77, a semi-retired insurance agency owner, told the Tribune. ""He was always here."" ""There’s nothing phony about him,"" Orr, 77, a retired union electrician, who was an usher at Joe and Neilia Biden’s wedding in August 1966, told the Tribune. ""As far as our friendships, as far as Scranton, he’s not just saying that, he’s not just giving you lip service."" Bill Conaboy grew up in Scranton, too, and said he saw Biden’s compassion first-hand when his 93-year-old father, a former federal judge, had a heart attack in 2018. Biden drove to Scranton that night and sat at the judge’s hospital bedside with his family. Bill recalled how Biden kissed his father’s forehead and knelt beside him. Former U.S. District Judge Richard P. Conaboy died the next day. ""For President Trump to suggest that Joe Biden has anything other than deep Scranton roots is just ridiculous,"" said Conaboy, 62, who is president of a regional health care system in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania. ""We’re honored to know him and honored to consider him a friend."" There’s another, less literal way to assess whether Biden ""abandoned"" Scranton. Did the trade policies he supported harm the city’s workers? Did Biden let other countries ""steal our jobs,"" as Trump claimed in Old Forge? The answer to that question is more nuanced — and central to the economic debate between the two candidates. The North American Free Trade Agreement that Biden supported in 1993 had a direct impact on Scranton’s manufacturing sector, said Iordanis Petsas cq, who leads the economics department at the University of Scranton. Almost 20,000 manufacturing jobs disappeared in the region between January 1994 when NAFTA took effect, and December 2016, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. But economic policy is complex and multifaceted. Scranton’s manufacturing sector was already in decline before NAFTA, losing 6,000 jobs between 1990 and 1994, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And Petsas noted that Scranton’s education and health sectors exploded over that same period, with 14,000 new jobs added. ""We lost a lot of manufacturing jobs while gaining in other areas,"" Petsas said. ""That result doesn’t mean it’s bad trade policy."" Trump claimed Biden ""abandoned Scranton."" Biden’s family moved from Scranton to Wilmington when he was 10, but he has remained deeply connected to his birthplace for more than six decades. He has returned for commencement speeches and little league games. He’s come back for fundraisers and after floods. He went home to eulogize his childhood best friend and to comfort a mentor’s family as the man lay dying. And while one sector, which was already on the decline, struggled in the wake of policies Biden supported, a leading local economist notes that other sectors have thrived. Trump’s version of what happened after Biden moved away is not accurate and makes a ridiculous claim."
41765	The FBI said [former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn] wasn’t lying, as I understand it, and if the Mueller group said he was lying, and you know what he has gone through.	In his first extended interview since the completion of the special counsel probe, President Donald Trump repeated several false and misleading claims regarding the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.	false	Clinton emails, Russia investigation,	In his first extended interview since the completion of the special counsel probe, President Donald Trump repeated several false and misleading claims regarding the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.The FBI investigation began in late July 2016, and Robert S. Mueller III was appointed special counsel to oversee the inquiry on May 17, 2017. On March 24, Attorney General William P. Barr released a four-page memo summarizing the principal conclusions of a confidential report from Mueller on the investigation.Barr wrote that “despite multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign,” the Mueller report concluded: “'[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.’”Three days later, the president strayed from the facts on various aspects of the yearslong probe in a lengthy phone interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News.Trump said: “[N]ow that they see the Mueller report, where you look at their finding — I mean, the finding was very, very strong. No collusion, no obstruction, no Russia, no nothing.” The facts: According to Barr’s memo, the Mueller report “did not draw a conclusion — one way or the other — as to whether the examined conduct [by Trump] constituted obstruction.” Barr wrote: “The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.’”Instead, “for each of the relevant actions investigated, the report sets out evidence on both sides of the question and leaves unresolved what the Special Counsel views as ‘difficult issues’ of law and fact concerning whether the President’s actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction,” Barr’s memo said. The attorney general said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein made the determination that the evidence is “not sufficient” to establish that Trump committed obstruction of justice.Trump said: “Russia, if they were at all for me – and by the way, if you look at all of the things, they were sort of for and against both, not just one way.”The facts: That is misleading. As we have written, indictments handed down in February 2018 against 13 Russians and three Russian organizations for interfering in U.S. elections show their efforts clearly sought to support Trump over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential general election.It’s true that prior to the election, in May 2014, the Russian operation’s aim was to “spread distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general,” the indictment says. And during the presidential primary in 2016, the Russians “engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump.” By the general election, the groups’ efforts were clear and focused: to support Trump and oppose Clinton. According to the indictment, “by early to mid-2016, Defendants’ operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump (“Trump Campaign”) and disparaging Hillary Clinton.” After the election, the Russian group went back to sowing discord on both sides of the political aisle, staging rallies both supporting the president-elect and protesting his election.Trump said: “The FBI said he wasn’t lying, as I understand it, and if the Mueller group said he was lying, and you know what he has gone through, and what so many others have gone through.”The facts: Trump is referring to a report from Republicans on the House intelligence committee. It said former FBI Director James Comey testified to the committee that when two FBI agents interviewed then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn at the White House on Jan. 24, 2017, they “discerned no physical indications of deception” and saw “nothing that indicated to them that he knew he was lying to them” (see page 54). However, the report goes on to note that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe “confirmed the interviewing agent’s initial impression and stated that the ‘conundrum that we faced on their return from the interview is that although [the agents] didn’t detect deception in the statements that he made in the interview … the statements were inconsistent with our understanding of the conversation that he had actually had with the [Russian] ambassador.’”In an interview before a House committee on Dec. 7, 2018, Comey clarified, “My recollection was [Flynn] was — the conclusion of the investigators was he was obviously lying, but they saw none of the normal common indicia of deception: that is, hesitancy to answer, shifting in seat, sweating, all the things that you might associate with someone who is conscious and manifesting that they are being — they’re telling falsehoods. There’s no doubt he was lying, but that those indicators weren’t there.” (See page 106. )On Dec. 1, 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI. Flynn admitted to lying to FBI agents about two discussions he had with Sergey Kislyak, then the Russian ambassador to the United States, in December 2016 when Flynn was still a private citizen and before Trump took office.Trump said: “The night I won, they were all screaming ‘lock her up, lock her up.’ Look, she lost 33 – they deleted 33,000 emails, and they were – BleachBit. That’s a big deal and it’s a very expensive process, and almost nobody does it because it’s so expensive. But that’s the way you really get rid of it. So she deleted 33,000 emails.”The facts: As we have written, in December 2014, Clinton gave the State Department 30,490 work-related emails that she sent or received while she was secretary of state. There were another 30,000 emails or so that were deemed personal by Clinton. Those were not turned over to the department. An outside contractor for Platte River Networks wiped Clinton’s computer hard drive of all emails sometime between March 25 and March 31, 2015, according to the FBI. PRN used a free software program called BleachBit to delete the emails. During its investigation, the FBI recovered nearly 15,000 deleted emails that were not part of the 30,490 work-related emails that Clinton gave to the department. About 5,600 of the 15,000 emails that were forensically recovered by the FBI were deemed work-related, but a “substantial number” of them were near duplicates of emails that were already released to the public.More important, Comey said the FBI “found no evidence that any of the additional work-related emails were intentionally deleted in an effort to conceal them.”The State Department’s policy allows its employees to determine which emails are work-related and must be preserved. “Messages that are not records may be deleted when no longer needed,” according to the department’s Foreign Affairs Manual.Trump said: “I think it’s very important to know that Russia or anybody else had no impact on votes. And that’s very important for people to know. And that’s been coming out, as you know, from every agency and everybody that’s done it. So whether they tried, and how hard they tried, and President Obama knew, the bottom line is, they had zero impact on the election of 2016. And I’m very happy about that.”The facts: We know of no government agency that has concluded that the Russian efforts “had zero impact on the election of 2016.” An October 2016 report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis found that “Russian government cyber actors” potentially targeted “Internet-connected election-related networks” in 21 states. But none of those states reported any evidence of altered voter data or ballots. However, reports from the director of national intelligence and Department of Justice indictments have detailed various other ways that Russians inserted themselves into the presidential election, and those reports specifically avoided commenting on whether those efforts ultimately swayed voters.The Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Jan. 6, 2017, released a declassified intelligence report that said “Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election.” Among other things, the report said, Russian intelligence services gained access to Democratic National Committee computers for nearly a year, from July 2015 to June 2016, and released hacked material to WikiLeaks and other media outlets “to help President-elect Trump’s election chances.” The report itself stated that the intelligence community “did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcomes of the 2016 election,” noting that the agency “does not analyze US political processes or US public opinion.”In a Senate intelligence committee hearing on Jan. 10, 2017, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper reiterated that the report “does not — repeat does not assess the impact of Russian activities on the actual outcome of the 2016 election or draw any conclusions in that regard one way or the other.”Indictments handed down by the Justice Department in February 2018 against 13 Russians and three Russian organizations provided more detail about the Russians’ efforts. The indictments allege a Russian conspiracy that involved using the names of U.S. citizens and companies to illegally buy political ads on social media and stage political rallies. The defendants were alleged to have employed hundreds of people for online operations, “ranging from creators of fictitious personas to technical and administrative support personnel, with an annual budget of millions of dollars,” Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein said. As with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Rosenstein said, “There is no allegation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election.” In other words, the indictment made no determination about that.Trump said: “As far as your other part of the question, in September, if you look, supposedly, the FBI told President Obama all about Russia trying to get involved in some form in the election. And he decided to do nothing about it because he thought Hillary Clinton was going to win. So he didn’t want to do anything because he thought that Clinton was going to win and he didn’t want to upset the applecart. But he knew about it. And the question is – one of the many, many questions, and this is probably not as big as other questions because you’re talking about major, major treason and corrupt and all of the things. But one of the questions, why didn’t he do something?” The facts: As we’ve written, Obama’s administration did “do something” after being informed by the CIA in August 2016 about Russia’s election interference.Obama said he confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin that September about the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer servers, and three months later he announced sanctions against Russia for that reason.Prior to that, Obama said his “principal goal leading up to the election” was to have the Department of Homeland Security and the Election Assistance Commission work with states to prevent Russia from hacking into voting systems and tampering with registration rolls and ballots.In a June 2017 congressional hearing, Jeh Johnson, Obama’s second secretary of DHS, said: “I can tell you for certain that, in the late summer, fall, I was very concerned about what I was seeing, and this was on my front burner all throughout the pre-election period in August, September, October, and early November — to encourage the states to come in and seek our assistance. And I’m glad that most of them, red and blue, did.”Johnson said there was no evidence that votes were changed in the election.Trump said: Well, when I said there could be somebody spying on my campaign, a lot of things happened. It was like — it went wild out there. They couldn’t believe that I could say such a thing. And as it turned out, that was a small potatoes compared to what went on.The facts: Trump’s comment came in response to Hannity mentioning the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applications in 2016 and 2017 from the FBI and Department of Justice for electronic surveillance on a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page. Hannity said those approved FISA court orders “gave a backdoor into your campaign for spying, which I know the media made fun of at the time, when you said it happened.”First, Page wasn’t with the campaign when the FISA surveillance requests were approved. Page was a foreign policy adviser to the campaign for about six months, and he left in late September 2016, after news reports that U.S. intelligence officials were looking into possible communications between him and Russian officials. The first FISA court order was issued to the DOJ and FBI in October 2016, with three subsequent renewals.Second, Trump’s claim about spying was decidedly different. He accused President Barack Obama of illegally wiretapping his phones. “Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory,” Trump said in a series of tweets on March 4, 2017, calling his predecessor a “Bad (or sick) guy!” and comparing his unsubstantiated allegation to Watergate. There’s no evidence to support that.In a September 2017 court filing, the FBI and the National Security Division confirmed they had no record to support the president’s comments. “Both FBI and NSD confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets,” the Justice Department motion said.Trump said: “But these people, there were so many lies, and lies before Congress, which is just about the ultimate, sworn testimony where Comey told so much. And he leaked – he leaked classified information. Well, if somebody in our team leaked classified information, it would be years in jail.”The facts: We’ve explained Comey has admitted that, after he was fired as FBI director in May 2017, he shared with his “legal team” copies of four of the seven memos he had written about his interactions with Trump. But Comey said the four memos he shared were all unclassified at the time, including a February 2017 memo, which he instructed Columbia Law School professor Daniel Richman to relay the “substance” of to the New York Times.In that memo, Comey wrote that when he met with Trump, the president brought up the FBI investigation of former National Security Adviser Flynn and said, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”Comey said he sent Richman to the Times with that information with the hope that it “might prompt the appointment of a special counsel” in the Russia investigation.In an April town hall event broadcast on CNN, Comey said he had decided that only three of the seven memos he wrote contained classified information. However, when all seven of Comey’s memos were sent to Congress in April 2018, four of them had markings indicating they contained some classified information. That means one of the memos that Comey previously shared was “up-classified,” which refers to information that is retroactively deemed classified when documents are reviewed for public release.We don’t know which memo that was, but we know it wasn’t the one Comey told Richman to convey to the Times. When that was made public, the memo was labeled “unclassified//FOUO,” which the National Archives and Records Administration says is used by some federal agencies for documents “requiring a degree of control” but does “not designate classified national security information.”Update, Aug. 29, 2019: The Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General issued a report Aug. 29, 2019, that said Comey gave a copy of one memo (identified as “memo 4”) to Richman with instructions to share the contents of the memo with a reporter. The FBI later determined that memo 4 “did not contain classified information,” according to the report. “We found no evidence that Comey or his attorneys released any of the classified information contained in any of the Memos to members of the media,” the IG report said.Trump said: “But these were people [on Mueller’s team] that contributed, most of them contributed to [Clinton’s] campaign. I mean, it was shocking to see it.”The facts: Some of the lawyers who worked on the special counsel’s team did make contributions to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, but not “most of them.”As we’ve written before, there were 17 team members, and five of them gave money to Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Those five were: Jeannie Rhee ($5,400), James Quarles ($2,700), Rush Atkinson ($200), Elizabeth Prelogar ($250) and Kyle Freeny ($250), according to contribution information available through the Center for Responsive Politics’ website. One other investigator on the team, Andrew Weissmann, gave $2,300 to Clinton in 2007.Trump said: “I mean, McCabe, his wife got hundreds of thousands of dollars. He was running the FBI and running all sorts of cases, and his wife got hundreds of thousands of dollars from essentially Clintons, from Clintons’ closest friend. And then he ruled so favorably. I mean, he tries to say that he wasn’t involved. I don’t think too many people believe that.”The facts: Trump gives the false impression that former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe was “running the FBI” and its investigation of Clinton’s emails when McCabe’s wife was running for a Virginia state Senate seat and received nearly $700,000 in campaign contributions from political action committees affiliated with Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic governor of Virginia and a longtime friend and ally of Hillary and Bill Clinton.Jill McCabe lost the election against Republican incumbent Richard Black in November 2015. That was months before the FBI promoted her husband from associate deputy director to deputy director in February 2016, which is when he “assumed for the first time, an oversight role in the investigation into Secretary Clinton’s emails,” according to an FBI spokesman quoted in a Wall Street Journal article about the campaign donations.That is backed up by a June 2018 report from the Department of Justice inspector general that says: “The fact that McAuliffe supported Dr. McCabe’s campaign, and was a known associate of Hillary Clinton, did not create any connection between the Clinton email investigation and Dr. McCabe’s financial interests. Indeed, by the time McCabe became Deputy Director and assumed supervisory responsibilities for any Clinton-related matters, Dr. McCabe had already lost her election, and no developments in the Clinton-related matters could have any plausible impact on Dr. McCabe’s financial interests.”“Once the campaign was over, officials said, Mr. McCabe and FBI officials felt the potential conflict-of-interest issues ended,” the Journal reported. The article also noted that “any final decisions on that probe” about Clinton’s emails were made by Comey, who was then FBI director.
11067	Pill could erase painful memories, study shows	This story reviews research that one day (years in the future) might have direct applicability to PTSD. But at this point, any benefits for PTSD are pure speculation. PTSD is an important problem for research. But news stories about tiny, short-term studies need to evaluate the evidence as much as they project what researchers say about the potential for their own work.	false	MSNBC	We’re never told what the drug is, much less anything about cost, either. We’re only told “those who were given the cortisol-damping drug had a harder time recalling the more wrenching details. The higher the dose, the harder it was for them to remember.” We’re not told if that effect was seen in every one in the active arm, nor the degree of the effect, nor any data about the actual comparison with the control group. We know nothing about the drug (never named) or its potential harms. Only its potential benefits. There was no discussion of the limitations of a tiny, short-term study done in 33 college students. Instead, the story leaped ahead to what this could mean in the future. In addition, the author describes effects “…memories aren’t quite as indelible as we like to think….” that aren’t described in the story and no data are presented to support the assertion. It would be helpful if the story described the potential for a lab experiment to fail when translated to real world application. No disease mongering about PTSD, but also no discussion of the potential leap from a test in college students to what is experienced by those with PTSD. No independent perspective is given. No other comparison is given of what’s done for people with PTSD. We’re never told what the drug is, much less anything about its availability. How could we know how novel this is? The drug is never identified. We can’t be sure of the extent to which the story relied on a news release. We do know that only the doctoral student/author of the paper is quoted.
8736	Fast-food companies in China step up ‘contactless’ pickup, delivery as coronavirus rages.	With the coronavirus outbreak in China continuing to spread, McDonald’s Corp, Starbucks Corp and other fast-food companies are ramping up “contactless” pickup and delivery services to keep their workers and customers safe, the companies said.	true	Health News	McDonald’s has implemented contactless pickup and delivery of Big Macs, fries and other menu items across the China as the outbreak has unfolded. Customers order remotely – on mobile phones or by computers in store – and employees seal the meals in bags and put them in a special spot for pickup without human contact, McDonald’s says on its website. For delivery orders, drivers drop McDonald’s packages at building entrances, disinfect their delivery bags and wash their hands more frequently. Drivers carry ID cards showing that they - and the people who made and packaged their food - had their body temperature scanned to prove they do not have a fever. “While we look at how to further improve the process, the stepped-up preventive measures apply to all of our servicing channels,” McDonald’s said in a statement to Reuters. The flu-like virus has infected more than 68,500 people globally and killed 1,665 as of Sunday, mostly in the central Chinese province of Hubei. Some major Chinese cities still resemble ghost towns as China struggles to get its economy back on track after a prolonged Lunar New Year holiday. In early February, 83% of all stores on the Meituan-Dianping delivery platform - one of the largest in the country - were closed, according to Beijing-based data firm BigOne Lab. Earlier this month, China’s National Health Commission recommended that deliveries limit contact. Starbucks suggests customers order coffee via its app and then wait outside its cafés until they get a pick-up notice. Orders are placed on tables just inside café entrances. If they do enter Starbucks locations, customers have their temperature taken at the door, as fever is one of the main symptoms of infection, and baristas wear masks. For delivery, Starbucks said it regularly sterilizes containers and that its delivery people have their temperature taken daily. Indoors staff must wash hands every 30 minutes, and public areas are sterilized every 2 hours. Starbucks delivery is provided by ele.me, owned by ecommerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. The measures illustrate how companies are quickly adapting in order to sell prepared food while keeping people safe. Yum China Holdings Inc rolled out contactless delivery on Jan. 30, with contactless pickup coming two days later at its KFC and Pizza Hut locations, the company said. There had been contactless delivery in China prior to the crisis, when couriers would drop packages at a consumer’s door or lobby or place parcels in lockers for later pickup. But since the outbreak, many residential compounds are limiting access for drivers and asking customers to pick up their own packages. In transactions that previously would have involved one person handing a package to the other, the driver now puts the food down – on the back of a moped, for instance – and then steps back and waits for the customer to take it and leave. One customer, for example, asked a delivery person to put a parcel in the elevator and press the button for the designated floor. The customer grabbed the package when the doors opened - unaccompanied by the courier, according to a post on CCTV News’ social media account on Weibo, said Allison Malmsten, a marketing strategy analyst at Daxue Consulting in Shanghai. The outbreak “redefines contactless food delivery,” Malmsten said via email. Since the start of the outbreak, Yum China has closed more than 30% of its locations. There have been “significant interruptions,” with sales off as much as 50% in those that remained open since the Lunar New Year holiday, versus the same time last year, Chief Financial Officer Ka Wai Yeung said in a Feb. 5 earnings call. The crisis has accelerated the rollout of Yum China’s contactless services in China, it said in a statement. “These services have been well-received by customers and are playing an important role in ensuring that our delivery business continues to hold up during this period of significantly reduced dine-in traffic,” it said. Early during the epidemic, meal delivery took a hit because customers feared contact with drivers would put them at risk of infection, according to news reports. Cases of couriers being diagnosed with the virus after working for days arose in Shenzhen and Qingdao cities. The companies’ reliance on pickup and delivery to offset some losses does, however, have limitations. Malmsten said many drivers cannot return to work due to travel restrictions, and those who can return face long hours and physical and mental fatigue. As a result, SF Express, the second-largest courier in China, has ramped up hiring, she said.
36277	Most people over the age of 40 cannot hear a 15000 Hz/15 kHz frequency.	Can Only People Under 40 Hear This Sound?	unproven	Fact Checks, Viral Content	In July 2019 a number of posts circulated Facebook, all of which linked to video of a 15000 Hz/15 kHz frequency sound that is purportedly only audible to people younger than 40.One iteration (archived here) accrued a large number of shares. Its original poster wrote:I need your help! 😳 Okay so I nabbed me a younger man, I said it….I am slightly OLDER than Chris #cougar 🐆❤ BUT I am NOT 40 yet y’all however, I heard on the radio that some businesses and even towns are using a sound wave as a deterrent for teens after curfew, INTERESTING right?! So I looked into it and found a series of sounds that become harder to hear as you ahem age. This one in particular cannot be heard by most people over the age of 40.I CANNOT FLIPPING HEAR THIS!!! But, Chris Helmer can 🤨 I called all our kids in and they were covering their ears!!! So, I got to know below, help me feel better (or worse) Tell me, are you OVER or UNDER 40 and CAN YOU HEAR THIS SOUND?!?! ?A YouTube video was attached to the post, “15000 Hz 15 kHz Sine Wave Sound Frequency Tone”:A subsequent post making similar claims was also shared quite a bit:Incidentally, both posts were shared by individuals recruiting for multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes, commonly described as “huns” or “hunbots” on Facebook. By sharing posts intended to “go viral,” both users boosted their visibility on Facebook — which in turn facilitates efforts to recruit and sell for MLMs. This content was likely shared with the intent to accrue more shares and exposing more readers to MLM pitches.In this vein, the first poster separately shared a post about the other, in which commenters alluded to its leverage for MLM purposes:As a reminder, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns [PDF] that less than one percent of MLM victims ever turn a profit at all. Sharing “trojan horse” posts like the ones linked above amplify the reach of MLM recruiters.In the original posts, the posters said:I need your help! 😳 Okay so I nabbed me a younger man, I said it….I am slightly OLDER than Chris #cougar 🐆❤ BUT I am NOT 40 yet y’all however, I heard on the radio that some businesses and even towns are using a sound wave as a deterrent for teens after curfew, INTERESTING right?! So I looked into it and found a series of sounds that become harder to hear as you ahem age. This one in particular cannot be heard by most people over the age of 40.I CANNOT FLIPPING HEAR THIS!!! But, Chris Helmer can 🤨 I called all our kids in and they were covering their ears!!! So, I got to know below, help me feel better (or worse) Tell me, are you OVER or UNDER 40 and CAN YOU HEAR THIS SOUND?!?! ?OMG so I saw a post about some businesses playing this sound to keep younger kids away after curfew. Supposedly people over the age of 40 cannot hear it. I thought yeah right this is some BS 🤣🤣I played it and heard nothing my kids all came screaming running covering their ears!!!! Y’all I’m shook! I can’t hear this shit!!!!! Can you? ?Claims that certain frequencies become inaudible as people age are hardly new. A 2010 post to Reddit’s r/science addressed the ability to detect similar frequencies, but did not include an age qualifier:I can hear 10000 Hz, but not 15000, what about you? [warning: careful with the volume] from scienceA top-level comment on that post offered that variations in desktop equipment, speakers, and other factors (not necessarily age) might influence whether that particular tone was audible to everyone:Oh for fucks sake, you can’t have a 30k tone unless your sampling is at least 60 or you’ll get biasing (correction: aliasing, hat tip to 7e9) and the tone will sound lower than it should. Thats why I could hear them all, and why they started sounding lower after a point.Also check that your headphones/speakers have a decent output at that frequency. I couldn’t hear 15k on my computer monitor speakers, but had no problem with some nice headphones. (edit – sweet zombie jesus I’ve just commented on a youtube video. I’M ONE OF THEM) (edit 2 – As 7e9 points out, it’s called aliasing, not biasing)In the news, claims about the purported ability of certain frequencies to drive teenagers away from malls and other areas in which they might congregate dated back to at least 2008, and possibly earlier still. At the time, reporting centered on a controversial device called “The Mosquito“:As 15-year-old Eddie Holder sprinted from his apartment for school one recent morning, he held his hand to one ear to block out a shrill, piercing noise.The sound was coming from a wall-mounted box, but not everyone can hear it. The device, called the Mosquito, is audible only to teens and young adults and was installed outside the building to drive away loiterers.The gadget made its debut in the United States [in 2007] after infuriating civil liberties groups when it was first sold overseas. Already, almost 1,000 units have been sold in the U.S. and Canada, according to Daniel Santell, the North America importer of the device under the company name Kids Be Gone. […]The high-frequency sound has been likened to fingernails dragged across a chalkboard or a pesky mosquito buzzing in your ear. It can be heard by most people in their teens and early 20s who still have sensitive hair cells in their inner ears. Whether you can hear the noise depends on how much your hearing has deteriorated – how loud you blast your iPod, for example, could potentially affect your ability to detect it.As noted by CBS News in 2008, ability to hear the frequency has less to do with age, and more to do with hearing loss by any means, such as prolonged exposure to loud music. A 2009 NPR report noted that the sound ended repelling people of all ages, not just teenagers. Similar devices known as LRAD sound cannons have been used to disperse protesters, also of all ages.In 2015, Yahoo! News compiled a number of frequencies with purported age limitations, but did not cite any information supporting its claims. Two years earlier in 2013, Scientific American examined claims about age and sound, noting that inability to detect the frequencies was attributed to, yes, age-related hearing loss or presbycusis but that there is no exact age at which hearing begins to drop off:Your results may vary, but you likely found that the Mosquito sound was detected less frequently by older volunteers. Volunteers in their early 20s should have been able to hear the sound. Volunteers in their teens and child volunteers should have been able to hear the sound easily. […]The older age group likely had trouble hearing the Mosquito because as we age, our ability to hear high-pitched frequencies wanes. This process is called presbycusis, the onset of which is sometimes observable in people as young as 18. Presbycusis happens as a result of the cells in our ears aging naturally, so it’s nothing to be alarmed by. Presbycusis is very different than noise-induced hearing loss, which happens as a result of acute or sustained exposure to very loud noises. When you’re at a very loud concert, for example, the hair cells in your ear can become over-stimulated. The body responds by sending oxygen to this region of the ear, leading to oxidative cell death. Curiously, noise-induced hearing loss usually makes it harder to hear lower frequencies, such as those between three kHz and six kHz, whereas presbycusis gradually erodes our ability to hear higher frequency sounds in general.Based on comments on both posts about the 15000 Hz/15 kHz frequency circulating in July 2019, plenty of people older than 40 were able to hear the frequency. Those comments were not at all representative, since it’s possible people who didn’t hear it were unlikely to comment. In any event, age is only a very rough gauge of who is or is not able to detect certain frequencies. Degradation of the ability to hear, which is not necessarily related to age, was a much larger factor.
29664	"In the summer of 2019, based on advice from an advocate general, the European Court of Justice was set to require ""Jewish-made"" products to be labeled as such. "	The claim that the EU was about to require “Jewish-made” labels for food products was a gross misrepresentation of the facts, and we therefore issue a rating of “False.”	false	Politics	In late summer of 2019, several right-leaning U.S. websites reported, with a degree of outrage, that the European Union (EU) would soon be enforcing a rule whereby “Jewish-made” products would have to be labeled as such, following advice given by an EU judicial official. On Aug. 9, the Washington Free Beacon published an article with the headline “Europe Poised to Put Warning Labels on Jewish-Made Products,” adding that the purported decision was “reminiscent of Holocaust-era boycotts of Jews.” The Red State blog wrote in its headline, “EU Preparing to Put Warning Labels on Jewish Products,” and reported that: “The European Union is preparing to add warning labels on Jewish products made in Israel. Not content with generations of antisemitism before and after the Holocaust, Europe’s ruling class apparently thinks it’s a good idea to push what is the equivalent of an in kind contribution to the boycott, divestment, and sanction movement.” The blogger Robert Spencer, who runs the Jihad Watch website, went further in his characterization of the episode, publishing a blog post with the headline, “Nazism Returns: European Union to Put Warning Labels on Jewish-Made Products.” He joined the Washington Free Beacon in linking the episode to the Holocaust, writing “Europe has gone down this road before. It didn’t end well.” The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a Christian conservative organization whose chief counsel is President Donald Trump’s attorney Jay Sekulow, released a podcast episode whose title similarly claimed: “Europe to Force Warning Labels on Jewish-Made Products.” In an accompanying blog post, the ACLJ wrote: “In an extremely troubling move, Europe is poised to force warning labels on Jewish made products sold within Europe. Today on the broadcast, we discussed a decision out of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that, if upheld, would mandate that Jewish and Israeli products coming out of ‘settlements’ and ‘Israeli colonies’ have warning labels placed on them for coming from so-called disputed areas.” A common thread throughout these reports was the claim that the EU was set to introduce a policy requiring products made by Jewish people in Israel to be labeled as such, if imported into the EU. That claim was false. Neither religious affiliation nor ethnic background had any relevance to advice given to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the summer of 2019, nor the matter being considered by the court. As of mid-August, the ECJ had not issued a decision on the matter (contrary to the ACLJ’s allusion to “a decision out of the ECJ”). Rather, one of the court’s advocates general (formal advisors) discharged his duty by providing the ECJ a piece of non-binding guidance on the matter. In short, he advised that EU law required products made in Israeli-occupied territories and settlements to be labeled as such, in the interest of informing EU consumers. We are neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the advocate general’s conclusion, but in order to understand how he reached it, we must look at some important and occasionally somewhat complicated background information about EU policy towards both the Israeli-occupied territories and food labeling. EU stance towards Israeli-occupied territories The EU, as a set of institutions, does not recognize the territories of the Golan Heights, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), and the Gaza Strip as being a part of the state of Israel. This is based on several United Nations Security Council resolutions, which have deemed Israel’s claim to those territories to be illegitimate under international law, and declared the construction of Israeli settlements in those territories to be in violation of international law. This article refers to those territories as the “Israeli-occupied territories” or “occupied territories,” in the interest of clarity, not based on any subjective value judgement. EU food-labeling requirements The EU has relatively strict regulations around how food must be labeled, including requiring that foodstuffs be accurately marked with their country of origin and “place of provenance,” if failing to do so would deceive or mislead consumers, or deny them relevant contextual information. In that vein, the EU implemented Regulation No. 1169 in 2011. Among other measures, Regulation 1169 stated that origin labels (or the absence thereof) must not deceive or mislead consumers, and that part of the overarching purpose of these labeling requirements was to protect the health of consumers but also to give them information about the origins of food, so that they could make consumer choices that took into account “economic, environmental, social and ethical considerations.” 2015 European Commission notice on labeling food from Israeli-occupied territories In November 2015, the European Commission (effectively the EU’s executive branch) pulled together those strands of EU policy in an “interpretative notice” on “indication of origin of goods from the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967.” Roughly speaking, the 2015 notice stated that because the EU does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied territories, foodstuffs that originate in those territories should not be labeled “Made in Israel,” since that would, in the commission’s view, violate the principle that “place-of-provenance” and “country-of-origin” labels must not mislead or deceive EU consumers. Furthermore, the 2015 notice stated that labels such as “Product from the West Bank” would not be sufficient, because they would not tell the consumer whether the product had been made in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, or by Palestinians there. The notice recommended that labels such as “Product from the West Bank (Israeli settlement)” or “Product from the West Bank (Palestinian product)” should be used, in order to provide consumers in the EU with the details and context they need in order to make “an informed transactional decision.” 2016 French government notice Based in part on the European Commission’s 2015 interpretative notice, France’s Ministry of the Economy and Finances published its own notice in November 2016. That notice informed businesses in France that, based on existing EU law, products originating in the territories of Golan and the West Bank would have to be labeled as such, and further, products made in Israeli settlements there would have to carry even more specific labels. Two organizations disputed that notice and asked France’s Conseil d’État (roughly equivalent to the Supreme Court) to annul it — the Organisation juive européenne (“European Jewish Organization”) and Psagot, a company that operates a winery in the Psagot settlement in the West Bank. Both entities argued that the French government was acting beyond its powers by imposing the labeling requirements. France’s Conseil d’État (“Council of State”) delayed making a decision on the notice, and instead sent the matter to the ECJ in June 2018, asking two questions: “Does EU law and in particular Regulation No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, where indication of the origin of a product falling within the scope of that regulation is mandatory, require, for a product from a territory occupied by Israel since 1967, indication of that territory and an indication that the product comes from an Israeli settlement if that is the case? “If not, do the provisions of the regulation, in particular those in Chapter VI thereof, allow a Member State to require those indications?” The ECJ received written submissions from Psagot, the Organisation juive européenne, the French government and the governments of Ireland, Sweden, and the Netherlands, and oral arguments were heard in April 2019. In June 2019, ECJ Advocate General Gerard Hogan, a former Court of Appeal and High Court judge in Ireland, published an opinion on the two questions presented to the court. That opinion, which is not legally binding on the court, advised that: On June 13, Hogan laid out his reasoning in a detailed opinion that can be read in full here. In brief, he argued that: The crux of Hogan’s argument can be summarized in the following section from his opinion: Just as many European consumers objected to the purchase of South African goods in the pre-1994 apartheid era, present day consumers may object on similar grounds to the purchase of goods from a particular country because, for example, it is not a democracy or because it pursues particular political or social policies which that consumer happens to find objectionable or even repugnant. In the context of the Israeli policies vis-à-vis the Occupied Territories and the settlements, there may be some consumers who object to the purchase of products emanating from the territories, precisely because of the fact that the occupation and the settlements clearly amount to a violation of international law. It is not, of course, the task of this Court to approve or to disapprove of such a choice on the part of the consumer: it is rather sufficient to say that a violation of international law constitutes the kind of ethical consideration which the Union legislature acknowledged as legitimate in the context of requiring country of origin information. On the question of whether an individual EU member state could impose its own national requirements for mandatory “place of provenance” labeling for food originating in the occupied territories, Hogan’s reasoning was fairly straightforward. One article in Regulation 1169 of 2011, according to Hogan, allowed individual member states to impose such geographic labeling requirements, but only if there was an inextricable link between the place where a food product originates and the quality of the food product. Since this quality consideration didn’t arise in the specific case of the occupied territories, that provision of EU law didn’t apply. If the ECJ eventually rules in accordance with Hogan’s advice, the legal consequences would be somewhat complicated, but the practical consequences less so. Since Hogan’s opinion held that, under EU law, individual EU member states could not require mandatory “Israeli-occupied territory” or “Israeli settlement” food labels, the French government’s 2016 notice would likely be annulled by the French Conseil d’État, just as those disputing it had requested. However, since Hogan’s opinion also held that EU law did require such labels, those labels would ultimately end up pervading throughout the EU, including in France. Regardless of one’s own personal opinion of it, Hogan’s detailed analysis and advice to the ECJ was explicitly founded on the EU’s long-standing policy regarding the legality of Israel’s annexation of the occupied territories, and the construction of Israeli settlements there, in combination with existing EU law regarding food labeling requirements. Far from recommending mandatory labeling of products as “Jewish” or “Jewish-made,” Hogan’s opinion never once even mentioned Judaism, nor the religious affiliation or ethnic background of any producer of food in the occupied territories or Israeli settlements. Nor did the French government’s 2016 notice (the subject of the dispute before the ECJ) make any such references, nor did the European Commission’s 2015 interpretative notice make any such references. As of Aug. 15, the ECJ had not ruled on this issue. However, if it does rule in accordance with Hogan’s advice, it will be on the basis of what the law requires, not any religious or ethnic considerations. In the introduction to his opinion, Hogan emphasized that ECJ would view the issue as “a purely legal matter,” adding that “nothing in either this opinion or in the ultimate judgment of the court should be construed as expressing a political or moral opinion.”
5970	Ivory Coast is latest to crack down on alcohol sachets.	Each morning at dawn, taxi driver Rene Kouame stops by his neighborhood bar in Abidjan for a potent pick-me-up: two plastic sachets of “Che Guevara,” a drink of spiced rum and a host of chemicals that costs 100 CFA francs, or about 15 U.S. cents.	true	Che Guevara, International News, Abidjan, Africa, Health, Ivory Coast	With an alcohol by volume figure of 43 percent, the 2-ounce sachets are about as intoxicating as a typical 16-ounce beer, but consumers say that’s just one of their virtues. Kouame claimed they give him a jolt of energy other drinks can’t match — just what he needs to face a long day of hectic traffic, run-ins with police and testy fare negotiations. “It inspires me. It gives me a bit of courage to confront the challenges of life,” he said. From now on, however, Ivory Coast’s government wants Kouame to get his courage elsewhere. Last month, officials announced a ban on alcohol sachets, citing their health risks and the need to combat alcoholism, especially among youth. The measure is one of more than a half-dozen bans or partial bans on alcohol sachets in effect in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Health Organization. Other countries with bans include Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo and South Sudan, said Jean-Marie Vianny Maurice Yameogo, the WHO’s Ivory Coast representative. Tracking the sales of alcohol sachets, many containing spirits distilled from palm wine, is difficult because they are often produced outside regulated markets. The sachets are typically mass-produced in West Africa, with colorful packaging. The drink “Amour Profond,” or “Deep Love,” shows a man standing behind a bare-shouldered woman, whispering into her ear. The sachets are not necessarily more potent than other drinks available. Palm wine-based traditional drinks such as koutoukou, which are similarly cheap, can have alcohol by volume rates of more than 50 percent. But sachets are more likely to contain toxic chemicals such as methanol, or wood alcohol, Yameogo said. And the packaging often boasts of health and other benefits that Yameogo said have no basis in science. Some are said to provide cures for maladies such as hemorrhoids, while others are reputed to function as appetite-suppressants or aphrodisiacs. Moreover, the small sachets are easy to hide, making them especially tempting for schoolchildren, according to the Ivorian government and the WHO. “It’s something that’s accessible to everyone. You can buy a sachet, put it in your pocket and just walk around like that,” said Patrick Gbodou, president of School Anti-Drug, an Ivorian organization that campaigns against drinking and drug use by students. The official drinking age in Ivory Coast is 21, but it is rarely enforced, and teenage drinking is common. Vendors are worried they will take a huge hit if the ban on sachets is enforced, as many drinkers go for sachets and nothing else. “The government needs to have pity on us,” said Adjo Abega, the owner of a bar in Abidjan’s Port-Bouet district. Drinkers generally acknowledge the health risks posed by alcohol sachets, but some criticized the government for cracking down on their favorite vice while permitting other health hazards such as cigarettes. Desire N’Guessan, an unemployed 26-year-old, began drinking sachets when he was a teenager. He said he relies on them to ward off illness and for motivation to keep looking for work. “When you are not able to overcome your timidity, it can be difficult to operate in your neighborhood,” N’Guessan said. If the government makes good on the ban, he warned, Ivorian children could turn to drugs. He also predicted marches and protests. But Kouame, the taxi driver, was less worried. In the absence of alcohol sachets, he said he would switch up his morning routine by drinking glasses of palm wine instead, adding: “Man can adapt to anything.”
18316	"A bag of Cheetos costs less to buy than an apple,"" and in some Milwaukee neighborhoods ""good luck trying to find an apple or a banana or some sort of healthy option"	"Tate, the Democratic Party official, decried the lack of healthy and affordable food options in some Milwaukee neighborhoods. ""A bag of Cheetos costs less to buy than an apple,"" Tate said, and ""good luck trying to find an apple or a banana or some sort of healthy option"" at stores there. He’s mostly right on the price comparison, and is partially accurate in suggesting it’s very difficult to locate fresh fruit. While fresh fruit can be found at big and some small stores, it’s more available in some low-income areas more than others, and getting there, finding it worth eating and paying for it are a challenge for some, according to experts and residents."	true	Public Health, Welfare, Wisconsin, Mike Tate,	"On a recent radio talk show, Wisconsin Democratic Party chairman Mike Tate gently criticized a widely discussed Republican bill mandating that food stamp recipients buy mostly healthy foods from a state-approved list. In doing so, Tate framed the debate around a certain orange-colored, cheese-flavored snack and a fruit grown in every state in the continental U.S. Tate spoke after one-third of Democrats in the state Assembly joined Republicans in approving the bill, which aims to cut down on junk food purchases seen as contributing to poor health in low-income families participating in the state’s FoodShare program. ""I’ll be honest with you, I think that having nutritional standards is an important thing,"" Tate told liberal radio talker John ""Sly"" Sylvester of Monroe’s WEKZ-FM on May 14, 2013. ""I think there is a need for government to play a role in the marketplace and having healthy, nutritious food be available for people on FoodShare that can’t have access to it. "" Tate defended those who voted for the bill as well-intentioned in trying to ease an obesity problem that is worse in Milwaukee and other urban areas, but said the legislation may not have been the best mechanism to do it. Tate also unpacked some specific claims about urban areas, specifically Milwaukee. ""You know, I think that it’s a problem that a bag of Cheetos costs less to buy than an apple,"" he said. ""You go around some neighborhoods in Milwaukee and, good luck trying to find an apple or a banana or some sort of healthy option."" Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines Jr. made a similar statement in a recent opinion piece in the Journal Sentinel, saying that ""it’s generally a lot easier to reach for the less expensive Cheetos, doughnuts and Suzy Q’s than the more pricey veggie chips, granola bars and almonds."" Is Tate right? To check out the two parts of Tate’s claim, we reached out to local food experts, but also fueled up a car to test the food market in some of Milwaukee’s poorest north-side neighborhoods. In all we made purchases at 11 stores, ranging from full-line groceries to corner convenience stores and gas-station marts, mostly in Milwaukee but a few in neighboring suburban communities. The first thing that jumped out at us: At 2-for-$1, a single serving bag of Cheetos Crunchy (170 calories, 18 percent of recommended daily fat allowance) is hard to beat on price for a snack. In fact, many stores offer a whole range of chips at 50 cents a bag. By comparison, when we sought out single apples at the lowest per-pound or individual price available, we paid less than half a buck only once. At the top end, we paid $1.21 and $1.20 for an apple at two full-size markets and 65 cents and 99 cents at two convenience stores. Still, we were able to beat or match the Cheetos price, finding apples for 37 cents at a major Milwaukee supermarket, and for 50 cents at two city convenience stores as well as a supermarket in bordering Wauwatosa. Not every store had apples and not every store had single apples. That was just for snack-sized purchases. Bulk packaging, of course, drops the cost. We found 5-packs of gala apples (estimated 79 calories each, 0 from fat) at a small grocery in Milwaukee for the equivalent of 40 cents a piece, give or take a penny. And a chain supermarket near the edge of the city, in Shorewood, had bags of apples that averaged about 45 cents a piece. A chain store had them for 38 cents apiece in bulk. But Cheetos can drop even lower, to as little as 24 cents cents a bag, in 50-bag packs in combination with other snack chips, we found at one supermarket in Milwaukee. It was clear from our limited check that Cheetos are often cheaper than apples -- though not always. Prices, of course, can vary widely depending on quantity, timing, sales and other factors. And individual appetites can skew comparisons -- a 3.75-ounce bag of Cheetos Crunchy Flamin’ Hot is advertised as four servings but we’re guessing it doesn’t always go down that way. That bag will set you back $1.49 -- or about 37 cents a serving if you can stop after 21 pieces. Seeking fruit We sought out expert opinion on the larger issue Tate raised -- on the availability of healthy food options. Sherrie Tussler, executive director of the Hunger Task Force in Milwaukee, told us that many FoodShare recipients rely at least in part on convenience stores because they lack transportation to reach supermarkets that can offer fresher and sometimes less expensive products. Hunger Task Force, which opposes the state legislation as too expensive and complicated, closely tracks food availability in the city and plans to create a corner market emphasizing healthy foods. Residents in Milwaukee’s lowest socioeconomic-status group have more than twice the saturation of small food outlets as in higher-status neighborhoods, the Milwaukee Health Report 2012 study found. The annual report, by the Center for Urban Population Health, examines health disparities by socioeconomic status. ""There is strong evidence that access to supermarkets rather than smaller grocery/convenience stores correlates with lower prevalence of overweight, obesity, and hypertension,"" the study said. The report said obesity rates in Milwaukee -- which easily top the Wisconsin average -- are highest in lower-economic status populations. The Health Report study found that inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables is prevalent across all economic groups, but somewhat better at higher levels. ""A lot of it is because you can afford it and you can find it,"" said Geoffrey Swain, medical director for the Milwaukee Health Department and a co-author of the Health Report study. A close observer of convenience stores in town commented recently that corner convenience stores are the main food source for Milwaukee’s poor. ""Some stores do have fruits and vegetables, but are likely to be more expensive and of poorer quality, mainly because our nation’s produce distribution system is not geared to service the small mom-and-pop corner stores,"" Young Kim, executive director of the organization behind the north-side’s Fondy Farmers Market, wrote in May 14 column for Urban Milwaukee. Tate points to Kim’s piece as part of his argument on the difficulty in getting access to fresh fruit. Kim told us that fruit ""just isn’t nearly as readily available"" as some of the snack foods. ""Cheetos and a lot of those snack foods get delivered"" to small stores, in contrast to fruit, which small-store owners have to buy from larger stores and then mark up, he noted. Kim opposes the state legislation for singling out low-income people. In our spot check at five small stores, we, too, found that you can get some limited amounts of fruit at some corner stores -- as well as, of course, a full selection at the few larger food markets on Milwaukee’s north side. And we found that fruit quality was very mixed at the small stores, ranging from excellent to very poor. We learned that programs run by the Fondy Food Center and the Walnut Way Conservation Corp., among others, are working to try to put more fresh goods into local stores and educate people on healthy choices. The city of Milwaukee Health Department, through grant funding from the Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program of the Medical College of Wisconsin, has provided funds for produce coolers in several convenience stores in the Lindsay Heights neighborhood on Milwaukee’s north side. At one store, Eagle Foods at N. 14th and W. Centers streets, we found fruit in a large and prominent display near a cooler stocked with take-out servings of cut fruit and vegetables, as well as mangoes and tomatoes. At the Families First store, 1845 N. 12th St., candy bars are behind a caged cashier, and a small stock of large Golden Delicious apples are front and center. There were a few tomatoes in the cooler, but overall the produce stock was very limited. Nobody’s suggesting that better access is a panacea for changing people’s dietary decisions. Consumer education is another key, Hines and other say. But experts told us that providing more choices is a necessary first step toward improvement. But there’s a steep hill to climb in terms of making good quality produce widely available. A 2008 study by the Neighborhood Health Alliance in Lindsay Heights, for example, found that more than 65% of the neighborhood retail food outlets offered no fresh produce. ""Residents indicated that key concerns were: poor food quality, poor access to quality fresh produce and healthy food options, and a lack of transportation,"" the study found. ""I don’t want to call it a ‘food desert,’"" Eric Gass, the Health Department’s public health research and policy director, said of Lindsay Heights. ""Food is available. It’s just not good food. There’s a term I’ve heard for that: a ‘food swamp.’"" Residents in the Amani neighborhood, near Lindsay Heights, who lack vehicles or can’t get a ride have to figure out how to cover a mile and a half or more to find a full-service store on the city’s north side, Tussler said. Buses are an option. ""Think bus fare,"" Tussler said in an email to us. ""Then how much can you carry? Then think once a month you pay for a taxi. You buy case goods because they don't spoil. You freeze meat and buy Wonder Bread because it doesn't mold. Then you get milk at the corner store."" While access to good quality, healthier foods has improved only marginally on the north side in recent years, Tussler said, ""the south side has been a big winner."" She noted the expansion by local El Rey markets and the addition of large stores such as the Pick ‘N Save at S. 19th St. and W. National Ave. Overall, on this part of Tate’s claim, we heard -- and saw for ourselves -- that fruit is for sale on the north side, but not necessarily in the kind of quantities that make it as affordable or as fresh as in some other neighborhoods. And getting to the store that has what a family needs can be a challenge for some. The legislation, meanwhile, was pending in the state Senate as of late May 2013. The city of Milwaukee took no position on the bill. Our rating Tate, the Democratic Party official, decried the lack of healthy and affordable food options in some Milwaukee neighborhoods. ""A bag of Cheetos costs less to buy than an apple,"" Tate said, and ""good luck trying to find an apple or a banana or some sort of healthy option"" at stores there. He’s mostly right on the price comparison, and is partially accurate in suggesting it’s very difficult to locate fresh fruit. While fresh fruit can be found at big and some small stores, it’s more available in some low-income areas more than others, and getting there, finding it worth eating and paying for it are a challenge for some, according to experts and residents."
5646	Suspected norovirus outbreak closes 46 Colorado schools.	Thousands of students in Colorado were out of school Thursday because of a suspected outbreak of norovirus.	true	Colorado, Grand Junction, Health, General News, U.S. News	All 46 schools in the district serving Grand Junction and the surrounding area were closed and won’t reopen until after the Thanksgiving break so custodians can disinfect surfaces. Norovirus is a highly contagious bug that causes diarrhea, vomiting and other symptoms, and can spread quickly in public places. It’s most common in winter but can be seen any time of year. The outbreak was first seen last week at a high school before spreading to other schools. Officials in the district, the largest in western Colorado with 22,000 students, believe there is now another related strain of the virus that has affected some students who were previously sick. “We are taking this highly unusual action because this virus is extremely contagious and spreading quickly across our schools,” district nursing coordinator Tanya Martin said. It’s not clear how many students have become sick. Some custodians also became ill, slowing down the cleaning process, but it’s unknown if the suspected viruses were to blame. Nicole Comstock, communicable disease deputy branch chief for the state Department of Public Health and Environment, told The Daily Sentinel that there are about 150 to 200 suspected norovirus outbreaks in the state each year. She said most occur at nursing homes but outbreaks at schools are not uncommon. The U.S. Air Force Academy outside Colorado Springs reported that 400 cadets have been sickened by norovirus since October, but the outbreak hasn’t disrupted classes. The Gazette reported that infected cadets are kept on bed rest for at least three days after their symptoms disappear before they can be cleared to return to class and training.
33772	Albert Einstein switched places with his chauffeur for a speaking engagement, then fielded a question directed to the man the audience thought was him.	Sightings: Comedian Jerry Clower tells this yarn as “The Chauffeur and the Professor” on his 1970 album From Yazoo City, Mississippi Talkin’.	false	Humor, Jes’ Plain Jokes	One of the best-loved character types of our literature is the scamp, the affable ne’er-do-well who manages to get himself into any number of scrapes but who extricates himself at the moment of crisis by dint of his quick wit and natural aplomb. He’s adventurous and daring and cool under pressure, and we envy him his facility in finding the right thing to say in the nick of time to escape the just deserts that would otherwise be meted out to him. Our admiration is of the “Gosh, I wish I could be like that” variety, as too often real life leaves us stumbling about ungracefully when the spotlight is unexpectedly shined upon us. A tale about a switch in roles between a famous person and his servant shows the scamp at his weaseling best: at the instant when his duplicity is about to be revealed (and before a large audience, yet) he finds a deft way out of his predicament. Even as the story reminds us that there’s a big difference between looking the part and actually being the man who has a right to be in the spotlight, we can’t help but be delighted by the antics of this natural comedian: He’s Nobody’s Fool When Albert Einstein was making the rounds of the speaker’s circuit, he usually found himself eagerly longing to get back to his laboratory work. One night as they were driving to yet another rubber-chicken dinner, Einstein mentioned to his chauffeur (a man who somewhat resembled Einstein in looks & manner) that he was tired of speechmaking. “I have an idea, boss,” his chauffeur said. “I’ve heard you give this speech so many times. I’ll bet I could give it for you.” Einstein laughed loudly and said, “Why not? Let’s do it!” When they arrived at the dinner, Einstein donned the chauffeur’s cap and jacket and sat in the back of the room. The chauffeur gave a beautiful rendition of Einstein’s speech and even answered a few questions expertly. Then a supremely pompous professor asked an extremely esoteric question about anti-matter formation, digressing here and there to let everyone in the audience know that he was nobody’s fool. Without missing a beat, the chauffeur fixed the professor with a steely stare and said, “Sir, the answer to that question is so simple that I will let my chauffeur, who is sitting in the back, answer it for me.” However, this incident no more happened to Einstein’s chauffeur than it did to the Easter Bunny. This story has long been part of the canon of Jewish folklore, usually framed as a tale about the envious manservant of a wise rabbi who has been invited to address a gathering of elders in a distant town. Einstein is a particularly bad fit for this legend in that of all the brilliant people chronicled in history, he’s about the only one almost everyone would immediately recognize. Thus, the story’s premise, that the scientist and his driver could change places without others catching on, would fail. (In fact, every version of this anecdote that involves some famous personage is inherently implausible, because how could an audience fail to recognize the well known person they’d come to hear was not the one actually speaking to them?) Here’s how a non-Einstein version of the tale was told in 1950: In Nathan Ausubel’s “Treasury of Jewish Folklore” appears the story of a famous preacher of Dubno whose driver stopped enroute to a lecture date and said, “Rabbi, do me a favor. For once I’d like to be the one receiving all the honors and attention, to see what it feels like. For this one engagement, exchange clothes with me. You be the driver and let me be the rabbi.” The preacher, a merry and generous soul, laughed and said, “All right — but remember, clothes don’t make the rabbi. If you’re asked to explain some difficult passage of the Law, see that you don’t make a fool of yourself.” The exchange was effected. Arrived at their destination, the bogus rabbi was received with tumultuous enthusiasm, and obviously loved every minute of it. Finally, however, there came the dreaded moment when an extremely tricky question was put to him. He met the test nobly. “A fine lot of scholars you are,” he thundered. “Is this the most difficult problem you could ask me? Why, this is so simple even my driver could explain it to you.” Then he called the Preacher of Dubno: “Driver, come here for a moment and clarify the Law for these dull-witted fellows.” (In other versions of the preceding Jewish folktale, the driver is presented as the scholar’s manservant and traveling companion.) In 2004 the story appeared in Reader’s Digest, minus Jewish scholars or Albert Einstein, but picking up a couple of Marines in exchange: As a benefits specialist in the Marines, I travel around delivering lectures on life insurance. After listening to a dozen of these talks, the corporal who drove me from base to base insisted he knew my spiel by heart. “Prove it,” I said. So at the next base the corporal delivered my speech. As he ended his flawless performance, a Marine asked, “What do I pay for insurance after I leave the Corps?” My driver froze. Was the jig up? Would ignorance of the facts force him to crumble? Not my corporal. “Marine,” he said sternly, as he pointed to me, “that is such a dumb question that I am going to let my driver answer it.” The story element of a famous person’s switching places with his driver turns up in other jokes, too: The Pope is making a tour of the United States and of course has a very busy schedule that he’s trying his best to stick to. Unfortunately, things run a bit long at one stop and he has to make up time any way he can if he’s to be on time for the next gathering. So he dismisses the rest of the entourage and takes off in his Popemobile with just his driver. They’re making good time on the back roads, but His Holiness is still worried they’re going to be late. He tells his driver to floor it, but the fella refuses to push it any further. After all, he’d heard the police in those parts were tough on speeders and didn’t want to find out first-hand. This pisses off His Holiness and he orders the driver to pull over. He insists on doing the driving himself for he says no one will toss the Pope in jail. They take off in a cloud of dust, His Holiness at the wheel, his driver cowering in the back seat. Not too much later a State Trooper pulls them over. The young man strides up to the car all businesslike and mean. This lasts right up until he sees who’s driving. His face pasty-white, he heads back to his car to radio in for some advice. “Uh, let me talk to the Chief … Hello, sir. Sorry to trouble you, but I have a bit of a problem. Just pulled over a speeder and it turns out he’s someone quite important. How should I handle this?” “Depends on who you got, son. Let me guess, it’s the Mayor, right? Had himself another snootful and on a tear?” “Uh, no sir, not the Mayor.” “Bigger than that, eh? Not the Senator again! And don’t tell me he had another young girl with him. It’s getting awful hard to keep him out of the papers, you know.” “Uh, no sir, wasn’t the Senator. Someone a lot more important.” “Well, who you got, son? The President?” “I don’t rightly know, sir. But whoever he is, he must be damned important because the Pope’s his driver.” The same tale popped up again in 2008, this time involving former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda switching places with his cab driver for a speaking engagement at a baseball banquet: Baseball historian Dick Beverage, filling in for Lasorda as emcee [at the 83rd Assn. of Professional Ball Players of America banquet], said, “One time Tommy was headed for a speaking engagement in a taxi when the cab driver says, ‘I’ve heard your stories so many times I could deliver your speech. '” Beverage said an offended Lasorda decided to let the cab driver deliver his speech, and the two swapped clothes. “The cab driver did a vintage Lasorda, but then he got hit with a couple of difficult questions from the audience about the Dodgers,” Beverage said. “So the impostor pointed at Lasorda, who was in the back of the room wearing a cab driver’s cap and outfit, and said, ‘I’m going to let my cab driver answer those. '”
31844	The American Dental Association said semen cuts plaque and tartar by 77%.	However, other studies suggest that the average human male’s ejaculation produces around 3-4 ml of semen, so at the low end of that range, 16 to 22 ejaculations would be needed per day to supply the recommended daily intake of zinc, and 1,111 ejaculations to obtain the recommended daily intake of calcium.	false	Medical, dental, home remedies, semen	The question posed above is not a claim we ever anticipated investigating, but we’ll start by noting we found no evidence that the American Dental Association (ADA) ever issued a statement regarding the effectiveness of semen as a cavity prevention tool, nor could we can determine any viable mechanism by which the transient presence of semen in one’s mouth would affect the build-up of plaque or tartar. A search of the ADA’s website for the word “semen” reveals seven hits, none of which make any claims about that substance’s potential use as part of dental hygiene regimen. This claim appears to have its roots in a sophomoric (NSFW) joke, but claims regarding the effectiveness of semen as a dental health supplement are nonetheless often presented as quirky science facts. One example, which likely invokes a different method than standard forms of plaque or tartar removal, comes from a Women’s Health magazine post titled “18 Sexy Excuses to Hop into Bed”: Semen contains zinc, calcium, and other minerals proven to fight tooth decay. While technically factual, this statement ignores the hard truth that the amount of semen needed to provide any appreciable amount of these minerals would shock even the most seasoned pornographer. Based on a review of studies published in 2005, semen contains (per 100 mL) about 17 mg of zinc and 30 mg of calcium, while the recommended daily intake of zinc is 8 mg for adult women and 11 mg for adult men. For calcium, the daily value for adult men and women is 1000 mg.
3687	New York issues stricter rules on vaccine medical exemptions.	New York health officials have issued emergency regulations restricting medical exemptions from vaccination for children attending school or child care.	true	Health, Measles, New York, Child care, Andrew Cuomo	The increased scrutiny of medical exemptions was announced Friday and follows the elimination of religious exemptions. The new regulations aim to keep people from obtaining medical exemptions for non-medical reasons. The Department of Health says doctors who issue medical exemptions will now be required to complete a state form specifically outlining medical reasons preventing a child from receiving each required vaccine. Amid the nation’s worst measles outbreak in decades, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June signed a law ending all non-medical exemptions for vaccines required for children to attend school in the state. The Centers for Disease Control has counted nearly 1,200 cases of measles in 30 states this year.
5707	Lawsuits filed against closed psychiatric facility.	A former patient and former employees of a now-closed children’s psychiatric hospital in Montana have filed lawsuits against Tennessee-based Acadia Healthcare, which owned Acadia Montana in Butte.	true	Health, General News, Missoula, Montana, Butte, Lawsuits	Acadia Montana closed its 108-bed hospital in July, shortly after Oregon officials questioned its use of injected medications, such as antihistamines, to control the behavior of a 9-year-old foster child from Oregon. The former patient, Alexander Miller, 21, alleges negligence, assault and infliction of emotional distress during his time as a patient seven years ago, the Missoulian reported Sunday. Officials with Acadia did not respond to calls seeking comment on Miller’s lawsuit. Separately, 30 former employees are seeking back pay alleging Acadia Healthcare violated a federal law that requires employers to give 60 days notice to employees before a layoff of more than 100 people. Acadia has argued that it was not subject to the federal law because it did not employ 100 people when it closed. Attorneys for the former employees allege Acadia incrementally laid people off, driving the number of employees down so it wouldn’t fall under the federal notification law.
32988	The pilot of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 reappeared in Taiwan two years after the plane disappeared.	As suggested by the misattributed and unrelated photographs, there was no truth to the claim that the pilot of missing MH370 was found alive and well in 2016. The report was purely a fabrication from World News Daily Report, a fake news sites that traffics in publishing sensational fiction.	false	Junk News, MH370, world news daily report	On 10 February 2016, the web site World News Daily Report published an article reporting that Ahmad Shah, the pilot of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (which disappeared without a trace on 8 March 2014), had been found alive in a Taipei, Taiwan, hospital: The pilot of the infamous flight MH370 of Malaysia Airlines that disappeared in March 2013, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, has mysteriously reappeared in a Taiwan hospital on Monday, suffering from severe dehydration and some type of amnesia. The 53-year-old pilot was transported to the Taipei Adventist Hospital by a couple of villagers from a nearby town. They claimed to have found the man while he was lying unconscious on the banks of the Tangshui River. He finally woke up almost 16 hours after arriving at the hospital, but couldn’t remember his name or how he arrived in Taipei. He was quickly identified by his fingerprints, which instantly attracted global attention from the media and from various Asian governments. The doctors who have been treating him believe that he may be suffering from regressive amnesia, caused by a major stress or life-threatening situation. The purported image of Ahmad Shah that appeared at the top of the article did not actually depict the pilot of the missing jetliner. A January 2014 news article identified the patient seen in the photograph as Burmese man named Bo Bo Han Nyein Kyaw, and a doctor whose photograph appeared lower in the article was identified in a separate, unrelated article as Dr. Jeyaindran Sinnadurai (not Dr. Syed Boon Sulong).
11242	Panel nixes aspirin as cancer preventive	The story describes a new recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force advising that aspirin and other similar drugs not be taken for prevention of colon cancer in people at average risk. The story does appropriately describe the natural history or disease burden of colon cancer without obvious embellishments or overstatements, but many other criteria were not met. Areas that were lacking included: a discussion of the actual evidence on which the recommendation is based, quantification of the potential benefits, a description of how frequent or severe harms might be, a source that was clearly independent of the study or panel, and a description of alternate colon cancer prevention approaches, like screening and follow-up of any abnormal screening results, particularly given the fact that the story is about a potential prevention approach that is now not advised. So what else is there? Readers are not given much context here.	false		The article doesn't mention costs of taking aspirin or other such drugs for colon cancer prevention, but most people know they are not costly. The story does not quantify any benefits. While it's stated that the benefits don't outweigh the risks, readers have no idea what the chance of benefit (or risks) actually are. The major risks associated with taking aspirin or other similar drugs for colon cancer prevention are provided, but there is no indication of how frequent or severe these may be. The article presents no evidence whatsoever for the panel's recommendation. Readers don't know the strength of the evidence that supports such a recommendation nor anything about the panel itself (made up of 16 primary care physicians with recognized expertise in prevention, evidence-based medicine, and primary care). The article appropriately describes the disease burden of colon cancer. There is no obvious disease mongering. The story uses only one source and it's not clear whether he is part of the panel or not. The story mentions that people over 50 should be screened for colon cancer, but does not explain how this can be done. Nor does it does it describe what followup on any abnormal screening result would be. This is important since this story is about a potential prevention approach that is now not advised. So what else is there? Readers are not given much context here. Most people would know that these medications can be purchased over the counter with ease. The article doesn't describe the novelty of using aspirin or other similar drugs for preventing colon cancer. While it talks about this practice in previous research studies, it isn't clear whether this was a common practice in real-life, an FDA-approved use of these drugs, or whether this was recommended by other groups or doctors prior to this panel's recommendation. Not known.
6955	Utah denies EnergySolutions from accepting depleted uranium.	State regulators denied a Salt Lake City-based nuclear waste processing company an exemption to bury thousands of tons of depleted uranium munitions at its site.	true	Utah, Environment, Waste management, Salt Lake City, Nuclear waste	The Utah Waste Management and Radiation Control Board on Thursday voted unanimously to reject the military ordnance after EnergySolutions had petitioned the Department of Environmental Quality for an exemption to Utah’s provisional prohibition on burying the radioactive munitions. Agency staff and outside consultants concluded metallic depleted uranium is more hazardous and unstable than the processing company had characterized in its presentations. “While disappointed by the Utah regulators’ recommendation today,” said the firm’s marketing vice president, Mark Walker, “EnergySolutions will continue to cooperate with the ongoing regulatory review of the performance assessment that was initially submitted to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality in 2011 and concurs with the (waste) board’s request to expeditiously complete their review.” Stephen Marschke, a nuclear engineer with SC&A Consulting, told the board that the company has failed to demonstrate that the “exemption will not result in undue hazard to public health and safety or result in undue hazard to the environment.” Board members said they were uncomfortable authorizing such waste before the Department of Environmental Quality completes its long-running “performance assessment” of the Clive facility, located 80 miles (about 130 kilometers) west of Salt Lake City, where EnergySolutions hopes to bury far more depleted uranium oxide, a granular waste product from the uranium-enrichment process. EnergySolutions wanted regulatory approval to avoid a lengthy performance assessment so it could competitively bid on a U.S. Department of Defense contract for the munitions disposal. The 5,000 cubic yards (about 3,800 cubic meters) of 30 mm bullets are at Tooele Army Depot and a military installation in Indiana. Don Verbica, with the radiation control division, said he didn’t believe previous assessments done at the Clive facility addressed the risks posed by depleted uranium metal. “They have to demonstrate that (disposal of the material) will not result in an undue hazard to public health, safety and the environment,” Verbica said. Verbica added that depleted uranium metal is chemically unstable, relatively mobile and pyrophoric, or able to ignite spontaneously.
9487	Beyond The Nasty Needle: Trying To Make Vaccines More Comfy And Convenient	This story summarizes three different alternatives to the classic needle-and-syringe delivery method for vaccinations. The story does some things well; it discusses price and effectiveness for some of the options under research. But there were some holes in the story when it came to discussing the medical evidence–and its limitations. We also think the story would have been stronger with an independent viewpoint. Parents in particular are hopeful that one day vaccines will be delivered without needles, and many will likely read this story with high interest. They need to know how solid the evidence is for these new alternatives in a consistent way.	mixture	vaccines	The article provides information about the cost of both the flu vaccine patch and the jet-injector. The cost of giving flu vaccine by nasal spray isn’t provided. The quantification of benefits in this article is a mixed bag. The description of the Georgia Institute of Technology flu patch study does provide some information about benefits of this vaccine delivery methods, but there is no description of the measured benefits of the jet injectors. The most complete comparative data on the benefits of the vaccine delivery method are in the briefer discussion of nasal spray. There we learn that the CDC reported the effectiveness of the spray was only 3 percent, so low that “no protective benefit could be measured” for children ages 2 to 17. The effectiveness of the flu shot was about 63% for the same age group. We would have liked to have seen this kind of discussion for all three alternatives in the story. The focus of the article headline is convenience and comfort. It follows through on that focus by doing a fairly good job of addressing side effects of the various delivery mechanisms, though again, the information is somewhat uneven. The most thorough description of harms is provided in the flu patch section of the story, where we learn that participants in the clinical trial had some redness, itching and tenderness but no serious side effects. About the jet injection we learn it is much less painful than when it was used for smallpox vaccination back in the 1960s. The story also informs us that nozzles are changed between patients so the former problem with infection from using the same equipment has been resolved. No other harms (like the redness and itching associated with the patch, for example) are mentioned. The section of the story on nasal spray vaccines is short, and it doesn’t include any information about side effects or harms. For the experimental flu patch, readers learn this was a randomized controlled trial that lasted six months, enrolling 100 people in three different groups. But, it was a phase 1 trial, meaning it’s preliminary evidence–that should have been made clear, particularly as that explains why it’s hard to know how effective it is, for now. There’s no information about the research behind the jet injection techniques. Regarding the nasal spray, a recent study is mentioned but the research design is only implied. This is a bit strange considering that AstraZeneca, the producer of the product, says that evidence from several other studies contradicts the CDC’s conclusion. In a case like that, readers need more information. The headline “Beyond the Nasty Needle” seems over the top. Still, it’s true that some people are pathologically afraid of needles, and the rest of the headline and article don’t approach the issue that dramatically. The article mentions funders for all of the efforts described. But there is no independent source–everyone in the story seems to be connected to a commercial product. This story is all about alternatives. In places it could provide more complete information, as noted above, but it definitely considers several options. Overall, this story adequately addresses availability. It explains that flu patches aren’t yet available on the market; it may be some time until readers can walk down to the corner pharmacy and buy their own flu patch over the counter. The jet injection and nasal spray are described as already widely available. The main focus of the story–the possibility that flu vaccine could be delivered via a micro-needle patch–comes across as an exciting new development. In actuality, the Georgia Institute of Technology team made that announcement three years ago. The new development this time around is that the immune response of study participants who used the patch was comparable to those who received a traditional injection. This story does not appear to rely on a news release.
21710	We jumped 11 places since beginning this year in terms of being job-friendly.	Gov. John Kasich touts Ohio's improvement in a CNBC business survey	true	Ohio, Economy, John Kasich,	"""We're No. 23"" may not sound like a stirring claim, but Gov. John Kasich has been using one version of it to lead cheers for Ohio. ""We jumped 11 spaces since beginning this year in terms of being job-friendly,"" he said in an interview July 12, 2011, with former Fox News colleague Sean Hannity, crediting the improvement to ""probably the most massive comprehensive piece of legislation passed in modern times in Ohio."" He was referring to the recently passed state budget, which he signed into law June 30. He cited more accomplishments and some sources of information when he repeated the claim the next day with former House colleague Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC: ""My state was dying. It is my job to get us out of this. We jumped, according to CNBC, 11 places since I've become governor as business friendly in America."" And Kasich got a third chance to tout Ohio July 17, 2001, on NBC's ""Meet the Press,"" telling host David Gregory: ""Ohio was dying, and we are beginning to really become business-friendly. ... In Ohio, because we faced our $8 billion budget deficit and provide tax relief, what's happened? CNBC says we've jumped 11 points, 11 places in terms of business-friendly."" PolitiFact Ohio decided to take a look at the claim. The governor’s office confirmed he was talking about CNBC's annual rating of ""America's top states for business,"" which the business channel released in June. Ohio ranked 23rd. That is, in fact, an advance of 11 spots from last year’s list, which made Ohio the most improved state (followed by Florida and Pennsylvania). CNBC said its study used input from business groups including the National Association of Manufacturers and the Council on Competitiveness to rank states in 10 categories: cost of doing business; workforce; quality of life; economy; transportation and infrastructure; technology and innovation; education; business friendliness; access to capital, and cost of living. Ohio's biggest improvement came in the ""cost of doing business"" category, based on tax burden, including individual income and property taxes, and business taxes, particularly as they apply to new investments. Utilities, wages and rental space were also figured. That specific improvement was hailed by the Ohio Business Development Coalition, which said, ""Ohio improved to 5th place from 29th place last year due to a multi-year effort to reform the state's tax structure, which took full effect in 2010."" In April, the coalition noted, a report from Ernst & Young with the Council On State Taxation ranked Ohio as having the third friendliest tax environment in the nation. Those tax reforms came before Kasich's watch, however; they started two administrations ago, under Republican Gov. Bob Taft and a GOP-controlled legislature in 2005. Kasich can claim some credit in the category of economy, where the study measured each state’s fiscal health by looking at projected budget gaps or surpluses for the coming fiscal year. Ohio moved up 10 spots to 24th. We think it's fair to allow the governor some license for salesmanship, but we don't think it's splitting hairs to note that the CNBC study did not give Ohio high marks for being ""job friendly"" or ""business friendly"" as he stated. His underlying meaning is that Ohio’s business climate has improved, and his wording is similar to the name of the study, ""America’s top states for business."" But Ohio did not fare as well in some of the study’s 10 categories as it did overall. One category specifically graded states ""on the perceived 'friendliness' of their legal and regulatory frameworks to business."" Ohio ranked 42nd in it. The state was dead last in the ""workforce"" category. CNBC says states were rated ""on the education level of their workforce, as well as the numbers of available workers. We also considered union membership. While organized labor contends that a union workforce is a quality workforce, that argument, more often than not, doesn’t resonate with business. We also looked at the relative success of each state’s worker training programs in placing their participants in jobs."" CNBC's list is one of many. Chief Executive magazine annually rates the ""best/worst states for business,"" using input on ""overall business-friendliness"" from 550 CEOs. Ohio this year ranked 41st -- improved two places from last year but down 19 places from 2006, making the state one of the biggest losers over five years (with Illinois, Washington, Maryland and Pennsylvania). The conservative-leaning Tax Foundation ranked Ohio 46th in its state business tax rankings for 2011. But the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, a trade group that represents small businesses and advocates for less government regulation, annually issues a rigorous ""Business Tax Index"" that pulls together 18 different tax measures to rank the states from best to worst in terms of the costs of their tax systems on entrepreneurship and small business. The index for 2011, published in April, ranked Ohio 9th. The SBE Council also has a ""Small Business Survival Index"" that evaluates states in 36 categories including corporate and income taxes, gas and diesel taxes, government spending, health care and energy costs, inheritance taxes, and workers compensation costs. The latest, released in December, rated Ohio 9th in the nation, up from 11th a year earlier. So where does that leave the governor’s claim? He was correct that Ohio jumped 11 places in a study from CNBC, although he misstated the name of the study. The state didn’t fare as well in some catagories of that study, including one that specifically looked at perceived friendliness to business. There also are several other rankings for business climate and tax burdens out there. In some of those, Ohio has shown improvement. Others, however, still have the state low in their rankings. And some of the tax changes that boosted the state were put in place by previous administrations. Kasich was trying to show progress in Ohio, selling both the state and his stewardship. In his claim, he was citing only one study. On that study his statement was accurate, but these other points help clarify the picture. On the Truth-O-Meter, that gets a rating of ."
443	Wildfire in Chilean port city of Valparaiso leaves 700 homeless.	More than 245 homes have been destroyed and 700 people left destitute after a forest fire tore through a low-income area of the Chilean seaside city of Valparaiso on Christmas Eve.	true	Environment	President Sebastian Pinera said on Thursday during a tour of the affected zone that there was evidence the fire had been started deliberately. “I deeply regret that what should have been a good night, a night of peace, should have been so profoundly altered by this tragedy,” he said. Valparaiso, known for its colorful wood-frame houses, is popular among tourists in the South American country. The fire broke out in a forested area on the outskirts of the city and spread toward the coast, hitting the Rocuant and San Roque hills, a jumble of settlements that overlook the city. Inhabitants fled their homes just moments before sitting down to their Christmas Eve dinner, some losing all their belongings and even pets. Marta Pinto, 78, said her granddaughter spotted the fire coming down the hill and raised the alarm. “They took me to the house of a niece because I suffer from lung disease,” she told Reuters. “My husband arrived and said: ‘Love, we have lost everything.’ I´ve cried all my tears already. My heart is so sore for everything that has happened to us, to our neighbors, in this tremendous tragedy.” Juan Silva Suazo, 68, said he had lost his home and all of the possessions he spent 45 years accumulating. “So many years of sacrifice, it has cost me so much to make my house and now that I´m retired, I have no way of making it back,” he said. “I have polio, I cannot stand for a long time, or sit for a long time either as I have osteoporosis in my hips, knees and feet. We are sleeping in a bathroom right now, it´s terrible.” Chile´s forestry commission said the fire was only fully brought under control at midday on Thursday with the help of nine firefighting teams, five helicopters and two water trucks. A total of 132 hectares of vegetation were destroyed, it added. Agriculture Minister Antonio Walker said the high temperatures at the height of the Southern Hemisphere summer, which runs from December to March, and dry conditions caused by a historic drought currently blighting Chile had provided fertile ground for the fire. Valparaiso’s mayor Jorge Sharp, said on Wednesday he had filed a criminal complaint with the courts against those who started the fire, once they are identified. “That this fire was intentionally started is, from various indications, clear and we want to know who is responsible and why they would want to cause so much damage to Valparaiso,” he said.
7328	German restaurant takes novel approach to keep cider flowing.	How does a traditional German restaurant comply with the untraditional demands of the coronavirus era?	true	International News, Frankfurt, General News, Lifestyle, Health, Business, Germany, Virus Outbreak, Europe, Restaurants	Thomas Metzmacher was faced with the prospect of having to shut down his Frankfurt restaurant specializing in a traditional tart hard cider due to German regulations prohibiting groups of people from gathering amid the coronavirus pandemic. So he came up with a novel solution. After toying with the idea of a delivery service, he instead turned his half-timbered restaurant into a makeshift drive-thru. Now he is serving up schnitzel, fried potatoes and other German favorites — of course the tasty Aeppelwoi cider — to customers waiting in a long line of cars. “The restaurant had to close, nobody was allowed to sit inside anymore, so it was either give up or fight,” he said. “And I decided to fight.” Metzmacher’s Zum Lahmen Esel restaurant, which has been in operation since 1807, normally seats 200 people inside and another 200 in an outdoor garden. Now, cars drive up to a small booth in front of the restaurant, where one of Metzmacher’s 36 employees takes their order, and then pushes a plastic tub down a makeshift slide to the car’s window to take payment at a safe distance. Driving ahead, the customer gets their order in another tub pushed to their window. “It’s going great,” says Metzmacher. “My regulars are supporting me, they’re really happy I’m open.” Without people sticking around for a few more of the signature ciders, profit margins are low but Metzmacher says it’s better than nothing. “At least we’re carrying on and we’re continuing to work,” he says.
21789	This governor has cut funding repeatedly for people who have AIDS, who need drugs to save their life.	Assemblyman Herb Conaway Jr. claims Gov. Chris Christie has repeatedly cut funding for AIDS patients	true	New Jersey, Health Care, State Budget, Herb Conaway Jr.,	"Wearing pink shirts and holding up signs, people gathered outside the Statehouse in Trenton recently as Democratic legislators led a rally to increase women’s health care funding in the face of opposition from Gov. Chris Christie. When Assemblyman Herb Conaway Jr. (D-Burlington/Camden) addressed the crowd on June 20, he claimed Christie also has been cutting health care funding for another group: people with AIDS. ""This governor has cut funding repeatedly for people who have AIDS, who need drugs to save their life,"" said Conaway, a physician specializing in internal medicine. ""People who have AIDS today can live out their life...almost as long as anybody else if they get the drugs they need and this governor, time and time again, has cut that."" PolitiFact New Jersey confirmed that the Christie administration had cut or proposed to cut state funding for AIDS and HIV services, but in two cases, other funding sources would allow the same number of individuals receiving those services to be served. When we asked Conaway’s chief of staff, Ethan Hasbrouck, to back up the statement, he pointed to two funding cuts in the governor’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2012 as well as a change made last year in eligibility for the AIDS Drug Distribution Program. Although a final budget for fiscal year 2012 was approved at the end of June, this Truth-O-Meter item focuses on the proposed budget at the time of Conaway’s statement. We later called Hasbrouck twice and sent him multiple emails to set up an interview with Conaway about our findings, but we never heard back. Let’s review those three items one at a time. Hasbrouck said the fiscal year 2011 budget lowered the income eligibility for the AIDS Drug Distribution Program. That disqualified about 960 people from the program, saving $7.9 million. But the state later set up a new drug benefits program to assist those individuals who would no longer be eligible under the AIDS Drug Distribution Program. That new program was funded through additional rebates from pharmaceutical companies and a new federal grant program. The state increased AIDS Drug Distribution Program funding last year for people who met the new income eligibility, but reduced spending in other categories of HIV services, according to Dawn Thomas, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services. Now, let’s turn to the cuts in the originally proposed fiscal year 2012 budget. Hasbrouck correctly states that the governor’s proposed budget would have cut $4.7 million for special-care nursing facilities, including Broadway House in Newark, the state’s only long-term care facility for people living with HIV and AIDS. The second proposed cut cited by Hasbrouck was $3.7 million from the AIDS Drug Distribution Program. Although that state funding was proposed to be cut, the mix of funding sources would enable the same amount of participants to receive access to medications through both the AIDS Drug Distribution Program and the other drug benefits program, according to Thomas. But remember this: two of the funding cuts cited by Hasbrouck were only proposals at the time of the assemblyman’s statement. Here’s how the final budget for fiscal year 2012 affects AIDS and HIV funding: The income eligibility for the AIDS Drug Distribution Program was restored to its previous level, but state funding for the program has been further reduced for a total cut of about $10.7 million, Thomas wrote in an email. Other funding sources will allow the same number of participants to be served, she wrote. The budget reduces overall funding for nursing facilities, but there is no longer a specific cut to special-care nursing facilities like Broadway House, Thomas wrote. The impact on those special-care facilities remains unclear, she wrote. Let’s review: Conaway claimed at a Statehouse rally that Christie has repeatedly cut AIDS funding. His chief of staff pointed to three pieces of evidence, one from the budget approved last year and two from the proposed budget for fiscal year 2012. A spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services confirmed cuts to AIDS and HIV funding in both budgets. But last year, a new program was created to assist people impacted by the eligibility change. This year, state funding was proposed to be cut, but other funding sources were to maintain services for participants. Conaway correctly stated that Christie has cut state funding for AIDS and HIV programs, but at least when it comes to pharmaceutical assistance, people continued to receive medicine for their AIDS and HIV treatment. To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com."
37768	"Image shows a ""1979 horoscope."	‘1979 Horoscope, I Am F***ing Begging You to Read This’	mixture	Fact Checks, Viral Content	Around June 30 2020, posts labeled “1979 horoscope i am fucking begging you to read this” began circulating on Facebook:Twitter:1979 horoscope i am fucking begging you to read this pic.twitter.com/ta2k3FbQvu— wendy (@friends3000) June 30, 2020And Reddit’s r/astrology (tagged “unverified”):1979 horoscope i am fucking begging you to read this from astrologyIn two of the three iterations above, the “fucking begging you to read this” verbiage appeared; all three identified the battered document as a “1979 horoscope.” Bits and pieces of the document’s content appeared on undated web pages, but what appeared to be a transcription (also undated) was published to a personal website:YOUR HOROSCOPE AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb. 18) You have an inventive mind and are inclined to be progressive. You lie a great deal. On the other hand you are inclined to be careless and impractical, causing you to make the same mistakes over and over again. People think you are stupid.PISCES (Feb. 19 – Mar 20) You have a vivid imagination and often think you are being followed by the CIA or FBI. You have minor influence over your associates and people resent you for flaunting your power. You lack confidence and are generally a coward. Pisces people do terrible things to small animals.ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 19) You are the pioneer type and hold most people in contempt. You are quick tempered, impatient, and scornful of advice. You are not very nice.TAURUS (Apr 20 – May 20) You are practical and persistent. You have a dogged determination and work like hell. Most people think you are a stubborn and bullheaded. Taurus people have B.O. and fart a lot.GEMINI (May 21 – June 20) You are a quick and intelligent thinker. People like you because you are bisexual. However, you are inclined to expect too much for too little. This means you are cheap. Gemini people are known for committing incest.CANCER (June 21 – July 22) You are sympathetic and understanding to other peoples problems. They think you are a sucker. You are always putting things off. That is why you will never make anything of yourself. Most welfare recipients are Cancer people.LEO (July 23 – Aug 22) You consider yourself a born leader. Others think you are pushy. Most Leo people are bullies. You are vain and dislike honest criticism. Your arrogance is disgusting. Leo people are thieves.VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22) You are the logical type and hate disorder. This nit-picking is sickening to your friends. You are cold and unemotional and sometimes fall asleep while making love. Virgos make good bus drivers.LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 22) You are the artistic type and have a difficult time with reality. If you are a man, you are more than likely queer. Chances for employment and monetary gains are excellent. Most Libra women are good prostitutes. All Libras have venereal disease.SCORPIO (Oct 23 – Nov 21) You are shrewd in business and cannot be trusted. You will achieve the pinnacle of success because of your total lack of ethics. Most Scorpio people are murdered.SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21) You are optimistic and enthusiastic. You have a reckless tendency to rely on luck since you lack talent. The majority of Sagittarians are drunks or dope fiends. People laugh at you a great deal.CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19) You are conservative and afraid of taking risks. You don’t do much of anything and are lazy. There has never been a Capricorn of any importance. Capricorns should avoid standing still too long as a dog might think you are a tree and piss on you.Nothing on the widely-circulating versions in June and July 2020 specifically indicated that the typed sheet was from 1979 or from any other year. The version shared to the website linked above was old, and it was possible the humorous horoscope circulated and was printed for posterity in the very early days of the internet.Although we were unable to locate a specific origin for the purported 1979 horoscope, we did find it in the book The Best American Humor 1994, a description for which suggested the text was likely written by an unnamed humorist in 1994 — not 1979:This debut collection of The Best American Humor celebrates the funniest short stories, essays, articles, and excerpts of the past year. The more than 40 entries in this edition feature some of the most well-known wits and humorists, including Garry Trudeau, Russell Baker, Paul Rudnick, Douglas Coupland, Garrison Keillor, Conan O’Brien, Philip Roth, T. Coraghessan Boyle, and John Updike among others. Edited by Moshe Waldoks, who co-edited the bestselling The Big Book of Jewish Humor and The Big Book of New American Humor, this volume — the only “best of the year” humor anthology — is a hilarious, cynical, witty, sarcastic, and laugh-out-loud look at the funny side of existence and survival. The Best American Humor 1994 is sure to delight all lovers of fun and laughter.On Google Books, the “1979 horoscope” appeared on pages 91 through 93:That was not the earliest source we found for the text, though. It also appeared in Mother Jones Magazine in December 1977, not 1979. The text said that it was “submitted by Ann Gold,” and that it was “found by a janitor friend at the Suicide Prevention Center” in San Francisco:As such, the “1979 horoscope” appeared to predate 1979 by at least two years. It was published in a magazine in 1979, submitted by someone who said they found it in a locker. The actual author and source of the humorous horoscope was not known.Comments
5040	3 companies pay California $70 million for delaying drugs.	Three pharmaceutical companies collectively are agreeing to pay California nearly $70 million to settle allegations that they delayed drugs to keep prices high, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Monday.	true	Health, Xavier Becerra, General News, California	The bulk of the money will come from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and its affiliates for paying to delay a generic narcolepsy drug, Provigil, from entering the market for nearly six years. Teva is paying $69 million, which Becerra says is the largest pay-for-delay settlement received by any state. Such agreements let the developer of brand name drugs keep their monopolies over the drugs after their patents expire, thereby letting them continue to charge consumers higher prices. The drug developer pays the generic manufacturer to keep the cheaper version of the drug from entering the marketplace for an agreed period of time. Teva said the money will come from a pre-existing fund that was created in 2015 as part of the company’s settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over similar claims, and it will not make any additional payments. Becerra said such agreements can force consumers and the health care market to pay as much as 90% more than if there were generic alternatives. More than $25 million of the settlement will go to a consumer fund for California residents who purchased Provigil, Nuvigil or Modafinil between 2006 and 2012. “No one in America should be forced to skip or ration doses of medicine that they need ... and certainly not because a drug company is colluding to keep the price of your drug artificially high even when cheaper options could be available. But that’s what’s happening,” Becerra said. The second, $760,000 settlement is with Teva, Endo Pharmaceuticals and Teikoku Pharma USA over keeping a genetic alternative to the pain patch Lidoderm from entering the market for nearly two years. Teva said it is paying $200,000 to cover the state’s legal costs after settling similar federal claims earlier this year. Neither Endo nor Teikoku responded to requests for comment. Both settlements bar the companies from pay-for-delay agreements for several years. Teva is agreeing to not to enter any such agreements for 10 years, while Endo Pharmaceuticals has an eight-year agreement and Teikoku a 20-year injunction. Teva said the restriction is identical to its federal consent decree. Becerra also backed pending legislation, AB824 by Democratic Assemblyman Jim Wood of Santa Rosa, that would ban such agreements. The measure would require pharmaceutical companies to prove that their agreements are not anticompetitive. It passed the Assembly 56-0 in May and is awaiting a vote in the Senate. Pharmaceutical companies oppose the bill, arguing the Federal Trade Commission already does this monitoring. ___ This story has been corrected to say that while there are four settlement agreements, they involve only three companies.
30103	Pigs don't sweat and are therefore more likely to harbor parasites or other toxins, making them unhealthy to eat.	Pork, like any other food, is subject to the risk of infection by parasites or bacteria, and could in theory contain heavy metals introduced by the environment in which the animal was raised. Sanitary farming conditions, proper feeding, and prudent food preparation, not sweat glands, are the means of reducing those risks.	false	Critter Country	Pork has a long history of being maligned as an unhealthy and unclean meat primarily due to beliefs expressed in ancient religious texts, while in the modern era some armchair scientists have attempted to provide scientific explanations for the same belief. In the latter category, several posts that have gained widespread attention online have claimed that pigs are more likely to harbor dangerous bacteria and parasites because they do not sweat: This concept was further fleshed out in a longer and well-shared post titled “Why does Islam forbid pork when the pig is one of the creations of God,” which asserted that “Unlike other mammals, a pig does not sweat or perspire. Perspiration is a means by which toxins are removed from the body. Since a pig does not sweat, the toxins remain within its body and in the meat.” Our post is not concerned with the epistemological questions posed by any religious text that forbids the eating of pork, but instead with specifically addressing the unfounded claim that pigs are unhealthy to eat because their inability to sweat precludes them from getting rid of toxins or parasites. It is accurate to say that pigs do not sweat. Although pigs possess some sweat glands, they do not respond to thermoregulatory cues (which is one reason why pigs wallow about in mud to cool themselves). A pig’s lack of functional sweat glands might be a compelling argument about pork’s being an unsafe food if the same thing were not also true of other animals which we eat as well. Most meat we consume comes from animals that do not sweat much or at all, which would call into question essentially all the meat humans eat if sweating were an important factor in food safety. Cows have a limited number of functional sweat glands. Chickens are not mammals and therefore do not possess any sweat glands at all. Humans, with between two to five million sweat glands, are prodigious sweaters compared to most other mammals, especially the ones we commonly eat. A popular folk-medicine notion is that the human body purges itself of toxic substances by sweating them out. Although several chemicals, some of which could accurately be described as toxins, can be found in human sweat, no scientific study has indicated that this could be or is likely to be a significant mechanism for the excretion of dangerous substances: The body does appear to sweat out toxic materials — heavy metals and bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical found in plastics, for instance, have been detected in sweat. But there’s no evidence that sweating out such toxins improves health … The concentration of metals detected in sweat are extremely low. Sweat is 99 percent water. The liver and kidneys remove far more toxins than sweat glands. Pigs, for the record, also have a liver and a kidney, both of which serve to remove “toxins” from their body. The amount of metals or other toxins that would theoretically be removed from a pig by sweating are negligible, and therefore a pig’s lack of sweat is entirely unrelated to its potential “toxin” load. Ignoring entirely the scientifically impossible proposal that bacteria, through the process of being jailed in the body of a sweatless animal, could “turn into parasites,” the notion that sweating could be an effective mechanism for the removal of parasites from an animal’s body at all is far-fetched on its own. The assertion that “worms which attack the digestive system” could escape from a sweat gland requires two absurdities to be true: 1) that a physical, tunnel-like connection exists between a mammal’s digestive system and its sweat glands, and 2) that worm parasites could fit into a sweat gland. Ascaris suum is a species of roundworm commonly found in a pig’s gastrointestinal tracts. Its life cycle, broadly representative of (though slightly more convoluted than) many of the common species of parasites found in pigs, does not at any point involve the epidermis of the animal: When [Ascaris suum] eggs are ingested, the larvae hatch in the intestine, penetrate the wall, and enter the portal circulation. After a short period in the liver, they are carried by the circulation to the lungs, where they pass through the capillaries into the alveolar spaces [in the lungs]. Approximately 9–10 days after ingestion, the larvae pass up the bronchial tree, are swallowed, and return to the small intestine by ~10–15 days after infection, where they mature into adult worms. Those adult worms, with a diameter of around 2-4 millimeters, would be roughly 10,000 times wider than a (human) sweat gland, which are roughly 30-50 µm wide. All livestock, regardless of species, are susceptible to similar parasites, including cows.
32608	A new penile implant notifies spouses via cell phone alerts when their husbands are cheating on them.	The photograph included in the TMZ World News article does not show a “Commit-Tech” device; it’s an image of a small light sensor that is readily available on stock photography web sites:	false	Junk News, tmzworldnews	On 16 June 2016, the web site TMZ World News (not affiliated with the gossip site TMZ) published an article reporting that Microsoft and Apple had teamed up to create a new penile implant that notifies spouses via cell phone alerts when their husbands are cheating on them: Microsoft and Apple have joined forces to cut down on infidelity, save marriages and keep people in relationships accountable for their actions. Together, the technology giants have created a “genital implant” that will alert your cell phone if your partner goes astray. It is called Commit-Tech. Commit-Tech is a tiny chip that will be implanted at the tip of the penis on the man and the vulva of the woman. These two microchips will be synced together with an app that is installed on your cell phone. If at any time, one of these chips is involved in any sexual activity without the other chip, it will alert the partners cell phone that the other has been cheating. The above-quoted story was just another clickbait fabrication from TMZ World News, a fake news site: Tmzworldnews.com is the most notorious satire website in the world with the most shocking Satire News to keep its visitors in a state of disbelief.
8303	German auto industry calls for incentives to boost green car demand.	Germany’s auto industry association VDA on Thursday joined a chorus of demands from auto industry executives and politicians calling for more incentives to revive demand for low emission vehicles in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.	true	Environment	Measures to curb the movement of people, imposed to contain the spread of the virus, have hit car sales hard, leading Germany’s Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) on Thursday to abandon its full year outlook and issue a profit warning. As Germany prepares to ease lockdown measures which will allow car dealerships to reopen, lobby group VDA said demand needed to a boost. “There is currently no reason for optimism. It is likely that economic support measures will be necessary in order to revive overall economic demand and, in particular, the demand for vehicles,” Hildegard Mueller, president of German auto industry association VDA said in a statement on Thursday. How such incentives should be structured and funded depends on how well demand rebounds after Germany loosens lockdown measures, Mueller said. “We will only be able to estimate what is actually necessary once the car dealerships have opened. Then we will see how customers will behave.” Politicians and the auto industry need to act in a timely fashion, she cautioned. “It will be too late to talk about possible demand impulses in autumn.” Mueller’s remarks, made on Wednesday and published by the VDA on Thursday, follow calls for state aid made by Bavarian premier Markus Soeder on April 8. At the time, he called for a cash-for-clunkers scrappage scheme to boost low emission cars, an idea which was immediately endorsed by BMW’s Chief Executive Oliver Zipse. “We need to have another very specific discussion about how we can strengthen the automotive sector. And I think it is necessary to develop a model similar to the scrappage scheme in order to give a massive boost to domestic demand,” Soeder said, adding that measures were needed to boost demand for low emission vehicles in particular. “Let’s be quite honest, all the new engines have not yet been as successful on the market as we thought. Now is the chance to start a project in which we can promote cars in Germany with an innovation premium.” Stephan Weil, the premier of Lower Saxony, the German state which owns a 20% stake in Volkswagen, this week told Hannoverschen Allgemeine Zeitung that the country needed an “eco scrappage scheme” to boost demand for electric and hybrid cars. Tobias Austrup, a transport specialist at environmental lobby group Greenpeace, also welcomed the idea. “It is good that Weil and Soeder link any state aid for the car industry to ecological progress this time. If all taxpayers make this money available, then everyone must benefit from it - for example through better air, less climate damage and secure jobs.”
9288	New study finds that proton therapy has fewer side effects in esophageal cancer patients	Treatment room at the Maryland Proton Treatment Center. Proton therapy has been shown to be a significant improvement over other forms of radiation therapy for a select group of conditions including: intracranial arteriovenous malformations (AVMs); ocular tumors, including intraocular/uveal melanoma; and skull-based tumors (e.g., chordomas or chondrosarcomas). Its value in other tumor types and conditions has not been demonstrated in a randomized clinical trial. The University of Maryland (UMD) release claims that proton therapy, also known as proton beam therapy, causes fewer toxic side effects when used to treat esophageal cancer patients. However, that’s about all we learn from this news release. The release doesn’t touch on many important questions, such as how many fewer side effects proton beam therapy causes, whether those side effects actually reduce health risk for patients, or whether proton therapy is more effective at treating the cancer. The release also doesn’t address cost or even describe the study that forms the basis for the claims. The National Cancer Institute reports that more than 35,000 people in the United States were living with esophageal cancer in 2012. Radiation therapy to treat cancer can cause a wide array of negative side effects, which can affect both quality of life and long-term health. Anything that can be done to limit those side effects is worth covering. But there’s another reason to pay close attention to emerging research on proton therapy: money. According to a Wall Street Journal article published May 26, 16 proton therapy centers are under construction in the United States — at a cost of up to $200 million each. That’s on top of more than a dozen such centers that have already been built. However, there are a lot of questions about whether proton therapy offers better health outcomes than other radiation therapy techniques. Or, as a 2014 article in Modern Healthcare put it, “Hospitals investing in proton-beam radiation therapy centers are gambling on clinical evidence that is still years away to justify their plunge into the expensive technology.” HealthNewsReview has written about proton therapy at length, and for good reason: an unproven treatment technique that involves human lives, human health, and billions of dollars in industry investment is a subject worth following.	false	esophageal cancer,proton therapy,University of Maryland	The release mentions that UMD is currently building a proton beam center that will cost $200 million. However, there’s no information about the actual cost of treatment with proton therapy compared with other radiation treatment techniques. Proton therapy is significantly more expensive. The American Cancer Society noted in 2013 that “Medicare pays about $19,000 for a full dose of standard radiation therapy for prostate cancer, but it pays nearly double for proton therapy – more than $32,000.” The release states in the opening paragraph that “patients treated with proton therapy experienced significantly less toxic side effects than patients treated with older radiation therapies.” But it never offers detailed information on what that means. For example, the release later states that proton therapy resulted “a significantly lower number of side effects, including nausea, blood abnormalities, and loss of appetitite.” How much less likely were patients that received proton therapy to experience these side effects? Did they not experience any of these side effects, or did the benefits vary from patient to patient? What type of blood abnormalities are they talking about? Frustratingly, the release goes on to list a wide range of possible side effects from radiation therapy, but then says that “proton therapy did not make a difference in all of these side effects, but had significant effects on several.” Which ones? By focusing on proton therapy advantages, and offering little information on which side effects proton therapy does not ameliorate, the release effectively glosses over the fact that proton therapy can still cause a wide array of significant adverse side effects associated with radiation therapy. The release gives readers virtually no information about the study it’s reporting on. The release tells readers that the study involved “nearly 600 patients,” and that it “compared two kinds of X-ray radiation with proton therapy.” That’s it. It’s not clear how many patients received proton therapy versus the other types of radiation therapy, or even what the other two kinds of X-ray radiation therapy were. In addition, we don’t know if this was a clinical trial, if it was a double-blind study, or if it was comparing proton therapy treatment with historical data on X-ray radiation therapies. And because the release is based on a conference presentation rather than a journal article, it’s difficult (or impossible) for readers to look this information up. No disease mongering here. The University of Maryland release does note that UMD is poised to open its own proton therapy later this year, and that the 110,000 square-foot center cost $200 million to build. The release also lists Mayo Clinic and the MD Anderson Cancer Center as partners in the research being reported. But the release doesn’t note that both Mayo and MD Anderson have also built large, expensive proton therapy centers. In other words, all three institutions have invested heavily in proton therapy and have a strong financial incentive to promote its benefits. There is no information in the release on how the study was funded. The release does discuss alternative cancer therapies, such as Gammapod and selective internal radiation therapy — but neither of those therapies is used on esophageal cancer. In fact, the list of therapies included in the release muddies the water for readers: it’s not clear why it’s there. However, the release does not discuss longstanding treatment options for esophageal cancer, such as surgery and chemotherapy. This is particularly problematic because esophageal cancer treatment often involves chemotherapy and radiation therapy, or chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. Discussing radiation therapy in isolation may give readers a skewed picture of treatment options — particularly for Stage II, III, and IV esophageal cancer. There are at least a dozen centers in the United States that currently offer proton therapy for cancer treatment, but that’s not clear from the information in the release. The only treatment center mentioned in the release is the one that UMD plans to open this fall. What’s more, proton therapy is repeatedly characterized as “new” — when it has been a subject of widespread discussion (and reporting) for years. Additionally, most insurers still consider proton beam therapy to be “not medically necessary” under usual circumstances except for a small number of conditions noted earlier. Proton therapy has garnered widespread attention for years because it is reported to cause fewer side effects than other treatments. This study was looking specifically at side effects of proton therapy’s use when treating esophageal cancer, which may be a novel application for the technology. However, the story doesn’t make that sufficiently clear. Is this the first time that researchers have analyzed the effects of proton beam therapy on esophageal cancer? Or is it adding to a body of research on this condition? The story could have earned a Satisfactory rating by clarifying that point. This is a close call. While he release does avoid the type of dramatic language (e.g., “Breakthrough!”) that we typically associate with unjustifiable language, we think the cumulative effect of so much positive/promotional language in this release (e.g. “innovative, precise approach,” “newest and highly precise,” “precisely direct[s] radiation to the most difficult-to-reach tumors,” “can really make a difference in cancer patients’ lives”), totally detached from any consideration of evidence, rises to the level of unjustified.
8532	South Korea reports recovered coronavirus patients testing positive again.	South Korean officials on Friday reported 91 patients thought cleared of the new coronavirus had tested positive again.	true	Health News	Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), told a briefing that the virus may have been “reactivated” rather than the patients being re-infected. South Korean health officials said it remains unclear what is behind the trend, with epidemiological investigations still under way. The prospect of people being re-infected with the virus is of international concern, as many countries are hoping that infected populations will develop sufficient immunity to prevent a resurgence of the pandemic. The South Korean figure had risen from 51 such cases on Monday. Nearly 7,000 South Koreans have been reported as recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. “The number will only increase, 91 is just the beginning now,” said Kim Woo-joo, professor of infectious diseases at Korea University Guro Hospital. The KCDC’s Jeong raised the possibility that rather than patients being re-infected, the virus may have been “reactivated”. Kim also said patients had likely “relapsed” rather than been re-infected. False test results could also be at fault, other experts said, or remnants of the virus could still be in patients’ systems but not be infectious or of danger to the host or others. “There are different interpretations and many variables,” said Jung Ki-suck, professor of pulmonary medicine at Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital. “The government needs to come up with responses for each of these variables”. South Korea on Friday reported 27 new cases, its lowest after daily cases peaked at more than 900 in late February, according to KCDC, adding the total stood at 10,450 cases. The death toll rose by seven to 211, it said. The city of Daegu, which endured the first large coronavirus outbreak outside of China, reported zero new cases for the first time since late February. With at least 6,807 confirmed cases, Daegu accounts for more than half of all South Korea’s total infections. The spread of infections at a church in Daegu drove a spike in cases in South Korea beginning in late February. The outbreak initially pushed the tally of confirmed cases much higher than anywhere else outside of China, before the country used widespread testing and social distancing measures to bring the numbers down.
12572	"In the federal government, ""there’s $16 billion in duplicate programs"" that can be cut."	"Ossoff said that in the federal government, ""there’s $16 billion in duplicate programs"" that can be cut. There are indeed $16 billion in cuts recommended by a credible study published by a nonpartisan arm of Congress, though not all are examples of duplication. The actual universe of cuts offered by GAO is even higher -- somewhere north of an additional $13 billion. The statement is accurate but needs clarification. "	true	Georgia, Federal Budget, Jon Ossoff,	"Jon Ossoff, the Democratic candidate making a strong run in a historically Republican House district, recently aired an ad in which he sought to burnish his credentials as an opponent of unnecessary government spending. Speaking directly to the camera, Ossoff, a former congressional aide, said in part, ""Both parties in Washington waste too much of your money. When I worked there I helped expose waste and abuse by government contractors. We need stricter oversight and tougher penalties. They need to be held accountable. And there’s $16 billion in duplicate programs. That can be cut."" We wondered where that $16 billion figure came from, so we did some due diligence. When we contacted the Ossoff campaign, they sent us to a report published every year since 2011 by the Government Accountability Office, the respected, nonpartisan, investigative arm of Congress. The report, which is mandated by law, is designed to point out programs, offices and practices in government that could be eliminated or changed because they duplicate other government functions or fail to provide value for the taxpayer. Ossoff’s campaign said the $16 billion figure came from several line items in the GAO report that the candidate has reviewed and believes can be eliminated in short order and without significant harm. Here’s a list. (For readers who want the full, in-the-weeds description of these programs, you can refer to the GAO report.) • Consolidate federal data centers: Save $5.4 billion. • Use ""strategic sourcing"" at the Defense Department: Save $4 billion. • Expand joint basing at the Defense Department: Save $2.3 billion. • Improve ""demonstrative spending"" at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: Save at least $2 billion. • Improve management of oil and gas resources on federal lands: Save $1.7 billion. • Consolidate mobile communications: Save $388 million. • Improve oversight of state spending under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: Save at least $200 million. These seven items add up to almost exactly $16 billion. That said, it’s worth noting that only some, not all, are duplicative in the strictest sense; with some of these recommendations, the GAO is calling for improved oversight or management. Also, the $16 billion figure doesn’t include all recommendations in the GAO report -- or even all of those that stem specifically from programs or efforts that GAO deemed duplicative. We found at least two recommendations from the report that suggested savings from duplicative programs: • Prevent individuals from collecting both full disability insurance benefits and unemployment insurance benefits that cover the same period: Save $1.9 billion from 2016 to 2025. • Terminate the U.S. Family Health Plan and have other DOD health care contractors take over its duties: Save $189 million over fiscal years 2017 to 2022. Meanwhile, the report includes a wide range of other recommendations that Ossoff has not explicitly said he supports. (We excluded recommendations where GAO was unable to provide a specific dollar figure.) They include: • Conduct timely children’s disability reviews to ensure that only eligible children receive Supplemental Security Income benefits: Save $3.1 billion over five years • Obtain better data to better enforce offsets and ensure benefit fairness in Social Security. Save $2.4 billion to $7.9 billion over 10 years. • Limit the subsidy for crop insurance premiums for individual farmers: Save $2 billion annually • Permanently rescind the U.S. Enrichment Corp. Fund: Save $1.6 billion • Market the Energy Department’s excess uranium: Secure $1 billion in additional revenue. • Modify how Medicare pays certain cancer hospitals: Save $500 million annually. • Broaden the Internal Revenue Service’s authority to correct simple tax return errors in order to avoid audits: Secure $274 million in additional revenue over fiscal years 2018 to 2026. • Achieve greater cost efficiencies with checked baggage inspection: Save $234 million in 2015 to 2027. • Adjust the air passenger immigration inspection user fee to fully recover the cost of inspection activities: Save almost $175 million. So when Ossoff says ""there’s $16 billion in duplicate programs"" that can be cut, he’s actually undercounting. GAO found at least $13 billion in additional specified savings that Ossoff did not allude to in the ad, plus even more when savings of unspecified amounts are included. (The campaign told PolitiFact that there ""a lot of additional areas for cutting wasteful government spending that he thinks are worth examining as well."") A final note: $16 billion is real money, but it’s still a fairly small fraction of overall federal spending. Total federal spending is about $4 trillion for fiscal year 2017, and even if you exclude mandatory spending on such programs as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on the accumulated debt, the government still spends more than $1 trillion a year on ""discretionary"" programs. Our ruling Ossoff said that in the federal government, ""there’s $16 billion in duplicate programs"" that can be cut. There are indeed $16 billion in cuts recommended by a credible study published by a nonpartisan arm of Congress, though not all are examples of duplication. The actual universe of cuts offered by GAO is even higher -- somewhere north of an additional $13 billion. The statement is accurate but needs clarification, so"
10024	Sleep Fights Colds, Study Finds	This story suggests that a good night’s sleep might be important for fending off the common cold. It features some useful information about the study that’s the basis for the story and includes valuable comments from an independent expert. But it could have done some things better — particularly with the language it uses to characterize the findings and its discussion of alternatives to getting more Zs for staying cold-free. The problems begin with the headline: “Sleep fights colds, study finds.” Well, maybe. “Because we didn’t actually manipulate someone’s sleep, we can’t know whether it was a causative effect,” lead author Aric Prather told HealthNewsReview.org in a telephone interview. “That’s Methodology 101.” It’s important to acknowledge that reporters often have no control over their headlines — nevertheless, we think the issue of misleading headlines is important and needs to be addressed. For more concerns about the presentation of the findings, see “Quality of Evidence” below. The question of how much sleep is optimal is important and largely unanswered. We know that humans get different amounts of sleep at different points in their lives, so age is clearly related to this issue. But it remains unclear how much sleep optimizes health. Though the study described in this piece does not address this larger issue, it attempts to get at this by focusing on the risk of infection. Here the common cold was induced artificially in a controlled setting among healthy individuals. The study found that those who, at baseline, slept more, were less likely to develop an objectively defined cold after being inoculated with the cold virus. This appears to be a well-done study, but doesn’t really answer the key question: If I sleep more, will I get fewer colds? That important question requires a different study to answer. Moreover, this study was done in artificial conditions. The more practical question is, If I sleep more during the cold season, will I be less likely to get a cold? Again, not something that this study, well-performed though it was, is capable of answering.	mixture	NBC News	The story makes no mention of costs, but there is no obvious commercial product involvement here, so we’ll rate it Not Applicable. Although in theory there may be a cost to more sleep — people often give up sleep for work or other activities. The story cites as benefits the reduced risk of getting a cold among those who got at least six hours’ sleep. But this benefit is described in relative terms (e.g. “those who slept for five hours or less each night were 4.5 times more likely to catch the cold). We think absolute terms are more informative. From figure 1 in the study, we can see that about 17% of those w/ >7hrs of sleep got the cold vs. ~45% of those with <5 hrs. The story cites the increased risk of getting a cold with not enough sleep — with the attendant sometimes debilitating symptoms that are all-too-familiar to many. But mainly the story is advocating for more sleep — and could there be risks to getting more sleep or trying to stay in bed for 8 hours if you’re only hardwired to sleep for 6 hours? That’s unclear, but the story could have clarified that although more sleep is associated with fewer colds, that doesn’t necessarily mean that increasing your amount of sleep will reduce the number of colds you get. Proving that would require a different study. We’ll give the benefit of the doubt here. Questions about the evidence begin at the headline, cited above in the summary. Because the study isn’t capable of proving whether there was a cause-and-effect relationship between sleep time and colds, stating that sleep “fights” colds is inappropriate. This study doesn’t demonstrate that if one increases sleep time from 5 to 7 hours, that getting a cold is less likely. It shows an association between those factors, not that one leads to the other. The questions continue with the lede, which tells the reader to try going to bed earlier rather than loading up on Vitamin C and zinc. But the implied promise that we’ll learn something about these two home remedies is never fulfilled. The story goes on to tell us nothing about Vitamin C or zinc, neither of which is mentioned in the study. Finally, while we don’t necessarily think the story was required to explore the results in this much detail, it certainly would have been useful to point out that this study was carried out in a highly controlled setting. In real life, people aren’t just concerned with the number of laboratory defined colds they get — they also want to know whether changing sleep habits lead to fewer cold symptoms, less missed work, and reduced productivity. Imagine someone who gets 3 colds per year that sideline her for 5 days each (15 days total per year). Now that person increases her sleep by 2 hours a night (730 more hours per year, representing ~30 days). If that person gets one less cold per year (10 days total), is she better off? Those 5 days saved came at the cost of 30 days that could have been spent awake doing something! The story makes no mention of the incidence or severity of the common cold. So in that respect, we can’t really give credit here for avoiding disease-mongering. We’ll rule in Not Applicable. The story includes remarks from Dr. M. Safwan Badr, who was not involved with the study. He brings some useful perspective as far as what is new about the study. The story did not provide any meaningful discussion of possible alternatives to reducing colds such as frequent hand-washing. As noted above, the benefit of more sleep = less colds comes at a cost of having less awake time to do things. Some people might be better off having more colds! That makes alternatives potentially important. Of course, not everyone can find six or more hours in a day to sleep. But the study did not address this. The story notes that “the study is unique because it used objective measures to show that poor sleep habits make people more vulnerable to a cold virus.” The story did not rely overly on this news release.
6355	Hepatitis A outbreak increases to 11 cases in Yakima County.	Health officials say a hepatitis A outbreak in Yakima County now involves 11 cases.	true	Health, General News, Washington, Hepatitis, Homelessness, Yakima	The Yakima Health District said Thursday that the cases involve people experiencing homelessness or those who use illicit drugs. The health district announced the outbreak Nov. 7, when five cases were confirmed in Yakima County. Since then, various local agencies have done outreach and vaccinated 74 people. The virus affects the liver and spreads through contaminated feces. It causes symptoms like fever, dark urine, yellow-tinged skin or eyes, fatigue and gastric issues. People pass it along by eating or drinking tainted food or water, or through sex. On July 30, the Washington State Department of Health announced a multi-county hepatitis A outbreak. Through genetic testing, it was found that the Yakima County hepatitis A strain that is being observed is related to the hepatitis A outbreak in Spokane.
24370	Most of the people that work in finance make $70,000, $80,000 a year.	NYC Mayor Bloomberg claims most people in finance earn $70,000-80,000 a year	mixture	National, Corporations, Michael Bloomberg,	"In a time of public anger over salaries and bonuses on Wall Street, it is a rare public figure who stands up for the financial sector. But New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg -- who, not coincidentally, is the founder of a financial news service -- did just that on Meet the Press on Jan. 3, 2010. Discussing what's happened on Wall Street since the sector's near-collapse in 2008, Bloomberg said, ""You know, we have -- everybody is bashing Wall Street. (But Wall Street) is one of the big revenue generators for New York and New York City. That's how we pay our teachers, that's how we pay our cops, that's how we pay our firefighters. And I've always thought, if the elected officials in Michigan bashed the automobile industry, or in California, (information technology), or in Texas, oil, they'd be run out of town on a rail. And yet, every day I pick up the paper and everybody, it's kind of hard to find anybody that's not saying -- well, look, there are some excesses. But overall, most of the people that work in finance make $70,000, $80,000 a year. They're hardworking, and we want those industries to be here and not overseas."" The part that caught our eye was that ""people that work in finance make $70,000, $80,000 a year."" Many of us have the impression from the media that people who work on Wall Street earn much more than that. So we talked to experts and looked at the data. The mayor's office referred us to the New York City Economic Development Corp., whose head is appointed by the mayor. A spokesman said that office came up with that figure by using the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey data. We consulted with the Census Bureau on retracing their steps and found that Bloomberg's comment on Meet the Press was indeed accurate. The American Community Survey data -- which can be broken down by city, employer sector and employee earnings -- showed that for the ""finance and insurance"" sector in New York City, the median earnings in 2008 were $78,451. That figure includes both salary and bonuses -- an important factor in Wall Street compensation, where bonuses often dwarf base salary. A key factor to note is that this is a median number -- that is, the number exactly halfway between the highest earnings and the lowest -- and not an average. In many contexts, calculating the median can be more reliable than calculating the average (or mean), because the median is less likely to be swayed by a small number of very high or very low examples. In this case, using the median rather than the average for the sector minimizes the importance of the very highest paid executives on Wall Street, whose salaries are big enough to skew the entire results. Indeed, if you calculate the average earnings for the sector, rather than the median, the numbers look quite different. Using a separate data set from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks earnings for industries and localities on a quarterly basis, reveals that the average annual earnings for workers in New York City's ""financial activities"" sector was more than $331,000. (This amount, as large as it sounds, was actually extrapolated from data reflecting the first quarter of 2009, which was Wall Street's low point; it reflects a decline of 35 percent from a year earlier.) In other contexts, the New York City Economic Development Corp. isn't averse to citing the average rather than the median. On its Web site, the office offers a pair of charts that detail average annual wages by sector and borough, based on federal statistics. One chart shows the average wages for 2007 in the the finance-and-insurance sector at $286,158 citywide and $315,481 in Manhattan. Another chart reports an average for the ""financial services"" sector citywide at $288,213 for 2007. A spokesman for the corporation said it was valid for the office to cite median figures in one context and average figures in another, asserting that the mayor was correct when he said that ""most of the people that work in finance make $70,000, $80,000 a year."" ""When the question is, 'What do most people who work in finance make,' the most appropriate data is the median, which literally represents the 50th percentile in the distribution,"" said the spokesman, David Lombino. ""An average would make no sense here. If you ate zero eggs, and I ate two eggs, the average is one egg -- but that is not what 'most' people ate."" The other key question is whether the data sets the mayor used are justified or misleading. The census data (as well as BLS data) count anyone who works for a financial firm, regardless of what their job is. A receptionist, an IT staffer, a janitor -- as long as they're employed in-house by a financial services firm, they get mixed in with the high-rollers that author Tom Wolfe called the Masters of the Universe. The receptionists and janitors tend to decrease both the median and average earnings figures for the industry. We had trouble finding specific compensation data for professionals on Wall Street. The Options Group, which publishes an influential compensation survey on the financial services sector, declined to provide data to us. But included in the publicly available pages posted on the firm's Web site is data showing that average salaries for a first-year associate -- a very junior position -- at ""global investment banks"" in 2009 was $80,000 to $90,000 -- which exceeds Bloomberg's figure right off the bat. Yet those same associates, according to the survey, also get bonuses on top of their base pay that average $65,000 to $75,000. Information on more senior positions was blacked out, but it's safe to assume the numbers go up from there. A lot of professionals on Wall Street ""make three-quarters of their pay in annual bonuses,"" said Michael S. Melbinger, an employee-benefits and executive compensation lawyer with the firm Winston & Strawn. Where professionals are concerned, ""I would say [Bloomberg's] figure is the bottom, not the average, even for a boutique firm."" But Lombino sees no problem in Bloomberg including the entire spectrum of financial services employees in his statistic. Indeed, that was part of the point that the mayor was trying to make -- that Wall Street supports the livelihoods of ordinary people as well as the super-rich. ""It is likely that (janitors and receptionists) enjoy other benefits associated with working for a large financial institution, just like traditional traders and bankers,"" he said. ""It would seem remiss to include them in any other category, and they have to fall in somewhere. If the mayor had said 'bankers,' or 'traders' -- those are occupations within the finance industry and [they would have produced] a different and higher figure. But he specifically said 'people who work in finance,' and that is the whole industry."" Bloomberg's artful wording -- ""Most of the people that work in finance make $70,000, $80,000 a year"" -- was broad enough to include lower-paid employees. And because of that, it is backed up by a credible federal statistic. But we believe a reasonable person hearing his comment would think he was saying that professionals such as bond traders and brokers earn $70,000 to $80,000 per year. So while he may be technically accurate, we find his statement misleading. It's also worth noting that other statistics more fully reflect that Wall Street professionals, even the most junior ones, earn much higher incomes than the amounts that Bloomberg cited. That's enough in our book to lower his statement to a ."
9957	Doctors rethink new cholesterol treatments	CBS had a wonderful opportunity to put this important study into perspective. The segment failed to clearly and adequately communicate the results of the study and how to interpret those results. This study, while important, is certainly not definitive and should not have been portrayed as such. The approach taken is especially unfortunate given the fact that two superb editorials accompanied the study in question in the New England Journal of Medicine. The editorials describe a comparison between the Vytorin study and previous studies. Importantly, they note a number of potential contributing factors that were ignored in the news story. Even beginning journalists are taught to read the editorials as an easy way to get a different or broader perspective. Did anyone working on this segment read them? One of the most important points that was not addressed in this piece was cost. There are statin medications that are available for a fraction of the cost of Vytorin. In an era where we are concerned about healthcare cost, is it not noteworthy that the more expensive treatment failed to provide added benefit?	false		"The lack of cost information is a huge oversight in this broadcast piece. Generic simvastain costs about $1/day; Zocor costs $5/day and Vytorin costs $3/day. The economic implications of the study are significant and are likely an important aspect of the interest in the study results by the financial markets. The segment missed a golden opportunity to talk about and educate the viewers on the distinction between intermediate outcomes and clinically significant outcomes. The story could have explained the difference between changing a laboratory value (a score or a measurement) and changing pathology (what’s actually happening inside the body to affect health). The apparent benefit of the treatment is that LDL cholesterol (the ‘bad’ cholesterol) is lowered more when simvastin is taken in combination with ezetmibe. The problem is that this further reduction in cholesterol does not reduce the rate at which plaque is deposited in people with familial hypercholesterolemia. This finding may suggest that the mechanism by which LDL is lowered is important in general. Earlier studies using a statin (atorvastatin) demonstrated significant reductions in plaque thickness in patients with significant existing disease. The level of disease in this cohort under study was less than that in the atorvastatin study. The majority of subjects had been previously treated in this study and it may well be that there is a lower limit to further reduction regardless of cholesterol level. There was no discussion of the possible harms associated with the use of cholesterol lowering medications. In addition, the way the story was introduced with the lead that a popular drug ‘may not work’ may have had the effect of having viewers stop taking the drug altogether. This story did an inadequate job explaining the finding that they were discussing. There was no mention of the type of studies nor the population that was studied. Unfortunately, the segment made no reference to the editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine related to the study. If it had, perhaps it would have portrayed the result somewhat differently. Instead they chose to over dramatize the result and the implication. The story engaged in disease-mongering when it said, ""The simple matter is, the experts are all saying the same thing now. First of all, you want to aggressively lower your cholesterol with diet and exercise. You can never go wrong doing that."" But it never defined the people for whom this might be good advice. It is NOT good advice for everyone and you can go wrong with doing that. And let’s leave the advice to advice columnists, and look to journalists to deliver data and evidence. It does not appear any individuals with clinical expertise in this area contributed to this story. Even if the story had mentioned the two excellent editorials accompanying the article in the New England Journal of Medicine, there would have been more input, more balance. The story did say, ""The simple matter is, the experts are all saying the same thing now. First of all, you want to aggressively lower your cholesterol with diet and exercise. You can never go wrong doing that….Make sure you’re maximally lowering your cholesterol with proven drugs such as statins and other types of drugs that we know reduce the risks of heart attacks and strokes. If you’ve done all that and you still can’t get your cholesterol down, then Zetia really is a drug of last resort. And the medical community really is pretty clear about this now."" Based on the history of medicine’s resonse to single studies, it is DOUBTFUL that the medical community is as clear on these questions as the story suggests. The reality is that the final answer is not yet available. The on-air discussion assumed that viewers all have an intimate understanding about the various approved medications for lowering cholesterol and their different modes of action. The uninitiated viewer would have no understanding of the issues involved or why this study is important. Although stating that they were discussing the new findings release by an independent panel, the newscasts failed to mention the source of the ‘news’ and what was new about this ‘news’. There is novelty to discuss here. Ezitimibe works differently from the statins and the combination presumably allowed for lower doses of statin in combination with ezitimibe. One advantage of this approach is the ability to lower LDL cholesterol with lower doses of a statin. This is important in patients who cannot tolerate adequate doses of statins. We can’t be sure if the segment relied solely or largely on a news release. No source is cited. No expert is interviewed."
2851	Organic food and farm groups ask Obama to require GMO food labels.	Four U.S. lawmakers joined with more than 200 food companies, organic farming groups, health and environment organizations and other groups on Thursday to urge President Barack Obama to require manufacturers to label food products that contain genetically engineered ingredients.	true	Health News	The groups delivered a letter to the president dated January 16 reminding Obama of a campaign pledge the groups said he made in 2007 as he campaigned in Iowa to work to label so-called GMO foods. The issue is hotly contested, with more than 20 states considering laws to mandate labeling of foods made with gene-altered corn, soybeans, sugar beets and other biotech crops. Currently, labeling of such foods is voluntary. Advocates of labeling say consumers deserve to know if the food they eat contains GMOs. But the makers of biotech crops, and many large food manufacturers have fought against mandatory labeling, arguing that genetically modified crops are not materially different and pose no safety risk, and labeling would mislead consumers. Among the signatories on Thursday’s letter to President Obama are the ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s, cereal maker Nature’s Path, organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farms, the Consumer Federation of America and several environmental and health groups. “We believe there should be a mandatory national labeling system. FDA has a duty to act when the absence of labeling would leave consumers confused about the foods they buy,” the groups said in their letter. Four Democratic members of Congress held a press conference on Thursday to support the call on Obama for mandatory labeling - U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio from Oregon; U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut; U.S. Rep. Ann McLane Kuster from New Hampshire; and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree from Maine. The move comes as the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents more than 300 food companies, is pushing Congress and the Food and Drug Administration to pre-empt any state labeling mandates in favor of a federal standard for voluntary labeling, and to allow some GMO foods to be labeled “natural.” Most of the biotech crops on the market have been genetically altered to repel pests or tolerate direct spraying of herbicides. Those crops are used in a vast array of food products. The companies that develop them say the crops are safe, and are backed by many scientific studies. But U.S. government regulators do not independently test GMO crops before approving them for commercialization. And there are also many studies showing links to human and animal health problems, and environmental damage. Last October, an international coalition of scientists declared there still was no consensus in the global scientific community about the safety of genetically modified crops, which were first commercialized in 1996.
35717	Bubba Watson composed a widely shared message that criticized Black Lives Matter and included various conservative talking points.	An environmental group launched legal action on Thursday seeking to ban commercial use of “super-toxic” rat poisons in California, citing data showing the products pose a grave threat to a dozen endangered species and other wildlife.	unproven	Politics	The Center for Biological Diversity notified state pesticide regulators of its intent to file suit for what the group calls a failure to adequately safeguard the San Joaquin kit fox and 11 other animals protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Harm to wildlife from highly toxic “rodenticides” is most pronounced for predator and scavenger species, including mountain lions, bobcats, owls and condors, which can feed on poisoned rodents, the group said. More than 70% of wild animals tested in California in recent years showed exposure to the rat poisons in question - so-called second-generation anticoagulants widely used by licensed pest control operators, the group’s notice said. The products are typically used in bait boxes and work by causing the animal ingesting it to hemorrhage internally over a matter of days. The slow-acting nature of the substances then poses a secondary threat to other animals that prey on those that were poisoned. California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation outlawed consumer sales of the chemicals in 2014, restricting their use to professional exterminators and agricultural purposes. But the Biological Diversity Center said exposure in the wild remained high. Populations of endangered kit foxes near Bakersfield have been especially hard hit, with 87% of those examined testing positive for the super toxins, and state wildlife officials attributing at least five kit fox deaths to the chemicals, the group said. The group also cited a 2018 state analysis documenting those rat poisons in over 85% of tested mountain lions, bobcats and Pacific fishers, a federally protected member of the weasel family. Other protected species at stake include the northern spotted owl, the California condor, the Alameda whipsnake and four types of kangaroo rats. A pesticide department spokeswoman, Charlotte Fadipe, said the agency was “actively looking into this issue.” “We also acknowledge it is essential to have tools available to control rat populations in order to protect the public health,” she said. The agency encourages “integrated pest management” combining the use of traps, removal of refuse and water sources that attract rodents, managing vegetation that can harbor vermin and sealing holes in buildings that allow pests to enter. Jonathan Evans, senior attorney for the environmental group, said 175 less toxic rat poisons also remained on the market that are far safer to wildlife.
11361	Insulin Study Could Lead to New Dosage Devices	"With its balanced coverage of an experimental system for managing blood glucose in type 1 diabetes, the Times demonstrates why it is often a cut above most other health media outlets. Of the three competing stories we looked at, the Times‘ was the only one to avoid the hyped-up term ""artificial pancreas"" in its headline. It’s also the only story to accurately portray what actually happened in this experiment; the only one to identify conflicts of interest; and the only one to offer any kind of skeptical perspective from an independent observer. The study covered here represents a potentially important advance on the road to an automated system for managing blood sugar in patients with type 1 diabetes. By laying out the potential of such a system in sober terms and pointing out the many obstacles that still lay in its path to development and approval, the Times conveys the significance of the findings but doesn’t provide false hope."	true		"Like its competitors, the Times did not discuss costs–an omission which perhaps is more acceptable in this story since it clearly indicated that this is not very close to being a marketable product. Nevertheless, we would have liked to have seen some mention of the financial impact. Many patients with type 1 diabetes are not using currently available pumps and sensors because of the high cost of these devices. It seems likely that this new treatment, if it ever becomes widely available, will be as expensive or more so than the current pump and sensor technology. We applaud the Times for avoiding the term ""artificial pancreas"" in the headline and using it sparingly in the body of the story. The competing stories couldn’t resist it. We can understand why marketers and media relations people would favor this term because of its promotional value, but we don’t think it’s a good way to describe this technology in an objective piece of journalism. ""Artificial pancreas"" is misleading because we’re not really anywhere close to being able to replicate what the normal human pancreas does through artificial technology. Forgetting for a moment that the pancreas does much more than simply dispense insulin (it also produces a number of other hormones and digestive enzymes that aren’t impacted by diabetes), what’s more important is how the pancreas works in concert with the brain and other systems to regulate glucose in a very tight range. The normal human pancreas starts releasing insulin before we eat in response to complex environmental cues, whereas any artificial system would need to be told that meal is coming or react to the rise in glucose after the fact. Plus, insulin produced by the body starts acting right away, whereas insulin analogues take about 20 minutes to take effect. Put this all together and we see that the ""artificial pancreas"" will, for the foreseeable future, require human intervention to predict post-meal insulin needs and dosing or else patients will be at risk of post-meal blood sugar spikes. And it’s not at all clear that such a system will improve overall blood sugar management compared with existing methods. The term ""artificial pancreas"" conjures up a vision of totally automated glucose management and essentially a ""cure"" for type 1 diabetes. This is overselling what the technology can do. The Times waited until the last 3 paragraphs of an 1,100-word story to hint that an automated system could deliver unsafe doses of insulin. It isn’t until the last sentence that we learn that the system would need to be ""exquisitely reliable"" in order to be safe. We feel the story should have raised these issues earlier and that it could have done more to emphasize just how difficult it will be for any device to calculate insulin requirements on the fly. Insulin dosing is affected by factors ranging from how much a person has exercised to what and how much they have eaten. It’s conceivable that technology can account for all of these variables, but there are a lot ways things could go wrong, with potentially deadly results. It’s a close call, but we don’t feel the story did enough to call attention to these issues. In contrast to its competitors, which all led readers to believe there had been a fully automated system sensing glucose levels and dispensing insulin to the participants in this study, the Times noted that the insulin was dispensed by a nurse based on calculations made by a computer algorithm. The Times clearly indicated that the significance of this test was as a ""proof of concept"" that the algorithm works and is safe, not as a test of any specific device. It noted that a fully automated system combining glucose monitoring and insulin delivery was still ""hypothetical."" In addition, the Times story was the only one to draw attention to the small size of this study and the fact the findings were not statistically significant for the primary outcomes. This note of caution was completely lacking from the competing coverage. The story did not exaggerate the effects of type 1 diabetes. The story includes quotes from interviews with one of the study investigators and another researcher, and identifies both as having ties to diabetes products manufacturers. It also quotes an analyst at an investment firm. It would have been better had they included one more source who didn’t have commercial ties to specific products. The story describes currently available technology for glucose monitoring and insulin infusion. It describes the limitations of current approaches for managing insulin, especially during the overnight period. The story is a bit misleading in that it leaves the impression that all type 1 diabetics are currently using pumps at night. This is not actually the case. Most people are doing self monitoring of blood glucose and making judgement calls on whether and how much insulin to administer. However, the story does enough for a satisfactory in our view. The Times did a good job of describing the system used in this study and how close it is to being commercially available. It called the system ""experimental"" and said that it was ""not fully automated."" It said that a fully automated glucose monitor/insulin delivery system was still ""hypothetical"" and would face regulatory hurdles before it could be marketed to the public. The story describes the progression from skin prick glucose testing to continuous monitoring and insulin pumps. It places the new developments in this field on this continuum. There could have been more discussion of many of the recent advances that have made daytime hyper- and hypoglycemia less of a problem such as the newer short-acting insulins. The story did not rely on any news release."
21365	If we had been on 'Obamacare' and a bureaucrat was trying to tell me when I could get that CAT scan, that would have delayed my treatment.	Herman Cain said government bureaucrats will determine when you get a CAT scan once the new health care law begins	false	National, Health Care, Herman Cain,	"Herman Cain said at a Republican presidential candidates' debate last week that he would be dead if his cancer had occurred while ""Obamacare"" was in effect. Cain had made the statement previously, so Chris Wallace of Fox News asked him about it at the debate sponsored by Fox News and Google in Orlando, Fla. Wallace: ""Mr. Cain, you are a survivor of Stage 4 colon and liver cancer. And you say if 'Obamacare' had been -- (Here Wallace was interrupted by sustained cheers and applause) and we all share in the happiness about your situation, but you say if 'Obamacare' had been in effect when you were first being treated, you'd be dead now. Why?"" Cain: ""The reason I said that I would be dead on 'Obamacare' is because my cancer was detected in March of 2006. And from March 2006 all the way to the end of 2006, for that number of months, I was able to get the necessary CAT scan tests, go to the necessary doctors, get a second opinion, get chemotherapy, go to get surgery, recuperate from surgery, get more chemotherapy in a span of nine months. ""If we had been on 'Obamacare' and a bureaucrat was trying to tell me when I could get that CAT scan, that would have delayed my treatment. My surgeons and doctors have told me that because I was able to get the treatment as fast as I could, based upon my timetable, and not the government's timetable, that's what saved my life, because I only had a 30 percent chance of survival. And now I'm here five years cancer-free because I could do it on my timetable and not on a bureaucrat's timetable. This is one of the reasons I believe a lot of people are objecting to 'Obamacare,' because we need to get bureaucrats out of the business of trying to micromanage health care in this nation."" ""Obamacare,"" in case you haven't figured it out yet, is the Republicans' often mocking name for the health care law that President Barack Obama signed into law in 2010. Some of the changes resulting from the law have already taken effect, including sons and daughters under 26 being allowed to be covered by their parents' health insurance. But many major provisions don't begin until 2014. Here's the general way the new law works: The major health insurance systems are left in place, especially the health insurance coverage people get through work and Medicare. For people who have to buy insurance on their own, the government adds new regulations for health insurance companies to follow. States will create ""exchanges,"" which are virtual marketplaces where people will be able to comparison shop for insurance. The law says that everyone must have insurance or pay a tax penalty. (That's called the individual mandate, and it's being challenged in federal courts.) People who make modest incomes will qualify for tax breaks to help them buy insurance, and very poor people will be eligible for Medicaid. What the law is not is a single-payer system, as in Canada, where the government picks up the bills; nor is it a nationalized system like Great Britain's where the government owns hospitals and employs doctors. So if those are the systems Cain had in mind, that's not what the new health care law is. (We asked Cain's campaign what the basis was for his statement, but we didn't hear back.) Even for people over age 65 in Medicare -- the part of the health care system that most resembles a single-payer plan -- private physicians would still make decisions about scans and treatments. Still, opponents of the health care law have argued that it will eventually result in bureaucrats making decisions that affect treatment, particularly for Medicare recipients. But those claims have been rated on our Truth-O-Meter when they have asserted that bureaucrats will make decisions about individual cases. For example, PolitiFact Georgia looked at a statement from Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., who said that under the health care law, ""a bunch of bureaucrats decide whether you get care, such as continuing on dialysis or cancer chemotherapy."" Gingrey said the bureaucrats are part of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB. The board is a new part of the health care law, and it was created in response to criticism that Congress has been unable to make the politically risky and technically complex decisions needed to slow the growth of costs for Medicare. Under the health care law, if Medicare spending growth is projected to exceed certain targets, the IPAB must come up with plans to slow the increase. If Congress does not act on the recommendation within a set time frame, the IPAB's plans are automatically implemented. Both sides of the aisle have problems with the board. Some worry it will be too hard for Congress to overrule IPAB recommendations or that the board will stifle innovation. In recent months, several members of Congress from both parties have signed on to repeal the board. But saying that the IPAB will determine the course of treatment for individual cases is an entirely different matter -- and it's factually incorrect. Even people who oppose the IPAB agree that it will not intervene in the cases of individual patients but will rather determine how much the government pays health care providers for various services. It can also reduce payments to hospitals with very high rates of readmission or recommend innovations that cut wasteful spending. (See PolitiFact Georgia's fact-check for more details on the IPAB.) But we should point out here that the IPAB applies to Medicare. Medicare is a government-run health insurance program for those over age 65. When Cain was diagnosed with cancer in March 2006, he would have been 60 -- too young for Medicare. So the IPAB wouldn't even have applied, even if it had been in effect at the time. We don't know the personal details of Cain's health status or how he is insured. But it's impossible for us to see how a government bureaucrat could have delayed Cain's care. Cain said at the debate that, ""If we had been on 'Obamacare' and a bureaucrat was trying to tell me when I could get that CAT scan, that would have delayed my treatment."" But there is no part of the health care law that allows a government bureaucrat to weigh in on an individual's course of treatment -- not Cain's nor anyone else's."
11511	Vitamin C May Reduce Harm to Infants’ Lungs Caused by Smoking During Pregnancy	The news release highlights a randomized, controlled study of 251 women who smoked during pregnancy with this research question: will vitamin C supplementation improve the pulmonary function tests of the infants? Unfortunately, the news release doesn’t make it clear that the study did not meet its primary endpoint. Related lung function tests did show improvement but the significance of these results is not made clear, and no supporting data is included. One thing that is included, and we were very happy to see, is that regardless of the results of this study, the lead author points out: “Helping mothers quit smoking should remain the primary goal for health professionals.” Despite well known health risks, some women continue to smoke during pregnancy. The release quotes the study’s lead author making a compelling argument that finding a “safe and inexpensive intervention” to protect the babies of mothers who continue to smoke during pregnancy would be a major public health advance. But this news release touts preliminary results that may not be ready for prime time, and certainly don’t justify an enticing headline suggesting this experimental approach may be ready for use to protect the babies of smoking mothers. It’s also a classic example of why results based on physiologic markers — in this case a very specific lung test in newborns — must be interpreted with caution, and not interpreted as synonymous with meaningful long term clinical outcomes.	false	Association/Society news release	Cost of vitamin C supplementation is not mentioned. Most people are aware that vitamin C is relatively inexpensive. According to Walmart, CVS, and Amazon, a 100-day supply of 500 mg vitamin C tablets costs roughly $5. From the release: “Infants whose mothers took 500 milligrams of Vitamin C (in addition to their prenatal vitamin) had significantly better forced expiratory flows (FEFs).” We’re told FEFs measure how fast air can be exhaled from the lungs and are an important measure of lung function (because they can detect airway obstruction). However, no data are provided in the release to show readers just how significant the improved flows are. This information is in the study and should have been described in the release, too. The study states that changes of half this size are predictive of clinical respiratory disease later in childhood. The release doesn’t mention any potential harms from vitamin C use. Since some readers may take license with these preliminary findings — and think more vitamin C is better (ie. improve their infant’s lung function) — the potential harms of vitamin C should have been included. People can have allergic reactions to vitamin C at even low doses. At higher doses it can be problematic in people with kidney disease, and could be detrimental to fetuses. This study only examined changes in very specific pulmonary function tests of 3-month-olds whose tobacco-smoking mothers did/didn’t take vitamin C during pregnancy. In fact, the primary endpoint (FEF-75) did not improve with vitamin C supplementation, but other lung test parameters did. Unfortunately, the news release does not clarify the significance of this for readers. Rather it’s implied — most notably in the headline — that these improved lung test results suggest vitamin C reduced lung damage from maternal smoking. This small study can not demonstrate that. These lung tests measure current lung function, but that does not mean they can be assumed to directly reflect future lung health. The research can’t yet tell us that vitamin c use in pregnancy will result in any changes in lung health later on. The news release doesn’t engage in disease mongering — there’s a recognized association between smoke exposure and adverse health effects in children. But nor does it give us any idea of the scope of the problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 10% of expectant mothers surveyed said they smoked during the last 3 months of their pregnancy. Funding is very clearly attributed to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the Office of Dietary Supplements. Conflicts of interest are not mentioned, and none were found. We were glad to see this important caveat relating to an alternative intervention included: “Helping mothers quit smoking should remain the primary goal for health professionals and public health officials.” The release doesn’t address availability but it can be safely presumed that readers know vitamin C supplements are widely available. The news release makes it clear the authors of this study have done previous research in this area, are trying to find more accurate ways to assess lung function in infants, and will continue to follow the infants in this study to assess their lung function over the long-term. Even with the use of “may,” the headline is unjustified because it presumes the surrogate marker (lung function test) used in this study accurately reflects future lung health. In other words, improvements of unknown future significance in some lung tests in the infants whose mothers took vitamin C does not justify implications that vitamin C is going to be protective.
9621	Blood test could identify people who will respond to antidepressants	This story describes a British study published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology that identified two biomarkers of blood inflammation that predict the probability of a patient responding to common antidepressants. The King’s College London researchers suggest the findings may lead to a blood test to identify patients who could benefit from more aggressive treatment including combinations of antidepressants as well as antidepressants in tandem with anti-inflammatory drugs. The story states that scientists “have developed a blood test that could identify which people with depression will respond to treatment so that patients can avoid spending months taking antidepressants that do not help them.” While the possibility of targeted therapy is exciting, and these results look promising, the story downplays the need for more research before such a blood test could be used for patient care. Nevertheless, it puts forth sensational terms such as “breakthrough” and “holy grail” to describe the findings. Antidepressants are among the most commonly prescribed drugs, but often they don’t work. Approximately half of all depressed patients do not respond to first-line antidepressants and a third of patients are resistant to all available pharmacological treatments, according to research cited in the King’s College London study. Clinicians often have difficulty determining whether a patient will respond to standard antidepressants or require a combination of drugs. In addition, antidepressants are often prescribed for patients who are not clinically depressed or do not stick with a medication long enough due to side effects. These factors have led to a spate of recent articles questioning the efficacy of antidepressants in general. Tests to predict a patient’s likely response would target antidepressants to patients who stand to benefit, potentially helping patients find effective treatment sooner and reducing medical costs. It also would allow those identified as likely “non-responders” to conventional treatment to be treated more aggressively, for example with other medicines, transcranial magnetic stimulation or electro-convulsive therapy.	false	depression,mental health,screening tests	Costs were not included. If it’s not too soon to speculate that “this breakthrough could lead to depressed patients receiving personalized treatments that are more likely to relieve their symptoms,” then it’s not too soon to think about what that test might cost. The story talks about “breakthroughs” and “holy grails,” but doesn’t provide any numbers to that effect. The accuracy figures are included in the study’s abstract and the story should have discussed them along with an explanation of what they mean. The story mentions no potential harms. However, as with all screening tests, false-positive and false-negative results can be harmful in a number of ways. The story does not explain how the study was performed nor describe its limitations. The study itself, though, points to several limitations, including a small sample size, the fact that the proteins used as biomarkers did not predict responses to specific drugs but rather to antidepressants in general, and that the findings may not be relevant to patients with chronic depression or those who have been resistant to multiple antidepressants — the very patients that might benefit most from a personalized approach. The results of this small, backward-looking study are susceptible to bias. Only a much larger, prospective clinical trial will show the value of this test in a more realistic clinical situation. We were pleased to see this cautionary note: “But further clinical research is needed to see if the findings can be applied in a clinical setting, Hallstrom added.” However, this isn’t enough to enlighten readers. There’s no sign of disease mongering. The story includes two independent sources, but does not mention study funding or conflicts of interest. The research was funded by the government-run Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, according to the King’s College London news release. One researcher, Carmine Pariante, M.D., received funding directly or indirectly from pharmaceutical firms Johnson & Johnson, Lundbeck, GSK, and Pfizer as well as the UK-based Wellcome Trust, according to the study. J&J has a vested interest in developing drugs that might be used after this blood test is given, so this was important to disclose. Given the main focus of the story is blood tests, the apparent alternative would be no blood tests. The story acknowledges in the third-to-last paragraph that “further clinical research is needed to see if the findings can be applied in a clinical setting.” That’s good–but we would have liked to seen this detail much higher. Also, we would have liked to seen some discussion of how many more steps are in the process to develop an effective blood test for clinical use. A blood test to predict patient response to antidepressants would likely have value, but not necessarily as a “holy grail” as mentioned in the story. There is other active research in this area, and as we’ve discussed before, there are lots of important caveats to keep in mind. The story draws heavily on a news release from King’s College London without attribution. However, it barely satisfies our criteria by offering comments from two outside sources, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and mental health charity Mind.
5893	Dawkins says he gave up football because of mental health.	Former Indiana and Arizona quarterback Brandon Dawkins says he gave up football because he needed to deal with his “deteriorating” mental health.	true	Arizona, Peyton Ramsey, Mental health, Brandon Dawkins, Health, College football, Tom Allen, Sports, Bloomington, Indiana, Football	Dawkins told Hoosiers coach Tom Allen on Sunday he was leaving the program after enrolling in school this summer as a graduate transfer from Arizona. He lost the starting job to Peyton Ramsey. Dawkins had not provided a public explanation until writing a post Wednesday night on Instagram. In it he explained he needed a “take a break from the game.” Dawkins indicated he also had lost the “joy” he felt playing the sport over the past couple of seasons and needed to take care of himself. He thanked the psychology teams he worked with at both Indiana and Arizona. ___ More AP college football: https://apnews.com/tag/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
37794	Testing of a vaccine against COVID-19 caused 61 out of 63 female subjects to become infertile.	Did ’61 out of 63 Females’ Become Infertile After Receiving a Vaccine Against COVID-19?	false	Disinformation, Fact Checks	A graphic spreading online in June 2020 acted as a nesting doll for a spate of disinformation linking conspiracy theories about both COVID-19 and tech mogul Bill Gates.The graphic claims that “61 out of 63 females GlaxoSmithKline tested became infertile after receiving the Coronavirus vaccine.”Another post pushing the graphic, though, adds a questionable source — a video from British national Ben Fellows (a.k.a. “Zed Phoenix”) that was shared on libertarian David Knight’s channel and subsequently posted on other sites.“It’s nonsense,” said Dr. Barry Bloom, a professor at Harvard University’s Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases of the video’s content. “But it [has been] pervasive from the anti-vaccine people for many, many years.”In the video, Fellows claims to have received information from a “whistleblower” at the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK for short) saying that a vaccine against COVID-19 has already been made and it is “a concoction of chemicals, basically.” However, Fellows quickly admits that he has no proof for his allegations.“This is what’s going to be in there — we believe,” he says. “This is not necessarily — we’re one foot in this, one foot out. But I want to go through this, I want to present it as though it’s the truth, because I believe it is.”It is true that GSK announced in April 2020 that it would team up with another pharmaceutical company, Sanofi SA, to develop a vaccine against the disease. As Reuters reported:The adjuvanted vaccine will be developed by combining Sanofi’s S-protein COVID-19 antigen and GSK’s pandemic adjuvant technology.Adjuvants are efficacy boosters that play a vital role in many vaccines. An adjuvant is added to some vaccines to enhance the immune response, and has been shown to create a stronger and longer lasting immunity against infections than the vaccine alone.Bloom also pointed out that according to Sanofi’s website, the company did not expect the adjuvanted vaccine to be ready for the trial stage until “the second half of 2020,” an estimate GSK has also shared. He added:If they haven’t started trials, it would be very hard to understand how anybody could figure out that they not only injected sixty-some women, but that they had gone through nine months to show that they were sterile. So that’s completely ridiculous and impossible.At no point in the video does Fellows give any information on the alleged “whistleblower,” or provide documentation to either corroborate his own claims or explain where his purported source got their information.Instead, Fellows says that “we believe” that a separate vaccine for men will include gonadotrophin-releasing hormones (GnRH), which results in “reduced testicular size, [a] drop in testosterone levels, and atrophy of the prostate,” a statement he reads from an unidentified sheet of paper while saying, inexplicably, “they tested this on baboons.”Fellows does not identify the sheet, possibly giving viewers the impression that the information comes from his “whistleblower.” But the listing of the side effects he mentioned may have been taken from a study published in 1989 by researchers from India’s National Institute of Immunology on anti-fertility vaccines.In fact, Bloom is a former colleague of the lead researcher on that study, Gursaran Talwar; Talwar was the chair of the department of biochemistry at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in 1968, when Bloom taught a course on immunology there.“I know the studies to create a birth control vaccine,” Bloom said. “And I know they failed to be effective and were dropped and haven’t been continued for 30 years. So nobody in their right mind would want to try to do that, because it didn’t work.”Once again, Fellows only says he “believes” that the COVID-19 vaccine will cause men who have sex with unvaccinated women to cause infertility in the women, adding, “This isn’t gonna be seen in the population for 7 to 10 years.” He then claims that he will “pay for random testing of the vaccines to see what appears in there.”Given Fellows’ lack of evidence, as well as the remarks from Bloom — a longtime advisor and committee member for the World Health Organization — we rule the claim in the video as Not True.In April 2020, Fellows posted a separate video claiming that the United Kingdom Control of Disease Act of 1984 was changed that month to allow for “forced vaccinations.” That claim was debunked by FullFact.org, a UK-based fact-checking site:At the time of writing, the last time this legislation was amended was on 25 March, which happened as a result of the Coronavirus 2020 Act. This change didn’t add anything to the 1984 act but meant that a part of it would temporarily no longer apply. The part that was changed was section 46(3). Up to 25 March, local authorities were not allowed to arrange for a cremation against the wishes of the deceased. The House of Commons Library says that “Under the new powers, this would be suspended. However, the Government has stated that personal choice for body disposal will be respected as far as possible.”The government has said it’s extremely unlikely that a deceased person’s preferences on burial would not be adhered to, and the legislation says local authorities must take the person’s wishes into account.Bloom noted that attaching opposition to vaccines to claims of enforced sterility is not a recent phenomenon; in 2003, officials in the Nigerian states of Kaduna, Kano, and Zamfara rejected a polio vaccination campaign, arguing that they were suspicious that “evildoers from America and their Western allies” were using the vaccine to forcibly sterilize Muslim girls. According to a 2007 report, officials in Kano said at the time that it would be “a lesser of two evils, to sacrifice two, three, four, five even ten children to polio than allow hundreds of thousands or possibly millions of girl-children likely to be rendered infertile.”The eleven-month-long dispute ended after officials for the three states approved the use of a vaccine produced in a separate Muslim-majority country, Indonesia. But the spread of the false claims of sterilization, Bloom said, led to an upswing in polio cases in several other countries and took “a tremendous effort” on the part of health officials to resolve.“These rumors and false claims are very powerful,” he said. “They actually kill and cripple children.”And the continued spread of these types of false claims, Bloom added, could lead to a lack of willing subjects when an actual COVID-19 vaccine is ready for efficacy testing.“How many anti-vaxxers would persuade people that it was dangerous to take it and people won’t take it?” he asked. “If you don’t take it, the vaccine doesn’t do much for the population.”While a vaccine is still being developed both the BBC and the Associated Press reported in June 2020 that researchers at Oxford University found that an existing drug, dexamethasone, has shown that it has reduced the risk of fatality for patients with severe cases of COVID-19. According to the BBC:In the trial, led by a team from Oxford University, about 2,000 hospital patients were given dexamethasone and compared with more than 4,000 who were not.For patients on ventilators, it cut the risk of death from 40 percent to 28 percent.For patients needing oxygen, it cut the risk of death from 25 percent to 20 percent.Chief investigator Prof Peter Horby said: “This is the only drug so far that has been shown to reduce mortality – and it reduces it significantly. It’s a major breakthrough.”While dexamethasone could help in severe cases of the coronavirus, Bloom said, the ideal would be the development of a treatment that prevents patients from needing that level of help.“We need better drugs to prevent them from getting to the late stages,” he said. “And we need a vaccine to keep them from getting infected. But it’s a good thing.”Comments
26892	“When using a medical mask you’re supposed to use… white side out (this is the filter part) for when you’re not sick.”	Global health agencies and medical mask producers agree that the colored side of the mask should always be worn on the outside.	false	Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,	"Don’t take your medical advice from Facebook. It could leave you with the wrong instructions for wearing a medical mask. A Facebook post claimed that a doctor’s office had received the ""proper directions"" from a mask manufacturer on how to wear medical masks. The post includes two pictures of how to wear the medical masks and explains that you should wear the colored side of the mask on the outside when you are sick and the white side on the outside when you are healthy. 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 checked in with PriMED, one of the leading medical mask producers. On its FAQ page, it says that ""the color always faces out"" on a medical mask. The Center for Health Protection, which was established in Hong Kong during the SARS outbreak in 2004, also advises wearers to wear the colored side on the outside. While the Facebook post said that the white side of the mask contains a filter, the center’s illustration of the three-layer design medical mask explains that the white layer is for moisture absorption from your mouth and nose. The San Francisco Department of Public Health’s website also said that ""the colored side of the mask is usually the front and should face away from you, while the white side touches your face."" So remember: color-side out, whether you are healthy or sick. One more thing: Americans looking to buy a medical mask to protect themselves against the 2019 novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, should know it isn’t generally necessary. The New York Times interviewed medical care professionals that explained that hoarding medical masks because of the 2019 novel coronavirus panic can lead to shortages in hospitals, clinics, and doctor’s offices. The CDC determined the immediate health risk to Americans as low. Anyways, colored side out."
10180	New Device Reduces Seizures, No Surgery Required	Electrical stimulation of the nerves for various therapeutic benefits is nothing new. There is a solid body of research showing that it can work for a range of disorders and there are many FDA-approved devices on the market. Here, though, NPR presented two sources — a patient and the doctor who invented a new device — as proof that a device with very limited evidence behind it can “reduce seizures (with) no surgery required.” We thought NPR’s listeners deserved more on: evaluation of the very limited evidence uncertainties – what isn’t yet known the scope of benefits – in the limited experience so far (not just in the positive experience of one patient profiled) independent perspectives. Epilepsy is a serious and debilitating disorder for millions worldwide and leads to 125,000 deaths every year. Patients need good alternatives to current surgical and pharmaceutical therapies. Whether the type of electrical stimulation discussed in this story will prove to be one of those options could be decades away, and patients should not be given false hope based on an entertaining but incomplete story.	false	Devices,NPR	The story makes no mention of costs. There are similar devices in use, including one for epilepsy that is mentioned in the online story. Cost information should have been provided, at a minimum, for one of those devices. There is one attempt to quantify the benefits in the story. It says, “A study of 50 people with drug-resistant epilepsy found that the trigeminal nerve stimulator was able to greatly reduce seizures for about 40 percent of them.” This does not give people enough information to make an informed choice about their treatment options. For example, what does “greatly reduce” mean? Did people go from 10 seizures a week to one seizure? Did people stop taking their medications and only use the device or just reduce the amount of medicaiton, as the woman in the story did? To back up the headline that says “New Device Reduces Seizures, No Surgery Required,” we expect the story to quantify the scope of benefits better than it did. The story goes on at some length to talk about the side effects from drugs, yet allows the researcher/inventor to make the claim that there are no side effects from this device. With all the framing about the promise of the approach, we would hope for more discussion of what’s not known about safety profile after such limited experience to date. Even an additional line would suffice. We only hear the one positive patient’s experience. The only hint that listeners to this story might have had that the evidence for this device was thin was a reference to “a small study.” The online story doesn’t do much better, saying, “A study of 50 people with drug-resistant epilepsy found that the trigeminal nerve stimulator was able to greatly reduce seizures for about 40 percent of them.” That would mean that about 20 people had fewer seizures as a result of this device. There is no context around this claim. There is no mention of the study’s limitations. There are no comments from experts in the field other than the device’s inventor. One of our reviewers thought that the the story bordered on disease-mongering by presenting epilepsy, in essence, as a disease where people have been painted into a corner and desperately need a way out and that he best way out is this one device. But, in the end, the doorway into the story’s discussion of epilepsy is appropriate – “About 3 million Americans have epilepsy, and for about one-third of them, drugs alone do not control their seizure.” The story does not use any independent sources. It also does not make it clear whether Christopher DeGiorgio, a UCLA doctor who invented the device, will benefit from it financially. One can presume that he will, but the story should have made that clear. The story does not adequately compare the device to alternatives and gives the impression that this is the best treatment choice. It says for example, “About 3 million Americans have epilepsy, and for about one-third of them, drugs alone do not control their seizures.” It does not say what the one-third referenced do to supplement the drugs. It tends to leave readers with the idea that for at least that subset of the patient population, this device is the only alternative. The story that aired said at the very end, “The device isn’t approved by the FDA yet. That’s probably several years off.” The accompanying online version of the story said roughly the same thing. Readers should have been told that they are very unlikely to be able to have this device prescribed for them unless they can find their way into a clinical trial. Nonetheless, we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt on this criterion. We’ll give the story a satisfactory score because it at least explained the following: “the trigeminal nerve stimulator is not the first time researchers have used electrical pulses to prevent seizures.In 2005, the FDA approved a device that stimulates another nerve that leads to the brain — the vagus nerve. But stimulating the vagus nerve requires surgery to implant a device near the collarbone. The trigeminal nerve stimulator, in contrast, never penetrates the skin and is powered by an external device about the size of a large cell phone.” The story does not appear to rely on a news release.
25540	When I was mayor of New York City, I encouraged adoptions. Adoptions went up 65-70 percent. Abortions went down 16 percent.	That's one way to slice the numbers. There are others.	mixture	Abortion, National, Rudy Giuliani,	"In early August, 2007, Rudy Giuliani announced he was making ""12 Commitments to the American People,"" including a pledge to ""increase adoptions, decrease abortions and protect the quality of life for our children."" It's a point he has made before. During the May 3, 2007, Republican debate, he said this: ""When I was mayor of New York City, I encouraged adoptions. Adoptions went up 65-70 percent; abortions went down 16 percent."" Indeed, abortions in Gotham declined 16.8 percent during Giuliani's eight-year tenure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But his claims about adoptions are far less clear-cut. The campaign didn't offer any research showing that rising adoption rates cause lower abortion rates, and we couldn't find any, either. Two years into his first term, Giuliani created the Administration for Children's Services with a mission to improve the lives of the city's children. The agency aims to help kids in foster care, and it measures its success in large part by how many adoptions it facilitates each year. We focus on page 14 of the ACS 2003 Year End Review, which shows a bar chart of adoptions conducted through the city's child welfare system from 1989 to 2003. Giuliani was mayor from Jan. 1, 1994, to Dec. 31, 2001. His new agency came on line in January 1996. The chart shows a gradual increase in adoptions from 1989 through 1994, then a steeper increase through 1997 — the middle years of Giuliani's tenure. After that year, the numbers decline through 2002. Giuliani arrives at his 65 to 70 percent increase by taking adoption rates for the six years before ACS was created and comparing them to the six years after. That's one way to look at it, but it conceals some things. For instance, the chart shows that if you simply compare adoption rates in the first year of his tenure and in the last year, the rate increased by only 17 percent, a point made by our friends at FactCheck.org. Averaging the rates over two six-year blocks helps smooth out peaks and valleys in individual years caused by social, economic and other forces, campaign aides said. The first two years after ACS came on line, there was a spike in adoptions that Giuliani's campaign said was because of a backlog of foster kids waiting to connect with families. Then, the numbers leveled off. It's true, the aides say, the numbers go down significantly in Giuliani's final two years. But they're still higher than those of his predecessor, David Dinkins. More recently, Giuliani has used a much more flattering number than the one he started with. His staff compared adoptions in all eight of his fiscal years against all eight of his predecessors'. This works out to a whopping 133 percent increase in adoptions. So which number is it? Something's wrong if voters have to ask. When a statistic seems to go in so many directions, the best approach is an apples to apples one. For its abortion statistic, the Guiliani campaign looked at two points in time (the beginning and end of his tenure) and compared the two. Doing that for adoptions yields an increase of 17 percent. So, he's got his numbers right on abortion rates, but he has inflated the adoption figures by getting too fancy with his math. We find his overall claim half-true. UPDATE: We've corrected the launch date for the Administration for Children's Services. We mistakenly said 2006 when we should have said 1996."
29812	"U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris said, ""If elected [president] and you don't surrender your guns, I will sign an executive order and the police will show up at your door."	In summary, Harris did say she would take executive action on gun control if Congress failed to act within 100 days of her taking office as president. Her proposed executive order would include gun-control measures such as implementing universal background checks and renewing the ban on assault weapons. But the viral quote about an executive order to confiscate guns appears to be an inaccurate paraphrase of the Democratic candidate’s statement on the matter.	false	Politics	On 22 April 2019, a quote ostensibly uttered by Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris concerning an alleged plan to forcibly confiscate guns via an executive order started to circulate on social media: This is not a genuine quote from Harris. The quote — “If elected & you don’t surrender your guns, I will sign an executive order & the police will show up at your door” — started circulating a few days after she talked about her views on gun control during a CNN Town Hall. During the event, Harris said she would give Congress 100 days to act on gun control before taking executive action: Upon being elected, I will give the United States Congress 100 days to get their act together and have the courage to pass reasonable gun safety laws. And if they fail to do it, then I will take executive action. However, Harris never said the order would result in the forcible confiscation of citizen-owned guns. In fact, Harris made a point to say that this would not be the case. As she explained her position on gun control, she noted that Americans are typically given a “false choice” between protecting the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and confiscating all guns. Harris said the public needs middle-ground options, and that her proposal constituted a “reasonable” approach to gun control. Here’s Harris’ full statement from CNN’s transcript of the event: QUESTION: As a future educator, I am really bothered that public schools are being targets for mass shootings. Two days ago was the 20th anniversary of the Columbine massacre, but still two decades later no major gun control legislation has been passed. So my question is, as president, who will you go about keeping our schools safe and keeping guns out of the hands of those who should not have them? HARRIS: Thank you, Ben. And I’m sure that there are plenty of students here who, while you were in high school, even middle school, that you had to participate in a drill, right, where you were convened and your teachers taught you about how you need to go and run in a closet because there may be a mass shooter roaming the hallways of your school. And in our America, that should never have to happen. (APPLAUSE) Conversations take place every night. Conversations take place every night between students and their parents. Why do these things have to happen? Why do we have to have a drill like that? To which, of course, the response is, because there are people in Washington, D.C., supposed leaders, who have failed to have the courage to reject a false choice which suggests you’re either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away. Supposed leaders in Washington, D.C., who have failed to have the courage to recognize, you know what, you want to go hunting, that’s fine, but we need reasonable gun safety laws in this country, starting with universal background checks and a renewal of the assault weapon ban. But they have failed to have the courage to act. So, Ben, here is my response to you. Upon being elected, I will give the United States Congress 100 days to get their act together and have the Courage to pass reasonable gun safety laws. And if they fail to do it, then I will take executive action. And specifically what I will do is put in place a requirement that for anyone who sells more than five guns a year, they are required to do background checks when they sell those guns. I will require that for any gun dealer that breaks the law, the ATF take their license. And by the way, ATF, alcohol, tobacco and firearms, well, the ATF has been doing a lot of the “A” and the “T,” but not much of the “F.” And we need to fix that. (APPLAUSE) And then — on the third piece, because none of us have been sleeping over the last two years, part of what has happened under the current administration is they took fugitives off the list of prohibited people. I’d put them back on the list, meaning that fugitives from justice should not be able to purchase a handgun or any kind of weapon. So that’s what I’d do.
9076	Creative Medical Technology Holdings Announces Commercialization of patented Stem Cell Procedure for Erectile Dysfunction	This news release describes a study that used stem cells in an attempt to treat men with erectile dysfunction (ED). The study followed 20 patients, but that is the only bit of numerical information that readers are given. The news release did not provide any actual results from the study, despite heralding it as a success. The release was short on other essential information as well: it did not provide the cost of the procedure, explain any harms, or detail how patients could get access to the treatment. Also worryingly, the news release was based on a study that it was calling a clinical trial, despite the fact that there was no regulation or FDA oversight. Although it may seem like welcome news to men suffering from ED, the news release did not provide any convincing evidence that the treatment actually works. ED is a common problem in men. It is typically associated with aging, but can be aggravated by risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cigarette smoking. It is also a common side effect of treatments for prostate cancer. Oral medicines, called phosphodiesterase inhibitors, are most commonly used to treat ED. When these medicines are not helpful, a variety of other treatments including medicines injected into the base of the penis, vacuum devices and surgical implants are sometimes used. None of these alternative treatments are ideal and thus efforts to find new therapies are reasonable. The broad use of stem cell therapies for many, very different conditions and the lack of high quality evidence of benefit suggests that these treatments currently reflect a fad in medicine. At present, there is no evidence to suggest that stem cell treatment for ED is either safe or effective compared to other available treatments. As we’ve written (and spoken about) before, many other stem cell treatments exist in the “Wild West” of scientific research, where treatments are unregulated and unproven yet sold to patients for thousands of dollars.	false	Creative Medical Technology Holdings,erectile dysfunction,stem cells	The news release does not mention anything about the cost of the CaverStem procedure. A look on the company’s website FAQ section shows only that it is not covered by insurance, but there is still no mention of actual cost. Given that the piece claims commercialization is imminent, information about the cost of a procedure that is unlikely to be covered by insurance is warranted. The news release didn’t quantify benefits in any way. We’re told only that they looked at 20 patients, but none of the endpoints of the study were listed. On the procedure website, they list the primary endpoint as “Safety and tolerability based on number and severity of adverse events,” but the news release doesn’t say how many patients, if any, experienced adverse effects. The prior study cited was an uncontrolled study involving a total of 18 patients. Though initial results showed improved symptoms, the abstract mentions that the benefit declined over time and that repeat stem cell treatments may be needed. The news release did not mention any potential harms of the stem cell treatment. Although stem cell clinics often tout the safety of stem cells because they come from within the patient’s own body, that does not mean that there are no risks to stem cell procedures. Only one stem cell procedure (a blood-derived stem cell treatment used for treating cancer and blood-illnesses) is currently approved by the FDA. All other stem cell therapies in the U.S. are experimental and unregulated by the government, including this CaverStem procedure. On his blog, UC Davis stem cell scientist Paul Knoepfler reminds patients seeking stem cell therapy that every medical procedure has side effects. “Different kinds of stem cells have variable risk profiles,” writes Knoepfler, “but if someone tells you that the stem cell treatment they are selling has no risks then that is a big red flag and I would walk away.” Given the small number of men tested and the limited duration of follow-up, it is difficult to deem that this is a safe treatment. It is hard to assess the quality of the evidence given that the news release does not provide any quantifiable data, except that there were 20 patients in the study (a very small sample size). However, one of the biggest concerns about this news release is that it is based on a so-called “clinical trial” that is unregistered and has no data available to the public. While the release itself describes the study as a “safety data analysis,” the CaverStem website calls the analysis a clinical trial. This is a common and misleading tactic of stem cell clinics, which often use the term clinical trial to add more weight to their evidence. The International Society for Stem Cell Research notes this on their blog, where they advise patients, “Beware of stem cell treatments offered without regulatory approval or outside the confines of a legitimate and registered clinical trial.” And although they cite other clinical trials in their news release (most notably a 2017 study from France), that does not make up for the fact that their analysis was not a clinical trial. In one study cited that reports actual data, the authors of that study caution, “Given the lack of control group, we cannot eliminate the hypothesis of a spontaneous recovery in our study.” This study involved men with erectile dysfunction after treatment for prostate cancer. The current study of 20 patients also presumably involves no comparison group. Thus, any purported benefits may reflect factors beyond any potential benefit of the treatment itself. The news release mentioned that there are about 30 million men in the United States affected by ED, and backed it up with statistics from the National Institutes of Health. No disease mongering here. The population for this potential treatment are those men with erectile dysfunction who do not have an adequate response to standard medicines. This is still a very large group and the one published study focused on men with erectile dysfunction after treatment for prostate cancer. The news release says in the second sentence that the trial was sponsored by Creative Medical Technology Holdings, the same company that is marketing the product. It’s good that this conflict of interest was disclosed. The news release said that 9 million men affected by ED don’t respond to standard pharmacological treatments such as Viagra, Levitra and Cialis. However, it didn’t make any mention of other types of treatments, such as lifestyle changes (quitting smoking and drinking), psychological counseling, vacuum erection devices or surgery. There are a number of other treatments available for ED that is unresponsive to standard medications. None of these other treatments including devices, injections or surgical implants are ideal, so the search for new treatment options is warranted. But the unstated implication that stem cell therapy should be the next choice after a medicine trial is problematic. The release appears to be overly optimistic in stating when this therapy may be available to patients. Moreover, other than the study site that performed this small trial, there is no mention of where this procedure may be had. The news release did say that they expect “that the procedure will be available to patients that meet the eligibility criteria within the next 60 days.” Yet this statement raises some red flags. First of all, it does not say what the eligibility criteria are, which may give ineligible patients false hope. Secondly, the 60-day time frame is incredibly quick. Even after promising safety studies, most medications and procedures undergo a third study that looks solely at efficacy (the primary outcome of this study was listed as safety and tolerability). The news release itself does not claim that the CaverStem is a novel procedure but the release is obviously promoting the treatment as a new option for patients. The release does refer to a European study as proof of efficacy and appears to claim that the same researchers were involved in this work. Despite the fact that the news release insinuated that a clinical trial had been completed and that a new treatment for ED will be out in 2 months, the language of the release itself was quite constrained. There were none of the common sensational phrases like “breakthrough” or “miracle” or “novel treatment.” In language choice, the news release was satisfactory. Though the release implies benefit of this treatment, nothing actually states this is the case.
14082	"We're losing thousands of (veterans) waiting on line"" because they can't get speedy health care from the Veterans Administration."	"Trump said, ""We're losing thousands of (veterans) waiting on line"" because they can't get speedy health care from the Veterans Administration. Similar claims that 300,000 died because of delays by the VA clearly don't have hard evidence to back them up. Instances at individual VA hospitals seldom go into double digits, so there's no hard evidence there that the number of deaths is in the thousands either. Trump dialed back the rhetoric, but the claim still leaves out important context."	mixture	National, Health Care, Veterans, Donald Trump,	"During a news conference called by Donald Trump to explain where money went from a veterans fundraiser, the presumptive Republican nominee for president was asked about the Veterans Administration health system. ""I'm entirely in favor of fixing the VA health care. The VA is one of the great catastrophes in this country,"" he said. ""People are waiting five days, six days, seven days on line. They're dying while they wait on line. And I am in favor of, if they can't get to a doctor within a reasonable period of time, they're gonna go see a doctor and the country's going to pay for it. They're going to a private doctor, or a public hospital, or a public doctor but someplace that can take care (of them) immediately. We're losing thousands of people waiting on line."" We looked at this issue in October when Trump contended that, ""Over 300,000 veterans have died waiting for care."" At the time, he didn't explain where he got the estimate, but it dovetailed with a Sept. 2, 2015, report from the VA Office of Inspector General that tried to investigate a claim that 47,000 veterans died because the VA didn't process their health care applications in a timely manner. As the report clearly stated, that 300,000 number — actually 307,173 — was an upper limit, reflecting the maximum number of unprocessed enrollment applications where, according to Social Security records, the applicant had died. But because the VA recordkeeping was so horrible, the report concluded, ""we cannot determine specifically how many pending (enrollment system) records represent veterans who applied for health care benefits or when they may have applied."" As PolitiFact reported last year, investigators said that some of those people were not veterans; not all of them were seeking health care or necessarily any VA service; and some of them died before 1998, when the database began. For example, the count is complicated by the fact that VA services include home loans and disability payments, some health care to family members of veterans and non-veteran employees of the VA system, and people receiving humanitarian care. In addition, in 2013, the VA added millions of records from other arms of the agency into the mix. Many of those ended up in the pending file because the software didn't allow a determination of whether the people were actually applying for medical care. Thus, an accurate count was impossible. However, Trump's new assertion backs off the 300,000 claim dramatically. At the news conference, he simply said that ""thousands"" had died waiting for health care from the VA, a disturbing but still far more modest claim. Having close to 2,000 instances would qualify as ""thousands,"" so if just 1 percent of the 307,173 records logged by the inspector general were cases of veterans dying before their paperwork could be processed, his claim would clear the bar. Clearly, deadly delays do happen. Investigators looking into operations at the urology unit of the Phoenix VA reported in 2015 that 1,484 cancer patients experienced significant delays in their care, 10 ""were placed at 'unnecessary risk for adverse outcomes.' At least half of those died,"" according to the Washington Post. CNN concluded in 2014 that it had identified 19 people who had died because of delays in getting simple medical screens at VA hospitals around the country. At one, the Dorn Veterans Medical Center in Columbia, S.C., at least six people had died. ""At the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Ga., the VA said three veterans died as a result of delayed care,"" CNN reported. In addition, the VA system is huge, with 1,550 sites providing some type of health care. It wouldn't take many cases at each site to have thousands dying because they couldn't get a timely appointment. We asked the Trump campaign for the source of the statistic, but didn't hear back. Our ruling Trump said, ""We're losing thousands of (veterans) waiting on line"" because they can't get speedy health care from the Veterans Administration. Similar claims that 300,000 died because of delays by the VA clearly don't have hard evidence to back them up. Instances at individual VA hospitals seldom go into double digits, so there's no hard evidence there that the number of deaths is in the thousands either. Trump dialed back the rhetoric, but the claim still leaves out important context.
16296	This (Ebola) is not as bad as SARS was in 2003.	"Smiley said Ebola ""is not as bad as SARS was in 2003."" Both diseases are serious and have harmed communities. SARS spread to more countries and is easier to transmit than Ebola. But Ebola has had more cases and higher death toll, and those numbers continue to rise. SARS may have had more of a presence in the United States, but Ebola is poised to be a larger humanitarian crisis globally."	false	Ebola, Health Care, Public Health, PunditFact, Tavis Smiley,	"In an attempt to tamp down panic, some have compared the current Ebola outbreak to past epidemics -- particularly the SARS outbreak of 2003. On ABC’s This Week Oct. 19, talk show host Tavis Smiley said that those who think President Barack Obama’s response to Ebola is too soft are blowing the situation out of proportion. For context, they should remember the outbreak of SARS -- sudden acute respiratory syndrome -- 10 years ago. Talking to Republican strategist Mary Matalin, Smiley said, ""This is not as bad as SARS was in 2003, and everybody wants to pile on, Mary, like you did on all the things Obama has done wrong. I've been a critic on certain issues, but this is not the president's fault."" Is Smiley right that SARS in 2003 was worse than today’s Ebola crisis? Well, it depends on the context. We talked to experts and found that looking at the Ebola and SARS outbreaks in their points of origin -- West Africa and Hong Kong, respectively -- Ebola has been more destructive. SARS, on the other hand, had a wider global reach than Ebola. ""It depends on what’s your gauge for ‘worse,’ "" said Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. Several experts told us that the potential for the Ebola outbreak to grow -- and the humanitarian toll on West Africa -- makes it more worrisome. A note: Either way, Ebola does not pose a significant threat to the United States, though it may be damaging to other countries. The effects To start off, here’s some World Health Organization data comparing the SARS outbreak in 2003 and the current Ebola outbreak as of Oct. 17. SARS -- 2003 Ebola -- 2014 Number of countries affected 25+ 7 Number of cases (global) 8,096 9,216 Health worker cases (global) 1,706 423 Number of deaths (global) 774 4,555 Mortality rate 9.6 percent 50 percent Number of cases (U.S.) 27 3 Cases contracted in U.S. 0 2 Number of deaths (U.S.) 0 1 Proven treatments None None So by the numbers, Ebola is significantly more deadly. Also, there already are more cases worldwide. That said, SARS is much more communicable than Ebola, meaning it is easier to catch. It can spread through a sneeze, cough, sharing a beverage or speaking up close with someone who has the disease. It is also possible that SARS travels through the air. Ebola, on the other hand, is not airborne. Experts say it only possible to get Ebola by coming into direct contact with the body fluids of someone who is sick. In sum, SARS spread to many more countries than Ebola has so far. However, there have been more cases of Ebola, and the death toll is much higher. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention anticipates that the number of cases in West Africa could reach the hundreds of thousands by January. ""Both are substantial public health outbreaks"" said Dr. David Weber, an expert in epidemiology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. ""(It’s) not really useful to try to determine which is worse."" From the perspective of a United States citizen considering the two diseases’ impact here, Smiley’s statement might have more weight, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University. Many more cases of SARS made it to the United States than Ebola cases so far. (though there were no SARS deaths). It’s also important to remember that the largest focal point of the SARS outbreak (other than Hong Kong) was Toronto -- which brought the disease a little more close to home, Schaffner said. There were 251 SARS cases and 43 deaths in Canada. Even if the number of Ebola cases in the United States is low -- and lower than the number of SARS cases -- Smiley is incorrect because of the overall humanitarian impact of Ebola when compared to that of SARS, said Dr. Howard Markel, director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan. ""In terms of U.S. (Ebola) cases, it is still minimal,"" Markel said. ""If you're in West Africa, it's a nightmare and very serious, and far more deadly already than SARS was."" Our ruling Smiley said Ebola ""is not as bad as SARS was in 2003."" Both diseases are serious and have harmed communities. SARS spread to more countries and is easier to transmit than Ebola. But Ebola has had more cases and higher death toll, and those numbers continue to rise. SARS may have had more of a presence in the United States, but Ebola is poised to be a larger humanitarian crisis globally.""
6247	New Mexico AG ‘frustrated’ with response to contamination.	Top New Mexico officials want the U.S. Air Force to immediately begin defining the boundaries of plumes of contamination at two bases in the state and provide alternate water supplies to affected residents.	true	Environment, General News, Hector Balderas, New Mexico	Attorney General Hector Balderas and the New Mexico Environment Department on Wednesday filed a motion seeking a preliminary injunction to require regular groundwater and surface water sampling as the case proceeds. They also want the Air Force to offer voluntary blood tests for residents who may have been exposed to the contamination as well as provide additional documentation on the extent of contamination around Cannon and Holloman air bases. The state sued in April, saying the federal government has a responsibility to clean up toxic chemicals left behind by past military firefighting activities. “I am extremely frustrated that the Air Force has not been responsive to protecting the health and safety of New Mexican families by addressing years of environmental pollution,” Balderas said in a statement. The contamination is linked to chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. The Air Force has not commented directly on the pending litigation but has argued its response to PFAS contamination in New Mexico and elsewhere has been aggressive. Officials have said they’ve been working with regulators to identify and implement long-term solutions to prevent exposure. New Mexico environmental regulators first issued a notice of violation to the Air Force in 2018 for failing to properly address the contamination at Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis. They followed earlier this year on Holloman, saying that base had violated its state permit and had yet to respond to concerns about the pollution near Alamogordo. Balderas in May requested that a publicly accessible lake at Holloman be closed to limit exposure after sampling indicated PFAS contamination was dozens of times higher than federal health advisory levels. Fed by treated wastewater from the base, the lake already is off limits to swimming but camping is allowed along the shoreline. Balderas’ office said Wednesday it believed the lake was still open. Similar contamination has been found at dozens of military sites across the nation, and growing evidence that exposure can be dangerous has prompted the EPA to consider setting a maximum level for the chemicals in drinking water nationwide. Currently only non-enforceable drinking water health advisories are in place. Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation have argued that the contamination needs to be addressed. A defense spending bill pending in Congress includes some provisions aimed at tackling PFAS, from funding further study on the best ways to clean up and dispose of contaminated groundwater and soils to assistance for dairies and other affected businesses.
11041	Special candy fights cavities	This was a 3-minute ad – not a piece of journalism. So much good can be done with 3 minutes of network TV time. But this story failed to: discuss costs discuss evidence – of harms or benefits present any independent expert’s opinion It even featured the two co-anchors sucking lollipops at the very end. Wow. Dr. Shi and colleagues have done some interesting work in the area of preventive dentistry targeting the underlying pathophysiology (bacterial colonization and acid production). The work in the area of preventive dentistry – and not a focus on this lollipop product – would have been a more valuable use of the 3 minutes.	false		"The story didn’t mention costs. But the ABC website linked to the proprietary ""Dr. John’s Lollipops"" website where costs were listed: • 20-Lollipop Pack (one dose) $10.00 • 2.5 lb. Bulk Bag (Approx. 125 Pieces) $50.00 As a comparison, a tube of toothpaste with fluoride costs about $2. Fluoride toothpaste has been shown to reduce dental caries in children. The story failed to discuss any EVIDENCE for benefit. The story said the product ""doesn’t need FDA approval because it’s all-natural and its active ingredient is licorice, which the FDA says is completely safe."" That’s a tremendous leap of faith with no evidence to back it up. Further, contrary to the story, licorice (its main ingredient is glycyrrhizic acid) is in fact pharmacologically active. In addition to its ability to alter the effects of drugs (digoxin is one example), licorice can induce a hypermineralocorticoid-like effect in humans. The story was completely devoid of any evidence about how well these lollipops work – if at all. Yet it said the approach could ""revolutionize"" oral health and that it ""could be a cure for cavities."" All we got was anecdotal evidence in a petri dish. The story didn’t exaggerate tooth decay but it also didn’t give very much or good context. It said $85 m was spent on oral health last year and that 79 percent of kids still have a cavity by age 17. (No source given for either statement.) Only the one researcher/inventor was interviewed. No dentist was interviewed. The anchor even asked the reporter at the end if the American Dental Associaiton had ""weighed in on all this."" The answer was no. But it’s not clear if that meant that ABC even asked the ADA. Obviously there are many options for prevention and treatment of tooth decay. None was mentioned in the story. There was lots of talk about ""calls coming in"" – from ""around the globe,"" even from pet food makers. But there was no explicit mention on the air of availability. The story gleefuly proclaimed that the product ""doesn’t need FDA approval"" – as if that’s always a good thing. Meantime, the ABC website linked to the proprietary ""Dr. John’s Lollipops"" website, where some extravagant claims were made. The story did all it could to establish the novelty of the product – saying it would revolutionize oral health care and might be a cure for cavities. Yet, without evidence, we can’t be sure if there’s anything novel here beyond a new lollipop. We can’t be sure if the story relied soley or largely on a news release. We do know that only the one researcher/inventor was interviewed."
7577	Soap star Benard says quarantine hard on his mental health.	Longtime “General Hospital” star Maurice Benard says sheltering in place can take its toll on your mental health. The actor is open about suffering from bipolar disorder and also writes about it in his new best-selling book, “Nothing General About It: How Love (And Lithium) Saved Me On and Off General Hospital.”	true	Anxiety, Mental health, Health, General News, Entertainment, Bipolar disorder, Virus Outbreak	The breakout of COVID-19 not only altered plans to promote the book but also kept him home from work. “General Hospital” stopped production March 15. The ABC show recently began airing four new shows a week with flashbacks edited in to pad the episodes; Benard believes the show has enough material to get through mid-May. “It’s a very hard time and people are thrown from their routines or they’re alone in isolation,” said Benard, 57, in a recent interview from his Los Angeles home. “I’m having anxiety and last week I had it horribly. It’s weird for me. I need to act.” Benard says even though routines are altered, people shouldn’t pause their commitment to taking care of themselves: “You can’t let that stop you from working out and eating well. You’ve got to stay out of your thoughts because that’s where the demon is.” Benard has won a Daytime Emmy Award for his portrayal of Sonny Corinthos, a mobster who is beloved by his friends and family and feared by his enemies. His illness has been incorporated into his character’s story, which Benard calls “so nice.” “It tells people, you know, Sonny is bipolar and Sonny can function. If Sonny can do it, then I can do it,” he said. His book, written with Susan Black, was born out of posting Sunday check-ins on social media about how he was feeling: “You’ve got to talk about it because if you hold it in, you will explode.” Both in the book and in his interview, Benard credits his wife and manager, Paula, for guiding him through his low points. “My wife is the one who, during the panic attacks or the harder times, has that calming voice, who makes everything much easier.” Benard has been on “General Hospital” for 25 years. This would naturally put him in a leadership position with his co-stars, but he says that wasn’t always the case because he wasn’t always approachable. “I’ve changed in the last five years. I used to be kind of tough. I think getting older, having a little more wisdom made something change in me,” he said. “Everybody’s noticed. What a great feeling to not feel ugliness inside.” Chad Duell, who plays his son Michael, said in an email to the AP: “He definitely has helped me grow as an actor, and he always brings out the best of me when I am working with him.” “I loved working with Mo. He elevated my performance every time,” added Bryan Craig, who played another one of his sons, also via email. Benard said he relishes working with the younger actors on the show. “I love taking the young actors under my wing, especially when they’re talented. The young actors are winning Emmys,” he said. “At this point in my life I’m more proud of what they do than what I do.” ____ Follow Alicia Rancilio at http://www.twitter.com/aliciar
29434	"Doctors are now warning parents to never use baby wipes because they contain a ""chemical"" called methylisothiazolinone."	"What's true: A 2014 paper in Pediatrics noted that a small number of children (six) exhibited an allergic reaction to methylisothiazolinone, and patients with that allergy should avoid products containing the preservative. What's false: The paper did not say that ""no one"" should use baby wipes under ""any circumstance."""	false	Medical, baby wipes, healtheternally, methylisothiazolinone	On 25 October 2016, HealthEternally.com published an article that asserted baby wipes posed an extreme risk to delicate skin, thanks to a preservative called methylisothiazolinone. The page advised parents to switch to “DIY wipes”: Baby wipes are a necessity for parents, as they come in handy when you need a quick cleaner-upper. They’re convenient to take on the go – not only for diaper messes, but also for sticky hands, faces, and even toys. Up to this point, we always assumed they were completely safe to use, until now … According to NBC News, a study has surfaced that confirms baby wipes are not safe to use on your children due to one key ingredient. The results of the tests conducted were worrisome, as children ended up having a reaction that left them with itchy, scaly, and red-rashed looking skin. Methylisothiazolinone has been found in many of the popular brands such as Johnson & Johnson, Cottonelle, and Huggies to name a few. Now that this chemical is becoming a health and safety concern for children, they are reconsidering adding this ingredient to their products. Their goal now it to try and replace this harmful chemical with a more natural alternative. The article appeared to be based on a study published in medical journal Pediatrics, but bore little resemblance to the toxic baby wipes warning. That article (“Six Children With Allergic Contact Dermatitis to Methylisothiazolinone in Wet Wipes”) dealt with allergies and sensitivities, and did not recommend discontinuing wet wipes across the board: Wet wipes are increasingly marketed in personal care products for all ages, and MI exposure and sensitization will likely increase. Dermatitis of the perianal, buttock, facial, and hand areas with a history of wet wipe use should raise suspicion of ACD to MI and prompt appropriate patch testing. Rapid resolution occurs after the allergen exposure is eliminated. All isothiozolinones should be avoided in personal care and household products for these patients. The Pediatrics piece at no point advised parents to “never clean” children with baby wipes “no matter what,” nor was methylisothiazolinone pinpointed as a risk to anyone not allergic to the preservative. That study was published in 2014, and it appears that makers of baby wipes quickly responded to the findings despite the small number of children affected. For example, in response to a concerned parent on Facebook, Huggies stated in October 2016: Hi Ashley – Nothing is more important than the health and safety of the families who use our products. We evaluated alternative preservative options perfect for babies with allergic sensitivity to MI preservatives and we’re pleased to say that all of our baby wipes transitioned to our MI-free formula in 2014. A “Frequently Asked Questions” page on the web site of Pampers (another major manufacturer of baby wipes) similarly affirmed: Q: Do Pampers Baby wipes or diapers contain the ingredients methylisothiazolinone or methylchloroisothiazolinone (also known as Neolone, Kathon, MI, MCI)? A: N72.95.151.27o. Pampers Baby Wipes and diapers do not contain methylisothiazolinone or methylchloroisothiazolinone. It is also worth noting that the ingredient served as a preservative, inhibiting the growth of dangerous molds and bacteria in baby wipes. The advice to make or use “DIY wipes” potentially caused a greater risk to anyone using wet wipes, as there was no way to control for the introduction of unsanitary contaminants, and even commercially produced preservative-free personal care products were known to be susceptible to contamination.
33584	A meth-addicted teen penned an insightful poem in jail shortly before dying of an overdose.	"""I am Meth"" takes the form of an ode penned by or about an adolescent who paid the ultimate price for her choices."	false	Glurge Gallery, addiction, teenagers	In common with an number of other online cautions aimed at teens, “I am Meth” took the form of an ode penned by (or about) an adolescent who paid the ultimate price — death — for falling victim to the societal ill being decried. “I AM METH” (This was written by a young Indian girl who was in jail for drug charges, and was addicted to meth. She wrote this while in jail. As you will soon read, she fully grasped the horrors of the drug, as she tells in this simple, yet profound poem. She was released from jail, but, true to her story, the drug owned her. They found her dead not long after, with the needle still in her arm.) Please keep praying for our Children, Teens, Young adults. Understand, this thing is worse than any of us realize … I destroy homes, I tear families apart, I take your children, and that’s just the start. I’m more costly than diamonds, more precious than gold, The sorrow I bring is a sight to behold. If you need me, remember I’m easily found, I live all around you – in schools and in town I live with the rich, I live with the poor, I live down the street, and maybe next door. I’m made in a lab, but not like you think, I can be made under the kitchen sink. In your child’s closet, and even in the woods, If this scares you to death, well it certainly should. I have many names, but there’s one you know best, I’m sure you’ve heard of me, my name is crystal meth. My power is awesome, try me you’ll see, But if you do, you may never break free. Just try me once and I might let you go, But try me twice, and I’ll own your soul. When I possess you, you’ll steal and you’ll lie, You do what you have to — just to get high. The crimes you’ll commit for my narcotic charms Will be worth the pleasure you’ll feel in your arms. You’ll lie to your mother, you’ll steal from your dad, When you see their tears, you should feel sad. But you’ll forget your morals and how you were raised, I’ll be your conscience, I’ll teach you my ways. I take kids from parents, and parents from kids, I turn people from God, and separate friends. I’ll take everything from you, your looks and your pride, I’ll be with you always — right by your side. You’ll give up everything – your family, your home, Your friends, your money, then you’ll be alone. I’ll take and take, till you have nothing more to give, When I’m finished with you, you’ll be lucky to live. If you try me be warned – this is no game, If given the chance, I’ll drive you insane. I’ll ravish your body, I’ll control your mind, I’ll own you completely, your soul will be mine. The nightmares I’ll give you while lying in bed, The voices you’ll hear, from inside your head. The sweats, the shakes, the visions you’ll see, I want you to know, these are all gifts from me. But then it’s too late, and you’ll know in your heart, That you are mine, and we shall not part. You’ll regret that you tried me, they always do, But you came to me, not I to you. You knew this would happen, many times you were told, But you challenged my power, and chose to be bold. You could have said no, and just walked away, If you could live that day over, now what would you say? I’ll be your master, you will be my slave, I’ll even go with you, when you go to your grave. Now that you have met me, what will you do? Will you try me or not? It’s all up to you. I can bring you more misery than words can tell, Come take my hand, let me lead you to hell. In this genre, it is not seen as enough for the story told in rhyme to be horrific or for the ill that is its subject to present an actual and potentially life-ending danger to young people — its central figure and/or author must die to truly drive home the finger-waving. Other examples of such poems: Teen girl who disobeyed her parents and sneaked off to a party died in a two-car accident caused by her drunk, stoned date that claimed not only his life but that of her parents, and another teen girl killed in a different automobile accident brought about by her drunken boyfriend. Methamphetamine, the subject of “I am Meth,” poses a real danger to teens and others. It is a powerfully addictive stimulant that dramatically affects the central nervous system. This illegal drug is sold as a crystal-like powdered substance that sometimes is vended in large rock-like chunks. It can be swallowed, injected, breathed in (snorted), or smoked. The drug causes in the user increased activity, decreased appetite, and a general sense of well-being. Its effects can last 6 to 8 hours. Meth addiction is a growing problem in the U.S. and Canada. As the poem says, the drug is addictive and quickly takes over the lives of its users. (To gain a better idea of how swiftly it can ravage a person, examine the comparison of “then and now” photographs presented by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. In this case, a picture — or rather, a pair of them– is worth a thousand words.) Different adolescents have at times claimed to be the poem’s author. One was Amanda Canaday of Barriere, a community 45 minutes north of Kamloops, British Columbia. In 2005, Ms. Canaday, who was then 16 years old, read it at a community meeting about methamphetamine, claiming she was the piece’s writer. This was her version: Miss Crystal Meth By Amanda Canaday I destroy homes, I tear families apart I take your children and that is just the start I am more valuable than diamonds, more precious than gold, I am easily found, I live all around you In schools and in towns I live with the rich, and I live with the poor I live down the road and maybe next door I am made in a lab but not in one quite like you think I can be made under your kitchen sink or in your child’s closet and even in the woods if this scares you to death it certainly should I have many names but there is one you’ll know best I am sure you have heard me my name is crystal meth My power is awesome Try me and you’ll see But if you do you may never break free Just try me once and I might let you go but Try me twice and I will own your soul When I possess you, you will steal and you will lie You will do what you have to get just get high You will forget your morals and how you were raised I will be your subconscious I will teach you my ways I will take your kids from your parents and your parents from your kids I will turn people from God, I’ll separate your friends I will take everything from you even your good looks and your pride I will always be with you right by your side You will give up everything, your family, your friends, your money You will be all alone I will savage your body, I will control your mind\|Your soul will be mine. The nightmare you will when you are lying in bed You will hear voices in your head The sweats and shakes and the visions I want you to know these are the gifts from me. You will regret. You come to see me and not I to you. You knew this would happen If you could live that day over what would you say I will be your master and you my slave Now that you met me, will you try me or not, it is all up to you An earlier version of the poem that surfaced in an Alabama newspaper in 2003 ascribed the item to “a local teenager, who asked not to be identified by name” and who “wrote about what I’ve been told is his experience with crystal meth and the devastating impact it has had on his life, as well as, the lives of his friends and family.” This is the unnamed Alabama teen’s version: My Name Is!!!! I destroy homes, I tear families apart. I take your children, and that’s just the start. I’m more valued than diamonds, more precious than gold. The sorrow I bring is a sight to behold. If you need me remember, I’m easily found. I live all around you, in school and in town. I live with the rich, I live with the poor. I live just down the road, and maybe next door. I have many names, but there’s one you’ll know best. I’m sure you’ve heard of me, my name is Crystal Meth. My power is awesome, try me and you’ll see. But if you do, you may never break free. Just try me once, and I might let you go. But if you try me twice, then I’ll own your soul. You’ll lie to your mother, you’ll steal from your dad. When you see their tears, you must not feel sad. Just forget your morals and how you were raised. I’ll be your conscious, I’ll teach you my ways. I take kids from their parents, I take parents from their kids. I turn people from God, I separate friends. I’ll take everything from you, even your good looks and your pride. I’ll be with you always, right there by your side. You’ll give up everything, your family, your home. Your money, your friends, you’ll be all alone. I’ll take and I’ll take until you’ve no more to give. When I’m finished with you, you’ll be lucky to live. If you try me be warned, this is not a game. If I’m given the chance, I’ll drive you insane. I’ll ravage your body, I’ll control your mind. I’ll own you completely, your soul will be mine. By then it’s too late and you’ll know in your heart, That you are now mine, and we shall not part. You knew this would happen, how many times were you told? But you challenged my power, you chose to be bold. You could have said “No” and then walked away. If you could live that day over, now what would you say? Now that you’ve met me, what will you do? Will you try me or not, it’s all up to you. I can show you more misery than words can tell; Come take my hands, let me lead you to hell. Samantha Reynolds of LeFlore County, Oklahoma — not a teen but an adult woman — also claimed to have written this piece in 2000. At the time “Ms. Crystal Meth” was set down, Ms. Reynolds’ daughter was in the 7th grade. Neither the author nor her daughter have even used meth, let alone died of an overdose. Says Samantha Reynolds of the reaction she’s received from readers of her poem: Many of these people asked how long I’d been using it. They were surprised when I told them I didn’t use it and that I’d never even seen methamphetamine. A few people plainly told me they didn’t believe me because the poem could only have been written by someone who was addicted. I’ve seen the effects of meth addiction up-close and personal. Not only have I lost someone to the drug, but one of my children was a victim of a terrifying home invasion by someone who was high on meth. I’ve let a few children move into my home whose parents were addicted to drugs. It isn’t necessary for one to be an addict to get a first-hand look at the devastation meth causes because the user of the drug drags their loved ones through hell right along with him/her. Here is the first version of Reynolds’ “Ms. Crystal Meth,” as published by the The Heavener Ledger in September 2000: Ms. Crystal Meth I destroy homes. I tear families apart. I take your children, and that’s just the start. I’m more valued than diamonds, more precious than gold. The sorrow I bring is a sight to behold. If you need me, remember; I’m easily found. I live all around you, in school and in town. I live with the rich. I live with the poor. I live just down the road, and maybe next door. I’m made in a lab, but, not in one like you think. I can be made under your kitchen sink. Or in your child’s closet, and even out in the woods. If this scares you to death, it certainly should. I have many names, but there’s one you’ll know best. I’m sure you’ve heard of me: My name’s Crystal Meth. My power is awesome. Try me, you’ll see. But if you do, you may never break free. Just try me once, and I might let you go. But if you try me twice, then I own your soul. When I possess you, you’ll steal and you’ll lie. You’ll do what you have to, just to get high. The crimes you’ll commit for my narcotic charms will be worth the pleasure you’ll feel in my arms. You’ll lie to your mother. You’ll steal from your dad. When you see their tears you must not feel sad. Just forget your morals, and how you were raised. I’ll be your conscience. I’ll teach you my ways. I take kids from their parents. I take parents from kids. I turn people from God. I separate friends. I’ll take everything from you; even your good looks, and your pride. I’ll be with you always, right there by your side. You’ll give up everything; your family, your home, your money, your friends. You’ll be all alone. I’ll take and I’ll take, ’til you’ve no more to give. When I finish with you, you’ll be lucky to live. If you try me, be warned: THIS IS NOT A GAME. If I’m given the chance, I’ll drive you insane. I’ll ravage your body. I’ll control your mind. I’ll own you completely. Your soul will be mine. The nightmares I’ll give you when you’re lying in bed. And the voices you’ll hear, from inside your head. The sweats, the shakes, and the visions you’ll see; I want you to know these are your gifts. From me. By then it’s too late, and you’ll know in your heart that you are now mine, and we shall not part. You’ll regret that you tried me. (They always do.) But you came to me, not I to you. You knew this would happen. How many times were you told? But you challenged my power. You chose to be bold. You could have said ‘no’, and then walked away. If you could live that day over, now what would you say? My power is awesome, as I told you before. I can take your mother and turn her into a whore. I’ll be your master and you’ll be my slave. I’ll even go with you when you go to your grave. Now that you’ve met me, what will you do? Will you try me or not? It’s all up to you. I can show you more misery than words can tell. Come, take my hand, and let me lead you to Hell.
41770	Claim President Trump's proposed 2020 budget would “ransack” or “slash” Medicare.	Democratic lawmakers claim the president’s proposed 2020 budget would “ransack” or “slash” Medicare and Medicaid, likening it to an “assault on Medicare” and “the health care of seniors and families across America.” Experts agree the proposed cuts to Medicaid are significant, but many of the Medicare proposals echo those of Barack Obama and wouldn’t directly affect beneficiaries.	mixture	medicare,	Democratic lawmakers claim the president’s proposed 2020 budget would “ransack” or “slash” Medicare and Medicaid, likening it to an “assault on Medicare” and “the health care of seniors and families across America.” Experts agree the proposed cuts to Medicaid are significant, but many of the Medicare proposals echo those of Barack Obama and wouldn’t directly affect beneficiaries.President Donald Trump’s proposed 2020 budget includes a net $777 billion reduction in Medicaid spending and funding for the Affordable Care Act marketplace subsidies over 10 years, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank. Those cuts would come from repealing the ACA, including the Medicaid expansion, and turning Medicaid into a block grant program. Several Democrats have misleadingly used a higher gross figure of $1.5 trillion in cuts.As for Medicare — a program politicians of both parties often highlight in lines of attack (see “A Campaign Full of Mediscare,” 2012) — those proposed spending reductions total a net $515 billion to $575 billion over 10 years, depending on how they’re measured, says the budget watchdog group the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. That’s 5 to 5.6 percent of projected Medicare spending over the next decade. Several Democrats have used a higher figure of $845 billion, but that includes two programs that the Trump administration proposes moving to other parts of the budget.Notably, several of the Medicare proposals in Trump’s budget are similar to cost-cutting measures Obama had espoused when he was president — some of which Republicans lambasted at the time. Readers of FactCheck.org may remember repeated claims from GOP lawmakers in years past that the Affordable Care Act would “cut” or “gut” Medicare by $500 billion or $716 billion “at the expense of the elderly.” Now, the shoe is on the other party’s foot, with Democrats claiming these spending growth reductions would harm Medicare.At least one of the Trump administration’s proposals — a change in out-of-pocket costs for Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage — would directly affect beneficiaries, causing some to pay less and others to pay more. And one lawmaker’s office argues that Trump’s proposed cuts, which include a repeal of the ACA, can’t be compared to many of Obama’s, because the cuts proposed by Obama were part of the ACA, resulting in an overall increase in health care spending and reduction in the uninsured.It’s important to note that a president’s budget proposal is more a symbolic statement of priorities than something Congress would vote on. Indeed, Congress passed — and Trump signed — a very different bipartisan two-year spending bill a few days prior to the White House releasing its FY 2019 budget proposal.Let’s take a look at what the president proposed.Democrats have pointed out that Trump, as a presidential candidate, said he would “save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts,” and yet his budget proposal includes spending reductions to all three.“After exploding the deficit with his GOP tax scam for the rich, President Trump is once again trying to ransack Medicare, Medicaid and the health care of seniors and families across America,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement to the Associated Press.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a media availability on March 12: “The Trump budget calls for a $1.5 trillion cut in Medicaid, $850 billion cut in Medicare.” Schumer called it “hypocritical.”“President Trump: ‘I will not cut Medicare or Social Security.’ President Trump’s budget slashes it,” Schumer said.Sen. Richard Blumenthal called the budget an “assault on Medicare,” while Sen. Bernie Sanders asked Russell Vought, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, in a congressional hearing, “How many thousands of people do you think will die because of massive cuts to Medicare and Medicaid?”The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget called similar Medicaid cuts proposed in Trump’s 2019 budget “substantial,” but the group said in a March 12 post that the claim that Medicare would be cut by $845 billion, and the implication that this is a significant cut to Medicare beneficiaries, is “largely false.” The true budget reduction figure is $515 billion or $575 billion over 10 years.The left-leaning CBPP agreed with that figure, putting the “net” amount at “nearly $600 billion.”Two programs in Medicare — payments to hospitals for uncompensated care (called Disproportionate Share Hospital payments) and for graduate medical education — would be moved to other parts of the budget, with “most” of that spending continuing, CRFB explained.The watchdog group estimated that 85 percent of the Medicare cuts “comes from reductions in provider payments – many of which closely resemble or build upon proposals made in President Obama’s budgets.”Paul N. Van de Water, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said CRFB’s characterizations of some Trump policies mimicking those of Obama were “generally correct.”Proposals to reduce post-acute care payments ($110 billion reduction over 10 years) and to cut payments for bad debt ($40 billion) are similar to Obama policies, CRFB said. In fact, Obama’s fiscal 2017 budget included nearly $100 billion in reduced post-acute care payments.The Trump budget’s proposal to “equalize site-of-service payments,” meaning pay the same for outpatient services whether in a doctor’s offices or other facilities ($160 billion), and to change graduate medical education payments ($50 billion) are expansions of Obama proposals, CRFB said. Van de Water noted in a post on CBPP’s website that the site-of-service measure was similar to one from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, an independent congressional entity that advises Congress.“The proposals are similar to those in last year’s [fiscal 2019] budget,” Van de Water told us in an email. “Except for the proposed changes in the Medicare prescription drug benefit, and perhaps the medical liability reform, the proposals would not directly affect beneficiaries.”Both of the budget groups were critical of Trump’s overall budget, with CRFB writing it was “riddled with gimmicks and unrealistic assumptions” and CBPP calling it “a disturbing vision” that would “make poverty more widespread, widen inequality and racial disparities, and increase the ranks of the uninsured.” CBPP, however, didn’t mention Medicare in that assessment. Tricia Neuman, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation and director of its Medicare policy program, also agreed that many of Trump’s Medicare spending proposals were similar to his predecessor’s: “In a sense, yes, they are similar in that they generally aim to lower the growth in Medicare spending by reducing payments to providers, though the specific proposals differ,” she said in an email.One proposal that would directly affect beneficiaries is a change to out-of-pocket spending in Medicare Part D ($65 billion over 10 years).Van de Water explained in a post on the CBPP website: “The proposed changes in the Medicare Part D drug benefit would reduce out-of-pocket costs for some beneficiaries, including those with the highest spending, while raising costs for others. The budget would limit beneficiaries’ annual out-of-pocket drug spending and eliminate cost sharing on generic drugs for recipients of Medicare’s low-income drug subsidy (LIS), which could improve LIS recipients’ access to care and promote medication adherence. At the same time, the budget would raise Part D premiums and charge more to beneficiaries whose drug spending is high but below the threshold at which catastrophic coverage kicks in.”Neuman too, said: “When it comes to out-of-pocket spending on drug costs, the Administration’s budget is a double-edged sword; it helps some, but increases costs for others.” She said most of the proposals in the budget “would reduce the growth in spending for hospitals and other health care providers, without directly affecting beneficiaries,” though it was “very hard to predict” precisely how the proposals would affect seniors.For comparison, Obama’s fiscal 2017 budget included $401 billion in Medicare spending reductions over 10 years, but it called for a $39 billion increase in Medicaid spending, according to CRFB’s breakdown.Henry V. Connelly, deputy communications director for Speaker Pelosi, told us that Medicare advocacy groups had “concluded [Trump’s] cuts would indeed hurt Medicare beneficiaries.” He pointed to a joint statement from the Center for Medicare Advocacy and the Medicare Rights Center: “Among other things, the administration’s proposal would curtail Medicare beneficiaries’ appeal rights and increase the amount many would pay for needed prescriptions,” the groups said. “It would also jeopardize beneficiary access to critical services by significantly cutting provider payments.”Schumer’s office told us that while Obama’s proposed budgets also called for cutting provider payments, that was in the context of the ACA and an overall expansion of health care coverage. “The Trump Administration’s proposed reductions in Medicare spending aren’t being reinvested into health care programs,” Schumer’s office said.The ACA included a $716 billion reduction in the future growth of Medicare spending over 10 years, according to a 2012 assessment by the Congressional Budget Office, with most of that ($415 billion) in reductions in the growth of payments to hospitals. Schumer’s office said “providers supported the ACA because they were able to now treat a significant influx of newly insured patients instead of providing uncompensated care.”There’s support for that. Chip Kahn, president and chief executive officer of the Federation of American Hospitals, criticized Trump’s budget for including “arbitrary and blunt Medicare cuts to hospitals who care for the nation’s most vulnerable,” saying it was “no time to gut Medicare.”But in March 2010, when Congress was debating the ACA, Kahn said in a letter to then-Sen. Harry Reid that the legislation would expand coverage to millions of Americans and provide “a framework for health care delivery reform.” He wrote: “That is why hospitals will forgo $155 billion in Medicare and Medicaid payments over 10 years as part of a shared sacrifice to bring about the benefits that health reform will deliver to all Americans.”So, the FAH supported cuts to the growth of hospital payments as a trade-off for a reduction in the uninsured.It’s true that Trump’s proposed budget doesn’t offer that. Instead, it would reduce Medicaid spending and eliminate the ACA premium subsidies for a net $777 billion reduction over a decade. Together with proposed reductions in Medicare spending, that comes to about $1.35 trillion less in future Medicare and Medicaid spending.But lumping them together also glosses over the fact that several of the administration’s Medicare proposals bear some resemblance to measures Democrats once supported and Republicans criticized.
34604	Alabama CPS agents took custody of a baby because his teen mother was raped.	News outlets are generally unable to verify a family’s claims in any given CPS dispute, which creates the risk of unwarranted public alarm being generated from incidents that have practical and reasonable explanations. It’s possible that the child removals in the case cited here were tied to a 14-year-old girl’s traumatic assault, but it’s equally possible CPS agents sought summary removal of all three children for entirely different reasons.	unproven	Viral Phenomena, alabama, CPS, CPS controversies	In June 2016 the notoriously unreliable web site Health Impact News published an article reporting that agents of Alabama’s child protective services (CPS) had stormed a hospital and taken a newborn baby away from its 14-year-old mother solely because the child was conceived during a rape: Juda Myers of Choices4Life calls her a “Hero Mom.” A 14 year old Alabama girl became pregnant from a rape, but she courageously chose life for the baby that was conceived. She refused to consider the option of abortion, and told her grandparents, who are her legal guardians, that if they would help her, she would raise and love this baby. Instead of celebrating her as a hero, Alabama child protective services — DHR — came into the hospital yesterday and seized her newborn baby, leaving a devastated young mother and her family in their wake. Juda Myers and I were there to witness the trampling of every Constitutional and moral right of this young mother, and we are shocked and devastated at what we saw. There is no legal or moral justification for what we saw happen at Shelby Baptist Medical Center in Alabaster, Alabama, on Wednesday, June 15, 2016. Alabaster Police Officer Edmunson later told us that he had told the nurse to do that “so that we could avoid this” — this being the emotional confrontation that happened shortly after when he and 2 other police officers, DHR supervisor Evans, 2 security guards, and several hospital staff, including hospital Risk Management director Ashley Cole-Tyson, all came into the hospital room stating that they were taking the baby. There was no reason given while we were in the room. There was no history of drug or alcohol abuse by the mother whose only “crime” was that she was a rape victim. The mother’s plans were to go home with her custodial grandparents, who had approval from the state to take care of her and her siblings. As described, the chain of events indeed sounded harrowing. Each police officer and Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) official involved in the incident was depicted or mentioned by name, and Health Impact News added an update reporting that the young mother and her twin brother were also taken into state custody: The 14 year old mother and her twin brother have now been seized by DHR. A tearful Dee Prince called at about 6 pm on Thurday to report that DHR and the police were on their way to take the twins. She had no idea why. When they arrived, the family asked for a court order or warrant. There was none. It was reportedly a “DHR order.” Could this be retaliation for the story going viral and putting pressure on DHR? The young post-partum mother was permitted to pack a few things, but her twin brother was not permitted to pack anything at all. They were both quite upset and didn’t want to leave their family. A police officer present at the scene reportedly told the boy that, if he didn’t get in the car, he would taze him. The boy was not even privy to the reason he was being taken, much less was he a criminal, yet this Alabaster police officer was willing to risk the child’s life in order to place him in “child protective” custody. (See link to taser dangers here.) He left in just his shorts and a T-shirt. We contacted Alabama’s CPS department with the expectation that the agency would be unable to comment on the specifics of the case, and as is frequently the case with such rumors, the individual with whom we spoke stated that the agency could not provide any details due to the nature of the claims. However, that representative told us that under Alabama state law, the agency has 72 hours to present a case to a judge proving that removal of a child or children from the care of parents or guardians is in the best interest of the minor[s], and Alabama law indeed holds [PDF] that: When children need immediate out-of-home foster care to assure their safety, a summary removal may be used. Summary removal occurs when law enforcement or the Department of Human Resources removes children from parental care or custody without a court order; or the court issues a pick-up order for the children. If the removal occurs without a pick up order, child welfare staff must notify the court and file a dependency petition the next working day. A preliminary hearing (shelter care hearing) must be held to determine whether continued out of home care is needed within 72 hours of the summary removal/pick up order. The same laws provide for removal as a last resort in any open case: The County Department must make reasonable efforts and offer all appropriate services to prevent removal of the child from the home unless that child is in immediate danger of harm or threatened harm … The Department must show immediate or threatened harm to a child when seeking protective custody and requesting summary removal. Summary removal is accepting care of a child pending a court hearing. Per Alabama state law, child protective services agents must “offer all appropriate services to prevent removal of [a] child,” “unless that child is in immediate danger of harm or threatened harm.” Presumably, state workers will be obliged to present evidence that summary removal was necessary within the 72-hour window mandated by the state. Stories like the Alabama CPS claim achieve viral traction on social media in large part because child protection agencies are prohibited by law from commenting on individual cases, making it very difficult for independent sources to challenge one-sided stories presented online. In one notable instance, Health Impact News and Medical Kidnap heavily publicized, without critical examination, a family’s false claim that CPS agents had taken their children simply because they opted for a homebirth. CPS agencies are often painted as capriciously snatching children without valid cause, and “media blackouts” or “suppression” are then cited as the reason for a lack of news coverage of such reports (rather than that news organizations might be cautious about running with unverifiable, one-sided stories): Many have asked why the local media will not report on this story. That is a great question. The answer is pure speculation. Are there financial connections, for example, between the media and the hospital in this story, or other local connections applying pressure to not report on this story? We don’t know. Local media is reportedly telling readers that there is “more to the story” and that it is not worth reporting. Really?? If you work for one of the local mainstream media outlets in the Birmingham Alabama area, and want to “blow the whistle” on why this story is being censored, please contact us. We will keep your identity confidential, if that is requested.
2448	British cosmologist Hawking backs right to assisted suicide.	British cosmologist Stephen Hawking has backed the right for people who are terminally ill to choose to end their lives and to receive help to do so as long as safeguards are in place.	true	Science News	The wheelchair-bound Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease aged 21 and told he had two to three years to live. Now 71, he is one of the world’s leading scientists, known especially for his work on black holes and as author of the international bestseller “A Brief History of Time”. Speaking ahead of the release of a documentary about his life this week, Hawking said he backed the right to die but only if the person involved had chosen that route. He recalled how he was once put on a life support machine after suffering pneumonia and his wife was given the option of switching off the machine but this is not something he wanted. “I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their lives, and those who help them should be free from prosecution,” Hawking told the BBC. “There must be safeguards that the person concerned genuinely wants to end their life and are not being pressurized into it or have it done without their knowledge and consent as would have been the case with me.” Assisted suicide is illegal in Britain and the issue of whether or not to decriminalize it for people whose lives are unbearable is a matter of debate in many countries. Right-to-die advocates say people capable of making that decision should be allowed to die with dignity. Opponents say liberalizing the law could leave vulnerable people at risk. Switzerland and several U.S. states are among places where some forms of euthanasia or assisted suicide are legal under certain circumstances. Hawking, who has made guest appearances in TV shows such as The Simpsons and Star Trek, says his active mind and sense of humor are key to his survival. Hawking communicates via a cheek muscle linked to a sensor and computerized voice system. He urged anyone with a disability to focus on what they can do and not regret what they cannot do. “Theoretical physics is one field where being disabled is not a handicap. It is all in the mind,” said the scientist, who works at Cambridge University. The documentary “Hawking” by Vertigo Films is due to be released in Britain on September 20.
8985	Cardiac hybrid imaging an effective tool for predicting heart attacks	This news release claims that a two-tiered “hybrid” approach to scanning people with suspected coronary artery disease is superior to assessing such patients with an imaging procedure called coronary angiography. With coronary angiograms, dye is injected into the arteries and then imaged with an x-ray machine to show areas of narrowing in coronary blood vessels. The hybrid approach described here, based on a published study, involves the combination of two other imaging techniques — coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and single photon emission tomography (SPECT) — to produce what the release says is a more accurate picture of cardiac blood flow. That information can supposedly help identify which patients need coronary artery interventions like angioplasty and bypass surgery. While the release does a nice job explaining the science behind the hybrid approach and the rationale for its use, there is a mismatch between the overstated headline and the more accurate language featured in the release’s conclusion. The headline describes the hybrid approach as an “effective tool” for evaluating coronary artery disease; the last paragraph acknowledges that the approach hasn’t been tested in a clinical trial and that we don’t know if it actually has a positive impact on patient outcomes. The lack of any clear patient benefit shouldn’t be treated like an afterthought. The human body and its tissues can be scanned in all manner of ways involving lots of different devices. Such scans can provide information that wouldn’t otherwise have been known and which may appear to be useful for preventing or treating disease. But what seems like useful information may not always have value for patients — it might lead to aggressive and unnecessary treatment that doesn’t improve the outcomes that people care about. That’s why it’s important to test new technology in ways that can measure real patient benefits like longer life and better quality of life. And it’s why writers should refrain making claims of effectiveness until such benefits have been credibly demonstrated.	false	coronary artery disease,imaging studies,Radiological Society of North America	There is no discussion of the cost of the hybrid imaging approach compared with the standard approach. The news release does a reasonable job of quantifying what the researchers found in the study — namely that the hybrid imaging identified some patients who would go on to suffer major cardiac events. Here’s the description: Patients with matched findings–stenosis of 50 percent or more on CCTA with evidence of ischemia on SPECT in the area of the heart to which the blocked vessel was supplying blood–had more than five times the risk of adverse events than those with normal findings. Patients with unmatched findings, or evidence of ischemia but not in the area of the heart being fed by the stenotic artery, had three times the risk. Major adverse cardiac event rates were 21.8 percent for matched findings and 9.0 percent for unmatched–considerably higher than the 2.4 percent rate for normal findings. What’s missing, however, is any comparison of how these numbers stack up against results with the standard approach — a coronary angiogram. Such a comparison is necessary to support the news release’s contention that the hybrid approach is superior. The news release doesn’t address harms, which at a minimum involve exposure to an additional radiation-based imaging technique that could increase the risk for cancer. The news release headline claims hybrid imaging is an “effective tool” for predicting heart attacks. But it doesn’t say how the results obtained in the study compare to standard imaging practices for patients with suspected cardiovascular disease. Moreover, it’s not until the final paragraph that we learn that the hybrid approach is still in the preliminary stages of testing, and researchers still don’t know if hybrid imaging will have a positive impact on patient outcomes. For the tool to be “effective,” we need to know whether it actually makes a difference in how patients are treated and whether it improves their outcomes. There is no disease mongering. The release states that “Coronary artery disease is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide,” which is accurate. The study’s first author disclosed that he is on the speaker’s bureau for GE Healthcare, which manufactures the nuclear imaging machines discussed in the news release. Although the author claims that this relationship is not relevant to the current study, we don’t see how that can be accurate. If the author has a financial relationship with a company that stands to benefit from the approach advocated in the study, that certainly seems relevant to disclose and the news release should have done so. The news release is clear that the study is testing an alternative to the standard approach for evaluating cardiovasular risk in patients with suspected coronary artery disease. It’s not clear how widely available the hybrid approach is. Given that the hybrid approach is really just a combination of two existing tests (a CT scan and a nuclear scan) it stands to reason that it should be available in most medical centers but the release fails to explain this. The point of the study, according to the news release, is to determine whether the hybrid approach is useful for predicting long-term cardiac outcomes. The news release skirts the line when it makes the following recommendation: The study supports CCTA use for an initial, noninvasive evaluation of patients with known or suspected stable coronary artery disease. No additional imaging would be necessary if the results were normal. If a lesion was evident, then clinicians could employ a nuclear scan to assess ischemia and take advantage of both modalities by fusing the results together to make a hybrid image. There’s no evidence provided in the news release or the study to back up the claim that this proposed two-step approach is more effective than the current practice. However, this statement is not quite egregious enough to merit a Not Satisfactory rating here, which we typically reserve for over-the-top claims of “breakthroughs” and “game changers”.
5079	Sixth medical marijuana store opens this week in ND.	North Dakota’s sixth medical marijuana dispensary is opening later this week.	true	Medical marijuana, Health, General News, Marijuana, North Dakota, Minot, Jamestown	The North Dakota Department of Health says the Herbology store will open in Minot on Thursday. Another dispensary is expected to open in Jamestown next Tuesday. State officials say more than 1,200 registry identification cards have been issued to qualifying medical marijuana patients. Division of Medical Marijuana director Jason Wahl says an estimated 85% of the state’s population will be within 50 miles of one of the seven open dispensaries by the end of the month. The final dispensary location, in Dickinson, is expected to be open by the end of the calendar year.
8116	Three-pronged distancing most effective at controlling COVID-19: study.	A key modeling study from Singapore has found that putting multiple social lockdowns in place - including school closures - will have the biggest impact on curbing COVID-19, the pandemic disease caused by the new coronavirus.	true	Health News	Quarantining infected people and their family members, closing schools, and imposing workplace distancing and homeworking can all limit the spread, the study found, but a combination of all three is most effective in reducing cases. The global number of confirmed cases passed 377,000 across 194 countries and territories as of 0200 GMT on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally, with more than 16,500 reported deaths. Singapore, which according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) data had reported 455 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and two deaths as of March 22, has imposed some social distancing recommendations but has not closed its schools. Elsewhere, millions of children have seen their schools closed in the United States, across much of Europe and in many other countries as governments have imposed strict social lockdown measures to stop people meeting and mingling in groups. Published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, the study, conducted by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS), looked at a simulated Singapore setting to analyze the potential impact of social distancing policies. It found that while less effective than the combined three-pronged approach, quarantine plus workplace measures presented the next best option for reducing COVID-19 cases, followed by quarantine plus school closure, and then quarantine only. “The results of this study provide policy makers in Singapore and other countries with evidence to begin the implementation of enhanced outbreak control measures that could mitigate or reduce local transmission rates if deployed effectively and in a timely manner,” said Alex R Cook, an associate professor at NUS who co-led the work.
9670	First-of-its-kind cataract surgery using stem cells shows promise	This story describes the findings of a study published in Nature that involved a new approach to correcting congenital cataracts in infants using the patient’s own stem cells to grow new lenses in the eye, versus the more standard approach of using artificial lenses.he story had a lot going for it compared with some less thorough competing stories (see here and here), especially when discussing important caveats about the study’s limitations. However, the piece would have been stronger if it had better quantified the results of the study: How did the researchers measure the success of this approach? We also wanted to see more information about the study design itself: How many patients were studied? And for how long? Finally, the story quickly turned to examining whether this approach might be used among older adults who have conventional cataracts–even though congenital cataracts are a very different disease process, and the current study applied to infants only. While not a common eye disease, congenital cataracts can be devastating to a child’s vision and normal development. The current treatment option–surgery and insertion of artificial lenses–usually restores vision, but it often requires multiple surgeries as the child grows. A newer, less disruptive measure is merited. And because it’s temping to ponder if this treatment could potentially be used one day in older adults with cataracts–which affects about 24 million Americans– it’s important that the media accurately describes the research, and avoids inappropriate speculation or conflating two different disease processes.	true	cataracts,congenital cataracts,stem cell research,stem cell therapies,stem cells,vision loss	The story doesn’t discuss costs for this new approach. One web source points to an average cost of $3,400 per eye for conventional cataract surgery, although the costs can be considerably less under some insurance plans. The story does not make clear if this procedure would be similarly priced. The story states the new procedure “restored vision in babies for the first time” but doesn’t describe any quantified benefits of this newer method. At the end of the story, we are told the researchers claimed a “100 percent” success rate three months after surgery. However, that’s not specific enough: Readers should be informed of how the researchers measured success–what were the outcomes they measured?–especially in such a young patient group where vision testing is tricky. The story doesn’t discuss short- or long-term harms that may arise from this new approach. It may be too soon for researchers to determine potential long-range harms from this approach, but saying that would have offered readers some perspective. The story explains that the study included a small number of infant patients (12) with a condition that differs from routine adult cataracts. The story did a good job of letting us know the study had some key limitations, primarily its short duration. As one source said, “this study wasn’t long enough. They [cataracts] may come back.” Ideally, the story would have specifically told us the length of time (six months), which helps readers better understand the need for more research with a larger pool of patients followed over a longer timeframe. It also should have been made clear if the study was randomized and included a control group. No, this story did not cross over into disease-mongering. It did a good job of explaining why it’s important to treat congenital cataracts. We were pleased to see multiple independent sources interviewed for this story. Seeking out multiple viewpoints can often surface new details about the illness or field of study, and place it in the context of wider research efforts and the typical patient experience. The story does a good job of describing conventional cataract surgery as the main alternative to this new procedure. The story includes several statements by the researchers saying that larger studies are needed as well as a longer follow-up period in patients before the success with this research is confirmed, which should give the average reader and understanding that this approach is not available at this time. A quote from one of the researchers also lets us know they hope to bring this surgery to the public within four to five years. The story says the study is the first to use the body’s own stem cells to regrow lenses in the eyes of babies with congenital conditions. This is enough to establish the novelty of the procedure. It also alludes to a possible use of the procedure in older adults, although it is cautious in that suggestion. The story did leave us curious about the technique in general and we would have welcomed a sentence or two about this emerging field of science. Are there similar procedures where the patient’s own stem cells repopulate damaged or missing tissue? What inspired the researchers to study? Given the multitude of independent sources, this story doesn’t appear to rely on a news release.
3550	Florida commission says mental health system needs overhaul.	Florida’s mental health system is underfunded and needs to be overhauled, with better coordination between providers, law enforcement and educators, the commission investigating last year’s high school massacre recommended to the legislature Wednesday.	true	Shootings, Mental health, Health, General News, Florida, Parkland, Florida, school shooting, U.S. News, Fort Lauderdale	The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, meeting in Orlando, found that the state’s mental health system is too often a revolving door. Under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows a police officer, judge or mental health professional to involuntarily commit a person for a 72-hour evaluation, less than 1% of the 200,000 people examined last year received long-term treatment, the commission found. Many were released in less than a day despite repeated commitments because the system is set up to treat the immediate crisis that led to the Baker Act being implemented and not toward long-term treatment, the commission found. It also found that Florida ranks near the bottom among states in per capita spending on mental health at about $36 annually per resident, which the commission said contributes to short-term fixes instead of long-term solutions. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the commission’s chairman, said his department is now dealing with a 14-year-old who has threatened to commit a school massacre, rape teachers and shoot police officers. He said the boy has been committed under the Baker Act 35 times since age 8 and arrested 14 times, but is always released. Gualtieri said records compiled by law enforcement, schools and the mental health system are often kept separately, so it wasn’t until recently when an analyst in his office did a threat assessment of the teen that a full picture was compiled. He compared the boy to Nikolas Cruz, who is charged with killing 17 people in last year’s Stoneman Douglas shooting. Cruz had severe emotional and behavioral issues but was never hospitalized. “There was no holistic view of this child and, importantly, nobody owned the problems with this kid,” Gualtieri said of the Pinellas County teen. “When I read that threat assessment report, there was just a big pause. ... There was nothing in the system to say, ‘Hold on, there is something seriously, seriously wrong here.’” Commissioner Mike Carroll, former head of the state’s Department of Children and Families, said the system lacks accountability for both the child and the parents. A judge can order a program addressing the child’s behavioral or emotional problems, but has no power to impose consequences if the program isn’t followed, he said. That must change, he said. “If I had diabetes and went to the doctor, no one would ask why this program isn’t working if the person wouldn’t take their insulin shots,” Carroll said. Gualtieri said many teens and adults when confronted by police have learned to act as if they are severely mentally ill to avoid arrest. Then when they are evaluated under the Baker Act by a medical professional, they act normal and are released, he said. For many, the process repeats over and over, he said. “We are on the hamster wheel,” Gualtieri said. “People have this idea that if you Baker Act, you are going to solve all the problems.” The 15-member commission is composed of law enforcement, education and mental health professionals, a legislator and the fathers of two students slain in the massacre. It is completing its second annual report aimed at preventing future school shootings. Cruz, 21, had a long history of mental health issues, court records show. Those included making threats at school, fights, vandalism, and other inappropriate behavior. He spent years being periodically assigned to a school for students with behavioral and emotional problems before he was allowed to briefly attend Stoneman Douglas. He was kicked out in early 2017. Cruz’s attorneys have said he would plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence, an offer prosecutors have declined. They are seeking the death penalty.
28516	Chlorpyrifos, an insecticide with alleged origins in Nazi Germany, was set to be banned by the EPA over health and environmental safety concerns; but President Trump reversed this decision after Dow Chemicals, a manufacturer of the chemical, donated one million dollars to his inauguration fund.	While some aspects of the text included in the Chelsea Handler tweet and “Really American” petition, such as chlorpyrifos’s connection to Nazi Germany and the scientific degree to which irreversible brain damage has been alleged, include some uncertainty, the bulk of its claims are true. The EPA’s scientific community was certain enough, despite questions about methods or mechanisms, to agree with the petition that chlorpyrifos posed a risk to neurological health and should be banned. President Donald Trump, who did receive a significant amount of money from Dow Chemicals for his inauguration, unilaterally reversed this decision through his administrator Pruitt’s actions.	mixture	Politics Environment, donald trump, dow chemical, EPA	The insecticide chlorpyrifos, sold under the brand names Lorsban, Dursban, and others, has been the subject of regulatory battles for decades. It was first introduced as a pesticide in 1965, and it remains the most commonly applied pesticide in the United States. In 1996, the Clinton administration signed into law the Food Quality Protection Act, which mandated regular scientific reviews and safety evaluations of existing pesticides based on children’s health safety benchmarks. One of the actions resulting from this review was a 2000 ban on chlorpyrifos for nearly all residential and indoor uses: This action comes after completing the most extensive scientific review of the potential hazards from a pesticide ever conducted. This action — the result of an agreement with the manufacturers — will significantly minimize potential health risks from exposure to Dursban, also called chlorpyrifos, for all Americans, especially children. Following this ruling, the EPA additionally ruled that chlorpyrifos would remain classified as safe for use in other agricultural and industrial settings. This latter ruling resulted in a September 2007 petition to the EPA filed by the Pesticide Action Network of North America and the Natural Resources Defense Council, both of which jointly requested that the agency ban the pesticide or issue final rulings on their acceptable levels (legally termed “tolerances”) in food. In September 2015, the Ninth Circuit court of appeals mandated that the EPA respond to this petition by either banning the chemical completely or issuing final rulings on tolerances of the chemical’s residue on food products by October 31, 2015. Following this court order, the EPA conducted a lengthy review and delivered a proposal on 6 November 2015, which suggested — as requested by the petition — that all currently published tolerances regarding chlorpyrifos residue on food should be revoked: EPA is proposing to revoke all tolerances for residues of the insecticide chlorpyrifos [including] tolerances for residues of chlorpyrifos on specific food commodities; on all food commodities treated in food handling and food service establishments in accordance with prescribed conditions; and on specific commodities when used under regional registrations. The agency is proposing to revoke all of these tolerances because EPA cannot, at this time, determine that aggregate exposure to residues of chlorpyrifos, including all anticipated dietary exposures and all other non-occupational exposures for which there is reliable information, are safe. In March 2017, before the EPA’s proposal was implemented, Scott Pruitt — the new EPA administrator under President Donald Trump — reversed course and argued the previous administration’s scientific rationale was dubious, denying the petition: In October 2015, under the previous Administration, EPA proposed to revoke all food residue tolerances for chlorpyrifos, an active ingredient in insecticides. This proposal was issued in response to a petition from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Pesticide Action Network North America. The October 2015 proposal largely relied on certain epidemiological study outcomes, whose application is novel and uncertain, to reach its conclusions. The decision to deny the petition faced renewed scrutiny because the CEO of Dow Chemical, Andrew Liveris, had been appointed by Trump to a White House manufacturing working group, and his company subsequently donated $1 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund. Liveris also was scrutinized over reports that he met with Pruitt prior to his announcement reversing the ban. On 19 November 2017, using text from a viral Chelsea Handler tweet, the progressive Facebook Page “Really American” launched a petition with a call to action: We explore each component of this memetic claim: Chlorpyrifos Was Invented by the Nazis as a Nerve Agent. Chlorpyrifos is a specific chemical that belongs to a broader class of chemicals called organophosphates. While the Nazis were at the forefront of developing this broader class as both weapons and insecticides, they can not be credited with inventing chlorpyrifos specifically. In the 1930s, a German researcher named Gerhard Schrader at German chemical producer IG Farben (infamous for producing the gas most commonly employed at Nazi death camps) discovered that organophosphates interact with cholinesterase, an enzyme that aids in the production of an important neurotransmitter in animals. Originally this effect was explored as a way to produce an insecticide, but one of Schrader’s formulations, named “Preparation 9/91”, ended up being extremely toxic to humans. Schrader himself required hospitalization as a result of his own interaction with it. This discovery was reported to Nazi authorities, who mandated that all German researchers report any scientific development that could have military applications to the regime. Shrader’s discovery led to the discovery and production of some of the world’s most infamous organophosphate nerve gases, including Tabun and Sarin gases. Other countries, including Britain and the United States, also began research into organophosphates during WWII as weapons. After the war ended, research resumed into organophosphate use as an insecticide. Chlorpyrifos, a specific formulation of an organophosphate, is included as one of many chemicals assigned to the Dow Chemical company in a 1963 patent which lists United States-based researcher Raymond Rigterink as the inventor. The only connection that chlorpyrifos has to the Nazi regime is its foundational work on the biological effects of organophosphates that researchers performed prior to, and during, WWII. Many nations built on this work after the war. Chlorpyrifos Causes Brain Damage Unproven, but likely. That organophosphates can be toxic to humans is nothing new. The idea, in developing such a chemical for use an insecticide, is to engineer an organophosphate that is below the threshold for affecting the human nervous system (via its effect on cholinesterase, something scientifically referred to as AChE inhibition) but is still toxic to insects. From a scientific standpoint, the main controversy surrounds the potential residual effects that chlorpyrifos may have on the neurological development of fetuses and young children, which some studies have documented even at levels well below what is currently considered acceptable. In their 2016 decision to ban all tolerances for the chemical on food, the Environmental Protection Agency stated: In summary, the EPA’s assessment is that the [Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health, CCCEH] study, with supporting results from the other 2 U.S. cohort studies and the seven additional epidemiological studies reviewed in 2015, provides sufficient evidence that there are neurodevelopmental effects occurring at chlorpyrifos exposure levels below that required for AChE inhibition. The primary study cited by the EPA was conducted by the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2012. This study compared fetal exposure to chlorpyrifos (based on sampling of blood in the mother’s umbilical cord) to differences in brain development: We investigated associations between [chlorpyrifos, CPF] exposure and brain morphology using magnetic resonance imaging in 40 children, 5.9–11.2 y, selected from a nonclinical, representative community-based cohort. Twenty high-exposure children (upper tertile of CPF concentrations in umbilical cord blood) were compared with 20 low-exposure children on cortical surface features […]. In a press release this study, CCCEH said: Even low to moderate levels of exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos during pregnancy may lead to long-term, potentially irreversible changes in the brain structure of the child […] Changes were visible across the surface of the brain, with abnormal enlargement of some areas and thinning in others. The disturbances in brain structure are consistent with the IQ deficits previously reported in the children with high exposure levels of […] CPF, suggesting a link between prenatal exposure to CPF and deficits in IQ and working memory at age 7. […] Notably, the brain abnormalities appeared to occur at exposure levels below the current EPA threshold for toxicity, which is based on exposures high enough to inhibit the action of the key neurological enzyme cholinesterase. The present findings suggest that the mechanism underlying structural changes in the brain may involve other pathways. There have been several large-scale studies that show a similar association between exposure to chlorpyrifos and other organophosphates to neurological problems, and there have been several studies proposing hypotheses about why such an association exists, but there lacks a rigorous consensus on the later point. The Pruitt EPA, in essence, has used this uncertainty to punt a decision on its neurological effects to a later review date: Following a review of comments on both the November 2015 proposal and the November 2016 notice of data availability, EPA has concluded that, despite several years of study, the science addressing neurodevelopmental effects remains unresolved and that further evaluation of the science during the remaining time for completion of registration review is warranted to achieve greater certainty as to whether the potential exists for adverse neurodevelopmental effects to occur from current human exposures to chlorpyrifos. EPA has therefore concluded that it will not complete the human health portion of the registration review or any associated tolerance revocation of chlorpyrifos without first attempting to come to a clearer scientific resolution on those issues. As noted, Congress has provided that EPA must complete registration review by October 1, 2022. Because the 9th Circuit’s August 12, 2016 order has made clear, however, that further extensions to the March 31, 2017 deadline for responding to the Petition would not be granted, EPA is today also denying all remaining petition claims. Pruitt highlighted specific methodological problems and uncertainties scientists raised during their 2016 review, but importantly neglected to mention that at the time of the panel’s meeting, they still concluded that the ban was necessary — even if the mechanistic aspects of chlorpyrifos danger are not yet settled. Jim Jones, the former head of the EPA chemical safety unit, contended in an interview with the New York Times that the science behind the neurological risks of chlorpyrifos is not questioned: “They are ignoring the science that is pretty solid,” Mr. Jones said, adding that he believed the ruling would put farm workers and exposed children at unnecessary risk. Speaking of the EPA’s reversal, the Union of Concerned Scientists issued a statement suggesting that Pruitt’s decision was not based on science, arguing an ethical responsibility to use science for the good of humanity: Science should be used to prevent harm and to protect lives. The decision to put the agenda of a corporation over the lives and wellbeing of Americans is an egregious failure of our government to use strong, independent science to protect public health and safety. Chlorpyrifos Was Supposed to Be Banned in 2017, but Trump Is Now Allowing It True. In a broad sense, the “blame” for this chlorpyrifos ban reversal belongs only indirectly to Trump himself. He did, however, appoint anti-regulation crusader Scott Pruitt as administrator of the EPA, who subsequently decided to exercise his executive authority to reject the chlorpyrifos petition and reverse the previous EPA’s ban, which is a power afforded to Pruitt through the United States Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act: Under section 408(d)(4) of the FFDCA, EPA is authorized to respond to a section 408( d) petition to revoke tolerance either by issuing a final rule revoking the tolerances, issuing a proposed rule, or issuing an order denying the Petition. If Pruitt had not exercised this authority, the EPA had a court-mandated deadline to make a ruling on the matter by 31 March 2017. Prior to this deadline, Pruitt issued his own ruling rejecting the work done by previous advisory boards. Had a different administrator been in charge, that call may have been very different. As a result of Trump and Pruitt’s actions, chlorpyrifos will continue to be allowed to be sprayed on food items, but it should be noted that this represents no change in current policy; it merely blocks what would likely have been the implementation of a change that would have otherwise taken effect in March 2017. Dow Chemicals Gave President Trump $1 Million for His Inauguration True. Dow Chemicals donated one million dollars to Trump’s inaugural committee, a donation described by political news site TheHill.com as “among Trump’s largest.” Dow also donated $250,000 to the 2005 George W. Bush inaugural committee (whose administration also sought to limit regulation on chlorpyrifos), but not to either the 2009 or 2013 Obama inaugural funds. Responding to an April 2017 report alleging that Dow attempted to kill efforts to study the negative effects of chlorpyrifos, Dow contended that the gift was legal and not part of an influence campaign: Rachelle Schikorra, the director of public affairs for Dow Chemical, said any suggestion that the company’s $1 million donation to Trump’s inaugural committee was intended to help influence regulatory decisions is “completely off the mark.” “Dow actively participates in policymaking and political processes, including political contributions to candidates, parties and causes, in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws,” Schikorra said. “Dow maintains and is committed to the highest standard of ethical conduct in all such activity.” Although it is clear that Dow Chemicals actively lobbied against a chlorpyrifos ban, we cannot rule on claims that their $1 million donation influenced Trump or Pruitt to change their view on the issue.
10253	FDA Approves First Drug To Prevent Preterm Births	Given that 50% of care is covered by Medicaid and 49% by private payors, the costs for this drug are invisible to the individual. It is administered in clinic or by home health nurses and does not typically have a co-pay structure although patients will sometimes tell providers they can’t afford it. News of new drug approvals can be washed over with giddy hype. But not in this story, which offered perspective, context and restraint.	true	NPR,premature babies	No discussion of costs, something we always look for and wish would be provided. As already noted, the story explained that the drug “isn’t a magic bullet. The study showed that 37 percent of women who got weekly injections of it delivered prematurely, compared to 55 percent of women who got injections of a placebo.” Good discussion of concerns and ongoing monitoring of the drug’s safety. The story explains the drug “isn’t a magic bullet. The study showed that 37 percent of women who got weekly injections of it delivered prematurely, compared to 55 percent of women who got injections of a placebo.” No disease-mongering of prematurity or its consequences. The medical director of The March of Dimes was quoted throughout. (Although they are seen as having a very pro-progesterone slant that is not held by consumer/advocacy/health policy/maternity care groups in UK, Australia, and Canada. in those countries surveys of providers uniformly get low utilization responses with the reason stated being need for more data. Similar surveys of US providers (specialty and generalists) show the vast majority use >70% (as opposed to low double digits in more evidence-driven countries) and that mission creep has started. Indications for which it is not tested see regular use in the US.) There was at least the historical perspective on “the last drug thought to prevent premature birth – a synthetic estrogen called diethylstilbesterol, or DES.” The focus of the story is FDA approval of the drug. Good historical context, explaining that “Interestingly, the drug is not new — it’s just taken a long and circuitous route to approval.” It’s clear the story didn’t rely solely on a news release.
418	Bushfires rage out of control across southeast Australia.	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.	true	Environment	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.
4042	Deer ticks turn up in east Nebraska; can carry Lyme disease.	Health officials say deer ticks that can carry Lyme disease have turned up for the first time in eastern Nebraska.	true	Health, Lyme disease, Ticks, Archive, Nebraska	State health officials said Tuesday that lab tests are being done to determine whether the deer ticks collected carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. The ticks were found in Douglas, Sarpy and Saunders counties. Lyme disease can cause fever, headache, fatigue and a skin rash. Health officials say most people recover completely, although some may be left with joint pain that can be treated with medication. Nebraska health officials have yet to confirm any cases of Lyme disease originating in the state.
27609	"Pranksters briefly changed California's iconic ""Hollywood"" sign to read ""Hollyweed."	Unlike most other cleverly edited images, the “Hollyweed” sign was one that was shared in numerous versions showing it from multiple angles and at many resolutions concurrently. Although digitally edited images sometimes come in sets, the number of variants appearing at the time of this vandalism incident was another indicator that the photographs indeed depicted a legitimate event and not merely someone’s having fun with image editing software.	true	Fauxtography, hollyweed, hollywood sign, true	At the end of 2016, images (often unaccompanied by any explanatory news story) began circulating online suggesting that California’s iconic “Hollywood” sign had been altered to read “Hollyweed” (presumably as an homage to the state’s recent passage of Proposition 64, which legalized recreational use of marijuana beginning in 2018). Owing to the number of humorous digitally created images to be found on the Internet at any given time, a skeptical social media public was unsure if the “Hollyweed” picture was one of the funny-but-not-real photographs going viral on any given day. But it was true that the sign was briefly altered to read “Hollyweed” on the night of 31 December 2016, an event that was extensively covered by local news outlets: Authorities say someone managed to modify the famed Hollywood sign to read “Hollyweed” in an overnight act of trespass. Sgt. Guy Juneau with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Security Services said the incident unfolded around midnight after a thrill-seeker climbed the mountain and threw two tarps over the “O’s” to make them appear like “E’s.” It was caught on city surveillance cameras. The Perrot family visiting from Australia said they noticed the sign from their hotel. At the time, it read “Hollywoed,” while city park rangers were switching it back. “We looked out this morning, and the Hollywood, the double O, there was actually only one E left,” Lia Perrot said. The sign was restored to “Hollywood” by 10:45 a.m. [the following morning]. It remains unclear who was involved in the incident, which was being investigated as a misdemeanor charge of trespassing, according to Los Angeles police. According to Los Angeles television station KCAL, the prank wasn’t the first time the sign had been altered (nor the first incidence of its being changed to “Hollyweed”): Back on Jan. 1, 1976, a man named Danny Finegood altered the sign to read “Hollyweed,” the same day a marijuana law took effect, according to published reports. In November [2016], California voters approved Proposition 64, which legalized the recreational use of marijuana. It was one of several times Finegood altered the sign. In 1979, to mark Easter, he changed it to read “Holywood.” In the 1980s, during the Iran-Contra hearings, he changed it to “Ollywood” to mock Lt. Col. Oliver North. Images of the prank were rife on social networks: Hollyweed!!! I think security took the night off last night in Hollywood?. pic.twitter.com/ycQXzjsyjG — Sd3gaughC (@Sd3gaughC) January 1, 2017 The Hollywood sign right now pic.twitter.com/wHNRir6KHL — Vsauce (@tweetsauce) January 1, 2017 What the fuck. #hollyweed pic.twitter.com/KzNYeEib3A — Adam Singer (@singy) January 1, 2017 Likewise, documentation of the sign’s restoration was reported contemporaneously: UPDATE: Crews have restored the Hollywood sign, which was altered overnight to read “Hollyweed.” #LIVE @ https://t.co/w3oJ4nTd1g pic.twitter.com/yKiufGQhku — CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) January 1, 2017
11417	Cancer Study Finds Promise in CAT Scans for Smokers	"This story reports on the results of a study on lung cancer screening published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. Lung cancer is a common and deadly disease that can be effectively treated if caught early. Unfortunately by the time symptoms appear it is often too late for treatment to be effective. It would seem, therefore, that lung cancer would be a prime target for screening, much in the way that we already screen for breast cancer. On the surface, this study appears to indicate that all people at ""high risk"" (current or former smokers) could benefit from screening. But the reality is that the question of whether screening for lung cancer is effective remains to be answered. This story does a good job of representing what this new study tells us while providing the reader with the information needed to critically evaluate its usefulness. The story adequately quantifies the benefits of treatment. Because this study had no control group, there is no way to directly compare screening to no screening, and the story explains that. Furthermore, the story rightly points out that the study looked at survival at 10 years as the outcome (although the study only followed patients for an average of 3 years and 10-year survival was estimated), not mortality, leaving open the question about whether or not screening actually extends life or if it only pushes forward the time of diagnosis (a situation known as lead-time bias). The story mentions that abnormal scans can lead to biopsies and that the scans may pick up cancers that ""grow so slowly they will never pose a health problem."" The story should have also mentioned radiation exposure as a potential harm and described the consequences of false positive test results. The story does not discuss if the lung cancer screenings are available, or how widely available the screening scanners may be. The story should have mentioned that the tests are being advertised by private screening centers and some hospitals, but are not generally covered by insurance. The story also does not mention the cost of the test. Since most costs will be covered by the patient and not by the insurance company, this is vital information for the consumer."	true		"The story does not mention the cost of the test. Since most costs will be covered by the patient and not by the insurance company, this is vital information for the consumer. The story adequately quantifies the benefits of treatment. Because this study had no control group, there is no way to directly compare screening to no screening – and the story explains that. Furthermore, the story rightly points out that the study looked at survival at 10 years as the outcome (although the study only followed patients for an average of 3 years and 10-year survival was estimated), not mortality, leaving open the question about whether or not screening actually extends life or if it only pushes forward the time of diagnosis (a situation known as lead-time bias). The story mentions that abnormal scans can lead to biopsies and that the scans may pick up cancers that ""grow so slowly they will never pose a health problem."" The story should have also mentioned radiation exposure as a potential harm and described the consequences of false positive test results. The story adequately describes the design of the current study and, very appropriately, points out the limitations – that is, lack of controls and the use of 10-year survival as an outcome instead of mortality. These are very important caveats. By accurately describing the prevalence and seriousness of lung cancer, the story avoids disease mongering. The story quotes multiple independent sources, providing much needed balance in the story. The story mentions x-rays and no screening as alternatives to CT scanning. The story does not discuss if the lung cancer screenings are available, or how widely available the screening scanners may be. The story should have mentioned that the tests are being advertised by private screening centers and some hospitals, but are not generally covered by insurance. The story states that screening for lung cancer is not a new idea, but that screening with CAT scan is relatively new. Because the story quotes multiple independent sources, the reader can assume the story did not rely on a press release as the sole source of information."
30464	A popular teen YouTuber planning a “live on-camera abortion” to raise Bitcoin donations for Planned Parenthood.	This originated with the now-defunct Daily World Update, a site that was part of a network of fake news sites dedicated to inflammatory clickbaiting and political trolling under the guise of producing “satire.”	false	Junk News, abortion, bitcoin, daily world update	On 10 April 2018, the Daily World Update web site published an article reporting that a popular teen YouTuber was planning a “live on-camera abortion” to raise Bitcoin donations for Planned Parenthood: A popular teen YouTuber tearfully explained last week that he had gone to a party at her friend’s house where she had a bit too much to drink and ended up sleeping with her friend’s dad. The 14-year-old girl told her 1.3 million subscribers that she “didn’t use protection” and “didn’t want to get him in trouble” so she plans to have an abortion. Rather than just get one like liberal women do every time they get pregnant, Stacey Rhodes says she wants “to use her situation to do some good.” What kind of good, you ask? Well according to Stacey, she has partnered with her local Planned Parenthood office in Webark, New Hampshire to livestream the horrific procedure over YouTube for anyone to watch — and she will be taking donations in Bitcoin. “Everything’s gonna be donated to Planned Parenthood yo,” Stacey said in her traditional faux-ghetto accent. “Donald Trump and Republicans killed their funding to help girls like me, so let’s keep them open for a few years with this.” Nothing about this story is true, as evidenced by the fact that the article included no links to or information about the “popular teen YouTuber’s” previous work, the locale referenced in the report (Webark, New Hampshire) does not exist, and the accompanying photographs were actually pictures of a girl named “Haley” who claimed on the Dr. Phil show that she was pregnant with Baby Jesus: “I am pregnant, and it is Jesus,” says 19-year-old Haley. The teen claims that she is 9 months pregnant and about to deliver a baby boy. “I know my pregnancy is real. I’ve gained at least 22 pounds,” says Haley. “I was sleeping one night and my baby punched the bottom of my stomach and kicked me, and I can feel his head right here, right below my belly button.” However, Haley’s mom, Kristi, says her daughter is a “compulsive liar” and “delusional.” She says Haley is not pregnant, and numerous pregnancy tests and doctors have confirmed that.
3011	Connecticut now testing newborns for rare genetic disorder.	Connecticut’s public health laboratory has begun testing newborn babies for the genetic disorder Spinal Muscular Atrophy, complying with a new state law that took effect on Jan. 1.	true	Health, General News, Connecticut, Public health	The rare condition can lead to loss of nerve and muscle control, and it can ultimately be fatal “This is a huge step forward for public health in Connecticut,” said Department of Public Health Commissioner Renée D. Coleman-Mitchell. “The ability to screen newborns gives allows the medical community to diagnose a rare and potentially fatal genetic disorder such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy before symptoms are visible. It also gives medical providers an opportunity to recommend the best possible plan of care for families and their children.” It’s estimated that SMA afflicts one in 11,000 Connecticut residents. State legislation passed in 2019 required DPH to conduct newborn screening for the disorder, which was recently added to the Federal Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children’s Recommended Uniform Screening Panel. There are different types of SMA. Most children have SMA Type 1, which causes weakness and, without treatment, can deteriorate quickly and lead to death. There is no cure, but new treatments can slow or prevent symptoms from worsening.
4313	Doctors: Warmer world is unhealthier place for children.	Children are growing up in a warmer world that will hit them with more and different health problems than their parents experienced, an international report by doctors said.	true	Climate, Dengue fever, Climate change, Health, Middle East, Latin America, Public health, Africa, International News, Science, Asia Pacific, Air pollution, U.S. News, Europe, General News, Pollution	With increasing diarrhea diseases, more dangerous heat waves, air pollution and increases in mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever and malaria, man-made global warming is already harming public health around the world, the annual climate change and health report from the medical journal The Lancet said Wednesday. But the report and its authors said they worry that the future health of the world’s youngest people will get even grimmer if emissions of heat-trapping gases aren’t curbed. “A child born today as they go through their lives they are going to be increasingly exposed to more and more harms that I did not experience,” said study co-author Dr. Renee Salas, a Boston emergency room physician and professor at Harvard. “I cannot think of a greater health emergency,” Salas said. Already, the number of days when conditions are ripe for the spread of the water-borne bacteria Vibrio, a major cause of debilitating diarrhea, have doubled since 1980 with last year ranking second highest on record, the report said. Because of the warming climate, 29% more of the U.S. coastline is vulnerable to Vibrio. The report also said the cholera version of Vibrio has increased nearly 10%. Nine of the top 10 years where conditions were most ripe for dengue fever transmission have occurred since 2000, the report said. Those diseases hit children harder, the report said. And children, the elderly, the poor and the sick are most hurt during extreme heat with dangerous overheating, respiratory disease and kidney problems. “Children are the most vulnerable. They will bear the vast majority of the burden of climate change,’’ said Dr. Nick Watts, an Australian emergency room physician and the lead author of the global report. “Their health will be hit by climate change in a profoundly different way.” While medicine and public health have improved over the decades, allowing people to live longer, climate change “threatens to undermine all of the gains we’ve had,” Salas said. Dr. Cindy Parker, an environmental health professor at Johns Hopkins University, praised the peer-reviewed report, which she wasn’t part of, but she worried that focusing on the health effects that have already happened lessens the urgency of the future. “Climate change is a risk amplifier,” Parker said in an email. So as bad as the health problems are, add in water and food shortages caused by climate-change and there will be more social unrest and conflict around the world that will still hit the United States in indirect ways, she said. As an emergency room doctor, Salas said diseases that spread farther because of a changing climate, such as Lyme Disease, are something she has to consider when she treats patients. During an emergency room shift in July, Salas saw an elderly man during a heat wave with a body temperature of 106 degrees. The ambulance crew said he lived on the top floor of a public housing complex with no air conditioning and when they opened the door “there was this wave of heat that hit them.” Salas was able to save him. But as a doctor she struggles with cases where there is no way to treat the patient, such as with devastating bleeding inside the brain. With climate change health problems, she said, the remedy is stopping emissions of heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil and gas. “We can’t ‘doctor’ our way out of this,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, who wasn’t part of the study but praised it. “We must address the root causes of climate change.” ___ Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears . ___ 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.
7967	Potential COVID-19 vaccine shows promise in mouse study.	Initial tests in mice of a potential COVID-19 vaccine delivered via a fingertip-sized patch have shown it can induce an immune response against the new coronavirus at levels that might prevent infection, U.S. scientists said on Thursday.	true	Health News	Researchers around the world are working to develop potential treatments or vaccines against the respiratory disease that has killed nearly 47,000 people and infected almost a million in just a few months. A team at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the United States said they were able to move quickly in developing a potential COVID-19 vaccine after working on other coronaviruses that cause Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). “These two viruses, which are closely related to SARS-CoV-2 (the new coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic), teach us that a particular protein, called a spike protein, is important for inducing immunity against the virus,” said Andrea Gambotto, an associate professor at Pittsburgh. “We knew exactly where to fight this new virus.” When tested in mice, the prototype vaccine - which the researchers have called PittCoVacc - generated what they described as “a surge of antibodies” against the new coronavirus within two weeks. The Pittsburgh researchers cautioned that because the animals have not been tracked for very long as yet, it is too early to say whether and for how long the immune response against COVID-19 lasts. But they said that in comparable tests in mice with their MERS experimental vaccine, a sufficient level of antibodies was produced to neutralize the virus for at least a year. So far, the antibody levels of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccinated animals seem to be following the same trend, they said in peer-reviewed study in the journal EBioMedicine. The team said they hope to start testing the vaccine candidate on people in clinical trials in the next few months. The potential vaccine uses a needle patch design, called a microneedle array, to increase its potential potency. This array is a fingertip-sized patch of 400 tiny needles made out of sugar and the spike protein, Gambotto explained. It is designed to deliver the spike protein pieces into the skin, where the immune reaction is strongest.
94	Novartis' Zolgensma study halted by FDA amid safety questions.	U.S. regulators have halted a trial of Novartis’s Zolgensma treatment after an animal study raised safety concerns, the company said on Wednesday, in a setback for the drugmaker’s plan to expand its use to older patients.	true	Health News	The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s partial hold on the so-called STRONG trial impacts patients aged up to five with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) who were to receive a higher dose of the gene therapy via a spinal infusion. The hold was issued after Novartis told health authorities about the animal study’s findings that showed dorsal root ganglia (DRG) mononuclear cell inflammation, a neurological condition sometimes accompanied by nerve damage or loss. Novartis shares fell 1% at 0715 GMT, while other European drugmakers rose. Analysts said more information was needed to assess whether these findings could have an impact on Zolgensma’s long-term prospects. “We need to better understand, what the issues are and whether there really is a read-through to the human trial,” Vontobel analyst Stefan Schneider said. Novartis said it was working with regulators, in hopes of having the hold released. Zolgensma, whose $2.1 million list price makes it the world’s most-expensive treatment, is already approved for children aged up to two with the deadly muscle wasting disease and is given by infusion into the young patients’ veins. The medicine had $160 million in sales in its first full quarter on the market. The STRONG study is meant to underpin its expanded approval for older children, where Novartis would also compete with Biogen’s Spinraza that is already on the market, and Roche’s investigational risdiplam that is due to seek approval this year. Roche shares were up 0.7%. “The clinical significance of the DRG inflammation observed in this pre-clinical animal study is not known and was not seen in prior animal studies,” Novartis said in a statement. “We are working with health authorities to confirm further guidance to clinical investigators.” The partial FDA hold halts enrollment of patients getting a higher dose of Zolgensma, also known as AVXS-101, via an spinal infusion, also called intrathecal administration. Low- and mid-dose portions of the STRONG trial have already been completed, as has presentation of interim results. “Of note, we have completed a thorough review of human safety data from all available sources to date and no adverse effects related to sensory changes have been seen,” Novartis said.
29466	Researchers have found a simple cure for cancer, but major pharmaceutical companies are not interested because it isn't patentable.	"What's true: Preliminary research indicated dichloroacetate (DCA) might show promise for treating some forms of cancer. What's false: DCA is a not a proven ""cure"" for cancer, nor is it being spurned by pharmaceutical companies because it is not patentable."	false	Medical, cancer cures	Canadian researchers find a simple cure for cancer, but major pharmaceutical companies are not interested. Researchers at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada have cured cancer last week, yet there is a little ripple in the news or in TV. It is a simple technique using very basic drug. The method employs dichloroacetate, which is currently used to treat metabolic disorders. So, there is no concern of side effects or about their long term effects. This drug doesn’t require a patent, so anyone can employ it widely and cheaply compared to the costly cancer drugs produced by major pharmaceutical companies. Canadian scientists tested this dichloroacetate (DCA) on human’s cells; it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells and left the healthy cells alone. It was tested on Rats inflicted with severe tumors; their cells shrank when they were fed with water supplemented with DCA. The drug is widely available and the technique is easy to use, why the major drug companies are not involved? Or the Media interested in this find? In human bodies there is a natural cancer fighting human cell, the mitochondria, but they need to be triggered to be effective. Scientists used to think that these mitochondria cells were damaged and thus ineffective against cancer. So they used to focus on glycolysis, which is less effective in curing cancer and more wasteful. The drug manufacturers focused on this glycolysis method to fight cancer. This DCA on the other hand doesn’t rely on glycolysis instead on mitochondria; it triggers the mitochondria which in turn fights the cancer cells. The side effect of this is it also reactivates a process called apoptosis. You see, mitochondria contain an all-too-important self-destruct button that can’t be pressed in cancer cells. Without it, tumors grow larger as cells refuse to be extinguished. Fully functioning mitochondria, thanks to DCA, can once again die. With glycolysis turned off, the body produces less lactic acid, so the bad tissue around cancer cells doesn’t break down and seed new tumors. Pharmaceutical companies are not investing in this research because DCA method cannot be patented, without a patent they can’t make money, like they are doing now with their AIDS Patent. Since the pharmaceutical companies won’t develop this, the article says other independent laboratories should start producing this drug and do more research to confirm all the above findings and produce drugs. All the groundwork can be done in collaboration with the Universities, who will be glad to assist in such research and can develop an effective drug for curing cancer. In 2007, medical researchers at the University of Alberta reported that dichloroacetate (DCA), a relatively simple compound, had showed promise for treating cancer in rodent models, and the university’s DCA Research Team announced they would begin clinical trials of DCA on human patients in the spring of 2007. One of the members of that research team, Dr. Evangelos Michelakis, expressed concern that because DCA was not patented, the potential profit margins in marketing it would likely be small, and thus it might be difficult to obtain funding for DCA clinical trials from private investors: The DCA compound is not patented and not owned by any pharmaceutical company, and, therefore, would likely be an inexpensive drug to administer, says Michelakis, the Canada Research Chair in Pulmonary Hypertension and Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program with Capital Health, one of Canada’s largest health authorities. However, as DCA is not patented, Michelakis is concerned that it may be difficult to find funding from private investors to test DCA in clinical trials. He is grateful for the support he has already received from publicly funded agencies, such as the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), and he is hopeful such support will continue and allow him to conduct clinical trials of DCA on cancer patients. Unfortunately, this preliminary information soon led to hyperbolic claims that a “simple cure for cancer” had been found but a lack of interest on the part of pharmaceutical companies was preventing it from reaching cancer patients, prompting some desperate cancer sufferers to seek it out for themselves from unscrupulous vendors: Note that there were two assumptions about the study [in 2007]. First, these bloggers and pundits assumed that the cell culture and animal work were definitive evidence that DCA might be a “cure” for cancer. Second, the assumption was that, because the drug was out of patent and very cheap to make, neither the government nor pharmaceutical companies would be interested in funding it, thus condemning thousands, maybe millions, of people to die of cancer unnecessarily. Unfortunately, [articles] featured headlines to that effect and quotes by the investigator Evangelos Michelakis lamenting how he had had difficulties finding funding to do the next step, clinical trials in cancer. As a result of these sensationalistic stories, unscrupulous “businessmen” sought to bring DCA to the masses. A frenzy of sorts was unleashed, with desperate cancer patients scrambling to find DCA. Despite investigators’ concerns about potential difficulties in obtaining funding, DCA studies have been undertaken, and in 2010 the substance was in the news again after researchers published a paper reporting their results with testing DCA on glioblastoma tumors: The researchers looked at the impact of DCA on tumor cells from patients with an aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma, which generally does not respond well to treatment. They performed some very sophisticated lab experiments which demonstrated the impact of DCA on the tumor cells from 49 patients with this cancer. The experiments generally support the effectiveness of DCA at altering cell behavior. The investigators also treated five patients who had glioblastoma with DCA. The only side effect they found was a reversible change in peripheral nerve function. No other side effects were described. Of the five patients, three had progressing disease despite prior treatment and two were newly diagnosed. Those two patients were treated with different protocols. The results of the treatments were variable as were the approaches to treatment. Nonetheless, the report shows some MRI pictures pre and post treatment which show regression of the cancers in two patients. As Dr. J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for the national office of the American Cancer Society, wrote of that last study in 2010, DCA studies appear to be worth pursuing, but the substance is still far from being proved an effective treatment for any type of cancer, much less a cancer “cure”: How would I characterize this report? Simply stated, the science is intriguing and I believe is something to be pursued both in the lab and in the clinic. BUT, and this is a big but, it is not a cure for glioblastoma or any other cancer based on these results. My concern is that this paper is going to be transformed — like the last one — into something that it is not, namely that this is definitive evidence that DCA is the magic bullet for cancer treatment, particularly in glioblastoma (which is a cancer that has a very poor prognosis). This research still needs lots of work before we know whether it works or doesn’t work, and whether it is really safe or not when given to patients with cancer under a variety of circumstances. If that sounds overly cautious, so be it. I have seen too many dashed hopes in my medical career which make me a bit cautious about reports like this. That’s not to say I don’t think it could work — it could, as I mentioned above — but I want to see evidence in well done trials that prove the point that DCA is effective in the treatment of which cancers under what circumstances. In the case of DCA, internet traffic zoomed with reports of its purported success in curing cancer — in lab animals. Clinics sprung up, and are probably still active. The risk is that we are going to see a resurgence of this now that the new report has been issued. We shall see how this progresses. Hopefully, clinical trials will proceed appropriately. And I stand by my skepticism, while encouraging further research to answer the fundamental question whether or not DCA really works in treating cancer. In the meantime, caution is advised. Don’t become the victim of a cancer scam. The scamsters are sure to follow this report as night follows day. As New Scientist noted as recently as July 2016, dichloroacetate still has not lived up to the potential ascribed to it several years ago: Almost a decade ago, New Scientist broke a story about dichloroacetate (DCA), a simple chemical used to treat rare metabolic disorders that was also showing remarkable cancer-killing properties. We were inundated with requests for more information — including how to enroll in clinical trials or buy the drug online. DCA was worth investigating as a cancer treatment, but [it] has yet to live up to its promise. The US Food and Drug Administration eventually had to step in and shut down websites selling it illegally.
10606	The benefits of chocolate during pregnancy	Just in time for Valentine’s Day, this PR news release describes a study that evaluated the impact of high-flavanol chocolate in reducing preeclampsia risk. Having discovered that there are no significant differences between the low-flavanol and high-flavanol group in this respect (and, in fact, with respect to all the other secondary outcomes), the study could only conclude flavanol content cannot explain the observed improvement of the pulsatility index, a surrogate variable for blood velocity in the uterine, placental and fetal circulations. Nonetheless, the news release forges ahead and turns this result into a headline that touts the benefits of chocolate during pregnancy, a claim that is completely unsupported by the underlying study. In addition, the news release is almost a word-for-word regurgitation of the attached study abstract. It adds absolutely nothing besides a quote from one of the investigators of the study. If they read carefully enough, those who wade through the entire news release will eventually learn that chocolate doesn’t in fact help prevent pre-eclampsia. But many will be misled by the headline and vague lead sentence that appear to tout benefits. We can’t even tell what characterizes the women included in the study besides that they “had double-notching on uterine artery Doppler,” again regurgitated with no attempt at explaining its meaning. The release was issued by the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine in advance of that organization’s annual meeting, where an abstract of the study was presented. The study findings have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. Preeclampsia is a pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure and abnormal amounts of protein in the urine. It occurs in about 3-7% of pregnancies, according to the National Institutes of Health. Severe cases may be accompanied by symptoms like chronic headache, respiratory problems, stomach pain, nausea and vomiting, and vision problems. In rare cases it may be a sign of damage to other organs, primarily the kidneys. The condition usually improves rapidly after delivery of the baby. There has been some back-and-forth discussion in medical literature regarding the role of chocolate consumption and its ability to reduce the risk of preeclampsia. Given this study’s inconclusiveness, it’s difficult to understand why this release is headlined, “The benefits of chocolate during pregnancy.” What benefits? The release offers no explanation of what preeclampsia is but instead adds to the noise surrounding the existing tangle of research on this topic. The news stories following the issuance of the release illustrates how easy it can be to get some reporters to disseminate and even add to an ill-conceived message.	false	Association/Society news release,Women's health	The release isn’t necessarily pushing specialty high-end dark chocolate since it indicates that any chocolate might be beneficial. People have a rough idea what chocolate costs so we’ll rate this Not Applicable. The news release slings out barely revised terms from the abstract to make it seem like there’s a benefit to eating dark chocolate during pregnancy to prevent preeclampsia. In the end, though, it must get to the quantification, of which there is none. It reads, “The result was that there was no difference in preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, placental weight or birthweight in the two groups; however, the uterine artery Doppler pulsatility index (a surrogate marker of blood velocity in the uterine, placental and fetal circulations) in both groups showed marked improvement that was much greater than expected in general population.” There is no mention of the meaning or predictive value of the “pulsatility index” named in the release/abstract. And where’s the data supporting the idea that chocolate “could have a positive impact on placenta and fetal growth and development.” By our calculations, a typical high-flavanol chocolate, better known as dark chocolate, contains about 200 calories per 30 grams, the amount prescribed daily to the study participants. A low-flavanol chocolate, presumably something like white chocolate, is similar in caloric content. It may also be safe to assume there’s quite a bit of sugar present in both kinds of chocolates. Ingesting 30 grams a day (about three-quarters of a Hershey’s chocolate bar) of either type of chocolates seems a little much to us. An examination of these potential, though obvious, “harms” should have been mentioned. After all, obesity is one of several risk factors for preeclampsia. The release tells us that “Researchers conducted a single-center randomized controlled trial of 129 women with singleton pregnancy between 11 and 14 weeks gestation who had double-notching on uterine artery Doppler. The pregnant women selected were randomized to either high-flavanol or low-flavanol chocolate. A total of 30 grams of chocolate was consumed daily for 12 weeks.” The news release failed to improve on the weak scientific message of the study. Its pronouncement that “…however, the uterine artery Doppler pulsatility index (a surrogate marker of blood velocity in the uterine, placental and fetal circulations) in both groups showed marked improvement that was much greater than expected in general population.” is simply unfounded. There was no “general population” control group considered in the study. All that can be concluded is that flavanol content cannot alone explain the improvement in the pulsatility index. Also, we are not told what double-notching, flavanol or the pulsativity index are or why they matter. We have here the opposite of disease-mongering; we’re not even told what preeclampsia is. In fact, there’s so little information here that we’re hesitant to give credit. We’re not told who funded the study although its authors, according to the abstract, are affiliated with research institutions in Quebec, Canada. The abstract, unfortunately, doesn’t address conflicts of interest — now a standard feature in abstracts presented at scientific meetings. No alternatives to chocolate consumption are mentioned for reducing the risk of preeclampsia, but it’s not clear that there are any effective preventive measures one can take. Once they’ve been diagnosed, some women are advised to have bed rest, drink plenty of water and consume less salt, and some are prescribed blood pressure-lowering medication. That could have been mentioned in the release, but we won’t ding the release for not mentioning these. We’ll rate this N/A. Chocolate is widely available. The news release mentions that previous studies on this topic show conflicting results regarding the relationship between chocolate consumption and preeclampsia risk. We are made to understand the study aims to evaluate the impact of high-flavanol chocolate. What we are left wondering is how this fits in with the existing literature. Is this the first study to differentiate between high and low-flavanol chocolate? Are there other approaches to reducing the risk of pre-eclampsia being explored? We don’t know because of the lack of context. The release headline — “The benefits of chocolate during pregnancy” — strongly infers there are benefits but the study and even parts of the release itself contradict that claim. We don’t like to ding a release for quotes that express an expert’s opinion on a treatment claim. However, since we’ve already noted the hype elsewhere we should also highlight a lead author’s comment that “This study indicates that chocolate could have a positive impact on placenta and fetal growth and development and that chocolate’s effects are not solely and directly due to flavanol content.” It could have, but then again, the study and release don’t make the case.
9226	Use of Frailty Screening Initiative before Surgery Associated with Reduced Risk of Death	This news release looks at a program to introduce a quality improvement initiative aimed at reducing complications and deaths among frail older adults undergoing major elective surgery. The release contained a welcome summary of the findings–the quantified benefits are very clear. But we wanted to know more about the screening tool used to determine how frail patients were, as well as the implementation plans: Is this a brand-new concept, or are there similar efforts out there? How much did the program cost? The news release also could have been more clear about the limitations of the study, such as the lack of a control group. Given how successfully the intervention apparently worked to reduce deaths, this study is likely to be read with wide interest.	mixture	JAMA,older adults,surgery	No costs are mentioned. This is a very strong point for the release. It states clearly that absolute reductions were seen before and after the intervention: i.e. : “overall 30-day mortality decreased from 1.6 percent (84 of 5,275 patients) to 0.7 percent (26 of 3,878 patients) after FSI implementation. Improvement was greatest among frail patients (12.2 percent to 3.8 percent), although mortality rates also decreased among the robust patients (1.2 percent to 0.3 percent).” Given that this was a study about a quality improvement initiative, we’ll rate this N/A. However, it might have been worth raising the question of whether the time and emphasis placed on this screening test by clinicians detracted from other work they could have been doing to improve patient care and outcomes. More was needed on the limitations of the study. For example, the abstract said that the causal connections between the use of the screening tool and mortality outcomes required “additional investigation” to be confirmed–but the news release contained no such important caveat. And also from the study: “Most important, although we were able to control for frailty, we were unable to account for patients who screened as frail and did not undergo surgery. This limitation may be a source of significant selection bias, although it is clear that surgeons continued to operate on frail patients. Further research using a randomized controlled design will be necessary to establish the causal connection between the FSI and mortality outcomes.” No obvious disease mongering in this release. We learn that the study “was supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development, Health Services Research and Development. We did not detect any conflicts of interest that should have been disclosed. The release mentions no alternatives to this screening program but presumably there are other methods and techniques that are used to reduce harm done on frail people who undergo elective surgery. Since this is a “before-after” trial presumably there would be some kind of frailty assessment, even an informal one, that happens prior to surgery? It is not clear if the screening index and action plans for surgery among frail patients are readily available for other institutions to use. The release establishes what’s novel by stating: ““This study reveals the feasibility of facility-wide frailty screening in elective surgical populations.” We would have liked a bit more information on the risk analysis indicator used to assess frailty–is this a well-established tool or being used uniquely here? There is no unjustifiable language in the news release.
9334	Here’s how one woman used an implant to get some relief from chronic back pain	This story summarized one woman’s account of getting a spinal cord stimulator to relieve her chronic back pain, as published in more detail in Popular Science. This is a review of the Washington Post’s abridged version. To its credit, the story mentioned the high cost of the surgery to get the implant and does not portray the device as a total cure. But it did glorify the device as a “next generation” implant that could serve as an alternative to opioids. It missed an opportunity to describe who could benefit, spell out what evidence exists of a benefit, and discuss the potential harms of getting this device inserted in your spine. The story also did not mention that the woman, Janet Jay, acknowledged being a paid “advocate” for pain patients, which could present a conflict of interest. News stories should approach stories about medical devices with an extra shot of caution, given that scant evidence is required to show they provide a benefit or are even safe for patients. Journalists should scrutinize the available evidence, point out shortcomings, and remember that anecdotes are much lower on the totem pole than clinical trials despite their emotional tug. Low back pain is a common problem. Most individuals will experience low back pain at some point in their life. However, for most, symptoms are self-limited and improve over time. But for a small percent, probably between 7-12%, symptoms become persistent – either happening all the time, or recurring frequently. Though a small percentage, it represents millions of individuals with low back pain. How best to treat them is unclear. Recent emphasis has been focused on the harms of opioids for chronic pain. But the question of what is the alternative for these individuals remains. This anecdotal piece argues for spinal cord stimulators. Though this one patient is satisfied with the results of this treatment, it hasn’t been a cure. Additional surgery has been done, her pain isn’t resolved, and there is no mention of how long it is expected to help her for. We don’t know what other pain treatments she may be getting and the reader is provided no information on the risks of these devices that include high rates of device failures and the need to remove or replace them. There is also no mention of the alternative treatments to manage chronic pain including non-opioid medicines, exercise, physical therapy, yoga, acupuncture, Tai-chi, cognitive behavioral therapy, mind body relaxation, as well as other invasive procedures such as injections, ablations and surgical procedures. In summary, for a reader with chronic pain, this piece offers little in the way of information about who may want to consider this, what the alternatives are and what are the likely risks and benefits.	false	back pain,medical devices	The story scrapes by on this one — it said the surgery is “expensive” and that Jay’s insurance “covered much of the six-figure bill for the procedure.” The story could have mentioned other costs associated with treating this condition. To its credit, the story offered a nuanced view of the benefits as seen through the eyes of this single patient: “Even for me, the battle is not over,” Jay writes. “Since this surgery I’ve actually had another disc herniate, complicating everything. My spine isn’t cured, and I still hurt all the time. But the pain is far more controlled, and I can function much better at my current level of discomfort.” Still, it didn’t give readers a picture of an idea of the scope of the benefits for all patients who have had this procedure. What percentage see improvements? And how much better are they? We aren’t told. In essence, there is no information provided to say what the chance of the next person having this procedure is of achieving pain relief. Moreover, it isn’t clear how this may compare to other treatments. It is implied that this was the last step, but that is rarely the case. This was a big oversight. There was no mention of the risks involved with having surgery in the vicinity of the spine, which could include serious complications such as infection, as well as device failure. The story should have cautioned that medical devices are not required to undergo rigorous safety trials before they are allowed on the market, as we cover in our medical device primer. The story didn’t describe the evidence that these implants offer a benefit or explain that a single anecdote does not constitute reliable evidence. In the column, Jay cited an observational study based on insurance claims data in which, she said, opioid-using patients who had the device implanted and then removed took more opioids on average that those who continued to use the device. But that type of study — which has no control group of patients — cannot show that removing the device increased the pain of those patients. It’s possible that patients who had the device removed had something else going. This study provides nothing to help the reader determine whether she or he would benefit in the same way as Jay. It isn’t clear what her issues were, what was previously tried, or even what she continues to do in addition to the stimulator to control her pain. Medical devices are not required to show a proven medical benefit before they’re allowed on the market, which means that the quality of evidence of a benefit is often very weak. The statement that “an estimated 25.3 million Americans, or 11.2 percent of U.S. adults, experience chronic pain” suggests that there are millions of Americans who could be lifted out debilitating misery with this technology. The story should have attempted to give an accurate picture of how many people could actually benefit. The implication is that this procedure may be appropriate for many patients with chronic pain. Given that there is very little evidence to support this treatment as safe and effective, the thought of spending billions to place them in the millions of individuals mentioned is frankly scary. There were no independent sources quoted in the story, which was a weakness. In the Popular Science column, Jay said she has a “new part-time job advocating for people in chronic pain,” but not disclose who is paying her. The Washington Post story did not mention that potential conflict of interest. The story referenced Jay’s use of “painkillers” and states that spinal stimulation “may become more popular” due to the opioid crisis. But it didn’t compare the effectiveness, safety, or cost of spinal stimulation with the array of treatments available for back pain. Those treatments include not just opioids but over-the-counter medications, movement, cognitive behavioral therapy, acupuncture, spinal manipulation, and steroid injections. In general, patients contemplating this procedure have already undergone many other treatments. Moreover, there as other treatments that could be done as alternatives. These would include non-invasive treatments such as interdisciplinary rehab, yoga, non-opioid pain meds and invasive treatments such as surgery and injections. More on the range of treatment Jay tried and other she considered would have been helpful. It’s clear that these devices are available and in some cases covered by insurance. Though it may have been helpful to note that these devices are usually performed by specialists and particularly in rural areas, access to them may be harder to get. Spinal cord stimulation appears to have been around for years, though the marketing of these devices appears to be on the upswing. One concern: The piece refers to her getting a “next generation stimulator. This implies that there is a prior generation one, and we’re not sure what the difference is. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.
10050	New device uses light to screen for melanoma	It puts both the potential benefits and potential harms of this scanner used to detect cancerous skin lesions in the proper context. It explains that, while new to the market, the device is not a medical breakthrough. It provides cost information, for both the physicians and patients. And it carefully makes note of all potential conflicts of interest. Despite the well-known risks of excessive sun exposure, many Americans remain “sun worshipers.” Rates of skin cancer, specifically melanoma, have been on the rise. While most skin cancers represent local disease and do not risk distant spread, melanoma is the exception. It can metastasize and ultimately kill. At biopsy, the depth of penetration is the key feature that is associated with risk of spread. Thus, identifying which lesions are high risk leads to the potential to remove these lesions before they have metastasized. The question is whether this machine does it better than a skilled dermatologist. One can see the potential in this device, but there is no evidence presented that this has saved a life – or done so more efficiently than a dermatologist	true	Associated Press,Cancer,Screening	The story takes the rare step of talking about costs from three different angles. The cost to the physician. The cost to the patient. And the cost to insursers. “Doctors will pay a one-time fee of $7,500 to lease and receive training on the device. Patients will pay $150 out of pocket for a MelaFind scan, which analysts say may limit use to more affluent patients who are willing to pay extra for the latest medical care. Mela Sciences does not plan to ask insurers to cover the device until several years from now, after it is more widely used. The story shows that the device is fairly effective at finding cancerous lesions. “In a company-sponsored study published last year involving around 1,300 patients, some with multiple growths, doctors reported that MelaFind correctly suggested biopsies on 125 of 127 melanomas that doctors had removed.” It’s a bit confusing, but the story explains that the device also makes the wrong call too often, giving too many false positives. “However, the device did not raise an alarm about non-melanoma growths only about 10 percent of the time; that was still better than doctors in the study who correctly ruled out melanoma in less than 4 percent of such cases, on average.” Just presenting the false positive and false negative rates would have been more helpful to readers. We would have liked to have seen a little more about the latest study of the device, but there was enough information in the story to let readers know that this is the case where the evidence is still not quite settled. It says, for example, “MelaFind underwent a contentious, years-long review by the Food and Drug Administration, which initially rejected the device and concluded it could ‘potentially cause more harm than good. '” And later it says that “an FDA-required follow-up study would help determine how much of a benefit MelaFind represents for patients.” The story both gives the broader context about melanoma while taking care to pinpoint the appropriate patient population. It says in the second paragraph, “The device is approved only for dermatologists and only for use on growths that don’t have obvious signs of cancer but still have one or two worrisome traits.” It also says, “Nearly all patients diagnosed with early-stage melanoma can be treated and cured, but 85 percent of patients with late-stage melanoma die from it within five years.” The story could have more clearly stated that while many are diagnosed with melanoma only a small number actually will die from it. The late stage cases are a small fraction of the total. The story does not use a truly independent source because everyone appears to have some sort of conflict, but this is also one of the stories strengths. Rarely have we seen conflicts presented with this kind of detail. For example, the story says describes Dr. Leonard Goldberg as “a dermatologist at the Texas Medical Center and vice president of the Skin Cancer Foundation, a disease awareness group that accepts donations from makers of sunscreen.” The story compares the device to clinicians throughout, and shows clearly that dermatologists are still the ones with the best authority in this area. The story says clearly that the devices are not currently available in most areas. “But don’t expect to see a MelaFind machine at your next doctor’s appointment. The company plans a limited rollout next year of just 200 dermatologists on the East coast, all of whom must undergo company training before they can begin using the device.” The story calls the device a “first of its kind,” but it also explains that it is only approved for use in a subset of patients and that much more work needs to be done. The story does not rely on a news release.
5580	Ohio high school closes after probable case of meningitis.	An Ohio school district has announced that its high school will be closed Monday after a student died from what health officials say is a probable case of bacterial meningitis.	true	Health, Ohio, Meningitis	The Indian Valley Local Schools in Tuscarawas County sent a letter to parents Saturday that said the student’s bus, a school restroom, and other surfaces inside the school will be sanitized. The student hasn’t been identified. The Tuscarawas County Health Department in a statement on its website said officials learned Friday that a student had died from a probable case of meningitis. The health department says symptoms of bacterial meningitis can appear quickly and progress rapidly. Symptoms include fever, chills, headache, and a stiff neck. The health department is contacting anyone who recently came in close contact with the student.
731	If marathons weren't hard enough already: strap a tree to your back.	This Sunday in South Africa, an accountant, an entrepreneur and a boxing executive are among 20 friends running the Cape Town marathon - with saplings strapped to their backs.	true	Environment	The group are promoting the planting of native trees amid a nationwide push to replace invasive species with indigenous one to cope with drought and climate change. Last year, Cape Town suffered its worst drought in a century, nearly running out of water and forcing authorities to enforce severe water rationing and set up public water points. Spooked businesses put $3.7m into a fund to eradicate invasive water-hungry trees around Cape Town, a move that would top up reservoirs with billions of liters of water. Activist and treegrower Siyabulela Sokomani, who is running carrying a wild olive, said the group of friends is raising cash to plant 2,000 trees in Khayelitsha, one of Cape Town’s biggest townships, where many of them come from. The 34-year-old entrepreneur attended school there and was inspired by a teacher who started an environmental club. “There were no trees in the township where I grew up,” he said. Now Sokomani has tattoos of his favorites - the Coral Tree, Speckboom and Acacia - twining across his shoulder. The Speckboom is a favorite at Sokomani’s Shoots and Roots nursery. Spekboom can grow almost anywhere and absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere faster than most other trees in dry conditions, the United Nations says. Last year Sokomani went back to his school to plant 67 trees on Mandela Day, symbolizing the 67 years that Mandela spent in public service. He co-founded Township Farmers in 2017 to teach children about agriculture and plant trees in schools. From 2001 to 2018, South Africa lost 1.34 million hectares of tree cover, equivalent to a 22% decrease since 2000, according to Global Forest Watch, a monitoring organization run the Washington-based thinktank World Resource Institute.
21547	"Outside of recall elections, ""there's never been a public official removed from office"" in Wisconsin ""for anything but malfeasance in office."	Sheboygan Mayor Bob Ryan says no public official in Wisconsin has been removed from office for reasons other than malfeasance	true	Alcohol, City Government, Wisconsin, Bob Ryan,	"Defiant Sheboygan Mayor Bob Ryan-- whose drinking problems have spurred scorn from citizens, humiliation on YouTube and ridicule from Jay Leno -- says he would become a singular figure in the history of Wisconsin government if his Common Council succeeds in removing him from office. Wisconsin witnessed a historic set of nine recall elections in the summer of 2011. Voters removed two Republican state senators from office. But Ryan, whose city calls itself the bratwurst capital of the world, claims his removal would be unique -- partly because it would not involve a recall. On Aug. 15, 2011, the Sheboygan Common Council launched a process that could eventually take Ryan, who has resisted calls to resign, out of office. If the move plays out, Ryan essentially would be put on trial with the council acting as judge and jury, according to a Sheboygan Press article and Sheboygan City Attorney Steve McLean. Ryan made his claim to aldermen during the Aug. 15 council meeting, according to WBAY-TV in Green Bay. ""This whole thing stinks. If you want to take me out of office, by all means start your recall,"" he said. ""If you want to go down this path, it's not a threat, it's a fact, it's never been done. There's never been a public official removed from office in this state for anything but malfeasance in office. I'm here to do a job. I will continue to do that job. You should know by now, I never quit. Ever."" For us, the key claim is this sentence: ""There's never been a public official removed from office in this state for anything but malfeasance in office."" Never is a long time. Ryan didn’t return our call and emails over two days asking him to clarify his claim and to provide evidence for it. ""Public official,"" for example, could mean an elected official or an appointed one, such as a school superintendent. But our sense is Ryan was referring to elected officials like himself being removed by a governmental body, and not the voters. Ryan has argued that his drinking -- he has admitted to being an alcoholic -- has not affected his duties as mayor. The saga in Sheboygan, a Lake Michigan community of about 50,000 people 60 miles north of Milwaukee, began in September 2009, six months after Ryan, 48, was elected mayor. He called a news conference to apologize for making a sexually explicit remark about his wife’s sister. Ryan’s remark was captured on video, posted on YouTube, became fodder for Jay Leno and led the Common Council to censure him. The drama intensified in July 2011, when news surfaced that Ryan was issued a warning by police after a weekend of drinking at taverns in Elkhart Lake, becoming rude and obnoxious and passing out at least once. The Common Council voted to begin the removal process after Ryan refused its call to resign. To see whether Ryan’s claim is correct, we contacted a number of experts. They include state government entities -- the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Historical Society, the Department of Public Instruction and the Judicial Commission; statewide associations -- the League of Municipalities, the Counties Association and the Association of School Boards; political scientists -- Dennis Dresang of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Joe Heim of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse; and Milwaukee historian John Gurda. Here’s what we found: Fatal shooting: In 1842, six years before Wisconsin became a state, James Vineyard, a member of the Territorial Legislature’s version of the state Senate, shot and killed fellow member Charles C.P. Arndt during an argument after a legislative session adjourned. Vineyard was expelled from the legislature after it refused to accept his resignation, although he was acquitted of manslaughter at trial, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau and the Wisconsin Historical Society. Given that the shooting occurred on the legislative floor, it could be fairly argued that the removal was related to misconduct in office. So, that one does not directly undercut Ryan’s claim. Felony crimes: At least four state lawmakers have been removed from office after being convicted of a felony. But under state law, the expulsions were automatic -- no action needed to be taken by the Legislature -- so that makes their removals different than Ryan’s would be. Crimes not directly related to official duties also have led to removals that were not automatic. For example, the New Holstein School Board fired Christopher J. Nelson, the district’s superintendent, after he was charged in February 2011 with trying to set up a sexual encounter with a person he thought was a 15-year-old boy. That could undercut Ryan’s claim, but Nelson was an appointed official, not elected. Non-criminal removal: In 1992, the state Supreme Court removed Racine County Circuit Court Judge Jon Skow from the bench after he admitted he was permanently disabled from stress and depression. The high court determined that Skow, who suffered from alcoholism, could not carry out his duties. He previously had been suspended following a number of incidents, including leaving the bench during a trial. That case does undercut Ryan’s claim, since the judge was not removed for malfeasance in office. As rare as removals from office appear to be, at least two other Wisconsin mayors have been targeted for removal since 2008. The Common Council in Montello, 60 miles north of Madison, removed Mayor Frank Breitenbach in August 2008 for reasons related to misconduct in office, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. He faced 15 allegations by city employees and residents, including using profanity with employees and threatening to fire Montello's police chief without legal authority. In Marinette, a Lake Michigan community 120 miles north of Sheboygan, a Common Council committee recommended hiring a special prosecutor in an effort to remove Mayor Robert Harbick from office. Harbick had pleaded no contest to first-offense drunken-driving, which is a traffic violation in Wisconsin. But the removal process failed to proceed when the proposal to hire the attorney failed in a 4-4 vote before the full council in August 2011. Let’s review what we’ve found. The embattled Sheboygan mayor said no public official in Wisconsin has ever been removed from office ""for anything but malfeasance in office."" Ryan’s reference was not to recall elections or automatic removal, but removal by a governmental body such as a city council. Our sense is it’s likely the mayor was speaking of elected officials, and we could find only one instance, involving a judge, in which a removal was not for misconduct in office. We also found a school superintendent fired by a school board following the filing of criminal charges, but he did not hold an elected position. This is a statement we could revisit if more information surfaces; after all we’re talking about more than 150 years of history and countless governmental entities in Wisconsin. For now, we feel Ryan’s statement needs a little clarification, but is essentially accurate -- our definition of ."
37977	KPCC-FM reporter Josie Huang told Los Angeles County Sheriffs deputies she is a journalist as she was arrested in September 2020.	Did Josie Huang Identify Herself as Press While Being Arrested?	true	Disinformation, Fact Checks	The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s latest attempt to justify the violent arrest of a journalist was clearly exposed as false by video footage of the attack posted by the reporter and other news outlets.Huang, a reporter for KPCC (Southern California Public Radio) and LAist in Los Angeles, was arrested on September 12 2020 while filming an arrest on her cell phone, and subsequently charged with obstructing a peace officer.In a statement following the arrest, the department claimed:After deputies issued a dispersal order for the unlawful assembly of a group of protesters blocking the hospital emergency entrance & exits, a male adult protester refused to comply & cooperate. During his arrest, a struggle ensued at which time a female adult ran towards the deputies, ignored repeated commands to stay back as they struggled with the male and interfered with the arrest. The female adult, who was later identified as a member of the press, did not identify herself as press and later admitted she did not have proper press credentials on her person.However, video Huang posted after she was released the following day debunked LASD’s account of the arrest.In one clip filmed on her mobile phone, Huang walks toward deputies (refuting another claim from the department that she “ran.”) She is taken into custody seconds after someone off-screen says “back up” rapidly several times.“I saw a commotion ahead of me. Deputies rushed one man and chased another,” she wrote. “I was filming an arrest when suddenly deputies shout ‘back up.’ Within seconds, I was getting shoved around. There was nowhere to back up.”Here’s more of the video, the zoom is still on.I saw a commotion ahead of me. Deputies rushed one man and chased another.I was filming an arrest when suddenly deputies shout “back up.” Within seconds, I was getting shoved around. There was nowhere to back up. pic.twitter.com/Y0amc46NZr— Josie Huang (@josie_huang) September 13, 2020A second clip captures Huang clearly identifying herself as a reporter and naming her station multiple times:Somehow I was able to start a new video right away. You see my phone clatter to the ground and I start shouting “I’m a reporter…I’m with KPCC.” I scream for help from the TV reporters I know are around the corner doing their 11 p.m. live hits pic.twitter.com/O9CZNuSrQI— Josie Huang (@josie_huang) September 13, 2020According to Huang, her phone kept recording while she was being arrested. She posted video showing two deputies stepping on the phone and kicking it:After my phone drops, it keeps recording and it captures two deputies damaging my phone by kicking and stepping on it. I can hear myself in the background shouting: “You guys are hurting me” and “Stop it.” It feels very out-of-body to play this back. pic.twitter.com/8o1kdjqlA9— Josie Huang (@josie_huang) September 13, 2020“I can hear myself in the background shouting: ‘You guys are hurting me’ and ‘Stop it'” Huang wrote after her release. “It feels very out-of-body to play this back.”Huang’s account was also corroborated by footage of her arrest taken by KABC-TV, which shows an object matching the description of a press lanyard hanging from her neck while she is being taken into custody:LAist reported that Max Huntsman, the county’s inspector general, said he would open an investigation into Huang’s arrest. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who represents the area where the incident took place, called for a special meeting of the Citizens Oversight Commission to further investigate.We contacted the Sheriff’s Department seeking comment on the footage Huang’s posted but did not hear back. However, a spokesperson had told LAist that she “didn’t have proper credentials” and was “interfering with a lawful arrest,” two claims that were quickly debunked by the various video clips.Huang was arrested following a press conference by Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva concerning the shooting of two deputies who were inside their patrol car. One of the deputies, a 31-year-old woman, is listed in “critical but stable condition.” The other, a 24-year-old man, was described by KABC as “alert.”Villanueva blamed Huang for her arrest during a September 14 2020 press conference. He said:What she had around her neck was not a press credential. I think it said SCPR, that or KPCC. For the average deputy, doesn’t mean anything. Unless it had a household name that they recognize, OK that’s a reporter. You have two of their colleagues shot in the hospital, you have a crowd of protesters chanting for them to die. I think it’s unrealistic to expect them to separate friend from foe and do it in a correct way. If they felt they were justified because she was interfering with a lawful arrest, well then the elements of the crime are met and they took action based on that. Could they have done it better? Everyone could have done better.Joel Bellman, a board member for the Los Angeles chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, strongly questioned Villanueva’s claim.“She was in a public space, she was not behind the line. She was not trying to get behind the line,” Bellman told KABC. “She was not in a disaster area or a crime scene. She was entirely within her rights from everything we could see.”Associated Press reporter Stefanie Dazio also posted video of Villanueva falsely claiming that Huang’s station had published a story the previous month about a private event for “first responders” that defied statewide measures regarding both the bar being open and the use of facial coverings and social distancing to stop the spread of COVID-19.Last clip: After I asked @LACoSheriff how we can trust his department’s statements after an @LASDHQ tweet inaccurately characterized @josie_huang’s arrest, the sheriff disparaged @KPCC reporting on a separate + unrelated, story. pic.twitter.com/SnnIKuozvz— Stefanie Dazio (@steffdaz) September 15, 2020The Sheriff’s Department denied that any of its personnel attended the event. The local police department later confirmed that two officers were present.KPCC/LAist said in a statement that Huang’s arrest was “the latest in a series of troubling interactions” between law enforcement and reporters, such as tear-gassings:So thankful for all the folks who helped me after the police started shooting tear gas into the protest. pic.twitter.com/bkamzDom52— Jose Salvador (@chavatweets1) May 31, 2020Beatings:Here's a short clip of the @LAPDHQ officer jabbing me in the stomach with a baton, sending me flying back into a crowd of people. https://t.co/R3qUiBgZ5L pic.twitter.com/IIi9Yf9gOd— Lexis-Olivier Ray (@ShotOn35mm) May 31, 2020And attacks with projectile weapons:I just got hit by a rubber bullet near the bottom of my throat. I had just interviewed a man with my phone at 3rd and Pine and a police officer aimed and shot me in the throat, I saw the bullet bounce onto the street @LAist @kpcc OK, that’s one way to stop me, for a while pic.twitter.com/9C2u5KmscG— Adolfo Guzman-Lopez (@AGuzmanLopez) June 1, 2020“We offer condolences to the two sheriff deputies who were shot Saturday evening,” the station said. “These are challenging and stressful times for everyone, but Josie Huang was arrested while doing her job. The charges should be dropped.”Update 11:15 a.m. PST September 15, 2020: Updated with comments from Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva.Comments
8882	Eli Lilly drops inhaled insulin program.	Eli Lilly & Co said on Friday it will terminate development of an inhaled insulin treatment for diabetes, which it was conducting in partnership with Alkermes Inc, after deciding that product’s commercial potential was not strong.	true	Health News	Biotechnology company Alkermes said earlier in the day that it expected Lilly to drop out of their program to develop an inhaled insulin treatment for diabetes, sending Alkermes shares down more than 9 percent. Lilly’s decision marks the third setback in recent months for inhaled insulin formulations, once deemed potential blockbuster products because of their greater convenience than standard injectable insulin. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Alkermes, which makes the alcohol addiction drug Vivitrol, said Lilly has the right to terminate its license to the inhaled treatment, Air Insulin, at its discretion. “While Lilly may elect not to commercialize Air Insulin, Alkermes believes that the phase 3 safety and efficacy trials should be completed,” Alkermes said in a statement. After Lilly’s announcement, the company said it was evaluating the impact of the termination, which will become effective in 90 days. Indianapolis-based Lilly said its decision was not due to safety concerns, “but rather was a result of increasing uncertainties in the regulatory environment, and a thorough evaluation of the evolving commercial and clinical potential of the product compared to existing medical therapies.” Lilly Chief Operating Officer John Lechleiter said in a statement that the company is beginning the process of halting ongoing clinical studies. Lilly said it will record a first-quarter 2008 charge of around $90 million to $120 million, or 5 cents to 7 cents per share. The company said its adjusted earnings per share outlook remains unchanged at $3.85 to $4.00, while net earnings will range from $3.73 to $3.90. Lilly’s action comes just five months after Pfizer Inc abandoned Exubera, the first approved inhaled form of insulin, and returned rights to the product to longtime partner Nektar Therapeutics. Exubera had dismal sales because patients were turned off by the clumsy device used to administer the powdered insulin and because doctors were concerned by the drug’s tendency to slightly impair lung function. Alkermes Chairman Richard Pops, in an interview with Reuters in October, said Air Insulin may have similar effects on lung function. “We’re assuming that pulmonary insulins in that regard are all pretty much the same,” he said, although a conclusive picture of Air Insulin’s safety will not emerge until two-year safety trials of the product end later this year. A second setback for inhaled insulin came in January, when Novo Nordisk said it was halting development of its AERx product, meant to deliver inhaled droplets. The Danish drugmaker said AERx did not have adequate sales potential, given the limited commercial success seen with Exubera. Morgan Stanley analyst Jami Rubin said on Friday Lilly’s abandonment of AIR Insulin made good business sense. “We are not (at) all surprised, and have never been strong advocates of the pulmonary insulin agents, following the poor launch and ultimate demise of Pfizer and Nektar’s Exubera and Novo Nordisk’s termination of its AERx program,” Rubin said in a research note. Rubin said Alkermes, known for its drug-delivery technology, is unlikely to continue development of Air Insulin without Lilly, “given that this represents the third termination of a pulmonary insulin drug.” But she said the sharp drop in Alkermes shares represented a buying opportunity for investors because Air Insulin had only paltry sales potential. She said investors should be focused instead on another product Alkermes is developing with Lilly: a long-acting formulation of Lilly’s Byetta diabetes treatment called Byetta “We estimate that Byetta LAR could be worth $11 to $12 for the (Alkermes) stock,” Ryan said. Alkermes shares fell $1.14 to close at $11.26 on Nasdaq. Lilly, a far larger company with an array of big-selling products, rose 2 cents to end at $49.70 on the New York Stock Exchange, and was slightly lower at $49.67 in after-hours trading.
26662	Donald Trump is “announcing tomorrow that the US is going into quarantine for the next 14 days.”	There was no evidence by March 16 that the federal government was set to announce a nationwide lockdown. President Trump said he was not considering it. Trump said the government is thinking about additional measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in some hotspots around the country.	false	Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Chain message,	"A chain message circulating on messaging apps claims the United States is about to enter a period of federally mandated quarantine. The source: ""my aunt’s friend"" who works for the government. There is no evidence of this. The message, which a reader sent us a screenshot of on March 16, appears in a group chat on iMessage. The sender claims to have information from ""my aunt's friend"" who works for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and ""just got out of a meeting with Trump."" ""He’s announcing tomorrow that the U.S. is going into quarantine for the next 14 days,"" the message reads. ""Meaning everyone needs to stay in their homes/where they are."" We’ve seen screenshots of similar messages circulating on WhatsApp, a private messaging app that’s popular abroad. Misinformation tends to get passed around via chain messages during major news events, so we looked into this one. (Screenshots) There is no evidence that the federal government is set to announce a nationwide lockdown like the ones seen in France, Italy and Spain. President Donald Trump and the National Security Council have both refuted the claim. So far, officials have advised Americans to practice ""social distancing,"" or avoiding crowded public spaces. In a press conference March 16, Trump outlined several recommendations to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Among them is avoiding gatherings of 10 or more people. ""My administration is recommending that all Americans, including the young and healthy, work to engage in schooling from home when possible, avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 people, avoid discretionary travel and avoid eating and drinking in bars, restaurants and public food courts,"" he said. In response to a question, he said the administration is not considering a national curfew or quarantine. He reiterated that point in another press conference March 17. ""It’s a very big step. It’s something we talk about, but we haven’t decided to do that,"" he said. Andrew Cuomo ordered a one-mile containment zone on March 10. Large gathering spots were closed for 14 days and National Guard troops are delivering food to people. In the San Francisco Bay Area, local officials on March 16 announced sweeping measures to try to contain the coronavirus. Residents of six counties have been ordered to ""shelter in place"" in their homes and stay away from others as much as possible for the next three weeks. The move falls short of a total lockdown. At the federal level, the CDC does have the power to quarantine people who may have come in contact with someone infected by the coronavirus, but most quarantines are done voluntarily. And decisions are usually left up to states and localities. We reached out to the CDC for comment on the chain message, but we haven’t heard back. The chain message is inaccurate. If you receive a chain message that you want us to fact-check, send a screenshot to [email protected]."
2444	Want fruit with your burger? McDonald's expands anti-obesity push.	Hold the fries, pass the salad. McDonald’s Corp on Thursday said it would offer healthy options as part of its popular value meals, letting customers choose a side salad, fruit or vegetables instead of french fries.	true	Health News	The announcement by the world’s largest fast-food chain comes as more companies respond to government and consumer pressure to address the global obesity epidemic. McDonald’s, which often bears the brunt of criticism over the restaurant industry’s penchant for tempting diners with indulgent and often high-calorie food, said it would offer the option in all of its 20 major global markets by 2020. McDonald’s also vowed to promote and market only water, milk and juice as the beverages in its popular Happy Meals for children as part of its announcement at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York on Thursday. Waist sizes around the world are increasing, setting off alarms in public health circles. In recent years, the U.S. food industry has begun yielding to pressure from government, parents and consumers seeking to slim down adults and children. Sugary sodas have been yanked from public schools; sugar, sodium and calorie levels have been reduced in products, and calorie counts have been posted on some restaurant menus. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit that has tangled with McDonald’s over everything from fattening food to the marketing of Happy Meals, approved of the company’s move to add more fruits and vegetables to the menu. Still, it says the company and its rivals have a long way to go in terms of offering healthier options. “McDonald’s slow march toward healthier meals made a major advance today, but a long road lies ahead for the company,” CSPI said in a statement. McDonald’s is seen as something of a trend setter among restaurant chains, but like many of its peers, it has tended to resist external efforts to force change. About one year ago McDonald’s said it would begin listing calorie information on menus in some 14,000 U.S. restaurants and drive-throughs — ahead of a national rule that would require larger restaurant chains to make such disclosures but months after other chains embraced the idea. In July 2011 it tweaked its popular Happy Meals for children - reducing the french fries portion by more than half and adding apples to every order. The move came after pressure from CSPI, parent groups and others. More than one-third of Americans are obese, and about 10 percent of the nation’s healthcare bill is tied to obesity-related illnesses, such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and hypertension, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. McDonald’s said its announcement is part of a plan developed with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which was founded by the Clinton Foundation and American Heart Association, to increase customers’ access to fruit and vegetables and help families and children to make informed eating and lifestyle choices.
5579	Hawaii launches campaign to prevent spread of rat lungworm.	Almost 94 percent of rats in the Hilo region are infected with the parasite that causes rat lungworm disease, a recent study on the meningitis-like disease showed.	true	Health, Meningitis, Hilo, Hawaii	The research was released Monday as the state started its first statewide campaign to prevent the disease. The most recent case came out of Hilo, where a resident contracted the disease in late November. Department of Health officials suspect the Big Island patient accidentally ingested an infected slug while drinking from a garden house. People contract the disease by ingesting food contaminated with snails or slugs that carry parasitic larvae from rat droppings. The state’s $300,000 campaign will include a series of television and radio announcements urging people to wash fruits and vegetables before eating them to avoid the potentially debilitating disease, which affects the brain and spinal cord. The Legislature earlier this year granted the Health Department $1 million over the next two years to control the spread of rat lungworm. There were 18 laboratory-confirmed cases in Hawaii this year. The Big Island has seen the most cases at 11, followed by Maui at six. Sue Jarvi, a professor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, said the recent study shed light on how common the disease is in rats. Jarvi said rats near Hilo Harbor and Hilo International Airport are especially worrisome because some end up getting transported to the mainland and other countries, potentially exporting rat lungworm. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UH-Hilo and researchers in Thailand are all reviewing parasites that were collected, Jarvi said. “The risk of rat lungworm disease is present on all islands and there are basic steps we can take each day to reduce this risk and help prevent infection,” said Keith Kawaoka, the department’s deputy director of environmental health. “Knowledge is the best defense we can provide people with to collectively protect our communities from rat lungworm disease in Hawaii.”
26360	"Dr. Anthony Fauci ""has known for 15 years that chloroquine and … hydroxychloroquine will not only treat a current case of coronavirus but prevent future cases.”"	An article published by a website run by an anti-LGBTQ political organization claims Dr. Anthony Fauci knew in 2005 that hydroxychloroquine was effective against human coronaviruses. The article cites a 2005 study that found a related drug, chloroquine, could inhibit the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. There is no known treatment, cure or vaccine for the novel coronavirus or SARS. While some early research suggests hydroxychloroquine could treat COVID-19 symptoms, other studies have found no discernible effect	false	Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, PunditFact, Coronavirus, Bloggers,	"A widely shared conspiracy theory on Facebook alleges that Dr. Anthony Fauci is knowingly advocating against a treatment for the novel coronavirus. An April 27 article says the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has known since 2005 that hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat conditions like lupus and arthritis, is effective against coronaviruses like the one that causes COVID-19. ""Dr. Anthony Fauci, whose ‘expert’ advice to President Trump has resulted in the complete shutdown of the greatest economic engine in world history, has known since 2005 that chloroquine is an effective inhibitor of coronaviruses,"" reads the article. ""How did he know this? Because of research done by the National Institutes of Health, of which he is the director."" The source of the article is One News Now, a website operated by the American Family Association, a Christian fundamentalist nonprofit founded by Mississippi pastor Donald Wildmon. The Southern Poverty Law Center has classified the political organization as an anti-LGBTQ hate group. One News Now’s article was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) It has been shared more than 27,000 times. (Screenshot from One News Now) Despite being one of the most trusted coronavirus experts in the United States, Fauci has been the target of several conspiracy theories about his handling of the pandemic — particularly since he tempered expectations for hydroxychloroquine during a March press conference. So we wanted to check out this article, too. There are several things wrong with the One News Now story. First: The article relies on a 2005 study about the effect of chloroquine on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, more commonly called SARS. Chloroquine is chemically similar to hydroxychloroquine, but it is a different drug and is primarily used to treat malaria. Both drugs pose risks for people with heart problems. The One News Now story claims the journal that published the study is ""the official publication of Dr. Fauci’s National Institutes of Health."" That’s inaccurate. While the 2005 study has been indexed by the NIH’s National Library of Medicine, it was published in the peer-reviewed Virology Journal. The journal is produced by BioMed Central, a United Kingdom-based for-profit publisher. The study’s authors worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal, and the study was funded by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. We reached out to the NIH for more context, but we haven’t heard back. Second: The study does not suggest that hydroxychloroquine could be effective at treating or preventing COVID-19, as One News Now claims. ""HCQ functions as both a cure and a vaccine,"" the website wrote. ""In other words, it’s a wonder drug for coronavirus."" This is inaccurate — there is no cure or vaccine for SARS or the novel coronavirus. While some studies have found that hydroxychloroquine could mitigate some of the symptoms associated with COVID-19, other research has found no such effect. With more than 50 studies in the works, as well as an NIH clinical trial, it’s too soon to say whether the drug is a viable treatment for the coronavirus. The 2005 study found that chloroquine — not hydroxychloroquine — was ""effective in inhibiting the infection and spread of SARS CoV,"" the official name for SARS. The research was conducted in ""cell culture conditions,"" meaning the drug was not administered to actual SARS patients. The authors wrote that more research was needed on how the drug interacts with SARS in animal test subjects. ""Cell culture testing of an antiviral drug against the virus is only the first step, of many steps, necessary to develop an antiviral drug,"" said Kate Fowlie, a press officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in an email. ""It is important to realize that most antivirals that pass this cell culture test hurdle fail at later steps in the development process."" Available evidence shows that the novel coronavirus first emerged in Hubei Province, China, in November. While the novel coronavirus is similar to SARS in some respects — both are human coronaviruses that originated in bats, cause respiratory illness and spread through coughs and sneezes — they are different diseases. COVID-19 has infected more than 3.5 million people worldwide compared to the 8,000 who were sickened during the 2003 SARS outbreak. While SARS cases are generally more severe, scientists believe that COVID-19 is more transmissible. As One News Now notes, the novel coronavirus and SARS have a 79% genetic similarity and use the same ""host cell receptor,"" meaning they infect people in similar ways. But that doesn’t mean the findings of the 2005 study apply to COVID-19. ""Whether chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine are of value for treating infections with the different, but related, SARS-CoV-2 virus cannot be answered by the data in the 2005 study,"" Fowlie said. One News Now wrote that Fauci ""has known for 15 years that chloroquine and … hydroxychloroquine will not only treat a current case of coronavirus but prevent future cases."" The website cited a study that has to do with SARS, not the novel coronavirus. It was published in 2005 in Virology Journal, which is not the ""official publication"" of the NIH. While the study found that chloroquine helped inhibit the spread of SARS in cell cultures, those results do not suggest that the drug is an effective treatment for SARS or COVID-19. As of now, there is no approved treatment or vaccine for either coronavirus. The One News Now article is inaccurate."
9603	Abbott wins U.S. approval for stent that absorbs into body	Doctors often treat coronary artery disease with a procedure called angioplasty to widen clogged or narrowed arteries using a metal stent. But those stents have been problematic for some patients, leading to blood clots and even heart attacks. The FDA has just approved medical use of a dissolvable stent manufactured by Abbott Labs, and this story heralds that decision. The Reuters story included some details the Associated Press version did not–namely, what the stent is made of, what kind of drug is coated onto it, and what the plans are for rolling it out to hospitals. But its almost giddy approach to the FDA announcement belies the fact that long-term safety and efficacy data are not yet in hand. Put another way, no one yet knows if these dissolvable stents will make a practical difference in heart disease patient outcomes. The AP story makes that crucial information a centerpiece of the text and, we think, does its readers a greater service. Coronary heart disease is responsible for about 370,000 deaths each year in the U.S., according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The use of stents to prop open occluded blood vessels is a popular treatment but one fraught with problems. If dissolvable stents can help solve these problems in ways superior to other treatment alternatives, they represent a real and important advance. Only time will tell–and this story didn’t make that clear enough.	mixture	dissolvable stent	A reader would be hard-pressed to determine the cost of this new stent. The only cost information provided sits in the last paragraph of the story, where it notes that the dissolvable stent will apparently cost more than Abbott Lab’s drug-coated metal stent, marketed under the name Xience. (See our review of the AP story to see how much more in-depth they covered costs.) We’re not given any numbers, just this quick summary: “Data released in October concluded Absorb was comparable to Abbott’s own Xience drug-coated metal stent in safety and effectiveness but showed a higher risk of heart attacks and blood clots.” That’s a confusing statement. Given that stents are presumably intended to prevent heart attacks, how can the two stents be “comparable” in effectiveness if there’s a higher risk with one compared to the other? Also left unsaid is that any long-term benefits (and harms) are “prospective,” as no clinical study has lasted long enough to find them. The story mentions that one clinical study found a higher risk of heart attacks and blood clots in participants, complications that Abbott Labs apparently blames not on the stent but on surgeons’ lack of experience in using it. A weakness here, though, as noted in the “benefits” segment above, is that there apparently have been no clinical trials that have lasted long enough for the stents to dissolve (about three years) in order to assess harms. The story should make that clear to readers. One study—presumably conducted by Abbott Labs—is referenced but not explained in enough detail to permit a reader to judge its quality. The lab’s new release provides a bit more detail, but a reader still would not know if the trial design included a control group, whether it was “blinded,” etc. Permanent metal mesh stents have complications, so the search for an alternative makes sense. Both scientists quoted in this story are connected in some way to Abbott Labs; one is a (presumably paid) adviser to the company while the other led the company’s clinical trial. They are clearly identified. A reader would likely infer, correctly, that development of the new device has been funded by the lab. But had the reporter sought out an independent source or two, the murky nature of long-term effects of the stent might have become more obvious. The clinical trial summarized in the story compared the dissolvable stent with a metal stent coated with a drug to minimize future blood clots. The story would have been stronger if it also had mentioned traditional metal stents (with no drug coating) and the use of drugs to manage heart disease. The story notes that Abbott Labs plans to make the stent available to some 100 hospitals in the near future, in order to train surgeons in its use, before “ramping up sales.” This was information that we wished had been in the Associated Press story on the topic, which we also reviewed. Novelty is established in the first paragraph of this story and appears to be an accurate statement about what’s “newsy” here. Although the story seems to be reasonably independent of the two available press releases found in the course of this analysis, its positive assessment of the new stent is consistent with the tone of the Abbott Labs’ release.
38080	A British man named David Hibbitt was given 18 months to live before he cured cancer with cannabis oil.	Given 18 Months to Live, Man Cures Brain Cancer With Cannabis Oil	false	Health / Medical	Many holistic health websites have featured the story of the man who cured bowel cancer with cannabis oil after being given 18 months to live. Unfortunately, 34-year-old David Hibbitt died from brain cancer in 2016, a year after stories about his miraculous recovery first surfaced. The story surfaced in the U.K.’s Metro newspaper in April 2015. The paper reported that Hibbitt had been “cured” after purchasing cannabis oil from a local dealer. But the initial story noted that there was no clinical evidence that cannabis oil could actually treat cancer: Cancer Research UK said it was aware of patients using cannabis extracts to treat themselves but there was ‘no good evidence’ from clinical trials to prove it was safe and effective. Natural health websites quickly picked the story up. It was held up as an example of the medicinal potential of cannabis oil, but Hibbitt died of cancer just one year after reports that he’d been “cured,” the Daily Mail reports: Last January the father-of-one revealed he was cancer-free and put the class-B drug down to his miracle recovery. But the cancer returned in March this year and spread to his lungs and brain. It claimed his life earlier this month. David Hibbitt’s family vowed to pursue research into the ability of cannabis oil to treat cancer after his death. There have been lots of studies about cannabinoids’ ability (or lack thereof) to treat cancer. But Cancer Research UK reports that there’s no definitive proof of that, despite numerous studies claiming to confirm that cannabis oil treats cancer. Comments
28208	President Obama ordered all schools to make all bathrooms transgender or face a loss of federal funding.	"What's true: The Departments of Justice and Education's respective civil rights divisions issued significant guidance to schools about transgender students and Title IX. According to that guidance, no students would be asked to ""prove"" or otherwise document their gender identity, and adherence to Title IX is "" a condition of receiving Federal funds."" What's false: President Obama did not personally issue the guidance."	true	Politics Politicians, barack obama, department of education, justice department	On 13 May 2016, the web site Young Conservatives published an article reporting that President Obama had decreed that all American schools must make all bathrooms transgender or face lawsuits and potentially lose federal funding: President Obama decided to yet again defy the constitutional limits placed on his powers and released a directive stating public schools must allow transgenders to use the bathroom of their choice. Well, the great state of Texas is saying no thanks and accusing the president of blackmail. Apparently Obama doesn’t understand that transgender restrooms are a 10th Amendment issue, meaning it’s left up to the states to decide how to handle it and the federal government has no jurisdiction in the matter at all. The ensuing media (and social media) flurries ended up obfuscating a number of details of the issue, with most versions holding that President Obama “decreed” that all schools must immediately implement such policies, lest they be dragged into court and lose funding. As usual, however, the truth was much less outrageous than the rumors. On 13 May 2016, the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division issued a joint “Dear Colleague” letter [PDF] that included “significant guidance” to schools about civil rights protections for transgender students under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The letter detailed federal guidelines for transgender students and bathroom use and provided definitions for the terms “Gender identity,” “Sex assigned at birth,” “Transgender,” and “Gender transition”: Schools across the country strive to create and sustain inclusive, supportive, safe, and nondiscriminatory communities for all students. In recent years, we have received an increasing number of questions from parents, teachers, principals, and school superintendents about civil rights protections for transgender students. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) and its implementing regulations prohibit sex discrimination in educational programs and activities operated by recipients of Federal financial assistance. This prohibition encompasses discrimination based on a student’s gender identity, including discrimination based on a student’s transgender status. This letter summarizes a school’s Title IX obligations regarding transgender students and explains how the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) evaluate a school’s compliance with these obligations. ED and DOJ (the Departments) have determined that this letter is significant guidance. This guidance does not add requirements to applicable law, but provides information and examples to inform recipients about how the Departments evaluate whether covered entities are complying with their legal obligations. If you have questions or are interested in commenting on this guidance, please contact ED[.] Accompanying this letter is a separate document from ED’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Examples of Policies and Emerging Practices for Supporting Transgender Students. The examples in that document are taken from policies that school districts, state education agencies, and high school athletics associations around the country have adopted to help ensure that transgender students enjoy a supportive and nondiscriminatory school environment. Schools are encouraged to consult that document for practical ways to meet Title IX’s requirements. Schools were informed that failure to supply legally entitled students with the necessary accommodations could constitute a violation of the obligations of federally funded schools: As a condition of receiving Federal funds, a school agrees that it will not exclude, separate, deny benefits to, or otherwise treat differently on the basis of sex any person in its educational programs or activities unless expressly authorized to do so under Title IX or its implementing regulations. The Departments treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex for purposes of Title IX and its implementing regulations. This means that a school must not treat a transgender student differently from the way it treats other students of the same gender identity. The Departments’ interpretation is consistent with courts’ and other agencies’ interpretations of Federal laws prohibiting sex discrimination. The Departments interpret Title IX to require that when a student or the student’s parent or guardian, as appropriate, notifies the school administration that the student will assert a gender identity that differs from previous representations or records, the school will begin treating the student consistent with the student’s gender identity. Under Title IX, there is no medical diagnosis or treatment requirement that students must meet as a prerequisite to being treated consistent with their gender identity. Because transgender students often are unable to obtain identification documents that reflect their gender identity (e.g., due to restrictions imposed by state or local law in their place of birth or residence), requiring students to produce such identification documents in order to treat them consistent with their gender identity may violate Title IX when doing so has the practical effect of limiting or denying students equal access to an educational program or activity. The letter also contained a portion about restroom and locker room use. That guidance stated that under Title IX, schools were prohibited from forcing students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity. That directive further stated transgender students could not be “segregated” from others in restrooms and locker rooms: Restrooms and Locker Rooms. A school may provide separate facilities on the basis of sex, but must allow transgender students access to such facilities consistent with their gender identity. A school may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so. A school may, however, make individual-user options available to all students who voluntarily seek additional privacy. Critics contended that school policies about bathroom access should be decided by states and local school boards, not the feds, and that the guidelines effectively create new federal regulations that may violate the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

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