copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2016-04-14): Adult attention deficit disorder is the current fad-du-jour. It needs to be killed before it multiplies beyond easy taming. The best person to provide insight is Keith Conners, the man who did the first studies on ADHD—even before there was an official DSM diagnosis called ADHD. [...] A few years later, I learned to my horror that a big pharmaceutical company had lured esteemed colleagues into a quick and dirty process to capture the adult ADHD market for their drug, at home and abroad. It began innocently enough with an invitation to attend a roundtable discussion of Adult ADHD. The other attendees included a dozen or more experienced clinicians of ADHD, some of whom I had taught, several others well known for their many years of research on ADHD. The leader of this conference was a famous epidemiologist from Harvard who presented some of his findings from a large World Health Organization survey of health impairments. This included six items that sounded like ADHD. He then published a paper based on our discussions at the conference, which included my name. [...] Adult ADHD is real and of great life importance, but quite rare and easily overdiagnosed. Beware the charlatans and fringe practitioners making a new assault to capture the drug market. Also, remember that modern life is complicated. Perhaps you need to simplify your life before you decide you have ADHD.
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2013-04-02): The skyrocketing attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder numbers, according to the analysis by the New York Times, has parents, educators and other experts wondering whether the disorder is being overdiagnosed and healthy kids being unnecessarily treated with powerful stimulants. [...] For parents trying to determine the difference between normal childhood behavior and an attention deficit disorder, finding a doctor who will take the time for a proper examination can be a challenge, Snyderman said. Many parents, educators and doctors may be jumping the gun with kids who are just exhibiting typical boisterous childhood behavior. [...] Synderman knows from personal experience what it’s like to have a kid who’s too energized to focus on schoolwork.
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2014-03-14): Ever since 1937, when Dr. Charles Bradley discovered that children who displayed symptoms of attention deficit and hyperactivity responded well to Benzedrine, a stimulant, we have been thinking about this "disorder" in almost the same way. Soon after Bradley’s discovery, the medical community began labeling children with these symptoms as having minimal brain dysfunction, or MBD, and treating them with the stimulants Ritalin and Cylert. In the intervening years, the DSM changed the label numerous times, from hyperkinetic reaction of childhood (it wasn’t until 1980 that the DSM-III introduced a classification for adults with the condition) to the current label, ADHD. But regardless of the label, we have been giving patients different variants of stimulant medication to cover up the symptoms. You’d think that after decades of advancements in neuroscience, we would shift our thinking.
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2024-10-07): Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder in children, and the numbers are only expected to rise. The CDC reported that in 2022, more than 7 million (11.4%) U.S. children aged 3–17 years were diagnosed with ADHD, an increase of 1 million compared to 2016. The elevated numbers aren't limited to children. According to a 2021 report in the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy, 8.7 million adults in the U.S. have ADHD. ADHD is a chronic condition characterized by difficulty focusing, restlessness and impulsive behavior. If untreated, ADHD can have severe negative consequences on physical and mental health throughout a person's life, including low self-esteem, chronic stress, fatigue and higher risk of substance abuse. That's why diagnosis during childhood and early intervention are crucial for helping children reach their potential and avoid the potential life-long challenges associated with the disorder. To educate the public with reliable information, reduce stigma and highlight the importance of ADHD diagnosis and treatment, several advocacy groups joined forces to designate October as ADHD Awareness Month.
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2019-09-17): Natural News article inaccurately claims ADHD is a "fake disease" invented for profit [...] ADHD has been described as a neurodevelopmental disorder marked by inattention, excessive activity and impulsivity (acting without thinking), generally diagnosed in childhood. This article by Natural News claims that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a "fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit". Although it was published more than a year ago, it has seen a recent revival and is currently trending on Facebook, garnering more than 1.5 million shares. [...] While all children display traits such as inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity to varying degrees, reviewers highlighted that children with ADHD exhibit these characteristics to a severe degree that disrupts their education and relationships with others. Reviewers cautioned that viewing ADHD as a "fake disease" trivializes the significant distress that affected individuals and their families experience, and could potentially lead to poorer outcomes.
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2015-06-04): The article in question, published by www.worldpublicopinion.org, claims that the ‘inventor’ of ADHD, Dr Leon Eisenberg, made a ‘deathbed confession’ that ‘ADHD is a prime example of a fictitious disease.’ [...] ‘The alarmed critics of the Ritalin disaster are now getting support from an entirely different side. The German weekly Der Spiegel quoted in its cover story on 2 February 2012 the US American psychiatrist Leon Eisenberg, born in 1922 as the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, who was the "scientific father of ADHD" and who said at the age of 87, seven months before his death in his last interview: "ADHD is a prime example of a fictitious disease." Since 1968, however, some 40 years, Leon Eisenberg’s "disease" haunted the diagnostic and statistical manuals, first as "hyperkinetic reaction of childhood", now called "ADHD". The use of ADHD medications in Germany rose in only eighteen years from 34 kg (in 1993) to a record of no less than 1760 kg (in 2011) – which is a 51-fold increase in sales! In the United States every tenth boy among ten year-olds already swallows an ADHD medication on a daily basis. With an increasing tendency.’
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2020-09-11): - Phone: Call 1-800-FDA-1088 Monday-Friday between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. EST. [...] - The FDA takes necessary action to protect public health. FDA actions may include:
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2023-03-02): Drug advertising policies need to be updated to protect public health. [...] TM: Go to the FDA website and read the objective Medication Guide for the drug of interest. [...] CA: Some of the more egregious and concerning examples of this problem are reflected in the rapid growth of telemedicine start-ups offering simplified access to powerful drugs with non-trivial risks, such as prescription stimulants for the treatment of ADHD. Another prime example is ketamine.
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2023-03-22): Despite the risks, some prescription drugs still contain Red 3. Vyvanse, billed as the "#1 prescribed branded ADHD medication," contains it. That’s somewhat ironic, according to CSPI, since the behavioral problems associated with food dyes are often described as similar to the symptoms associated with ADHD. [...] Join CSPI's email list Get the latest news on nutrition, food safety, and health.
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2023-02-24): But without an objective diagnostic test, others remain concerned, pointing to examples of teenagers being "fast-tracked to medical intervention" with little or no mental health involvement. [...] If you are a journalist needing to speak to an expert, please click here. [...] GET THE LATEST PRESS RELEASESEmail the UK media relations team for more information.
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2021-05-11): As profitable as the children’s market for ADHD drugs might prove, it was also inherently limited. On the horizon, however, a much larger market for adults glimmered like gold. "But how should a doctor diagnose adult ADHD," Schwarz notes, "when a few of DSM’s official criteria, like ‘runs about or climbs excessively’ and ‘has difficulty waiting turn,’ sounded so childish?" Schwarz describes how Eli Lilly sponsored the efforts of some academic ADHD specialists at Harvard and New York University to create a diagnostic ADHD questionnaire that could be used in adults. The team subsequently slimmed it down, and the World Health Organization endorsed it, "an imprimatur that forever obscured its Big Pharma roots," Schwarz says. [...] Finally, if there is one overarching lesson here, it is that we need a sweeping reform of the way drugs are developed, studied, marketed, priced, and sold. Big Pharma has deeply corrupted the mission—and the methods—of medical research. It has squeezed families by pricing drugs at the maximum the market will tolerate (and then some). And it has been reckless and dishonest in its promotion of addictive drugs, with grave consequences for the public’s health. Those with ADHD deserve much better—indeed, as we all do. For we are all patients, now or later, with lives more valuable than Big Pharma’s silver.
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2016-01-08): Office of Public Affairs [...] "Our agency will continue to hold drug companies responsible for seeking to boost profits using false and misleading claims about products, such as the powerful medications prescribed to children and other drugs at issue in this settlement," said Chief Counsel to the HHS Inspector General Gregory E. Demske. "We entered into a corporate integrity agreement with Shire that requires comprehensive compliance safeguards, oversight of Shire promotional activities, and compliance certifications from Shire’s board of directors and management." [...] Updated January 8, 2016
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2015-11-18): Follow Us . . . There's a suit going on right now in three states. It alleges that the major pharmaceutical company that makes Ritalin, the Novartis Company, along with the American Psychiatric Association, the main representatives of organized medicine in the ADHD movement, and the self-help group CHADD have conspired to dupe the American public into believing that there's such a thing as ADHD, and then thrust upon innocent children a potentially dangerous drug. [...] Yes. That's the other way that the market forces are operating here, in that virtually every ADHD researcher, now, because of previous cutbacks and because there is money out there, takes money from the pharmaceutical industry to do their research. And whether or not you're a doctor in the local hospital . . . or you are one of the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine, we all know that research gets influenced by the funding source. [...] Representing such things as depression, anxiety, conduct disorder, ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, and learning disabilities as diseases, absent any scientific proof, is to deceive the public. It preempts the public's right to informed consent in every single case.
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2017-12-31): ADHD was not invented to disadvantage Black children and increase pharmaceutical sales [...] In 1937, U.S. physician Charles Bradley reported on the first positive effect of stimulant medication in children. Bradley wasn't looking to resolve children’s troubles with focus, but to find a drug to help them with emotional distress, journalist Alan Schwarz wrote in his 2016 book, "ADHD Nation: Children, Doctors, Big Pharma, and the Making of an American Epidemic." [...] Schwarz, Alan. "ADHD Nation: Children, Doctors, Big Pharma, and the Making of an American Epidemic" (P. 293). Scribner. Kindle Edition.
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2024-02-20): According to the American Psychiatric Association, about 5 percent of American children suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), yet the diagnosis is given to some 15 percent of American children, many of whom are placed on powerful drugs with lifelong consequences. This is the central fact of the journalist Alan Schwarz’s new book, ADHD Nation. Explaining this fact—how it is that perhaps two thirds of the children diagnosed with ADHD do not actually suffer from the disorder—is the book’s central mystery. The result is a damning indictment of the pharmaceutical industry, and an alarming portrait of what is being done to children in the name of mental health.
Claim: ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit (Vicki Batts, 2019-09-17)
Evidence (2021-10-28): A far more plausible explanation is that ADHD is an Industry, motivated to maximise profits, just like any other industry. In fact, with US$22,500,000,000 in annual drug sales, and countless other billions received for diagnosing and promoting the ‘disorder’, it is ridiculous to argue that ADHD is not an Industry. [...] Similarly, the for-profit ADHD Industry has benefitted from the uncritical publication of false claims of breakthrough discoveries by ADHD experts who purporting to have discovered the biological/genetic basis of ADHD. [...] None of this should come as a surprise. History has taught us time and time again that when governments acquiesce to industry (and in the case of ADHD they almost always have) we should expect industry to do whatever it can to increase sales and maximise profits. Until there is a widespread understanding that ADHD is an Industry and not an Illness, drug manufacturers and their allies will continue to profit and children will continue to pay the price.
Claim: “No childhood vaccine has ever been through a double blind placebo controlled trial.” (Social media users, 2024-02-24)
Evidence (2024-02-24): Randomized controlled trials are commonly held up as the gold standard for determining the safety and efficacy of a medical intervention, like a vaccine or a drug. Saline placebo-controlled trials are sometimes used to test a new vaccine, but such trials aren’t always practical or ethical to do. For instance, when testing a new vaccine against a disease for which there are existing, effective vaccines, such a trial would leave the placebo group unprotected from the disease. In such cases, it is considered acceptable to compare the new vaccine with an existing one.
Claim: “No childhood vaccine has ever been through a double blind placebo controlled trial.” (Social media users, 2024-02-24)
Evidence (2024-03-01): FULL CLAIM: "No childhood vaccine has ever been through a double blind placebo controlled trial."; childhood vaccine schedules haven't been tested properly The claim that no childhood vaccine has ever been tested against a placebo in a double-blind, randomized trial commonly crops up in anti-vaccine content. One example of this claim can be seen in this Instagram post. Prominent figures in the anti-vaccine community, including U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and television producer Del Bigtree, have also made this claim before. [...] And a search on PubMed, a repository of studies in health and medicine that is maintained by the U.S. Library of Medicine, will also turn up multiple studies showing that several vaccines on the childhood vaccination schedule have indeed been tested in double-blind, saline placebo-controlled randomized trials.
Claim: “No childhood vaccine has ever been through a double blind placebo controlled trial.” (Social media users, 2024-02-24)
Evidence (2024-10-09): Double-blind randomized controlled trials (RCTs) became mandatory for FDA approval of new medications around 1980. This is still a discipline in evolution. As it turns out, blindness breach is rife, although seldom consciously apparent. Shapiro et al. found in a meta-analysis that at the end of double-blind RCTs, treatment assumptions (TAs) were correct in 72-100% of cases [1]. TAs are subjects’ intuitive guesses of group allocation to the verum or placebo group. Nevertheless, reporting upon the success of blinding is uncommon. We didn’t find any in vaccination trials. [...] The two studies compare a verum to a passive placebo (injecting 0.9% sodium chloride solution). Compared to an active placebo, a passive placebo can have fewer adverse events. In the case of RNA vaccines, using a passive placebo causes a risk of a breach in blinding, given the consciously and non-consciously felt adverse events of the verum, potentially heightening the "placebo effect" in the verum study arm. This may be of particular concern here because measuring efficacy is based on patient-reported symptoms. In both studies, nonblinded administrators further risk diminishing the double-blind through non-conscious communication. [...] TA data can be used to improve the scientific validity, and indicate whether an active placebo is needed. Assessing TAs is interesting for vaccine producers. They are relatively low-cost additions that make trials more efficient.
Claim: “No childhood vaccine has ever been through a double blind placebo controlled trial.” (Social media users, 2024-02-24)
Evidence (2023-06-15): How are vaccine trials typically designed? Vaccine trials are typically tested through a study design called a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled trial. This means that participants are randomly assigned to receive either the experimental vaccine or a placebo. A placebo is an inactive injection that mimics the real experience to the patient. In the case of the vaccine, the placebo would be an injected salt water solution or something similar. The person receiving the treatment and the care provider giving the treatment do not know which group the participant belongs—whether the placebo or the treatment group. This type of trial helps minimize bias and makes the results more accurate because no one can alter results, intentionally or unintentionally, based on what they believe will work best. Data need to be collected on people with and without the vaccine so that the groups can be compared to determine if the vaccine is better than receiving nothing (the placebo).
Claim: “No childhood vaccine has ever been through a double blind placebo controlled trial.” (Social media users, 2024-02-24)
Evidence (2022-06-24): Safety and Immunogenicity of an Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine, WIBP-CorV, in Healthy Children: Interim Analysis of a Randomized, Double-Blind, Controlled, Phase 1/2 Trial - PMID: 35812412 - PMCID: PMC9265248 - DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.898151 Safety and Immunogenicity of an Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine, WIBP-CorV, in Healthy Children: Interim Analysis of a Randomized, Double-Blind, Controlled, Phase 1/2 Trial Safe and effective vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 for children are urgently needed. Here we aimed to assess the safety and immunogenicity of an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine candidate, WIBP-CorV, in participants aged 3-17 years. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 1/2 clinical trial was conducted in Henan Province, China, in healthy children aged 3-17 years. 240 participants in phase 1 trial and 576 participants in phase 2 trial were randomly assigned to vaccine or control with an age de-escalation in three cohorts (3-5, 6-12 and 13-17 years) and dose-escalation in three groups (2.5, 5.0 and 10.0μg/dose), and received 3 intramuscular injections at day 0, 28, and 56. WIBP-CorV showed a promising safety profile with approximately 17% adverse reactions within 30 days after injection and no grade 3 or worse adverse events. The most common adverse reaction was injection site pain, followed by fever, which were mild and self-limiting. The geometric mean titers of neutralizing antibody ranged from 102.2 to 1065.5 in vaccinated participants at 28 days after the third vaccination, and maintained at a range of 14.3 to 218.2 at day 180 after the third vaccination.
Claim: “No childhood vaccine has ever been through a double blind placebo controlled trial.” (Social media users, 2024-02-24)
Evidence (2024-07-24): Efficacy of the tetravalent protein COVID-19 vaccine, SCTV01E: a phase 3 double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial [...] This phase 3 study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled evaluation of the efficacy and safety of SCTV01E, a tetravalent SARS-CoV-2 trimeric spike protein vaccine, in adults aged 18 years and above. Participants were recruited from 9 study sites located across three provinces in China, including Sichuan, Guizhou, and Hunan. The protocol of this study, the written informed consent form, and other information related to participants were approved by the clinical research ethics board of the Sichuan/Guizhou/Human Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China). This trial followed the Declaration of Helsinki, Good Clinical Practice (GCP) requirements, and related regulations issued by authorities.
Claim: “No childhood vaccine has ever been through a double blind placebo controlled trial.” (Social media users, 2024-02-24)
Evidence (2022-02-18): I think they mean that we haven’t done the best study. Those of us in the scientific and medical fields frequently demand well-designed studies — like double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trials — so why not apply that same requirement to vaccines? Why hasn’t anybody ever done that study? [...] The placebo group shouldn’t have any side effects — nothing significant, anyway. Sure, some of these kids will have autism, allergic reactions, or other problems — because, well, these things happen — but we’ll know it isn’t because of the vaccines. We would compare the rates of these side effects to those in the vaccine group. If the rates of, say autism, are the same in the vaccine group as the placebo group, we could conclude that vaccines don’t cause autism. [...] Hopefully, you’ve realized (if you didn’t already) why we haven’t done this study — and why we never will. Vaccines prevent disease — in your child, your child’s friends, and people who can’t be vaccinated. Vaccines save lives. No, we don’t have a double-blinded, randomized controlled trial comparing our vaccine schedule to placebo. But we do have some pretty convincing evidence. Check it out for yourself.