COVID-19 vaccines don’t cause miscarriages or stillbirths contrary to misleading interpretations of VAERS data Scientific studies showed that COVID-19 vaccines don’t cause miscarriage or stillbirths. Pharmacosurveillance monitoring databases such as VAERS cannot be used alone to establish a causal association between vaccination and any medical condition. Public health agencies and medical associations recommend pregnant women to get vaccinated against COVID-19. [...] In conclusion, all these studies consistently showed that COVID-19 vaccines don’t cause miscarriages or stillbirths.


Arctic sea ice is not melting and there is no indication that we should expect the Arctic sea summer ice to disappear completely, as predicted

Despite short-term fluctuations due to natural variability, the Arctic sea ice extent and volume has decreased over the past few decades. Scientists have established that this decrease is mostly the result of global warming due to human emissions of greenhouse gasses.


The present study conducts an updated detection and attribution analysis of the observed Arctic SIA changes across all months over the 1979–2019 period by comparing three satellite observations with the CMIP6 multi-model simulations. Previous attribution studies were mostly based on sea ice extent which is defined as the total area of all grid cells with at least 15% sea ice concentration and hence is strongly grid dependent1. Here we use SIA which is defined as the actual area covered with sea ice and is more appropriate for comparison with satellite observations than sea ice extent20, having a smaller observed uncertainty than sea ice extent21. The Arctic sea ice has been melting in all months22,23,24 but most previous studies have focused on September when the largest change occurred. Considering all calendar months and utilizing individual forcing simulations, this study finds that the response to GHG increases is detected throughout the year, explaining most of the observed SIA reduction. Further, based on the quantified GHG contribution to the observed Arctic SIA reduction, the future timing of the ice-free Arctic Ocean is projected under the different Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) emission scenarios. [...] Mahlstein, I. & Knutti, R. September Arctic sea ice predicted to disappear near 2°C global warming above present. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos.117, D06104 (2012).


Doctors murdered to protect Big Pharma profits and silence holistic health practitioners

Of the many conspiracies of the 21st century, one of the most intriguing is the apparent systematic killing of holistic or alternative doctors. The suspected perpetrator? Rather ambiguously, Big Pharma. [...] Although it is no more than speculation (as are many of the holistic doctor murders), Holt had a particular interest in helping people who struggled financially with medical bills and increasingly promoted patients’ well-being and recovery over profit. Several times, he "[worked] with people financially" to ensure that they received the treatments they required.[4] [...] This is a particularly dark and gritty case due to the backstory that soon unfolded. While conspiracy theorists quickly jumped on the case of another alternative doctor murdered "for their willingness to stand up to Big Pharma," it seemed obvious that the leap was misjudged at best in this instance.


Inadequate support: No evidence was provided to show that the doctors’ deaths were motivated by a desire to protect Big Pharma profits or silence holistic health practitioners, as suggested. [...] Benson’s claim isn’t new. Conspiracy theories alleging that doctors who practiced alternative medicine were murdered to protect "Big Pharma" profits can be traced back to at least 2015 and have continued since then, according to multiple fact-checks by Snopes over the years. However, there’s no evidence that the doctors discussed in the news segment were murdered to protect "Big Pharma", and some of the doctors named in the video didn’t practice alternative medicine in the first place.


On 16 July 2017, alternative health blogger Erin Elizabeth reported on her web site Health Nut News that Justine Ruszczyk (who primarily used her fiance's surname, Damond), a 40-year-old Australian woman living in the U.S. who was shot and killed in mid-July 2017 by Minneapolis police, was among a growing list of holistic doctors who had died under suspicious circumstances. That narrative was further twisted by the disreputable conspiracy site YourNewsWire with the headline, "Holistic Doctor, Working Against Big Pharma, Shot Dead By Police." [...] The well-known health and lifestyle coach, who was actively campaigning for people to take control of their lives and reject Big Pharma’s crippling products, joins the long list of holistic doctors and healers who have been killed in suspicious or unsolved circumstances during the past two years. [...] Although questions have been raised in news reports about Noor's and Yanez's training in relations to the deaths of the two Minnesota residents, there is no evidence to suggest that "Big Pharma" somehow influenced the two officers who responded to Damond's 911 call to target her for assassination in an ongoing conspiracy to kill off holistic healers.


“The Government has released their initial plans to force a vaccine on everyone”; “Three potential vaccines are currently in Stage 3 trials in the United States and could be ready in weeks”

Routine vaccination of the American public against smallpox stopped in 1972 after the disease was eradicated in the United States. Until recently, the U. S. government provided the smallpox vaccine only to a few hundred scientists and medical professionals who work with smallpox and similar viruses in a research setting. After the events of September and October, 2001, however, we have taken extensive actions to improve our level of preparedness against terrorism. For smallpox, this included updating a response plan and ordering enough smallpox vaccine to immunize the American public in the event of a smallpox outbreak. The plans are in place, and there is sufficient vaccine available to immunize everyone who might need it in the event of an emergency. [...] Is it possible to get vaccinia, the virus in the vaccine, from someone who has recently been vaccinated?


The Ministry of Health and its partners have increased their preparedness by building surveillance, testing, quarantine, and health worker capacity. The WHO has delivered protective and medical equipment, including tests and respirators. The Ministry of Health is strengthening the capacity of the medical facilities, and the government is deploying three different vaccines from various sources. [...] An initial Covid-19 vaccine deployment plan put out by the ministry of health targets 30 percent population coverage by mid-2023, with two thirds of the vaccines expected to be provided by GAVI/COVAX and the remainder procured by government. The first phase of deployment, which aims to cover 3 percent of the population by end-June 2021, would focus on frontline health workers. The first batch of the vaccine covering 0.5 percent of the population arrived in the country in early March 2021. A rapid resurgence of infections in March 2021 led to reversal of relaxation measures introduced since mid-2020. On March 26, the authorities reimposed containment measures in Nairobi and four neighboring counties, including a ban on movement in and out of the area; cessation of in-person meetings, worship, and dining; closure of bars; extension of curfew hours and withdrawal of curfew passes; directing employees to work from home; sending the Parliament on recess; and closing schools and universities again (primary and secondary schools had started planned 7-week recess the week before). In the remaining counties, physical participation in places of worship, funerals, and weddings is allowed with restrictions on the number of participants.


Health authorities like the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discourage people from wearing face masks

At the same time, other countries and organizations, including the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, recommend airborne precautions for any situation involving the care of COVID-19 patients, and consider the use of medical masks as an acceptable option in case of shortages of respirators (N95, FFP2 or FFP3).18-19 Current WHO recommendations emphasize the importance of rational and appropriate use of all PPE,20 not only masks, which requires correct and rigorous behavior from health care workers, particularly in doffing procedures and hand hygiene practices.21 WHO also recommends staff training on these recommendations,22 as well as the adequate procurement and availability of the necessary PPE and other supplies and facilities. Finally, WHO continues to emphasize the utmost importance of frequent hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, and environmental cleaning and disinfection, as well as the importance of maintaining physical distances and avoidance of close, unprotected contact with people with fever or respiratory symptoms. [...] Rational use of PPE for COVID-19. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/331498/WHO-2019-nCoV-IPCPPE_use-2020.2-eng.pdf


Confusing mask guidance. Although face masks are now widely considered a crucial part of stopping transmission, U.S. and global health authorities were slow to recommend them for public use. Many countries in East and Southeast Asia, including China and Japan, had normalized mask wearing well before the pandemic—in part because of the SARS outbreak in 2002–2003. Unlike the SARS virus, however, scientists now know that SARS-CoV-2 often spreads before a carrier develops symptoms (and possibly even if they never do). In the early weeks and months of the COVID outbreak, the CDC and WHO stated that face masks were not necessary for the general public unless a person was experiencing symptoms or caring for someone who was. The agencies also initially urged people not to buy high-filtration N95 and surgical masks because they were needed for health care workers and were in short supply because of inadequate government stockpiles. Though perhaps well-meaning, the WHO’s and CDC’s guidances sent a mixed message about masks’ effectiveness—and about who deserves protection. The CDC changed course and recommended cloth face coverings in April. The WHO did not do so until June, citing inadequate evidence of their efficacy before then. The CDC did not respond to a request for comment, and the WHO referred Scientific American to press briefings that addressed these issues. In these briefings, experts pointed to a lack of high-quality evidence for mask use. The WHO’s director general also stated that, in the absence of other public health measures, "masks alone will not protect you from COVID-19."


US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Its Partners' Contributions to Global Health Security - PMID: 29155656 - PMCID: PMC5711315 - DOI: 10.3201/eid2313.170946 [...] To achieve compliance with the revised World Health Organization International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), countries must be able to rapidly prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats. Most nations, however, remain unprepared to manage and control complex health emergencies, whether due to natural disasters, emerging infectious disease outbreaks, or the inadvertent or intentional release of highly pathogenic organisms. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) works with countries and partners to build and strengthen global health security preparedness so they can quickly respond to public health crises. This report highlights selected CDC global health protection platform accomplishments that help mitigate global health threats and build core, cross-cutting capacity to identify and contain disease outbreaks at their source. CDC contributions support country efforts to achieve IHR 2005 compliance, contribute to the international framework for countering infectious disease crises, and enhance health security for Americans and populations around the world. [...] Contributions of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Implementing the Global Health Security Agenda in 17 Partner Countries.Emerg Infect Dis. 2017 Dec;23(13):S15-24. doi: 10.3201/eid2313.170898. Emerg Infect Dis. 2017. PMID: 29155676 Free PMC article.


The measles outbreak is directly caused by illegal immigration

One of our colleagues noticed that virtually every Washington Post article concerning the measles outbreak is followed by comments that link the outbreak to illegal immigration. As it turned out, a number of prominent politicians have suggested that there might be a link — or that a link cannot be ruled out. (LePage did not mention measles, but suggested there could be in "uptick" in other diseases.) [...] We should note that CDC’s Schuchat said that in 2014, "79 percent of the unvaccinated cases of measles in the U.S. were unvaccinated due to personal belief exceptions." So even if one could trace the source to an illegal immigrant, the main source of the problem is a failure to get vaccinated in the first place. [...] Unlike Limbaugh, Brooks and Carson did not draw a direct link between illegal immigration and the measles outbreak; they merely suggested it is a possibility. But it’s a tricky balance, given that thus far the CDC has not traced this most recent outbreak — or previous ones — to illegal immigration. One cannot have 100 percent certainty in life, and so that always leaves open the possibility of a link.


The US measles outbreak is due to unvaccinated American citizens who became infected when travelling to countries where measles is endemic or where outbreaks are currently occurring. These are not the countries from which migrants to the US are currently coming from.


May 2024 auroras were caused by experiments from High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) experiments

In summary, there is conclusive evidence that the aurora observed around the globe on 10-11 May 2024 was caused by a solar storm that began erupting from the Sun on 8 May 2024. The claims attributing the auroras to HAARP experiments that coincided with this event are simply incorrect. As explained above, not only is HAARP incapable of producing the observed auroras from its limited power output, but the experiments – which were scheduled over a month in advance – were conducted to study space debris, unrelated to auroral effects.


Alaskans and visitors may be able to see an artificial airglow in the sky created by the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program during a four-day research campaign that starts Saturday. [...] HAARP creates airglow by exciting electrons in Earth’s ionosphere, similar to how solar energy creates natural aurora, with on and off pulses of high-frequency radio transmissions. HAARP’s Ionospheric Research Instrument, a phased array of 180 high-frequency antennas spread across 33 acres, can radiate 3.6 megawatts into the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. [...] HAARP will create an airglow at a specific point in the sky. The angle of visibility for anyone wanting to look for it will depend on a person’s distance from HAARP.


The IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is sort of the voice of the consensus, concedes that there has been no increase in extreme weather events.

Globally, there has been a clear increase in certain weather extremes including heat waves and intense rainfall events.


Scientists predicted global cooling and were wrong, so they are wrong about global warming

In this post on Facebook from 9 December 2023, it is claimed that global warming is a paranoia that climatologists created after their predictions of extreme global cooling leading to a new ice-age did not materialize. The caption of the Facebook Reel lists various statements labeled as "facts", including the inaccurate claims that "Science is wrong on Global Warming" because "Science was wrong on Global Cooling". This post has been shared hundreds of times and reached thousands of viewers who may not know that global cooling was not a mainstream climate theory in the 1970’s. As we explained above, there were more scientists at that time projecting and modeling future global warming. In addition, the claim that "Science is wrong on Global Warming" is inaccurate because the reality of global warming has been unequivocal for years, verified by overwhelming observational evidence resulting in the scientific consensus. Hypotheses that were investigated in the past by scientists, like the one on global cooling, do not invalidate today’s proven scientific concepts that accurately represent observed reality, like current global warming.


A persistent argument designed to discredit the field of climate science is that scientists predicted an ice age in the 1970s. So popular in fact that it ranks an impressive #7 in the most cited skeptic arguments. The logic goes that climate scientists got it completely wrong predicting global cooling in the 1970s (it started warming instead). Hence climate science can't be trusted about current global warming predictions. Setting aside the logical flaws of such an ad hominem argument, was there any consensus among 70s climate scientists predicting global cooling? [...] The paper surveys climate studies from 1965 to 1979 (and in a refreshing change to other similar surveys, lists all the papers). They find very few papers (7 in total) predict global cooling. This isn't surprising. What surprises is that even in the 1970s, on the back of 3 decades of cooling, more papers (42 in total) predict global warming due to CO2 than cooling. Figure 1: Number of papers classified as predicting future global cooling (blue) or warming (red). In no year were there more global cooling papers than global warming papers.


Birthmarks are indicators of the MTHFR gene; “When people have MTHFR their chances of vaccine reactions increase because they cannot detox the toxins from the vaccines”

Every person has a gene that produces an enzyme called methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR gene), which converts folic acid into its active form folate, also called vitamin B9. This gene helps repair DNA and remove free radicals. People with some rare mutations in the gene may have an increased risk of developing skeletal and neurological problems or blood clots, due to a reduction in MTHFR enzyme activity. However, most of the common MTHFR mutations either do not affect enzyme activity or only require individuals with the mutation to supplement their diets with folic acid. No scientific evidence supports the claim that mutations in the MTHFR gene are associated with either birthmarks or a higher risk of adverse reactions to vaccines.


There’s no scientific evidence showing all cancers are caused by fungi. Cancer is the name for a group of diseases characterized by uncontrolled cell growth and proliferation. This occurs due to mutations that impair normal cellular “brakes” on cell growth and division. Risk factors differ from one type of cancer to another. Some cancers are associated with infectious agents like viruses, while other cancers are associated with exposure to certain chemicals.


“New medicine normalizes blood sugar levels after the first use”

In the 1990s, NIA researcher Dr. Josephine Egan and colleagues teamed with Amylin Pharmaceuticals to begin preclinical testing of exendin-4. By 1999, they reported that a single daily injection of exendin-4 given to diabetic mice was sufficient to normalize blood glucose concentration, with benefits evident by the end of the first week of treatment. Dr. Egan and her collaborators later found that exendin-4 increased insulin production and protected the insulin-producing cells against damage in humans, and that its effects lasted for hours. After further clinical testing, it was deemed to be safe and effective, and it received FDA approval in 2005.


Mounjaro is a new medication used to manage blood sugar levels in people who have type 2 diabetes. This medication offers weight loss and cardiovascular benefits, which can also help with insulin resistance. Mounjaro is a relatively new diabetes medication used to help improve blood sugar and A1C levels in people with type 2 diabetes. [...] Mounjaro is a new drug approved for people 18 years and older with type 2 diabetes. It can help improve insulin resistance, as well as aid in weight loss and improve blood sugar and A1C levels.


Whooping cough vaccine was never necessary, DTaP vaccine is linked to sudden infant death syndrome

One myth that won't seem to go away is that the DTP vaccine causes sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). This belief came about because a moderate proportion of children who die of SIDS have recently been vaccinated with DTP; on the surface, this seems to point toward a causal connection. This logic is faulty, however; you might as well say that eating bread causes car crashes, since most drivers who crash their cars could probably be shown to have eaten bread within the past 24 hours. If you consider that most SIDS deaths occur during the age range when three shots of DTP are given, you would expect DTP shots to precede a fair number of SIDS deaths simply by chance. In fact, when a number of well-controlled studies were conducted during the 1980s, the investigators found, nearly unanimously, that the number of SIDS deaths temporally associated with DTP vaccination was within the range expected to occur by chance. In other words, the SIDS deaths would have occurred even if no vaccinations had been given. In fact, in several of the studies, children who had recently received a DTP shot were less likely to get SIDS. The Institute of Medicine reported, "all controlled studies that have compared immunized versus non-immunized children have found either no association . . . or a decreased risk . . . of SIDS among immunized children," and concluded, "the evidence does not indicate a causal relation between [DTP] vaccine and SIDS."


Factually inaccurate: Studies have found no association between the DTaP vaccine and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Childhood vaccination isn’t a risk factor for SIDS. FULL CLAIM: The whooping cough vaccine was never needed because deaths had declined before the vaccine was available; the DTaP vaccine is associated with sudden infant death syndrome An Instagram reel posted in March 2024 suggested that the whooping cough vaccine was never needed, since whooping cough deaths had plummeted before the vaccine was available. It also implied that the DTaP vaccine is dangerous and associated with sudden infant death syndrome.


Surface air temperatures at the bottom of the world have risen three times faster than the global average since the 1990s.

Over that same time period, global average surface temperatures have increased 0.6°C, equating to a rate of 0.2°C per decade. So it’s accurate to say that South Pole temperatures have increased at three times the global average. But it’s important to note that this is a statement about the South Pole, specifically, and not broadly representative of Antarctica as a whole. As illustrated in the figure below, other Antarctic stations recorded a slower rate of warming, while others have even cooled over this time period. Unlike the Arctic, which has seen a widespread and rapid rate of warming, the Antarctic experiences particularly variable weather patterns. These are driven by natural oscillations of regional ocean surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation[2,3,4,5]. [...] REFERENCES - 1- Clem et al. (2020) Record warming at the South Pole during the past three decades, Nature Climate Change - 2- Simpkins et al. (2014) Tropical Connections to Climatic Change in the Extratropical Southern Hemisphere: The Role of Atlantic SST Trends, Journal of Climate - 3- van der Broeke and van Lipzig (2003) Factors Controlling the Near-Surface Wind Field in Antarctica, Monthly Weather Review - 4- Kowk and Comiso (2002) Spatial patterns of variability in Antarctic surface temperature: Connections to the Southern Hemisphere Annular Mode and the Southern Oscillation, Geophysical Research Letters - 5- Marshall and Thompson (2016) The signatures of large‐scale patterns of atmospheric variability in Antarctic surface temperatures, JGR Atmospheres


“Buy yourselves charcoal activated tablets […] it will counteract most date rape drugs”

Date rape drugs are substances that compromise an individual’s ability to give consent and are associated with drug-facilitated sexual assault. Activated charcoal binds to some poisons and medical drugs. In medical settings, it is given in poisoning cases where gastrointestinal decontamination is recommended. However, it is unlikely that charcoal activated tablets will work for date rape drugs because the amount of charcoal in these tablets is too low and charcoal needs to be taken soon after ingestion of a substance to be effective. Furthermore, activated charcoal does not work against alcohol, the most common date rape drug. Individuals who have been given a date rape drug should seek medical attention rather than rely on an activated charcoal tablet.


A Facebook post implores social media users to buy activated charcoal tablets and bring them to gatherings or night clubs. "Should you feel like you aren't yourself or out of place, drink one tablet & it will counteract most date rape drugs," said the post, which dates back to 2019 and continues to be shared. [...] A Facebook post claimed that charcoal activated tablets "will counteract most date rape drugs." [...] Health Feedback, Activated charcoal tablets are unlikely to be effective in counteracting date rape drugs; individuals who have been given date rape drugs should seek medical attention, June 29, 2021


"Activated" means the charcoal — made from wood, peat, or coconut shells — was heated, expanding its surface area. The charcoal clings to substances in the stomach, such as aspirin, and prevents the body from absorbing it. This is the reason people think that charcoal can help with hangovers; they believe it absorbs the alcohol, halting the icky symptoms associated with over-imbibing. [...] Activated charcoal does bind well to many prescription drugs, though. This means that people who rely on something like blood pressure medication and also take charcoal might make medication less effective. [...] Both Kirkpatrick and Lynch also warn that activated charcoal remains a supplement, which means it doesn't fall under the same regulation as prescription drugs.


COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are experimental, “ineffective and harmful”

The mRNA-LNP COVID-19 vaccines, based on early analysis of the clinical trial data, were deemed safe and effective across demographics (45, 46). However, recent peer-reviewed research studies, a wide variety of continuously increasing case reports, and publicly available adverse events databases cast doubts on the safety and effectiveness of these products. [...] Figure 1 COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are associated with higher incidence of adverse events compared to other vaccines. (A). Data derived from CDC VAERS and National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) were depicted as Lg (events/million doses) in the bar chart. The data for COVID-19 mRNA vaccine and other vaccines were from December 2020 to September 2023 and January 2006 to December 2021, respectively. The fold change was calculated as the Lg (events/million doses) ratio of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine to other vaccines or influenza vaccines.(B). Adverse events of concern associated with COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Data derived from CDC VAERS were analyzed, adverse events of concern (including AESI, adverse events of special interest, defined by CDC) were displayed as symptoms and their # of events, gender proportion and onset interval of each symptom.


Ineffective, harmful experimental COVID-19 vaccines – removal from the market 11.5.2022 [...] A recent study by the Charité University Hospital in Berlin on the ‘safety profiles of COVID-19 vaccines’ revealed that there are 40 times more cases of people with serious complications after being given these vaccines than previously reported by the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut. [...] - 1.Does the Commission think that the COVID-19 vaccines should be taken off the market until new and further information on the subject is available, especially as it is now known that they are ineffective as they do not prevent people from contracting the virus?


There are no FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines on the U.S market as of May 2023

There are FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. as of May 2023, contrary to claim by Peter McCullough [...] Factually inaccurate: The claim that there are no FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines as of 2023, is directly contradicted by FDA documents indicating approval of various COVID-19 vaccines. COVID-19 vaccine distribution began in the U.S. on 14 December 2020, following the authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier that month. Almost two and a half years later, in May 2023, participants in an Arizona Senate hearing claimed that there was no FDA-licensed and approved COVID-19 vaccine on the market. However, this is inaccurate and contradicted by the FDA’s own press releases.


- ^ "Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine". U.S. Food & Drug Administration. 11 December 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2024. [...] - ^ a b "(CDC) Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 Vaccine". U.S. Food & Drug Administration. 10 May 2023. [...] - ^ "Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine". U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 1 November 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2024.


Patent US5676977A is for AIDS, patent US8835624B1 is for H1N1, patents US7897744B2 and US8506968B2 are for SARS

Patents are often filed by individuals or groups to protect an invention. This prevents the invention from being commercially exploited by others without the patent owner’s consent. However, a patent can also be filed for products of nature like viruses and for other reasons apart from restricting the use of an invention. For example, public health agencies like the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention patent viruses to keep samples accessible to researchers, preventing a single party from monopolizing samples and restricting research efforts.


FULL CLAIM: Patent US5676977A is for AIDS, patent US8835624B1 is for H1N1, patents US20120251502A1 and CA2741523A1 are for Ebola, patent US8124101B2 is for swine flu, patent ATCC VR-84 is for Zika, patents US7897744B2 and US8506968B2 are for SARS, patent US10130701B2 is for coronavirus [...] This attribution is also inaccurate. This patent isn’t for the H1N1 influenza virus, which causes swine flu, but for an aptamer that binds specifically to the H1N1 influenza virus and ways of using the aptamer. It was filed in 2014 by researchers at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. An aptamer is a short strand of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) that can bind to proteins on cells and viruses, like antibodies. This feature makes aptamers potentially useful for discovery, diagnostic, and therapeutic purposes[1-3]. [...] The first is a patent for the genomic sequence of the virus SARS-CoV-1, which causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). It’s not a patent for the virus itself. It was filed in 2004 by the Public Health Agency of Canada.


VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people”

The claim: COVID-19 vaccines kill one in 1,000 recipients [...] "VAERS data is crystal clear: The COVID vaccines are killing an estimated 1 person per 1,000 doses (676,000 dead Americans)," reads the headline on a post by Steve Kirsch, a prominent skeptic of COVID-19 vaccine safety. [...] Kirsch questioned why a disproportionate number of deaths reported to VAERS for all vaccines came after COVID-19 vaccination. But Su said there are a number of possible explanations.


The VAERS database is a pharmacosurveillance tool used to detect early signs of unusual adverse event patterns following vaccination. However, on its own, it cannot prove that a vaccine caused the reported adverse events, including deaths. Therefore, VAERS data alone don’t show that COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous.


"VAERS data is crystal clear," the headline read. "The COVID vaccines are killing an estimated 1 person per 1,000 doses (676,000 dead Americans)." [...] Steve Kirsch’s Newsletter, "VAERS data is crystal clear: The COVID vaccines are killing an estimated 1 person per 1,000 doses (676,000 dead Americans)," Aug. 6, 2023 Health Feedback, "VAERS data don’t show that COVID-19 vaccines are deadly; Steve Kirsch’s claim to the contrary relied on flawed analysis," Aug. 6, 2023


CLAIM: The long-term tide gauge datasets are all in agreement that there is no acceleration, neither in the early nor in the recent parts of the records. Yes, they often porpoise a bit above and a bit below the trend line, but there is no evidence of any CO2-caused recent increase in the rate of sea-level rise. The satellite dataset, on the other hand, is a splice of a selected four of the nine available satellite sea-level datasets. The changes in trend seem to be associated with the splices. Unfortunately, this spliced record is both too short and too fractured to draw any conclusions about acceleration.


One thing which is not a matter of opinion is that all these data sets show acceleration. Their rates go both up and down in a complex pattern, but for all of them, modern times are dominated by increasing rates. The presence of acceleration — both throughout the record and in the most recent decades — is testified by every one of these data sets. [...] For all the satellite data sets, we can see the acceleration if we study their residuals from a straight-line fit, but we don’t trust "looks like" — we go with the statistical tests. They’re unanimous: acceleration. [...] The latest series of posts (about sea level) started with Dave Burton denying the existence of acceleration in tide gauge records from individual stations. We proved him wrong; he refused to admit his mistake. Our recent look at the satellite data from NOAA/STAR was because Kip Hansen claimed it not only failed to show acceleration, it demonstrated the absence of acceleration. We proved him wrong too, and he has yet to admit his mistake. As often happens with climate deniers, when confronted with actual analysis he resorted to claiming the data he picked wasn’t good enough to do the job.


Wenzel and Schröter (2010) and Ray and Douglas (2011) report that there is no significant acceleration of GMSLR in their time series. On the other hand, Jevrejeva et al. (2008) evaluate the acceleration of GMSLR as about 0.01 mm yr−2 for 1700–2003, while Church and White (2011) find 0.009 ± 0.004 mm yr−2 for 1900–2009. Church and White (2006) report an acceleration of 0.013 ± 0.006 mm yr−2 for 1870–2001 in an earlier version of the dataset of Church and White (2011). In this paper, we do not show results for the earlier version, but we have analyzed it in the same way as the other four tide gauge time series and the results are close to those we obtain for the later version.


2019 novel coronavirus contains 'pShuttle-SN' sequence proving laboratory origin

The genetic sequence, origin, and diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 - PMID: 32333222 - PMCID: PMC7180649 - DOI: 10.1007/s10096-020-03899-4 [...] Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a new infectious disease that first emerged in Hubei province, China, in December 2019, which was found to be associated with a large seafood and animal market in Wuhan. Airway epithelial cells from infected patients were used to isolate a novel coronavirus, named the SARS-CoV-2, on January 12, 2020, which is the seventh member of the coronavirus family to infect humans. Phylogenetic analysis of full-length genome sequences obtained from infected patients showed that SARS-CoV-2 is similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and uses the same cell entry receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), as SARS-CoV. The possible person-to-person disease rapidly spread to many provinces in China as well as other countries. Without a therapeutic vaccine or specific antiviral drugs, early detection and isolation become essential against novel Coronavirus. In this review, we introduced current diagnostic methods and criteria for the SARS-CoV-2 in China and discuss the advantages and limitations of the current diagnostic methods, including chest imaging and laboratory detection.


CLAIM this coronavirus genome contained sequences of another virus […] the HIV virus (AIDS virus) [...] VERDICT 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) does not contain "pShuttle-SN" sequence; no evidence that virus is man-made


Peer-reviewed studies, geologic records, and all the studies have shown that we have actually cooled since the Roman Warming Period, and likely since the Medieval Warming Period.

Claim that the Earth has cooled since Medieval or Roman times is contradicted by available data [...] A recent study1 analyzing a global database of paleoclimate records found that no previous warm or cool period in the last 2,000 years—including the Roman Warm Period and the Medieval Warm Period (also called the Medieval Climate Anomaly)—occurred globally and synchronously. But 20th Century temperatures were the warmest of the last 2,000 years for nearly the entire surface of the Earth. [...] 2) For the Northern Hemisphere (where we have much better proxy data and a better understanding of the uncertainties), we come to similar conclusions—in Wilson et al (2016)2 we find that the two warmest decades of our reconstruction (from 918 to 2004 CE) were 1994–2003 and 1946–1955. Coming in 3rd place is 1161–1170 CE. So, the latest in large-scale temperature reconstructions do NOT support a claim that temperatures either in the Medieval or Roman periods were warmer than today.


There have been regional climate events over the past 2,000 years, which can be seen in records of past climate. However, analysis of global temperatures for this time period shows that current warming is unique in its extent and has exceeded earlier temperatures.


[A] series of just-released studies by working-level scientists prove that geological and not atmospheric forces are responsible for melting of Earth’s polar ice sheets.

In what amounts to dissension from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) climate change policy, a series of just-released studies by working-level scientists prove that geological and not atmospheric forces are responsible for melting of Earth’s polar ice sheets. [...] It is now abundantly clear that even respected mainstream NASA geologists and glaciologists are advocating that formerly underappreciated geological forces working in concert with atmospheric forces are responsible for polar ice cap melting. Here we note that in many cases these geological forces are dominant and, in some cases, the complete cause of modern-day and ancient polar ice cap melting


In what amounts to dissension from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) climate change policy, a series of just-released studies by working-level scientists prove that geological and not atmospheric forces are responsible for melting of Earth’s polar ice sheets. [...] It is now abundantly clear that even respected mainstream NASA geologists and glaciologists are advocating that formerly under-appreciated geological forces working in concert with atmospheric forces are responsible for polar ice cap melting. Here we note that in many cases these geological forces are dominant and, in some cases, the complete cause of modern-day and ancient polar ice cap melting


Bill Gates-funded company released genetically modified mosquitoes in the U.S. and caused a malaria outbreak

CLAIM: Rare malaria cases reported in Florida and Texas recently were caused by a disease-control initiative backed by Bill Gates that involved releasing genetically modified mosquitoes in the U.S. [...] "JOIN THE DOTS - Bill Gates Funded company Oxitec released billions of mosquitoes in Florida & Texas," another tweet reads, suggesting a conspiracy is afoot to push a vaccine. "Malaria now in Florida & Texas for the first time in 20 years." [...] The foundation has indeed supported biotech company Oxitec, which is releasing modified mosquitoes in Florida as part of a disease-control initiative, though a spokesperson for the company said its U.S. work is not funded by the Gates Foundation.


Mosquitoes can transmit several deadly infectious diseases. The U.S.-owned biotechnology company Oxitec released genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida as part of a strategy to reduce the population of Aedes mosquitoes responsible for diseases like dengue and West Nile fever. However, these mosquitoes cannot transmit malaria because the parasite that causes malaria is only borne by Anopheles, a different genus of mosquito.


Genomic analyses of the novel coronavirus show that it was not engineered. In addition, the claim that its genome contains inserted HIV sequences is based on a now-withdrawn preprint of a study that contained significant flaws in design and execution. The so-called "HIV insertions" identified by the authors are in fact gene sequences that can also be found in many other organisms besides HIV. [...] Numerous articles published in April 2020 report that Nobel laureate Luc Montagnier claimed that "SARS-CoV-2 is a manipulated virus that was accidentally released from a laboratory in Wuhan, China" and that "Indian researchers have already tried to publish the results of the analyses that showed that this coronavirus genome contained sequences of another virus […] the HIV virus (AIDS virus)." The claim that SARS-CoV-2 contains "HIV insertions" began circulating in January 2020, and was propagated by outlets such as Zero Hedge and Infowars. Health Feedback covered this claim in early February 2020, and found it to be inaccurate. [...] The author of this article by European Scientist also compared the genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 and HIV using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST), developed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and found "no significant similarity", explaining that "In plain English, SARS-CoV-2 is not made of the bat coronavirus and small bits of the HIV virus." Readers who wish to verify the level of sequence identity between the two viruses for themselves are welcome to follow the steps listed in the article.


Genomic analyses of the novel coronavirus show that it was not engineered. In addition, the claim that its genome contains inserted HIV sequences is based on a now-withdrawn preprint of a study that contained significant flaws in design and execution. The so-called “HIV insertions” identified by the authors are in fact gene sequences that can also be found in many other organisms besides HIV.


The flu vaccine is your best defense against the flu. The flu vaccine is recommended every year in the fall or winter, ideally before the flu season starts. Almost everyone who is at least 6 months of age should get a flu vaccine. [...] The flu vaccine also helps protect people close to you because you're less likely to spread the flu to them if you're vaccinated. [...] The flu and other respiratory illnesses are caused by different viruses. The flu vaccine won't protect you against any other illnesses, such as COVID-19 or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Keeping up to date with all recommended vaccinations will help protect you through the respiratory illness season.


Flu vaccines are safe and the best way to protect yourself against getting sick. Getting a flu vaccine reduces your risk of getting the flu and reduces your risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death if you do get it. [...] Flu vaccines are made using killed flu viruses (for inactivated vaccines), or without flu virus at all (for recombinant vaccines). You cannot get the flu from a flu vaccine. [...] Flu is very contagious and easily spreads through contact with someone who is sick. The virus spreads mainly by droplets produced when someone who is sick coughs, sneezes or talks. People can become sick if these droplets or infected mucus or saliva enter their eyes, nose or mouth.


Why Your Flu Shot Matters Now More Than Ever With flu and other respiratory viruses circulating at the same time, getting a flu shot will help provide you with added protection against viral illness. Getting the vaccine means you have a lower chance of getting the flu and passing it to others, including those who are at higher risk for getting hospitalized or dying. Fewer hospitalizations from flu helps reduce strain on our healthcare system. The flu vaccine is safe and effective. Take control of your health and help protect others, too. [...] Many health insurance plans cover flu shots as part of a wellness plan. Check with your provider for coverage. Flu vaccine can be found at area pharmacies, community health clinics, and many providers. Below are some additional resources for low cost/free flu shots. Check their website or call for the latest information.


a [group] of people is injecting fruits with blood containing HIV and AIDS

1. No one is injecting fruit with HIV-positive blood. This particular urban legend is not a new one, but it got a boost again this week on Facebook: Since the beginning of November, hundreds of people have re-shared a long debunked post about "HIV-positive" oranges, and on Nov. 9, a woman named Anna Aquavia kicked off a new scare about some mysterious villain "injecting blood into bananas." [...] As for the oranges, that rumor started last February, when a woman named Ty Smith claimed that "the immigration services of Algeria" intercepted a batch of Libyan oranges that had been injected with "Hiv & AIDS blood." For one thing, Libya has exported only a negligible number of oranges since 2007, according to the UN, and those have all gone to Egypt. For another, agricultural inspections wouldn’t be handled by immigration. On top of all that, the HIV virus cannot survive outside the human body. From the Centers for Disease Control:


A soup made of garlic, onions, thyme, and lemon can replace the flu shot and cure other illnesses such as the common cold and norovirus

Next, simmer the soup. Add the vinegar, thyme, tamari, and garlic to the onions, and stir, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Stir in a few tablespoons of flour, which will thicken the soup as it cooks, and then add the wine. Finally, add the broth and simmer the soup, uncovered, for 30 minutes. [...] Ingredients - 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil - 3 pounds medium yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced - ¾ teaspoon sea salt - 1½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar - 1½ tablespoons tamari - 1½ tablespoons fresh thyme leaves - 3 garlic cloves, minced - 3 tablespoons all-purpose white flour - 1 cup dry white wine - 6 cups vegetable broth - Freshly ground black pepper [...] Instructions - Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, salt, and several grinds of pepper and toss to combine. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 40 minutes, stirring every few minutes, or until the onions are very soft. Increase the heat to medium and cook 15 to 20 more minutes, stirring often, until golden brown. Add the vinegar, tamari, thyme, and garlic and stir. Sprinkle the flour on the onions, stir, and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the wine and cook 2 minutes, or until evaporated. Add the broth and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes.


The flu vaccine is the most effective method for preventing serious complications or illness caused by the influenza virus. While ingredients like garlic, onion, thyme, and lemon possess antioxidants and antimicrobial properties, there is limited evidence to suggest that they prevent or eliminate viral infections. “Natural” remedies actually recommended by medical professionals to accelerate recovery from viral infections are sleep and hydration.


The spike protein induced by COVID-19 vaccines is toxic and causes diseases and deaths; nattokinase can counter these effects

All available evidence from clinical trials and safety monitoring indicates that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and not associated with a rise in medical conditions and mortality. COVID-19 vaccines are also safe and recommended for pregnant women, who are at a higher risk of severe COVID-19 and pregnancy complications associated with the disease. Furthermore, COVID-19 vaccines haven’t been shown to be toxic, making so-called “detoxes” unnecessary.


Nattokinase can be described as an enzyme extracted and purified from a Japanese food identified as Natto [69]. The production of natto takes place via fermentation following the addition of the bacterium Bacillus natto to soybeans, resulting in the production of the nattokinase enzyme [63]. Nattokinase has been demonstrated to exert several health effects, including anti-atherosclerotic, lipid-lowering, antihypertensive, antithrombotic, fibrinolytic, neuroprotective, antiplatelet, and anticoagulant effects [68]. The degradative effect of nattokinase, a serine protease derived from fermented soybeans, on the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 was reported [64]. Studies have been carried out to investigate the effectiveness of nattokinase against viral infections, such as SARS-CoV-2 [69]. The effect of Nattokinasse against COVID-19 spike protein has also been tested by several authors. As reported by Tanikawa et al., (2022), nattokinase could degrade the spike protein and reduce its binding affinity to the human ACE2 receptor, which is the entry point for SARS-CoV-2 infection [64]. They also found that nattokinase could inhibit the pseudovirus infection of human lung epithelial cells. The authors suggest that nattokinase may have potential as a therapeutic agent for COVID-19 by neutralizing or removing the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2.


The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the rapid production of vaccines aimed at the production of neutralizing antibodies against the COVID-19 spike protein required for the corona virus binding to target cells. The best well-known vaccines have utilized either mRNA or an adenovirus vector to direct human cells to produce the spike protein against which the body produces mostly neutralizing antibodies. However, recent reports have raised some skepticism as to the biologic actions of the spike protein and the types of antibodies produced. One paper reported that certain antibodies in the blood of infected patients appear to change the shape of the spike protein so as to make it more likely to bind to cells, while other papers showed that the spike protein by itself (without being part of the corona virus) can damage endothelial cells and disrupt the blood-brain barrier. These findings may be even more relevant to the pathogenesis of long-COVID syndrome that may affect as many as 50% of those infected with SARS-CoV-2. In COVID-19, a response to oxidative stress is required by increasing anti-oxidant enzymes. In this regard, it is known that polyphenols are natural anti-oxidants with multiple health effects. [...] Could SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Be Responsible for Long-COVID Syndrome?Mol Neurobiol. 2022 Mar;59(3):1850-1861. doi: 10.1007/s12035-021-02696-0. Epub 2022 Jan 13. Mol Neurobiol. 2022. PMID: 35028901 Free PMC article. Review. [...] Adenovirus Vaccine Containing Truncated SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein S1 Subunit Leads to a Specific Immune Response in Mice.Vaccines (Basel). 2023 Feb 13;11(2):429. doi: 10.3390/vaccines11020429. Vaccines (Basel). 2023. PMID: 36851306 Free PMC article.


Global COVID Vaccine Safety study shows that COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous, inadequately tested; getting vaccinated is more dangerous than getting COVID-19

Global COVID Vaccine Safety study identified already-known risks, doesn’t show that risks are greater than benefits No medical intervention, including vaccines, is entirely free of risk. While COVID-19 vaccines are associated with a risk of certain health problems, including myocarditis and a particular type of blood clot, COVID-19 is associated with a much greater risk of developing cardiovascular, neurological, and hematological disorders compared to the vaccines. Getting vaccinated reduces the risk of severe disease and death. The benefits of COVID-19 vaccines outweigh their risks. [...] Many of these posts cited the study to promote claims that COVID-19 vaccines were dangerous, or that they weren’t adequately tested, or that the vaccines posed greater risks than COVID-19 itself. The headlines of several articles, such as this one by the Gateway Pundit and another by RT (formerly Russia Today), also simply described the study as having found health problems linked to COVID-19 vaccines with no preamble.


No medical intervention, including vaccines, is entirely free of risk. While COVID-19 vaccines are associated with a risk of certain health problems, including myocarditis and a particular type of blood clot, COVID-19 is associated with a much greater risk of developing cardiovascular, neurological, and hematological disorders compared to the vaccines. Getting vaccinated reduces the risk of severe disease and death. The benefits of COVID-19 vaccines outweigh their risks.


Vaccination should not be delayed in anticipation of newer versions of the COVID-19 vaccine. For people at a high risk of getting severe COVID-19, a dose of any available vaccine is more beneficial than delaying vaccination. [...] Billions of people have received the COVID-19 vaccine to date, showing that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccinations outweigh the risks of getting ill with COVID-19. Do not delay COVID-19 vaccination if it is recommended for you by your health care provider. Getting vaccinated could protect you from severe illness and save your life. [...] More serious or long-lasting side effects of COVID-19 vaccines are possible but extremely rare. National health authorities monitor vaccines to detect and respond to rare adverse events. At the regional and global level, WHO also supports countries in monitoring vaccine safety.


Detrimental effects of high salt intake on blood pressure (BP), especially systolic BP, are well documented in the literature [1,2,3]. High BP, a primary modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) [4], can be prevented and managed with reduced salt intake [5]. For this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends intakes of less than 5 g/day of salt, or 2 g/day of sodium, in adults for chronic disease prevention [3]. [...] Migdal KU, Robinson AT, Watso JC, Babcock MC, Serrador JM, Farquhar WB. A high-salt meal does not augment blood pressure responses during maximal exercise. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2020;45:123–8. [...] Arcand J, Wong MMY, Santos JA, Leung AA, Trieu K, Thout SR, et al. More evidence that salt increases blood pressure and risk of kidney disease from the Science of Salt: A regularly updated systematic review of salt and health outcomes (April–July 2016). J Clin Hypertens. 2017;19:813–23.


there are no studies that prove vaccines don’t cause autism

A new meta-analysis of 10 studies involving more than 1.2 million children reaffirms that vaccines don’t cause autism; MMR shot may actually decrease risk May 19, 2014A meta-analysis of ten studies involving more than 1.2 million children reaffirms that vaccines don’t cause autism. If anything, immunization was associated with decreased risk that children would develop autism, a possibility that’s strongest with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. [...] "This analysis provides further confirmation for a lack of association between vaccines and autism that the broader healthcare community has understood and embraced for some time," comments Autism Speaks Chief Science Officer Rob Ring. "Autism Speaks’ own policy on vaccines echoes those of other credible healthcare organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization. We strongly encourage parents to work with their physician to ensure their children receive the full benefits immunization offers in protecting their loved ones against a variety of preventable childhood diseases."


A wide array of studies examining different vaccines, including the ones specified in ICAN’s lawsuit, demonstrate that there is no association between vaccines and autism.


“Coronavirus quickly spread around the world as early as October 2019”

Viruses accumulate mutations in their genomes as they spread from person to person. By comparing the genomes of different SARS-CoV-2 samples collected at different times in different places, and by combining these data with contact tracing data, it is possible to establish the genealogy and mutation rate of SARS-CoV-2, and thereby trace its origin and when and where it spread. Current data indicates that SARS-CoV-2 made its jump from animals to humans sometime during Fall 2019 and had already spread outside of China by January 2020.


The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV, or COVID-19) epidemic first broke out in Wuhan and has been spreading in whole China and the world. The numbers of new infections and deaths in Wuhan are still increasing, which have posed major public health and governance concerns. A series of mandatory actions have been taken by the municipal and provincial governments supported by the central government, such as measures to restrict travels across cities, case detection and contact tracing, quarantine, guidance and information to the public, detection kit development, etc. Challenges such as lacking effective drugs, insufficient hospital services and medical supplies, logistics, etc. have much alleviated with the solidarity of the whole society. The pandemic will definitely be ended with the continuous efforts of both national and international multi-sectoral bodies. Since December 2019, a new type of coronavirus called novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV, or COVID-19) was identified in Wuhan, China. The COVID-19 has then rapidly spread to all over China and the world. It can cause symptoms including fever, difficulty in breathing, cough, and invasive lesions on both lungs of the patients [1]. It can spread to the lower respiratory tract and cause viral pneumonia. In severe cases, patients suffer from dyspnea and respiratory distress syndrome.


We do not know if CO2 is the cause of global warming

Why does CO2 drive global warming when there is only 0.04% of it in the atmosphere? And why isn’t water vapor the major driving factor? [...] Both water vapor and CO2 are responsible for global warming, and once we increase the CO2 in the atmosphere, the oceans warm up, which inevitably triggers an increase in water vapor. But while we have no way to control water vapor, we can control CO2. And because we are increasing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by continuing to burn fossil fuels, even in relatively small amounts compared to the entire mass of the atmosphere, we are disturbing the entire heat balance of the planet. For more information on how carbon dioxide traps heat, why water vapor isn’t the culprit, and answers to several other interesting questions, check out this post: How Exactly Does Carbon Dioxide Cause Global Warming?


Masks do nothing to prevent the spread of pathogens

A few weeks ago, I was surprised upon glancing at The New York Times to see a front-page article claiming that new scientific evidence showed conclusively that wearing masks does nothing to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (Bret Stephens. The mask mandates did nothing. Will any lessons be learned? The New York Times; 21 February 2023). Even the high-quality surgical-standard N95 masks. This opinion piece by Bret Stephens reported on what he described as "the most rigorous and comprehensive analysis" of the effects of masks, published in Cochrane Reviews, a healthcare journal. Masks, he claimed, have no effect. [...] Fortunately, there are still people trying to build actual knowledge about important matters, without deciding in advance what their conclusions will be. An excellent illustration is a review article (Mira L. Pöhlker et al., Rev. Mod. Phys.; in the press; preprint available at https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.01188) looking at what we know about the aerosols and droplets that are expelled by individuals suffering from a number of respiratory pathogens. It considers the complicated physics of how these particles are generated in the respiratory tract, how they behave in the air and how far they generally travel, as well as how well masks do in blocking their passage. [...] Conclusion? Masks do have an effect. They do work, imperfectly, to stop pathogens spreading. Intuitively, I’m not in the least surprised, but it’s nice to see some detailed evidence.


Sea-level rise does not seem to depend on ocean temperature, and certainly not on CO2

Happer, for example, says that climate-change advocates ignore the fact that there have been several periods, including the last 10 years, in which there has been no warming, and that temperatures in fact cooled during the period from roughly 1940 to 1970. Sea levels are indeed rising, he also says, but they have been rising since the end of the last Ice Age, and there is no evidence that the rate is increasing. Suckewer adds that his own research has convinced him that human activity has little to do with rising CO2 levels, much of which is caused by water vapor and ocean currents. Those forces, he says, are so vast, complex, and imperfectly understood that efforts to "fix" them would be folly. [...] One more crucial observation is that rising sea levels are almost certainly not the most immediate threat implied by the current dynamics within the world meteorological system. Much more devastating would be more frequent and violent weather events, severe multiyear shifts in rainfall patterns producing destructive floods or droughts, collapse of ecosystems upon which human populations depend, and the interruption of the flow of major ocean currents due to buildup of fresh water on the surface of the oceans. Any or all of the above could occur without any major shift in the mean values of any "key variable" such as CO2 emissions.


Warming temperatures contribute to sea level rise by: expanding ocean water; melting mountain glaciers and ice caps; and causing portions of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets to melt or flow into the ocean.Since 1870, global sea level has risen by about 7.5 inches.[2] Estimates of future sea level rise vary for different regions, but global sea level for the next century is expected to rise at a greater rate than during the past 50 years.[2] Studies project global sea level to rise by another 1 to 4 feet by 2100, with an uncertainty range of 0.66 to 6.6 feet.[1] [...] Regional and local factors will influence future relative sea level rise for specific coastlines around the world. For example, relative sea level rise depends on land elevation changes that occur as a result of subsidence (sinking) or uplift (rising). Assuming that these historical geological forces continue, a 2-foot rise in global sea level by 2100 would result in the following relative sea level rise:- 2.3 feet at New York City - 2.9 feet at Hampton Roads, Virginia - 3.5 feet at Galveston, Texas - 1 foot at Neah Bay in Washington state Relative sea level rise also depends on local changes in currents, winds, salinity, and water temperatures, as well as proximity to thinning ice sheets.[2]


Whereas our CMIP5 analysis supports the hypothesis that seasonal-to-interannual sea level variability will increase relative to changes in ocean temperature variability due to nonlinearity of the EOS, the EOS alone does not constrain future sea level variability to increase in a warming ocean. From this perspective, future sea level variability could also remain constant with reduced temperature variability. Indeed, CMIP5 models diverge substantially in the projected amount of sea level variability increase because of the uncertainty in ocean temperature variability changes (respectively, stippling in Figs. 1c, d and 4c, d; see also shading in Fig. 6). Certainly also contributing to future sea level and temperature variability changes in CMIP5 are changes in the variability of atmospheric forcing. Because such forcing impacts variability in the oceans locally as well as globally, the effects of atmospheric changes are difficult to separate from those of increased oceanic thermal expansion and stratification in coupled climate model simulations. For this reason, we consider how thermal expansion and stratification impact sea level and thermocline variability (a proxy for temperature variability) in an analytic, reduced-gravity ocean model prescribed with future warming but otherwise unchanged atmospheric forcing.


AIDS was cured in more than a dozen patients

Weill Cornell Medicine’s more than 30 years of HIV/AIDS clinical trial expertise will be particularly helpful in advancing work the team is doing with the Believe in a Cure Martin Delaney Collaboratory funded by a $28 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The NIH awards the highly competitive grant to investigators with proven experience in innovative vaccine and immunotherapy research. Dr. Nixon is the principal investigator of the project and he and Dr. Jones collaborate with more than a dozen other scientists from Mexico, Canada and Brazil to find and advance the most promising approaches to an HIV cure. Existing therapies for HIV can keep the virus in check and eliminate many of the symptoms associated with advanced AIDS, but if patients stop taking the medications the virus and symptoms come back. A cure would completely eliminate the virus or prevent it from causing symptoms, and may allow patients to discontinue HIV medications and avoid their side effects.


There is currently no effective cure for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), the chronic and potentially life-threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Claims of curing AIDS via an alkaline food diet are unsupported by scientific evidence and potentially harmful.


the IPCC is wrong − the sun, not CO2, drove modern global warming

This article presents a long list of inaccurate claims, but focuses on the idea that the Sun—rather than human-caused greenhouse gas emissions—is responsible for global warming. The available evidence and research clearly shows that this claim is incorrect. Measured patterns of warming, and monitoring of incoming solar energy, rule out the Sun as the source of warming. [...] Solar forcing is much smaller than CO2 forcing. As this figure from the latest IPCC report shows, CO2 radiative forcing (1.68 W/m2) dwarfs solar forcing (0.05 W/m2). Along with other greenhouse gases, CO2 dominates the total radiative forcing when all positive and negative factors are taken into account. [...] There is strong evidence that solar forcing cannot explain much of the observed warming at all. The "fingerprint" of solar forcing does not match the observed changes at all, neither over time nor space. Solar forcing would warm both the stratosphere and the surface of the Earth, whereas CO2 warms the surface (and the troposphere) but cools the stratosphere. Using radiosondes and (more recently) satellites, we have observed a warming surface and troposphere together with a cooling stratosphere. See Santer et al (2013)* for one of many studies providing this evidence.


There isn’t yet any empirical evidence for their claim that greenhouse gases even cause temperatures to increase.

Lindzen accepts the main principle of the greenhouse effect, that increasing greenhouse gases (like CO2) will cause a radiative forcing that, all other things being equal, will cause the surface to warm. He uses an odd measure of its effectiveness though, claiming that a doubling of CO2 will lead to a ‘2%’ increase in the greenhouse effect. How has he defined the greenhouse effect here? Well, a doubling of CO2 is about a 4 W/m2 forcing at the tropopause, which is roughly 2% of the total upward longwave (LW) (~240 W/m2). But does that even make sense as a definition of the greenhouse effect? Not really. On a planet with no greenhouse effect (but similar albedo) the upward LW would also be 240 W/m2, but the absorbed LW in the atmosphere would be zero, so it would make much more sense to define the greenhouse effect as the amount of LW absorbed (~150 W/m2). In which case, doubling of CO2 is initially slightly more*, but as soon as any feedbacks (particularly water vapour or ice albedo changes) kick in, that would increase.


Some scientists propose that greenhouse gases act like a blanket surrounding Earth, keeping Earth approximately 33 oC warmer than expected for a planet at Earth’s distance from Sun. Blankets are well-known to slow the loss of thermal energy from a body of matter, but a blanket has no way to increase the amplitudes of oscillation at every frequency of oscillation. A blanket cannot be the source of new thermal energy required to increase the temperature of the body under the blanket, unless it is an electric blanket that adds thermal energy from somewhere else. [...] What is most surprising, given the importance of greenhouse gases in today’s politics, is that greenhouse gases absorbing infrared radiation have never been shown by experiment, a cornerstone of the scientific method, to cause any significant increase in air temperature as explained at JustProveCO2.com. Greenhouse gases absorbing infrared radiation have never been shown by experiment to cause any significant increase in air temperature.


18 proxies tell us the world was the same or warmer 1,000 years ago

The temperature record of the last 2,000 years is reconstructed using data from climate proxy records in conjunction with the modern instrumental temperature record which only covers the last 170 years at a global scale. Large-scale reconstructions covering part or all of the 1st millennium and 2nd millennium have shown that recent temperatures are exceptional: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report of 2007 concluded that "Average Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the second half of the 20th century were very likely higher than during any other 50-year period in the last 500 years and likely the highest in at least the past 1,300 years." The curve shown in graphs of these reconstructions is widely known as the hockey stick graph because of the sharp increase in temperatures during the last century. As of 2010[update] this broad pattern was supported by more than two dozen reconstructions, using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records, with variations in how flat the pre-20th-century "shaft" appears. Sparseness of proxy records results in considerable uncertainty for earlier periods.[2] [...] The 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report cited 14 reconstructions, 10 of which covered 1,000 years or longer, to support its conclusion that "Average Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the second half of the 20th century were very likely higher than during any other 50-year period in the last 500 years and likely the highest in at least the past 1,300 years".[7]


Although periods of regional warming or cooling can be caused by natural variability (or events like volcanic eruptions), human-caused warming of the entire planet has led to the highest global temperatures of the last 2,000 years.


Sweden Bans Mandatory Vaccinations Over 'Serious Heath [sic] Concerns'

Sweden did not reject proposals to implement mandatory vaccination policies because of serious health concerns, but because health care - including vaccination - is always voluntary. Vaccine uptake in Sweden remains high even though vaccination is voluntary, demonstrating that public confidence in vaccines is strong.


The current solar minimum could last for more than three decades which could lead to temperatures plummeting across the globe, scientists have warned.

Misunderstanding of science: A solar minimum would not cause cold weather across the globe. [...] UPDATE (19 August 2019): The article has been corrected again, removing the incorrect claim about Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the Maunder Minimum and clarifying the likely climate impact of a hypothetical grand solar minimum in the future. [...] While regional and seasonal effects might be larger, the expected global temperature response to a future grand solar minimum similar to the Maunder Minimum is a cooling of about 0.1°C. It should be pointed out that this cooling would occur on the background of current anthropogenic warming which is about a factor of 10 larger. To claim that temperatures will fall dramatically is thus not really justified. It is also clear from these numbers that a future grand solar minimum (which would last only for a few decades anyway) would not save us from global warming, as we have shown in a scientific paper and explained here. The marginal temperature differences between warming scenarios with and without a future Maunder Minimum is illustrated here:


The most famous example of this is the Maunder minimum, which saw seven decades of freezing weather, began in 1645 and lasted through to 1715, and happened when sunspots were exceedingly rare. [...] Now, scientists are concerned that we could face another prolonged solar minimum again. [...] The researchers stated in the study published in the journal Nature: "Recently discovered long-term oscillations of the solar background magnetic field associated with double dynamo waves generated in inner and outer layers of the Sun indicate that the solar activity is heading in the next three decades (2019–2055) to a Modern grand minimum similar to Maunder one."


Express articles repeat this claim frequently, but research does not support the idea of imminent global cooling due to low solar activity. It is not known that a "grand solar minimum" will occur, but even if it did, the temperature effect would be much smaller than human-caused warming.


Vaccines, MTHFR mutation, and glyphosate lead to autism in children with brain injury

As one of the key enzymes in metabolic regulation, MTHFR is also one of the important candidate genes for common neurodevelopmental disorders. More than 10 mutations have been found contributing to effects of the MTHFR enzyme, of which C677T is one of the most common mutations found up to the present (24, 25). Decreased enzyme activity and heat tolerance caused by mutations can lead to folic acid metabolic abnormalities, methylation abnormalities, and neurodevelopmental disorders (17). This study suggested that carriers of MTHFR 677T allele were more likely to show an increased risk of autism than carriers of CC homozygotes (P = 0.004, OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.02–1.29), to some extent, which verifies that MTHFR may be one of the predisposing genes for autism. Paşca et al. (39) first reported the association between MTHFR C677T and risk of autism; however, it was a small sample study that just was carried out in 15 cases of autism and 25 cases of autism spectrum disorders. However, dos Santos (40) did not find any association between MTHFR C677T and risk of autism in Brazilian population.


COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020. More than two years later, the disease has caused about 1 million deaths in the U.S. and an estimated 15 million excess deaths worldwide, according to health agencies.


changes in the solar orbit of the earth, along with alterations to the earth’s axial tilt, are both responsible for what climate scientists today have dubbed as “warming”[...]. In no way, shape, or form are humans warming or cooling the planet

Even more subtle motions exist. The circle traced out in the sky by the North Pole has little wobbles on it, because of a sort of rocking motion called nutation. Over a cycle of about 41,000 years, the tilt of the spin axis actually varies from about 22 to 25 degrees. In the first part of the 20th century the Serbian mathematician Milutin Milankovitch proposed that such variations in tilt, along with slight changes in the shape of Earth’s orbit, have triggered climate change in the past. Climate scientists now widely accept this model as explaining one of the many triggers of the onset and ending of ice ages. [...] Taking into account all that has been learned about Earth’s past and present, one can speculate in an informed way about what the future may hold for the planet. This involves exploring two basic scenarios: one in which humans have no effect or role and another in which people influence the course of events in various possible ways.


“Autism is nothing more than mercury toxicity“; vaccine ingredients are toxic

Mercury, vaccines, and autism: one controversy, three histories - PMID: 18172138 - PMCID: PMC2376879 - DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.113159 Mercury, vaccines, and autism: one controversy, three histories [...] Mercury, vaccines, and autism, revisited.Am J Public Health. 2008 Aug;98(8):1350; author reply 1350-1. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2008.138776. Epub 2008 Jun 12. Am J Public Health. 2008. PMID: 18556596 Free PMC article. No abstract available.


Study in Italy shows nearly 1 in 3 COVID vaccine recipients have neurological side effects, indicating an “unacceptable” safety profile

In summary, although we find an increased risk of neurological complications in those who received COVID-19 vaccines, the risk of these complications is greater following a positive SARS-CoV-2 test. [...] Since the start of large-scale vaccine programs across the world, additional case reports have linked other neurological adverse events to COVID-19 vaccination, including Guillain–Barré syndrome9,10,11. Furthermore, surveillance studies have found a possible link between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and neurological events, including Guillain–Barré syndrome and myelitis12,13. However, case reports and surveillance studies are limited by small numbers, as well as potential selection and recording biases. Therefore, detailed assessments of potential neurological adverse events associated with COVID-19 vaccines and infection are urgently needed.


Melting of Arctic sea ice and polar icecaps is not occurring at ‘unnatural’ rates and does not constitute evidence of a human impact on the climate.

2014 is set to be one of the hottest years on record. This comes at a time when Arctic summer sea ice melted to its sixth-lowest extent this year: 1.9m square miles. 2012 still holds the record, with just 1.32m square miles of sea ice by the summer’s end. [...] Before human-propelled climate change began to warm the Arctic, the summer and winter extents of Arctic sea ice were fairly consistent from year to year, and a good deal of Arctic sea ice would endure over multiple years to form a resilient, year-round layer of ice over the ocean, helping to keep temperatures cool. [...] As warming conditions over the past few decades have intensified summer melting of the Arctic ice cap, more of the ocean’s surface has been exposed to the sun’s rays. When solar rays hit sea ice, the light-colored ice reflects much of it back into space; this effect is called "albedo." Open, dark Arctic Ocean water absorbs a lot more solar energy than it reflects, however, warming the sea water. This makes it harder for new ice to form in the fall and winter, and for multi-year ice to last through the summer.


Insightful Bloomberg coverage on the rapidly changing Arctic: sea ice melt and permafrost thawing in Bloomberg, by Blacki Migliozzi & Eric Roston — 21 Apr 2017 Declining Arctic sea ice cover and thawing permafrost are both complex feedbacks that amplify global warming: The loss of reflective sea ice means more sunlight absorbed by the dar... [...] Heartland Institute report incorrectly claims no evidence of human impacts in melting ice


ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit

Research has shown that people with ADHD exhibit differences in brain structure and function compared to typical people (i.e. those without the disorder). Several genes associated with ADHD risk have also been identified. In short, ADHD is a genuine neurodevelopmental disorder, and not simply fabricated for profit.


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.’


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.


“No childhood vaccine has ever been through a double blind placebo controlled trial.”

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.


Thai princess “most likely a victim of the jab”, Thailand “could become the first country in the world to nullify the contract between the government and Pfizer”

"We Will See to it that Thailand is the First Country in the World that is Going to Declare this Contract Null" If the Thai Government Goes After the Pfizer Jabs, Might Other Countries Follow Suit? [...] Princess Ong Bha was supposedly boosted with the Pfizer vaccine 23 days before her collapse. The King of Thailand is being advised that his daughter’s collapse, which she is extremely unlikely to ever recover from, may be related to safe and effective jabs. Advisors to the King want the contract with Pfizer declared null and void.


FULL CLAIM: Thai princess "most likely a victim of the jab", collapsed "days after receiving her booster shot"; Thailand "could become the first country in the world to nullify the contract between the government and Pfizer" On 15 December 2022, Princess Bajrakitiyabha of the Thai royal family collapsed into a coma and no news of her health has been shared since then. In January 2023, retired microbiologist Sucharit Bhakdi claimed in an interview posted on Rumble that the princess’ collapse was due to COVID-19 vaccines and that Thai officials were considering canceling the vaccine supply contract with Pfizer. [...] In summary, official statements attributed the princess’ collapse to a bacterial infection, not the COVID-19 vaccines. No proof to the contrary has been brought forth by Morris or Bhakdi. Official statements also confirmed that Thailand wasn’t planning to void its contract with Pfizer.


"A third of Antarctic ice shelf risks collapse as our planet warms"

Ice shelves are floating sheets of ice that are connected to land masses. They gain and lose surface ice over time depending on snowfall and atmospheric and ocean temperatures. A recent study found that 34% of the Antarctic ice shelf is vulnerable to collapse under a future climate scenario that is 4°C above pre-industrial levels.


Long-term thinning from surface and basal melting preconditions the ice shelf to collapse. Negative mass balances on tributary glaciers can lead to thinning of the glaciers and ice shelves. The highest rates of thinning are where relatively warm ocean currents can access the base of ice shelves through deep troughs[9,10]. Ice-shelf structure seems to be important, with sutures between tributary glaciers resulting in weaker areas of thinner ice, which are susceptible to rifting[11]. [...] Increased atmospheric temperatures lead to surface melting and ponding on the ice surface. Catastrophic ice-shelf collapsed tend to occur after a relatively warm summer season, with increased surface melting[12]. Based on the seasonality of ice shelf break up, and the geographic distribution of ice shelf collapse near the southerly-progressing -9°C isotherm, it appears that surface ponding is necessary for ice-shelf collapse[12]. This meltwater melts downwards into the ice shelf, causing fractures and leading to rapid ice-berg calving[5, 12]. Increased surface meltwater also leads to snow saturation, filling crevasses with water and increasing hydrostatic pressures. Brine infiltration can also cause crack over deepening. [...] With glaciers thinning, accelerating and receding in response to ice shelf collapse[20, 21], more ice is directly transported into the oceans, making a direct contribution to sea level rise. Sea level rise due to ice shelf collapse is as yet limited, but large ice shelves surrounding some of the major Antarctic glaciers could be at risk, and their collapse would result in a significant sea level rise contribution[22]. See Marine Ice Sheet Instability for more information.


Third of Antarctic ice shelf area at risk of collapse as planet warms More than a third of the Antarctic's ice shelf area could be at risk of collapsing into the sea if global temperatures reach 4°C above pre-industrial levels, new research has shown. [...] It found that 34% of the area of all Antarctic ice shelves—around half a million square kilometers—including 67% of ice shelf area on the Antarctic Peninsula, would be at risk of destabilization under 4°C of warming. Limiting temperature rise to 2°C rather than 4°C would halve the area at risk and potentially avoid significant sea level rise.


You have a 0.03[%] chance of dying from [COVID-19] in the state of California. [...] it’s similar to the flu.

Coronavirus death rate: What are the chances of dying? The UK government's scientific advisers believe that the chances of dying from a coronavirus infection are between 0.5% and 1%. This is lower than the rate of death among confirmed cases - which is 4% globally in WHO figures and 5% in the UK as of March 23 - because not all infections are confirmed by testing.


'Global warming' is a myth — so say 80 graphs from 58 peer-reviewed scientific papers published in 2017.

Now Updated: 300 Non-Hockey Stick Graphs "[W]hen it comes to disentangling natural variability from anthropogenically affected variability the vast majority of the instrumental record may be biased." — Büntgen et al., 2017 [...] Stenni et al., 2017 "A recent effort to characterize Antarctic and sub-Antarctic climate variability during the last 200 years also concluded that most of the trends observed since satellite climate monitoring began in 1979 CE cannot yet be distinguished from natural (unforced) climate variability (Jones et al., 2016), and are of the opposite sign [cooling, not warming] to those produced by most forced climate model simulations over the same post-1979 CE interval. … (1) Temperatures over the Antarctic continent show an overall cooling trend during the period from 0 to 1900CE, which appears strongest in West Antarctica, and (2) no continent-scale warming of Antarctic temperature is evident in the last century." [...] Rydval et al., 2017 "[T]he recent summer-time warming in Scotland is likely not unique when compared to multi-decadal warm periods observed in the 1300s, 1500s, and 1730s"


“There is a cure to every d!isease”; herbs can cure cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s

Herbs for Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, and the Aging Brain: What the Research Has to Say [...] Decisions about dementia care are complicated and deeply personal, especially as the disease progresses. Research suggests that herbs may support cognitive function and relieve behavioral symptoms of dementia. If you choose to employ herbs for dementia or Alzheimer’s, discuss your decision with your healthcare practitioner, start early, and be mindful of the potential for herb-drug interactions. [...] Man, S.C., Durairajan, S.S., Kum, W.F., Lu, J.H., Huang, J.D., Cheng, C.F., … Li, M. (2008). Systematic review on the efficacy and safety of herbal medicines for Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 14(2), 209–223. https://doi.org/10.3233/jad-2008-14209


Herbal remedies, also known as botanical medicine, have been used in many traditional medicine systems. They are produced from all parts of a plant including the roots, leaves, berries and flowers. These may contain active ingredients that can cause chemical changes in the body. Herbal remedies can be taken by mouth or applied to the skin to treat disease and promote health. Sometimes herbs and plants are categorised as biological treatments. [...] There is no reliable scientific evidence that herbal remedies alone can cure or treat cancer. However, some plant extracts have been found to have anti-cancer effects and have been turned into chemotherapy drugs. These include vincristine from the periwinkle plant, and taxanes from the bark of the Pacific yew tree. [...] Herbal medicines are often used to help with the side effects of conventional cancer treatments, such as lowering fatigue and improving wellbeing. Evidence shows they should be used in addition to conventional therapies, rather than as an alternative.


Pfizer admits that vaccinated people can shed the vaccine on unvaccinated people

Viral shedding is associated with live attenuated vaccines, such as the MMR vaccine and chickenpox vaccine. This occurs because the weakened viruses used in live vaccines still retain the ability to reproduce themselves using our cells’ protein-making machinery. However, none of the COVID-19 vaccines available to date use live viruses. In addition, COVID-19 mRNA vaccines don’t induce high-enough levels of spike protein production that would lead the protein to be excreted. Scientific studies showed that SARS-CoV-2 infection causes shedding, but not vaccination.


Misrepresents source: The section on "Occupational Exposure" in the Pfizer trial protocol isn’t unique to the COVID-19 vaccine. It deals with unintended exposure to the vaccine, for example if a vial of vaccine broke and spilled onto a vaccinated person who then came into contact with others. It doesn’t constitute an admission that vaccinated people "shed" the vaccine. FULL CLAIM: "Pfizer admitted you can shed the vaccine from one vaccinated to an unvaccinated" [...] Another iteration of this claim seized on the clinical protocol for the Pfizer clinical trials to claim that Pfizer admitted that "shedding" from the vaccine occurs, as seen in this video of the Alex Jones Show from 2021 which was later reposted to Facebook in March 2023. The claim was made by podcaster and former Fox News host Kate Dalley.


The EU could SEIZE and SCRAP your old car if it doesn't meet their criteria as part of their climate agenda.

The EU Commission’s proposal focuses on regulatory measures aimed at manufacturers and the automotive industry; it doesn’t target car owners or consumers. Increasing the circularity of car parts and materials is expected to reduce the need for production and shipping of new materials, thereby lowering greenhouse gas emissions associated with manufacturing and transport.


One such viral post was published by Peter Imanuelsen, also known as "Peter Sweden", who has regularly shared climate change misinformation according to Climate Action Against Disinformation. Imanuelsen claimed that the EU could "SEIZE and SCRAP your old car if it doesn’t meet their criteria as part of their climate agenda." His post further claimed that the state would dictate "how long you will be allowed to own your car", suggesting there would be mandatory scrapping of vehicles that miss their regular EU checkup for two years or if the cost of repairing a car exceeds its market value. In reality, the EU Commission’s proposal does not mandate the seizure and scrapping of vehicles simply for not meeting certain environmental criteria. Instead, it provides guidelines for assessing vehicles that are neither economically repairable nor roadworthy, without stipulating specific consequences. In accordance with this, Annex 1 of the ELV proposal specifies that a vehicle is considered economically irreparable if its market value is lower than the cost of the necessary repairs required to meet road worthiness standards in the Member State where it is registered. This clause relates to evaluating the economic viability of repairing a vehicle; it does not enforce the seizure and scrapping of vehicles based solely on their condition.


Human additions of CO2 are in the margin of error of current measurements and the gradual increase in CO2 is mainly from oceans degassing as the planet slowly emerges from the last ice age.

Carbon dioxide combines with water to form carbonic acid, which then dissociates to form bicarbonate ions and hydrogen ions (H+), so that increasing concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere have been decreasing the pH (acidifying) of the surface ocean (NRC, 2010c). Since the preindustrial period, pH has declined by approximately 0.1 pH unit corresponding to a 30 percent increase in acidity. By 2100, the acidity is projected to increase by 100-150 percent compared to preindustrial values. Geologic records indicate that when the increase in atmospheric CO2 is gradual, oceanic pH and carbonate levels remain relatively stable due to processes that occur in equilibrium, such as dissolution of CaCO3 shells, weathering of terrestrial rock, and tectonic processes. However, the current rate of increase of atmospheric CO2 exceeds the rate at which natural processes can buffer these pH changes.


The claim appeared in multiple outlets, including Watts Up With That, the Daily Signal, and a Facebook post published by I Love Carbon Dioxide in April 2020. While human additions of CO2 are small relative to natural processes, atmospheric CO2 measurements are currently much higher than pre-industrialization CO2 levels and not within the "margin of error of current estimates," as described by the reviewers below[1,2]. The ocean does release CO2, but scientific evidence demonstrates that oceans have absorbed approximately 23% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions since the Industrial Revolution, thus serving as a net sink rather than a source of CO2[3,4]. This claim also fails to recognize that human-induced CO2 emissions have caused imbalances in the global carbon cycle. [...] Secondly, the claim that the increase results as "the Planet emerges from the last ice age" is wrong for multiple reasons. Firstly, ice-core atmospheric CO2 records suggest that such a strong increase (from 280ppm to 412 ppm) is unprecedented in the last 800,000 years. Secondly, these records also show that the speed at which atmospheric CO2 increases is unprecedented in the ice-core record history.


Atmospheric CO2 has increased rapidly as a result of human activities. Although human-caused emissions of CO2 are small relative to natural flows into and out of the atmosphere, the human contribution has caused an imbalance in the global carbon cycle that jeopardizes land and ocean ecosystems.


More people are dying now than at the peak of the pandemic; the COVID-19 vaccines are the cause of the excess deaths seen in late 2022

Since early 2020, both the USA and Europe have experienced excess mortality due, in large part, to COVID-19, a disease caused by SARS-CoV-21,2,3,4,5. By April 14, 2022, there were 978,545 and 1,961,790 laboratory confirmed deaths from COVID-19 reported in the USA and the whole of Europe6, respectively. [...] World Health Organization. Global excess deaths associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Accessed April 19, 2022. https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/global-excess-deaths-associated-with-the-COVID-19-pandemic. [...] World Health Organization. Global excess deaths associated with COVID-19 (modelled estimates). Accessed May 5, 2022. https://www.who.int/data/sets/global-excess-deaths-associated-with-covid-19-modelled-estimates


Excess deaths in the U.K. remain well below the peaks during the COVID-19 pandemic before the vaccines were widely available. It is difficult to precisely define the causes of the recent rise in deaths, however pressure on health services and delays in treatment due to the pandemic are significant factors. The COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to be very safe, only causing heart inflammation in extremely rare cases.