Does the "Died Suddenly" movie trailer demonstrate that COVID-19 vaccinations cause widespread sudden death or severe medical events? No, that's not true: The trailer recycles previously debunked claims that the vaccine is lethal. To support its implications, the trailer stitches together footage and screenshots of acute medical events unrelated to COVID vaccination. Public health experts, relying on clinical safety trials…

Does a heavy consumption of grapes reverse kidney failure and cancer? No, that's not true: An expert told Lead Stories it is "false that grapes alone can treat and reverse cancer and kidney failure." While early small studies suggest that grapes contain antioxidants that may be beneficial to human health, there is no proof that eating grapes -- or grape…

Do Comirnaty (Pfizer) COVID-19 vaccines contain parasites? No, that's not true: Claims made on social media that COVID vaccines contain parasites provided no laboratory or independent evidence to support the allegations, and a medical examiner told Lead Stories she has never seen any "parasites with tentacles" during autopsies she's conducted on people who had received the vaccine. In a statement…

Were COVID-vaccinated young adults 92 percent more likely to die than their unvaccinated counterparts in England during the first full year that the vaccines were available? No, that's not true: While U.K. health agencies report that the figures are generally correct, the numbers were stripped of crucial context about vaccine breakthrough infection and the demographics of those prioritized for vaccination.…

Are snake and starfish venom found in COVID-19 vaccines? No, that's not true: The claim is based on the false belief that one component of venom is the same as venom, not just a component in the whole. In fact, this component can be naturally produced by other organisms, such as the human body. There is no evidence that COVID…

Were there eight presidents of the United States before George Washington and did several Black presidents serve before Barack Obama was elected in 2008? No, that's not true: Washington was the first elected American president. There is a lack of historical evidence; plus, examples of genealogical research and, more recently, DNA testing that show no president prior to Obama was…

Will the proposed Dietary Supplement Listing Act of 2022 ban all non-Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved supplements and ban all herbs? No that's not true: Senate Bill 4090 doesn't give the FDA more power. The bill would make ingredient lists available and require any supplements sold across state lines to be registered with the FDA. The claim appeared in an…

Do two photos comparing launch sites on Earth and on the moon imply that the Apollo moon missions were faked -- and, furthermore, suggest that the Earth is flat? No, none of this is true: These photos, taken 33 years apart, are real photos from two different NASA missions. The upper photo shows the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B,…

Do the "unevolved" lifeforms shown in a social media video prove that evolution is a hoax? No, that's not true: Not all change is external and not all change happens within the time parameters outlined for the flora and fauna shown in the post. Scott Reese, a Kennesaw State University associate professor of biology, told Lead Stories that the video…

Do astronauts only train in swimming pools, and not vacuum chambers, because space is not a vacuum and "Outer Space is a hoax"? No, that's not true: A spokesperson at NASA told Lead Stories that its astronauts have "limited training" in vacuum chambers, which NASA has used for decades to test materials that go into space. Astronauts also train in…

Does the fact that planes can take off and land prove that the Earth is flat? No, that's not true: The claim ignores Newton's first and second laws of motion that explain how both happen on the constantly spinning Earth. The claim appeared in an Instagram post on October 23, 2022. It opened: FLAT EARTH FACT PLANES LANDING ON A…

Does a New Zealand funeral director's statement that 95 percent of the corpses he sees had been vaccinated against COVID-19 prove that vaccines are causing mass death? No, that's not true. This claim was drawn from anecdotal observations that did not account for consequential variables, nor were these observations independently confirmed or corroborated by published or official data. With more…

Does a social media video show a "transhuman" baby from parents who received the COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: The mother of the baby shown in the video post told Lead Stories that her daughter was born in August 2020, before the COVID vaccines were available. The Pfizer shot was first approved under emergency use authorization on December 11,…

Does a social media video show a U.S. patent for harvesting adrenochrome from humans? No, that's not true: 3M, the holder of the patent shown, #4,501,923, told Lead Stories that the license "does not describe or suggest harvesting adrenochrome from a human," but, instead, "describes making adrenochrome in four different ways ..." Adrenochrome is a chemical compound that's a byproduct…

Is it true that airplanes fly "straight and level" and that this proves the Earth is flat? No, that's not true: An aviation expert told Lead Stories that "airlines don't fly in a literal straight line" because airplanes fly based on altitude, measured from sea levels. The expression "straight and level" refers to maintaining steady altitude so that the plane…

Will drinking a mix of garlic, mint and oregano improve eyesight and repair vision loss? No, that's not true: The American Academy of Ophthalmology told Lead Stories that "there is no scientific evidence for using herbs to prevent vision loss or improve eyesight." The claim appeared in a Facebook post with a video on February 13, 2022, that described the…

Does a "documentary" called "HOW EARTH BECAME A BALL" prove that the Earth is flat? No, that's not true: Although it's presented as a documentary, "HOW EARTH BECAME A BALL" is an unauthorized repackaging of a 1990 Canadian satirical movie, "In Search of the Edge." It's a mockumentary about flat Earth (FE) theory. John Hoskyns-Abrahall with Bullfrog Films, the distributor…

Did the U.S. government file a patent to use an enzyme called luciferase to track the vaccination status of individuals? No, that's not true: While the patent is authentic it was filed on September 16, 2019, predating the COVID-19 pandemic, and was accepted in November 2020. Separately, the claim is not supported with credible public documentation that the U.S. government…

Does a Boston University (BU) study of a COVID-19 strain with an "80% lethality" have implications for humans? No, that's not true: The kill rate refers to mice used in the lab tests, and BU's manipulated virus was less lethal than existing wild viruses, which showed a kill rate of 100 percent. The experiment conducted at BU manipulated the SARS-CoV-2…

Is the sun smaller than the Earth, and does it rotate around the Earth? No, that's not true: For centuries, scientists have shown that everything in our solar system, including the Earth, revolves around the sun, which is more than 100 times larger than the Earth. The claim that the Earth dominates the sun appeared in an Instagram post on…