Autism

Is Mayim Bialik, an actress with a doctorate in neuroscience, opposed to vaccination? No, that's not true: Bialik debunked the claim after a misinterpretation of an excerpt from her book was used to portray her as someone who did not believe in vaccinating her children. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published on July 14, 2021. The…

Are gas and oil company HR executives saying their firms are planning to have their vaccinated staff replaced within the next three years? No, that's not true. There is no evidence that the large oil and gas companies are going through their employee lists and taking note of who has received the COVID-19 vaccine and then planning for their replacement…

Does a doctor prove he has cured thousands of COVID-19 patients with chlorine dioxide? No, that's not true. A doctor who made the claim offers no evidence or details about the people he says he has saved from the disease with the toxic chemical. Chlorine dioxide is a disinfectant and is not a "cure or treatment for medical ailments." The…

Does an anti-vaccine advocate prove his claims of vaccine dangers with "undercover" video of private World Health Organization meetings and does he provide credible citations of scientific research to prove his claims? No, that's not true: The video caption promises "an undercover footage - the media don't want you to see" but delivers less than a quarter-minute -- without audio.…

Was Joe Biden awarded the medal of honor and four Nobel Peace Prizes and did he cure AIDS, cancer and autism? No, that's not true: The 46th U.S. president has achieved none of those accomplishments. The false claims appeared in a meme that suggested they would not be fact checked. That claim is also false, since Lead Stories has debunked…

Do variants of the MTHFR gene cause disease and increase the likelihood of vaccine reactions? No, that's not true: In rare circumstances, a MTHFR (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase) gene variant causes neural tube defects in newborn babies. Other times, it can cause elevelated levels of homocysteine, which can lead to blood clots. Otherwise, there are no scientific studies linking MTHFR gene variants,…

Will taking a COVID-19 vaccine kill you or lead to "debilitating" illness? No, that's not true: There is an abundance of evidence to the contrary. For one, between the two farthest along and most robust vaccine trials out of Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, there have already been tens of thousands of people administered the vaccine and not one person has died…

Was it proven over 100 years ago that vaccines are "hurting mankind"? No, that's not true: This research, which appears in Alfred Wallace's 135-year-old book, "Forty-Five Years of Registration Statistics, Proving Vaccination to be Both Useless and Dangerous," is full of falsehoods, including the title. And more than a century of research data has accumulated since it was written. The…

Is it true that Pfizer's vaccine candidate to battle COVID-19 is made and stored in such a way that scores of people could be severely sickened or even killed by its use? No, that is a conspiracy theory not supported by scientific studies. According to vaccine experts and literature, the use of PEG -- polyethylene glycol --- in Pfizer's potential…

Are vaccines definitively linked to autism? No, that's not true: While some people believe this to be the case -- and are spreading their belief online in advance of release of vaccines to battle COVID-19 -- it remains just that, belief. Peer-reviewed and replicated medical research shows no causation between vaccines and autism. There is also no evidence that a…