Isolated

Did the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) admit in a series of email exchanges that COVID-19 is man-made and that COVID vaccines were created with computer-generated DNA? No, that's not true: The MHRA told Lead Stories that the correspondence cited in a claim did take place, but the assertions made from those emails aren't correct. The claim…

Has the call-and-response game "Marco, Polo" proven to be a tactic to initiate sex trafficking in stores? No, that's not true: Spokespeople from human trafficking advocacy and awareness organizations told us that there are no confirmed reports of such a scheme being used for human trafficking. The claim, which may have stemmed from a viral TikTok video published on August…

Does liquid chlorophyll heal acne on the skin? No, that's not true: The director of clinical trials for the dermatology department of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center told Lead Stories that no data from clinical trials support drinking chlorophyll. An Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokesperson said drinking chlorophyll can have adverse effects. The claim appeared in a Facebook…

Is it true that chemotherapy and radiation "actually causes cancer"? No, that's not true: Both treatments are rigorously studied, evidence-based effective therapies against this disease: They cure cancer, not cause it. Some people do develop another cancer after the initial diagnosis, about 16 percent. But an oncologist interviewed by Lead Stories says that less than 1 percent of those second…

Is it fact that viruses have never been isolated and there is no measles virus? No, that's not true: Scientists first isolated a virus in the 1890s. And a Persian doctor published written accounts about measles disease in the late 800s. In 1912, measles became a "nationally notifiable disease" in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control…

Does this clip show election fraud happening on live television? No, that's not true: Edison Research, the sole provider of Election Day data to the National Election Pool, which provides numbers to news organizations, told Lead Stories the vote change cited in the post was due to a typo in Henderson County, Kentucky. The error was caught and corrected within…

Did Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas claim "aborted fetus cells" are in COVID vaccines in writing a decision by the Court to not take up a legal challenge by New York health care workers who opposed the state's vaccine mandate on religious grounds? No, that's not true: Thomas was quoting the petitioners' argument in the case. COVID vaccines are developed…

Do Kansas ranchers have no idea what might have killed hundreds or thousands of cattle during an extreme heat wave and believe their feed or water was poisoned? No, that's not true: The cause of death is not a mystery to the people in the industry. The cattle died after days of high temperatures, high humidity, nights that did not…

Was the Titanic sunk intentionally in order to kill specific people who opposed a central banking system, thus clearing the way to establish the Federal Reserve? No, that's not true: This antisemitic conspiracy theory was already floating around the internet before it was promoted to followers of QAnon. There is no evidence to support this. In November 2017, a series…

Did scientists fraudulently claim that they had isolated and sequenced viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19? No, that's not true: The SARS-CoV-2 virus has been independently isolated and sequenced by multiple scientists around the world since January 7, 2020. Claims that the virus has never been isolated have circulated since vaccines for COVID-19 were introduced in early 2020, including in…