Medicine

Is a 2024 article on mRNA COVID-19 vaccines by Dr. Young Mi Lee, an obstetrician and gynecologist in South Korea, and Daniel Broudy, an applied linguistics professor at Okinawa Christian University in Japan a valid, well-done scientific study? No, that's not true: The article -- titled "Real-Time Self-Assembly of Stereomicroscopically Visible Artificial Constructions in Incubated Specimens of mRNA Products Mainly…

Is milk chocolate "fine" to feed dogs, while dark chocolate is toxic for them? No, that's not true: A professor told Lead Stories that both kinds of chocolate are toxic for dogs. Milk chocolate has less of the toxic compound in chocolate, theobromine, than dark chocolate but it does have it. The Food and Drug Administration does not recommend feeding…

Is the monkeypox virus known to spread through airborne transmission, as suggested by a post on Instagram Threads? No, that's not true: Global health agencies agree that the primary way the virus is spread is through close or direct contact between an uninfected and infected person's body fluids, lesions or saliva, plus contaminated clothing or bedding. The U.S. Department of…

Does a 2017 paper on resveratrol suggest it could be used to stop or treat monkeypox as part of the public health emergency declared in August 2024? No, that's not true: An author of the paper told Lead Stories that resveratrol was never tested on humans or animals in their research, and it's "unclear if it suppresses poxvirus replication." An…

Had doctors aboard the Brazilian airline flight that crashed in August 2024 vowed to release evidence linking mRNA technology to "turbo cancer", as an article by The People's Voice said? No, that's not true: The People's Voice is a website with a long history of publishing made up news and it provided no sources to back up the part about…

Did Japan declare a state of emergency in August 2024 after "nanobots" were found in 96 million citizens? No, that's not true: A state of emergency in Japan would be major news worldwide and yet there have been no stories about it. The "news" came from a website with a reputation for making things up. The journal article the website…

Did psychologist Jordan Peterson endorse a book called "The Herbal Tablets"? No, that's not true: An online analysis tool found with 97 percent confidence that the audio was generated by AI. The audio track was dubbed over a video clip from Peterson's recent appearance on the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast. A search of the original podcast transcript does not contain…

Did a German preprint study published in February 2024 by Christof Kuhbandner and Matthias Reitzner prove that COVID-19 vaccines caused the number of deaths per year to rise above recent trends, as several online posts and articles implied? No, that's not true: While it's true there has been a documented increase in excess mortality during the pandemic years, German health…

Did Dr. Ben Carson, retired neurosurgeon and former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary, endorse a "government-funded" cure for erectile dysfunction, as a video on Facebook claimed? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for Carson said the claim is "completely fake." Additionally, a digital forensics website concluded that the audio portion of the clip was "100% likely to…

Does a drink made of aloe vera, molasses, honey and gin eliminate all cancer cells, cysts and tumors? No, that's not true: While some of these ingredients may have health benefits, they are not a cure for cancer or other serious conditions. Oncology experts told Lead Stories that there's no evidence to support these claims. The claim appeared in a…