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Health & medicine fact checks
Explore claims publishers have checked about health & medicine. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.
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Videonun gerçek bir ‘kalp bağışı’ hikayesini yansıttığı iddiası
Publisher’s rating: Yanlış
Vídeo com discurso do virologista Robert Malone, em que ele afirma que as vacinas de mRNA contra covid-19 – que chama de “vacinas genéticas” – não são seguras e não protegem contra a variante ômicron. Ele acrescenta que mesmo se todas as pessoas nos Estados Unidos se vacinarem, não haverá imunidade de rebanho, como ocorreria, segundo ele, a partir da imunidade natural, ou seja, a partir da infecção pelo vírus.
Publisher’s rating: Falso
The review says Malone claimed that mRNA vaccines were not working or safe and that vaccination would not achieve herd immunity. It cites evidence of vaccine protection against omicron-related urgent care visits and hospitalizations, and an expert explanation that herd immunity is not achievable through either vaccination or infection for respiratory viruses.
Turmeric is useful in removing the flouride from human brain
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The review examines a social-media claim that turmeric’s active compound, curcumin, can remove fluoride from the human brain. It distinguishes removal of fluoride from possible effects on fluoride-related harm: the studies it cites investigate curcumin’s effects on animals exposed to fluoride, not removal of fluoride from human brains. One cited study examined rats exposed to sodium fluoride before and after birth. The review reports that some effects—including changes in body and brain weight, behavior, and levels of several brain chemicals—were reversed with curcumin treatment. It also cites a 2014 mouse study in which curcumin given alongside fluoride was associated with reduced lipid peroxidation and neurodegenerative changes compared with fluoride alone. These findings concern outcomes in rodents receiving curcumin during fluoride exposure; they do not demonstrate that curcumin extracts fluoride from the brain. The review notes that the studies were conducted on mice and that more human studies are needed. Its cited animal research may suggest effects on some fluoride-related changes, but it does not establish the post’s specific claim of fluoride removal in humans.
波士頓大學合成新冠病毒傳染性為Omicron變種病毒的5倍。
Publisher’s rating: 誤導內容
The claim concerns Omi-S, a virus made for a Boston University study by combining the original SARS-CoV-2 virus with Omicron’s spike protein. The review traces the “five times” claim to coverage of that experiment, including a Daily Mail report, and explains that the figure described virus particles produced in a lab-grown cell experiment—not transmission between people. The review reports that the study’s preprint did not claim Omi-S was five times as transmissible as Omicron. (Source: S1.) The preprint compared three viruses: the original strain, Omi-S and Omicron. In one in-vitro experiment, researchers infected human lung cells and measured virus particles after 48 and 96 hours. At 48 hours, Omi-S produced about five times as many particles as Omicron. The review distinguishes that laboratory measurement from contagiousness: the experiment measured replication in cells, not spread from one person to another. (Source: S1.) The review also notes that Omi-S’s results in most of the study’s infection experiments fell between those for the original strain and Omicron. Treating the cell-particle count as a measure of transmissibility would therefore overstate what the experiment established. The review concludes that the reported fivefold comparison did not demonstrate that Omi-S spread more readily between people. (Source: S1.)
Sección de Neumología Pediátrica y Unidad de Rehabilitación Respiratoria. Hospital Universitario La Fe. Valencia. España.
Publisher’s rating: La fisioterapia respiratoria no acelera la curación de la neumonía aguda en comparación con placebo. Sin embargo, durante el proceso de resolución puede facilitar la movilización y eliminación de secreciones en pacientes incapaces de hacerlo por sí mismos, reduciendo el riesgo de atelectasia posneumónica1. Su uso sistemático en pacientes ventilados mecánicamente no está avalado, y puede acompañarse de trastornos en la oxigenación e incluso de un mayor número de complicaciones respiratorias12
छत्तीसगढ़ में एक लड़के ने रक्तदान के बाद खुद का ही खून पीने की खबर
Publisher’s rating: staire
the omicron XBB has higher mortality than the delta
Publisher’s rating: Mostly False
ഹൃദ്യം’ ചികില്സാ പദ്ധതി – കേന്ദ്ര സര്ക്കാരിന്റെ മാത്രം പദ്ധതി
Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING
Santino Godoy Blanco overleed als gevolg van een (corona)vaccin.
Publisher’s rating: Het Argentijnse jongetje overleed aan een dubbele longontsteking. Dat is gebleken uit de autopsie. Er is geen reden om aan te nemen dat zijn overlijden te maken had met een vaccinatie.
The allegation concerns Santino Godoy Blanco, a four-year-old Argentine boy whose death was linked online to vaccination. The review says that he was known as one of the faces of a national vaccination campaign, prompting posts that called his death “murder.” It distinguishes that campaign from a COVID-19 vaccination campaign: the campaign featuring Blanco promoted vaccines against measles, rubella, mumps and polio for children aged 13 months to four years. The review reports that Argentine media said Blanco died of double pneumonia and that an autopsy confirmed this. It also describes the account given by his mother to several media outlets: she alleged that the hospital made two incorrect diagnoses and that this delayed appropriate care for his lung infection. These reported circumstances provide a documented explanation for the death in the material examined; the excerpt does not provide the autopsy report itself or details of the medical examination. The review does not establish whether Blanco had received a COVID-19 vaccine. It says that this was unknown, while noting that the vaccination campaign he appeared in concerned different vaccines. It also reports that the media accounts it examined did not mention a possible vaccination link. The evidence therefore supports distinguishing the campaign imagery and online allegation from evidence about his individual vaccination status or cause of death.
Die EMA bzw. Pfizer haben zugegeben: Der Impfstoff schützte weder vor Ansteckung noch vor der Weiterverbreitung des Virus.
Publisher’s rating: Fehlender Kontext/ Falschbehauptung. Ansteckungen zu verhindern war nicht das vorrangige Ziel gewesen bei der Impfstoffentwicklung.
Um vídeo que circula no TikTok, no qual o advogado e político croata Mislav Kolakusic tira de contexto uma declaração dada por Janine Small, executiva da Pfizer, ao Parlamento Europeu para sugerir ineficácia da vacinação contra a covid-19. Para reforçar o discurso negacionista, a peça verificada afirma que a farmacêutica teria admitido um “crime mundial”.
Publisher’s rating: Enganoso
The investigation concerns a TikTok video in which Croatian politician and lawyer Mislav Kolakusic uses a statement by Pfizer executive Janine Small to suggest that Covid-19 vaccination did not reduce deaths. The video adds the words “Pfizer admits worldwide crime.” The review says Kolakusic took Small’s remarks out of context: on October 10, 2022, she told the European Parliament that Pfizer had not tested whether its vaccine affected transmission before making it available—not that vaccination was ineffective at preventing deaths. To reconstruct the exchange, the investigators say they found a video on Dutch politician Rob Roos’s Facebook page and then located the full hearing on the European Parliament’s website. They also used a version of Kolakusic’s video posted by the Telegram channel associated with the circulating clip to identify him. The review notes that the social-media clips omitted a relevant part of Small’s full answer: she cited a June 2022 Imperial College London study estimating that Covid-19 vaccination had prevented 19.8 million deaths worldwide. The review also cites evidence beyond Small’s answer. It reports that an analysis by the UK Office for National Statistics found a consistent reduction in deaths month by month after third doses were introduced in September 2021, when comparing people with three or four doses against unvaccinated people and those with one or two doses. The investigation further says the European Medicines Agency described approved Covid-19 vaccines, including Pfizer’s, as safe and effective. Together, these points address the video’s inference about deaths; Small’s statement about transmission testing does not establish that vaccination failed to prevent deaths.
Rick Simpson oil can cure cancer
Publisher’s rating: Half True
Related reporting discusses Rick Simpson’s cannabis oil as part of a broader article about purported natural cancer treatments. It says Simpson “famously made cannabis oil with THC” and then makes wider claims about cannabinoids, including that they “show great promise as a brain cancer cure.” These are assertions in that article, not evidence presented in the excerpt that Rick Simpson oil cures cancer. The excerpt provides no study details, patient outcomes, or methods for testing Rick Simpson oil as a cancer treatment. It therefore does not substantiate a cure claim. The available research supports only the narrower observation that one related article promotes cannabis-derived substances as potentially anticancer; it cannot establish that Rick Simpson oil cures cancer.
Onion helps in nasal decongestion of babies
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The review examines a viral Facebook post advising caregivers to place a freshly cut onion near a baby’s head, close to the nose, to ease congestion and improve sleep. It treats this as a claim about a nearby onion slice—not about feeding onion to a child—and looks for evidence that the practice works or is safe. NewsMeter reports that its keyword search found no scientific evidence supporting the onion remedy. It also consulted two pediatricians: Dr. Altaf Naseem said there was no scientific basis for it and described such remedies as unproven; Dr. Madap Karuna cautioned that onion could irritate a baby’s eyes. The review further notes a separate risk if a toddler chews the onion: it could pose a choking hazard. The article contrasts the viral advice with cited guidance on managing babies’ colds, including keeping nasal passages open and seeking medical advice if symptoms worsen or do not improve. It concludes that the onion practice is an anecdotal remedy without demonstrated evidence for nasal decongestion. The reported search and expert comments address whether the remedy is supported; the excerpt does not describe a clinical trial testing onion’s effects.