Publisher’s rating: Falsch. Die zulässigen Grenzwerte werden weit unterschritten. Die Teststäbchen enthalten geringe Rückstände der Stoffe, weil Ethylenoxid zur Sterilisation von Medizinprodukten eingesetzt wird.

The claim refers to a Biolytix laboratory analysis circulated online as proof that coronavirus rapid-test swabs contained dangerously high amounts of ethylene oxide and its breakdown product, 2-chloroethanol. The dpa review says the report listed 4.2 milligrams per kilogram of material for ethylene oxide and 0.53 milligrams per kilogram for 2-chloroethanol. Those are concentrations in the tested material, not the amount on a single swab: the review notes that a swab weighs only a few grams, so the amount it contains is much smaller than the amount in a kilogram. The review compared the reported findings with the applicable limits in DIN EN ISO 10993-7. For contact lasting up to 24 hours, it gives limits of 4 milligrams of ethylene oxide and 9 milligrams of 2-chloroethanol. It also reports that TÜV Süd converted the ethylene-oxide limit for a 70-kilogram person to about 1.7 milligrams for a 30-kilogram schoolchild. On that calculation, the review says, the measured concentration does not establish that a child would exceed the limit through use of a swab. The report itself did not establish how much residue could transfer to a person during a test. TÜV Süd criticized it for not meeting the standards for a proper report, including because it did not specify which parts of the test kit had been examined. The review also says the swab’s brief contact with the mouth and normally intact mucous membrane would make release of substances unlikely. Its evidence therefore distinguishes detection of small residues from proof that the permitted exposure limits are exceeded.

THIP MediaMar 8, 2022Health & medicine

A homemade recipe using tomatoes and coffee turn grey hair into black permanently

Publisher’s rating: mostly false

THIP MediaMar 8, 2022Health & medicine

Can Covid-19 vaccines give you syphilis

Publisher’s rating: False

THIP MediaMar 8, 2022Health & medicine

Coconut oil and aloe vera make hair long, voluminous and lustrous

Publisher’s rating: Half True

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaMar 7, 2022Health & medicine

උත්පත්තියේදී ආබාධ ඇතිව ඉපදුණු දරුවෙකුගේ ඡායාරූපයක්ද?

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The review investigated a social-media post that used a photograph to suggest that the child pictured had been born with a disability. It notes that the accompanying message urged people not to ignore the image and referred to bad karma manifesting from birth. The photograph’s presentation—including the child’s position in what appeared to be a device—helped convey that implication, and the review says many commenters were misled by the posts. To check what the photograph showed, the publisher says it conducted a reverse-image search. It reports that the image depicted a child being held still in a Pigg-O-Stat, a device used to prevent young children from moving while chest X-rays are taken. The review explains that obtaining chest X-rays of small children can be difficult because they move, and says the device is intended to make the imaging process easier. Thus, the image’s unusual appearance was explained by the positioning equipment used for an X-ray, not by evidence in the photograph that the child had a birth disability. The review also describes the device as having been developed in the United States and manufactured for medical use since the 1960s. It refers to the Pigg-O-Stat website for its description of the equipment and its use in positioning infants and young children for X-rays. Its conclusion is that the social-media interpretation was misleading: the photograph showed a child positioned for an X-ray, rather than establishing the claim made about the child’s condition at birth.