FactCheck.org’s SciCheck feature focuses exclusively on false and misleading scientific claims that are made by partisans to influence public policy. It was launched in January 2015 with a grant from the Stanton Foundation. The foundation was founded by the late Frank Stanton, president of CBS for 25 years, from 1946 to 1971.
Former Vice President Al Gore and Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt made competing claims about whether the U.S. could have changed its emissions targets under the Paris Agreement, instead of pulling out of the deal. Legal experts side with Gore, who claimed the targets could have been changed.
In announcing that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, a global accord aimed at addressing climate change, President Donald Trump made more than a few false and misleading claims.
Q: Have scientists confirmed that e-cigarettes cause an incurable respiratory disease called “popcorn lung”?
A: No. The vapor of some e-cigarettes contains a chemical associated with popcorn lung, and a case report suggests a possible link. But there’s not enough evidence to conclude the vapors cause the disease.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price made two claims about opioid addiction that are contradicted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which is part of the department Price heads.
Former President Barack Obama falsely claimed that Let’s Move, an initiative of former First Lady Michelle Obama, “helped bring down America’s obesity rates for our youngest kids for the first time in 30 years.”
Trump made two claims about the Paris Agreement, a global accord aimed at addressing climate change, that require context.
On NBC10 in Philadelphia, SciCheck reporter Vanessa Schipani discusses two questionable claims that Attorney General Jeff Sessions made about marijuana and opioids.
Both the EPA and its critics say science is on their side in the debate over whether the agricultural insecticide should be banned.
Sen. Bill Cassidy said William Wilberforce, a late 18th century British politician, “pushed the sale of beer” to successfully combat “drunkenness related to gin” in England. But Wilberforce wasn’t born until after the so-called gin epidemic had ended in the early 1750s, and its conclusion wasn’t due to beer.
Q: Are the chemicals in fracking solution protected from being made public by a law passed while Dick Cheney was vice president?
A: Yes. A 2005 law bans the federal government from requiring companies to disclose fracking chemicals. But 28 states do require disclosure of some fracking fluids.