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.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers mammograms “the most effective primary breast cancer screening test” and says there is no evidence to indicate that thermography can replace mammograms. But an article shared on Facebook tells people to “stop getting mammograms” and try thermography instead.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supports research into fighting malaria, including funding a company that releases genetically modified mosquitoes that are incapable of carrying the disease. But reports of locally acquired cases of malaria in the U.S. have sparked social media posts that baselessly suggest Gates was behind the recent outbreak.
It remains unknown how the virus that causes COVID-19 originated, but many scientists think a natural spillover is most likely. Online posts have cited unnamed sources to claim that scientists in Wuhan, China, were the first to get sick with COVID-19. But U.S. intelligence says the researchers’ symptoms were non-specific or inconsistent with COVID-19, and the information has no bearing on the origin of the pandemic.
Breast cancer in younger women has been increasing gradually in recent decades. But a social media post misrepresents case number projections for 2022 and 2023 to falsely claim they show a dramatic rise in early-onset breast cancer — and then baselessly ties its faulty comparisons to COVID-19 vaccines.
Last summer saw the largest outbreak ever of mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox. Here, we provide an update on the disease, and explain what makes the outbreak unusual and how people can protect themselves.
Recent research suggests that gender dysphoria is likely caused by a combination of factors, including hormone exposure before birth. But social media posts make the baseless claim that it could be caused by a vaccine containing DNA from an aborted fetus of the opposite sex. There is no scientific evidence for such a claim, experts said.
Numerous studies have found that additional COVID-19 shots are generally associated with extra protection against the coronavirus. Many people on social media, however, have shared a preliminary finding from a Cleveland Clinic study and misrepresented it as proving that getting more doses increases a person’s risk of infection.
In this video, FactCheck.org teamed up with Factchequeado to answer some questions about how the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency might affect you.
Human coronaviruses first identified in the 1960s cause common colds. But a viral video misrepresents early research on common coronaviruses and cites unrelated patents to falsely suggest U.S. scientists created the viruses that cause SARS and COVID-19. The video also is not footage of official testimony before the European Parliament.
Clinical trial data for Pfizer’s maternal vaccine to protect babies from RSV support the vaccine’s safety and efficacy, according to a vote by an FDA advisory committee. The FDA could soon approve the vaccine. But a popular social media post makes misleading claims about the trial findings.