FSM News and Articles
Poor leadership, irresponsible media and a clever virus: “President Biden has vented his frustration with Facebook for allowing a huge amount of dangerous misinformation about the dangers of Covid vaccines to be propagated. A ‘free speech’ debate is raging but as I have reported herein before, social media platforms are making a lot of money by allowing alarmist inaccurate information about the pandemic to raise doubts and fuel conspiracy theories”
Drug-related liver injury – call for better regulation of supplements: An increase in drug-related liver injury attributed to herbal and dietary supplements has sparked a renewed call for better regulation of supplements and complementary medicines. “A low risk product does not mean there is no risk … The TGA should conduct more post-marketing surveillance on listed products, especially Chinese traditional and Ayurveda medicines that have been associated with adverse events, contamination and adulteration, and they should also publicise their findings.”
FSM Friends’ News and Articles
A new study finds no benefit from chiropractic for infant colic, but they’ll keep doing it anyway: A new study attempted to answer the question of chiropractic’s potential benefit for infant colic. It was successful, but I don’t think it turned out the way the authors’ hoped. Sadly, I don’t think that this will change the mind of any chiropractor who treats babies.
Olympians love pseudoscience: At Tokyo Olympics we are seeing the return of cupping and a few sightings of kinesiology tape. Are there other less visible methodologies popular at this Olympics? “Why is pseudoscience so common at the Olympics? When you are competing at that level, even the slightest advantage can make the difference between standing on the medal podium or not, so it’s unsurprising that athletes and their coaches would reach for any possible edge. This can result in a placebo effect, which itself may plausibly produce a slight psychological advantage. Perhaps coaches don’t even care if the intervention actually works.”
General
Influencers say Russia-linked PR agency asked them to disparage Pfizer vaccine: Ever wondered why anti-vaxxers think the things that they do? Wondered why they are such conspiracy theorists? Sometimes it’s because there is a conspiracy aimed at making them THINK that there is a conspiracy. It’s like conspiracy inception. I’d go on, but I wouldn’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist myself… Of course I am being tongue in cheek about this. But it is good to be reminded that there are people who put considerable effort in keeping anti-vaxxers convinced and activated. With inputs like this, it becomes even more difficult to counteract the misleading allure of the conspiracy theory culture that draws them in and reinforces them.
Bhutan fully vaccinates 90% of eligible adults within a week: Bhutan has achieved 90% vaccine rollout in just 7 days, putting many better resourced countries to shame. This demonstrates what can be achieved with strong leadership, excellent engagement and consistent responsible health messaging. “Bhutan’s government is also led by medical practitioners. The prime minister, the foreign minister and the health minister are all medical professionals. And frequent messaging from the government, which directly answers questions from the public about the coronavirus and vaccinations on Facebook, also helped combat vaccine hesitancy among citizens. In fact, people are quite eager to come and get themselves vaccinated,” Dr. Wangchuk said. “Some 22,000 citizens volunteered over the last year and a half to raise awareness, dispel misinformation, help conduct mass screening and testing and even carry vaccines across the country’s difficult terrain. “In some cases, health workers trekked for days through landslides and pouring rain to reach extremely remote villages atop steep mountains to administer doses to those unable to get to a center, said Dr. Sonam Wangchuk, a member of Bhutan’s vaccination task force.
“ABC guilty of misleading reporting of strokes following chiropractic manipulation in man with COVID-19”: Perth ABC radio last week broadcast an interview with Australian journalist Eammon Ashton-Atkinson recovering in US after suffering COVID-19 and two strokes, where he states that the hospital told him the strokes were caused by chiropractic manipulation of his neck. On Twitter he also confirmed it was ‘caused by a chiropractic adjustment.’ The ABC also published a story on it, which implied the strokes were a consequence of COVID-19, stating “the 34-year-old doesn’t believe he would have had the strokes if he hadn’t first been infected with COVID-19” when the actual interview quote was “if I hadn’t caught covid I wouldn’t have gone and seen that chiro”. The article did mention (at the end!) that Mr Ashton-Atkinson’s doctor did not believe the strokes were caused by the vaccine, but completely omitted the chiropractor’s involvement.
This is misleading at best. Reporting factual information is more important than ever in this pandemic – but giving context to bare facts is perhaps even more important. Instead, the big networks would rather write fear-mongering stories about potential vaccine side effects and COVID-19 rather than context on what these are. Importantly, this story demonstrates a very real risk of chiropractic manipulation, which might be increased in people acutely ill with COVID-19, which ABC has chosen not to publicise.
ABC article: https://www.abc.net.au/…/eammon-ashton…/100304038
Radio interview: https://www.abc.net.au/…/wa…/wa-afternoons/13443880 Go to 1:41:15