Health misinformation on the rise worldwide

EDMONTON – The world is in the grip of a “knowledge crisis” in which junk science appears to be winning the battle, according to the University of Alberta’s leading expert on health misinformation.

“It’s worse than I ever imagined it could be,” said Timothy Caulfield (pictured), director of the university’s Health Law Institute. “There has been this ongoing erosion of trust in the scientific consensus, and it’s just heartbreaking to see.”

To help fight back against harmful health misinformation and create solidarity, Caulfield has written a joint statement with more than 20 signatories from Canada’s biomedical, clinical, research and healthcare community. They include the Canadian Medical Association, the Association of Faculties of Medicine and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Major health agencies in every province and territory have also signed on.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” said the brief statement. “Speak up and share your stories about how false health information is impacting you, Canada and the world.”

The statement highlights several examples of accurate, settled science debunking some of the most common false claims:

• Vaccines do not cause or increase the risk for autism, and are safe and effective.
• Ivermectin is not an effective treatment for COVID, cancer or autism.
• The COVID vaccines are not associated with “sudden death,” “excess deaths” or “turbo cancer.” COVID vaccines have been studied extensively, have saved millions of lives, and have numerous health and system benefits and an impressive safety profile.
• Biomedical researchers are not withholding effective cancer cures to profit off existing treatments.

Caulfield said countering misinformation with true science works, and can move the needle of public perception.

“Showing the degree to which there is a scientific consensus on a topic really can make a difference, and a couple of studies have highlighted that.”

Caulfield points to the recent example in the United States, where the Trump administration has fired the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Susan Monarez, for her support of vaccines.

Last June, the CDC’s entire advisory committee on immunization practices was fired and replaced with some who publicly hold anti-vaccine views.

“I’m already seeing a shift in the United States from, ‘Let’s just keep our head down and not aggravate things’ – almost a kind of survival mode – to, ‘Holy crap, this is a crisis, and we have to speak up,’” Caulfield notes. “Associations, scientific groups, physicians and increasingly politicians are voicing concerns about what’s happening.”

Caulfield said all of the agencies he approached were keen to sign on to the joint statement and have agreed to amplify it through their own websites and communication channels, including Caulfield’s own social media campaign, ScienceUpFirst.

“This is a really dark time for rational thinking and science, and we need to push back against these increasingly regressive voices and policies.”

Source: University of Alberta