The Foe of Faux Science
March 20, 2019Information
Natalee Desotell
The Roger Barnett Public Health Video Challenge 2019
- 00:02What if I told you one of the leading threats to public health is something you
- 00:06encounter every day?
- 00:07You might see it when you're watching TV,
- 00:09scrolling through Instagram or catching up
- 00:11with relatives on Facebook.
- 00:13Misinformation lurks everywhere.
- 00:16Federal law states that ads must be truthful,
- 00:18not misleading and backed by science.
- 00:20But lifestyle brands like Goop continue to peddle products like
- 00:24bio frequency stickers.
- 00:25And a 2014 study found that very few products promoted by televised
- 00:29medical shows had any basis in science.
- 00:32If wealthy people want to buy snake oil,
- 00:34or today's equivalent flat tummy teeth,
- 00:37that's their prerogative. However,
- 00:39the consequences of getting health advice on Instagram can be dire.
- 00:42Some fad cleanses can be directly detrimental to health,
- 00:45like consuming activated charcoal which can render medications ineffective.
- 00:49It can also get in the way of seeking actual health care while normalizing
- 00:53the dangerous idea that scientific facts are mere suggestions.
- 00:57Science is increasingly under attack,
- 00:59and as a result, important public health advances have been called into question.
- 01:04The most obvious example is the anti-vaccination movement which has
- 01:07already claimed innocent lives.
- 01:09You must be your own advocate when it comes to making health decisions
- 01:13and that includes getting information from reputable sources which will never try
- 01:17to sell you a magic pill,
- 01:18act as a stand in for advice from a licensed physician
- 01:21or have its basis in retracted science.
- 01:24Scientific research is our best tool to separate fact from fiction,
- 01:28and it is not a matter of opinion.