Louisiana to name nursing homes where outbreaks happen.

Explanation: Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration Monday will start releasing the names of nursing homes where residents have tested positive for the coronavirus and where there have been deaths from COVID-19.

John Bel Edwards, General News, Nursing homes, Virus Outbreak, Louisiana, Public health, Baton Rouge

The administration initially released that information early in the outbreak, but later stopped providing details, offering only numbers of nursing home residents statewide who have tested positive and who have died. That raised questions about whether family members of nursing home residents who aren’t infected were told what was happening in the facility. Dr. Alex Billioux, leader of Louisiana’s public health office, said the state will resume offering the details, including which nursing homes have seen residents or staff test positive for the coronavirus, how many have recovered and how many residents have died at a facility. The information will be released weekly, Billioux said Wednesday. Nursing home residents account for 37% of all virus deaths, according to the health department. The policy change was announced as officials released plans to this weekend reopen 18 Louisiana state parks, 18 state historic sites and all nine state museum buildings. Republican Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser discussed the plans during the Democratic governor’s regular news conference on the state coronavirus response. Nungesser’s decision dovetails with Edwards’ plans to ease some state restrictions on businesses and gatherings starting Friday, including a return to limited in-restaurant dining and the reopening of salons and gyms. New Orleans is adopting similar rules Saturday. Nungesser said three parks — Chicot State Park, Lake Bistineau State Park and Bayou Segnette State Park — will remain closed to house people with COVID-19 who have no place to self-isolate. The number of people in Louisiana hospitalized with the disease caused by the new coronavirus dropped below 1,200 on Wednesday, one of the positive trends that has prompted state officials to allow partial re-opening of businesses, even as the number of cases and related deaths climbs. Another sign the state is growing confident that the virus remains manageable: Edwards said plans are in the works to begin removing hospital beds from the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. The center became a makeshift hospital, converted at a cost of $169 million, for patients who were no longer critical and could be moved from regional hospitals needing space for other COVID-19 patients. More than 200 have been treated at the convention center, Edwards said Wednesday, adding that the current number is around 17. He said some beds would remain in case a flare-up of the disease occurs, but the number had not been finalized. The latest figures from the state health department in Baton Rouge showed 32,662 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state, up from 32,050 on Tuesday. The number of known cases is expected to rise as more tests are completed and the department said Wednesday’s one-day jump of 612 cases involved a backlog of reporting. “We have three labs that are reporting for the first time,” Edwards said. Deaths rose to over 2,300. More than 22,600 people are “presumed recovered” by the state. The figures show close to 238,000 tests have been performed to date. Edwards said Wednesday the state is working toward a goal of full testing — and repeat testing — of all residents and staff at nursing homes and other adult residential care providers and at prisons. More than 3,800 COVID-19 cases have been reported among residents of 197 nursing homes, and 501 cases have been reported among residents of 77 adult residential facilities, the health department said Wednesday. At nursing homes, there have been 863 COVID-19 deaths; at residential facilities, 58 such deaths. “We’ve known from the beginning that nursing homes are one of the places that are most conducive to the spread of the virus and, unfortunately, it is inhabited by residents that are most vulnerable to the virus,” Edwards said. Overall downward trends in the number of people showing symptoms, hospitalizations and the percentage of new cases among those tested are among the factors leading to an easing of some restrictions statewide Friday, and in New Orleans on Saturday. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover. ___ McGill reported from New Orleans. ___ Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak


US begins ‘warp speed’ vaccine push as studies ramp up.

Explanation: President Donald Trump vowed to use “every plane, truck and soldier” to distribute COVID-19 vaccines he hopes will be ready by year’s end — even as the country’s top scientists gear up for a master experiment to rapidly tell if any really work.

U.S. News, Understanding the Outbreak, Health, General News, Politics, International News, Science, Racing for a Remedy, Virus Outbreak, Donald Trump

Trump on Friday declared the vaccine program he calls “Operation Warp Speed” will be “unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project.”  The goal is to have 300 million doses in stock by January, a huge gamble since a vaccine never has been created from scratch so fast — and one that could waste millions if shots chosen for the production line don’t pan out. As the manufacturing side gets into place, the National Institutes of Health is working in parallel to speed the science. At least four or five possible vaccines “look pretty promising” and one or two will be ready to begin large-scale testing by July with others to follow soon, NIH Director Francis Collins told The Associated Press. “The big challenge now is to go big and everybody is about ready for that. And we want to be sure that happens in a coordinated way,” Collins said. That year-end goal is a “very bold plan ... a stretch goal if there ever was one,” he said in an interview late Thursday. Worldwide, about a dozen vaccine candidates are in the first stages of testing or poised to begin, small safety studies in people to look for obvious problems and whether the shots rev up the immune system. Among those getting the most attention are one created by the NIH and Moderna Inc., and a different type created by Britain’s Oxford University. Current tests “are looking pretty good,” Collins said. “But until you put it into the real world and check it out you don’t really know. You can’t skip over that really, really hard part of testing this in thousands and thousands of people.” For those next-step studies, NIH is working with some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical firms to create a master plan so each potential vaccine is tested the same way, using the same database, instead of each company devising its own methods. That partnership — called ACTIV or Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines — is like an umbrella where vaccine makers can sign on when they’re ready to start enrolling. Some key questions are how those at highest risk from COVID-19, such as older adults and people with chronic health problems, will respond to the shots. “If you had a vaccine that only worked for 20-year-olds and didn’t work for 70-year-olds, that would not be a success,” Collins said. While Collins’ team musters the needed science, Trump on Friday appointed Moncef Slaoui, a former GlaxoSmithKline executive, to lead the broader warp-speed project, along with Army Gen. Gustave Perna, the commander of United States Army Materiel Command. The project also will work on new treatment and testing options, but vaccines are a priority. “When a vaccine is ready, the U.S. government will deploy every plane, truck and soldier required to help distribute it to the American people as quickly as possible,” Trump said in a Rose Garden event. The World Health Organization and global health leaders have made clear that any vaccine must be shared equally between rich and poor countries. Trump said the U.S. would work with other countries, no matter who found a vaccine first. “We have no ego when it comes to this,” he said. He later added, “the last thing anybody’s looking for is profit.” Slaoui, a veteran vaccine developer, said the goals are “very credible,” but added, “I also believe they are extremely challenging.”  Some groups are questioning Slaoui’s financial conflicts of interest; he has resigned from Moderna’s board. In recent weeks, senior White House officials and allies have thrown their support behind “Operation Warp Speed” amid concerns that the economic rebound the president is betting his reelection on will require a reliable vaccine. Still, Trump was insistent that the U.S. would reopen regardless of the success of the effort. “Vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back,” Trump said, as states begin to reopen despite fears of a second wave of the virus. Despite all the emphasis on speed, Collins stressed that “no corners are going to be cut” on safety and scientists will be carefully looking for side effects. But he added: “If we can get this vaccine out there even a day sooner than otherwise we might have, that’s going to matter to somebody.” ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.


The seeds of certain common household plants can be used as an alternative to LSD.

Explanation: What's true: Many seeds belonging to a family of plants that includes Hawaiian baby woodrose and blue morning glory contain a chemical called LSA which can produce some psychoactive effects. What's false: LSA’s mechanism of action is biologically different than LSD and it comes with myriad other dangerous or unpleasant side effects that make it far from a viable alternative.

Medical, drugs, Hawaiian Baby Woodrose, legal highs

On 5 May 2016, a British tabloid ran a headline with an alarming concern: “Are FLOWER SEEDS the new party drug?” The question was the result of a local news story from Seekonk, Massachuchets, whose police department issued a warning about youths purchasing morning glory seeds from Home Depot as a substitute for LSD, and subsequently having a bad time: Over the past several weeks, students from a nearby school district were hospitalized as the result of ingesting the following plant seeds: Sleepy Grass, Hawaiian Baby Woodrose and Blue Morning Glory. Apparently, these seeds contain d-lysergic acid amide (LSA) which closely resembles LSD. Similarly, when ingested they can cause auditory and visual hallucinations, spatial and temporal distortion, introspection, and side effects such as nausea and vomiting. Recently, plant seeds were discovered in the Seekonk School District. […] We are fortunate indeed that there were no serious outcomes. Home Depot in Somerset has agreed to remove the seeds form [sic] the store shelves as they await a directive from the Corporate Headquarters. The headline misleadingly makes the practice sound like an epidemic, but Home Depot did confirm to us that they temporarily moved the seeds from their Seekonk store in response to a warning from the local police department, but that it was not a permanent move nor a move that affected any other stores. The Seekonk incident, however, highlights a common claim made of these seeds: that they contain a plausible chemical substitute to the hallucinogenic drug LSD called lysergic acid amide (LSA, also known as ergine). For example, The Anarchist’s Cookbook, a controversial counterculture publication from the 1970s, includes a recipe for “Making LSD in the Kitchen” which claims to extract “the lysergic acid amides either from morning glory seeds or Hawaiian woodrose seeds.” Indeed, the seeds of these and some other plants in the family Convolvulaceae (a broad classification of plants) do contain LSA. These plants, especially Hawaiian woodrose, have been used by numerous cultures as a traditional medicine and as an intoxicant for ceremonial practices. A 2014 paper investigating the psychoactive effects of the seeds of Hawaiian baby woodrose described the effects, which the authors attributed primarily to LSA: Sedation, an altered visual perception (e.g. of colors and textures), some kind of mood elevation, states of anxiety and changes in thought processes or sense of time. Vegetative side effects range from nausea, vertigo, hypertension, tachycardia [rapid heart rate], and tachypnea [rapid breathing] to mydriasis [pupil dilation]. While preliminary, that study attempted to uncover the neurologic mechanism behind LSA’s effects using chemical tests to predict which receptors in the brain the chemical targets, revealing that they likely occur through mechanisms that are biologically different the ones that cause LSD’s more famous psychedelic effects. Instead, LSA primarily promotes the less spiritually fulfilling and potentially more dangerous “vegetative side effects”: Although LSA from Argyreia nervosa [Hawaiian Baby Woodrose] is often considered as a natural kind of LSD, in our studies the pharmacological effects as well as the receptor binding profiles are quite different. Thus, LSA cannot be regarded as LSD-like psychedelic drug. Nevertheless the affinities at numerous biogenic amine receptor subtypes may be responsible for psychotic effects […], but the vegetative side effects are more dominant. In fact, a small-scale 2012 study which attempted to investigate the effects of LSA on human subjects had to be cancelled due to adverse side effects: A study was designed to assess how driving ability is affected by Argyreia nervosa [Hawaiian Baby Woodrose]. However, the study could not be continued due to severe adverse effects in 3 of 4 subjects, such as cardiovascular dysregulation in two and a psychosis like state in one subject. […] Furthermore, fluctuating alkaloid contents in seeds and multi-drug intoxications make the use of this legal high far more dangerous than commonly believed. While it is accurate to state that the LSA contained in some convolvulaceae seeds could potentially create (unpleasant) psychoactive effects, both the way the chemical produces those effects as well as the prevalence of separate dangerous physical side effects mean that it is far from an “alternative” for LSD.


U.S. travel warning adds to pressure on Tanzania over suspected Ebola cases.

Explanation: The United States has warned its citizens to take extra care when visiting Tanzania amid concerns over Ebola, adding to calls for the East African country to share information about suspected cases of the deadly disease there.

U.S. travelers should “exercise increased caution”, the State Department said on Friday in an updated travel advisory that cited reports of “a probable Ebola-related death in Dar es Salaam”. Tanzania denies the reports, saying no cases of Ebola have been confirmed, but with transparency key to combating the deadly and fast-spreading hemorrhagic fever, the government is under mounting pressure to provide clarification. The foreign affairs ministry was not immediately available on Saturday for comment on the U.S. advisory. Authorities in east and central Africa have been on high alert for possible spillovers of Ebola from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a year-long outbreak has killed more than 2,100 people. Tanzania and DRC share a border that is separated by a lake. In a rare public rebuke, the World Health Organisation (WHO) last week said that, contrary to international health regulations, Tanzania was refusing to provide details of suspected cases. Days earlier, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention traveled to Tanzania at the direction of U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar, who had also criticized the country for not sharing information. The WHO said that, while it was concerned by the lack of transparency, it has no evidence on the presence of Ebola in Tanzania, but ruled out punitive action and reiterated it had advised against travel or trade restrictions. Tanzania on Tuesday summoned the WHO’s local representative over its assertion. In mid-September, the health minister said the government had investigated two recent cases of unknown illnesses, but they tested negative for Ebola.


Photos and video clips narrated by a medical doctor demonstrate that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton likely has Parkinson's disease.

Explanation: In closing, we wish to make it clear what our aim has been in this analysis. We have not tried to make the case that Hillary Clinton does not have Parkinson’s disease (in point of fact, we don’t think that case even needs making). Rather, we have shown that what Ted Noel did in this video is systematically misrepresent perfectly ordinary and explicable phenomena as “Parkinson’s disease symptoms,” and his motivation for doing so was purely political.

Politics Conspiracy Theories, 2016 presidential campaign, hillary clinton, infowars

Hillary Clinton’s health has been the subject of intense speculation during the 2016 presidential campaign, in part because the candidates’ fitness to serve is of valid concern to voters, and in part because it was seized upon by her opponents as a way to undermine her candidacy. While presidential candidates aren’t required by law to release information about their medical histories, it has become routine for them to do so, and both Democratic candidate Clinton and Republican candidate Trump have provided physician’s statements attesting to their good health. Despite this, rumors to the effect that Clinton is suffering from some kind of serious, undisclosed medical condition continue to run rampant. The statement released by Clinton’s personal doctor, Lisa Bardack, MD of Mount Kisco, New York, lists past bouts of deep vein thrombosis (blood clots), an elbow fracture, and a concussion, plus ongoing conditions of hypothyroidism and seasonal pollen allergies. Though her family medical history includes heart disease and stroke, a cardiac screening was conducted in 2015 and came back negative. So did a cancer screening. “[Clinton] is in excellent physical condition,” Bardack concluded, “and fit to serve as President of the United States.” We note that Dr. Bardack’s assessment (which she reaffirmed in writing in August 2016) was based on an actual physical examination of the candidate — not a minor consideration, given that much of the speculation about Clinton’s health has been fueled by “diagnoses” from afar by physicians who have never shaken her hand, much less conducted a thorough examination of her. Media personality “Dr. Drew” Pinsky, for one, delivered a rambling assessment of Clinton’s health on a radio talk show in which he repeatedly claimed he had “grave concerns” about her medical fitness — based on nothing more than having read Dr. Bardack’s two-page statement. He was roundly criticized by other medical professionals for doing so. While Pinsky’s speculation was that Clinton suffers from brain damage, a later entrant in the armchair diagnosis field, Dr. Ted Noel of Orlando, Florida, claimed he could prove via cherry-picked news articles, photos, and video clips of the candidate that she likely suffers from Parkinson’s disease. Noel’s 16-minute video, titled “Hillary Clinton’s Illness Revealed,” starts with this disclaimer: I am a medical doctor with 36 years of experience, but I am not Hillary Clinton’s treating physician, so I can’t claim that what I’m about to tell you is a conclusive diagnosis. Nevertheless, at the end of a litany of hearsay, conjecture, and conspiracy theories Noel states, flat out: “Hillary Clinton has advanced Parkinson’s disease.” We’ll examine some of his evidence and arguments momentarily, but first, here’s what we know about Dr. Ted Noel himself:   That doesn’t mean he’s incapable of recognizing symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, but consider this: If your primary care doctor suspected you had Parkinson’s and wished to refer you to a specialist to confirm the diagnosis, it would be to a neurologist, not an anesthesiologist. How accurate and reliable can such a medical diagnosis be? As we noted in the case of Dr. Drew Pinsky above, most medical professionals consider this inappropriate behavior on the part of a physician, if not downright unethical. Would you accept a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease on the basis of a few minutes of video watched by a doctor you’ve never met? In fact, Noel’s assessment is nakedly partisan in intent, despite this feigned disavowal that he makes toward the end of the video: Let us not confuse medical and political issues here. I’m firmly opposed to Hillary Clinton on political and moral grounds, but this discussion has been about her medical condition. That’s after Noel has described Clinton as “a politician who lies about everything,” and after he has made this statement about her “medical” condition: Our president must always be strong and clear-headed. If she is not doing the job, then who will? Will it be Huma Abedin, who has been associated with Muslim causes and directly involved in the Clinton Foundation corruption? Will it be Bill Clinton, who is at the center of the Clinton Foundation corruption? … Or will Vice President Tim Kaine take over? Of course, then the Clintons would lose their juice. What is the above, if not precisely “confusing medical and political issues”? We’re not just throwing that out as a dismissive epithet; we mean he is a conspiracy theorist. The fundamental premise of this video is that Hillary Clinton and everyone around her — her doctor, her family and friends, the inner circle of her campaign, and the Democratic National Committee — know full well that she (supposedly) has an incapacitating disease and are willfully concealing that fact from the public to gain power. Let’s move on to consider the “evidence” Dr. Ted Noel uses to support his claim that Hillary Clinton has Parkinson’s disease. According to a conspiracy web site, an unnamed Secret Service whistleblower revealed that Clinton has Parkinson’s. Note well, however, Noel is here citing a secondhand report from a single, unnamed source published on the Alex Jones web site Infowars.com, which at one time or another has pushed every conspiracy theory known to humankind, from allegations that President George W. Bush authorized the 9/11 attacks (which, by the way, weren’t really “attacks” according to this site, but rather “controlled demolitions“) to the claim that President Barack Obama forged his own birth certificate. Noel says WikiLeaks released U.S. State Department e-mails which show that Clinton asked aides to research new Parkinson’s disease drugs. Not true. Among the messages WikiLeaks released was one e-mail received by Clinton that contained information about Provigil, a prescription drug described in that message as follows: Provigil is used to treat excessive sleepiness caused by narcolepsy or shift work sleep disorder (sleepiness during scheduled waking hours among people who work at night or on rotating shifts). It is also often prescribed to treat excessive sleepiness in patients with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and multiple sclerosis. Additionally, it has also gained a following among students, truckers, and others who want to stay awake for extended periods of time. In simpler terms, Provigil is used to treat excessive sleepiness. Sometimes that excessive sleepiness is in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s patients. Other times it’s in people suffering from sleep apnea, narcolepsy, or shift work sleep disorder. Is it accurate to describe Provigil as “a new Parkinson’s disease drug”? No. Are there Wikileaks e-mails indicating that Clinton specifically asked staffers to research Parkinson’s drugs? No (check for yourself). Noel attempts to link three separate incidents over a period of years in which Clinton fainted and/or fell, implying that the stated explanations for each hid the “real” cause, Parkinson’s disease. 31 January 2005: Clinton said she was feeling “queasy” as she began a speech in upstate New York and later fainted at the podium. Secret Service agents broke her fall, so she was unhurt. “Oddly, she did not seek medical attention,” Noel claims, but, even more oddly, an image of a CNN article reporting that she did receive medical attention at scene from a doctor in the audience flashes on screen at the exact moment he says it. The physician, Dr. Stephanie Pincus, said Clinton had been suffering from a GI virus for at least a day, and needed fluids and a rest. Nothing mysterious. 17 June 2009: Clinton fell and broke her elbow on her way from the elevator to her car in the basement of the State Department. Noel again uses the word “odd” to describe the incident, wondering why Secret Service agents weren’t able to break her fall, as they had done in the previous incident. “She would have to fall at a distance from them with no warning,” he opines. And, indeed, according to news reports, she slipped and fell — obviously without warning. Nothing mysterious. 17 December 2012: Clinton fainted in her home due to dehydration and struck her head, causing a concussion. “But again, this is very odd,” Noel says. “To strike your head requires a complete loss of protective reflexes.” Which, not very oddly at all, is precisely what occurs when you faint and lose consciousness. “Being wobbly from dehydration won’t do this,” he argues. But no one is talking about “being wobbly.” Clinton fainted; she lost consciousness, fell, and hit her head. And dehydration is frequently cited as a cause of fainting. Nothing mysterious. Why does Noel try so hard to make it seem there was something inexplicable about each of these incidents? Here’s why: “If Hillary has Parkinson’s disease,” Noel says, “all three falls make sense” — as if they’re impossible to make sense of without the Parkinson’s explanation. But, as we’ve just shown, that is not the case. “Early in 2016,” Noel continues, “Hillary’s problems started to be really obvious. Videos of odd physical movements and brain freezes became common. This is consistent with the progression of Parkinson’s disease into its later and more troublesome stages. “The first picture to surface is Hillary being helped up a set of porch steps in February. Once again, if she froze while climbing the steps, the people right next to her could catch her and keep her from injury.”  But there’s no reason to suppose that she “froze.” The original caption on this Getty Images photo, dated 24 February 2016, says she slipped while going up the stairs. Noel then directs our attention to a video clip in which Clinton is seen nodding repetitively as other people speak:  “To most people, that was just odd,” says Noel, once again employing his favorite adjective. “But if we think about Parkinson’s disease, it’s obvious. This is a head nodding tremor.” No, it isn’t. It’s a tic Hillary Clinton has had for a long time, since at least the early ’90s, usually in evidence when she’s listening to another public speaker. Here’s an example from 1993:    Noel next shows a video of a Clinton campaign rally on 2 April 2016, in which he claims she uses certain “techniques to hide tremors in her hands.” The first is placing her hand flat on her chest, and the second is a gesture in which her fingers come together to form a sort of point — both of which he claims she does to prevent the audience from noticing tremors. But, in fact, if you watch more of the video than the few seconds Noel shows us, and with the audio turned on, you see that she’s clearly using these gestures to emphasize verbal statements, and to suggest to the audience that they’re heartfelt. Plus, she transitions easily in and out of these hand gestures, never once displaying anything like a “tremor” when she’s not using them. Noel next presents a series of images and clips, including every conspiracy theorist’s favorite Hillary Clinton video — the same one that they have previously tried to pass off as an “epileptic seizure” — and claims, again, that the real explanation is Parkinson’s. Here’s the famous video:  This is “another Parkinson’s disease problem,” Noel claims, “but this time it’s from the treatment, not the disease. It’s an example of Parkinson’s disease levadopa-induced dyskinesia, or PD LID.” But no, it’s not. As we reported previously, the journalists surrounding her at that moment saw nothing amiss or disturbing in her actions. Associated Press reporter Lisa Lerer described it as follows: As an Associated Press reporter who’s spent more than a year covering her candidacy, I was there for her appearance. After she ordered herself a “cold chai,” my colleagues and I shouted some questions, mostly about Clinton’s recent meeting with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Perhaps eager to avoid answering or maybe just taken aback by our volume, Clinton responded with an exaggerated motion, shaking her head vigorously for a few seconds. Video of the moment shows me holding out my recorder in front of her, laughing and stepping back in surprise. After the exchange, she took a few more photos, exited the shop and greeted supporters waiting outside.


ADHD Stimulants Might Help a Smoker With the Disorder Cut Back on Cigarettes

Explanation: This US News & World Report story discusses the possibility that some drugs used mainly to control attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be useful in helping people quit smoking. The story focuses on a very small pilot study where researchers claim an ADHD drug, lisdexamfetamine dimesylate, reduced the number of cigarettes a person smoked, although it had no effect on stopping their smoking habit. The story doesn’t mention either the cost of the drug nor any harms that might come from its use. It also doesn’t  provide enough information about the study itself for readers to adequately evaluate its results. Nor does it disclose that the study was funded by a pharmaceutical company and that some members of the research team receive support from pharmaceutical firms. Smoking is a serious addiction that causes serious health consequences in those with and without ADHD, so efforts to promote abstinence and decreased use are appropriate. But when it comes to the ADHD drug Vyvanse helping smokers quit, this article is much ado about nothing.

There is no mention of the cost of the drug mentioned in the study, lisdexamfetamine dimesylate, in this story. A quick web search provided costs for a 30-day supply ranging from $285 to $337. Nor was there any mention of whether health insurance would cover the cost of this drug for helping curb smoking, especially since this is an “off-label” usage. The story states that, “our findings suggest that among adult regular smokers with ADHD who are interested in quitting, LDX does not increase the probability of smoking cessation more than does placebo, but is associated with a significant overall reduction in the amount of cigarettes smoked and is effective for reducing ADHD symptoms.” However, there are no numbers offered to lend context to that statement. We don’t know how many cigarettes participants smoked on average, nor do we know how many fewer they smoked while on the drug. Basically, there no numerical data provided in this story. The story doesn’t mention anything about harms, potential or reported, to those taking lisdexamfetamine dimesylate. While some known side effects may be considered minor, this is an amphetamine-based compound and appropriate cautions should be mentioned. While the story does explain that participants were given either the drug or a placebo, nothing else was offered to help evaluate the study design, and thus put its findings into perspective. The study itself was very small, involving less than two dozen participants in either the placebo or experimental group. The study offered several limitations which went unmentioned by the news story: “First, our sample size was quite small and this study can thus only be considered a pilot trial. Most of our findings did not even approach significance, however, suggesting that statistical power (i.e., sample size) was not a major factor in our findings.” “Second, we did not collect systematic follow-up data on our sample after the end of treatment.” … “It would have been useful to assess the impact of LDX on smoking-related outcomes over a longer duration of time.” While the story doesn’t really commit disease mongering, it does play off the understanding that a large portion of the smoking population wants to quit and are therefore easily susceptible to any information suggesting an easier remedy to stopping smoking, which this story does. The headline makes it sounds like it was about using ADHD drugs as smoking cessation treatment, for example. While the story includes a comment from a physician not affiliated with the study mentioned, it fails to point out that some members of the research team receive support from pharmaceutical firms, or that the study itself was underwritten by a drug company. We’ll give the story a just barely satisfactory here since it includes the information that study participants also were using a transdermal patch aimed at helping them quit smoking. It also mentions two other available drugs which may be useful in helping curb smoking. The drugs mentioned in this story are all currently available. The story appears to be a feature story vs pegged to a new study being published. So we’ll give this an N/A. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.


Hair-grooming syncope" is a real fainting disorder that can occur during acts of hair care.

Explanation: While an instance of hair-grooming syncope may certainly be scary for those involved (especially if it involves a seizure), the biggest difference between this condition and other bouts of fainting is that hair-grooming syncope is specifically triggered by the brushing, combing, curling, or cutting of hair, as pediatrician Dr. Kurt Brandt observed: “Syncope is basically passing out, and hair grooming is known to be a precipitant of that … It may be the pulling of the hair, possibly pain, possibly stimulation of the scalp … Your blood pressure goes down and you pass out.”

On July 7, 2019, Facebook user Alicia Brown Phillips brought attention to a fainting disorder known as “hair-grooming syncope” when she shared a message concerning a scary ordeal that reportedly occurred while she was attempting to curl her little sister’s hair: I experienced one of the scariest moments of my life this morning with my little sister and I am going to put this out there because I had never heard of this in my life! Hair-grooming Syncope … Look it up. This morning I was curling my little sister Gracie’s hair for church. I was maybe about five minutes in and she starts to gag a little and looks kind of pale. I asked her if she was going to get sick and she shook her head yes. I get my little daughters out of the bathroom and start to hold her hair up for her as she leans over the toilet. 30 seconds later… she looks at me. She is extremely pale with blue lips and starts to pass out. Her pupils got really big and I caught her. I start screaming for Dale to come help. Gracie has a blank stare and look on her face and is completely unresponsive and limp for about a minute. Her hands were also shaking. Very seizure like. She then comes back to and says she feels much better. She says she remembers hearing us talk but couldn’t see us. I was crying. She was very confused. My mom and dad rush to my house and a few hours in Children’s hospital, an EKG, and a head scan later… she is fine. Turns out there is something called hair-grooming syncope affects kids from ages 5-13. They said they see about 1-5 cases a year. Turns out brushing, curling, braiding, or drying can cause nerve stimulation on the scalp and cause some children to have seizure like symptoms. I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THIS BEFORE! We were told if she ever starts to feel nauseous or light headed while getting her hair brushed to sit down and take a break. I am putting this out there for others to see. If a kid ever complains of their belly hurting or feeling light headed while they are getting their hair done, make sure they take a seat and keep a close eye on them! Apparently very rare but so scary to see it happen! This Facebook post garnered ten of thousands of shares and comments within a few days of its initial posting. In addition to expressing concern for the child’s health, many commentators, like Phillips herself, were surprised to learn about this condition. “Syncope” is the medical term for fainting. “Hair-grooming syncope” refers to fainting that is brought on during hair grooming activities. A 1996 study defined the condition as follows: “Hair-grooming syncope is a rare and benign variety of neurocardiogenic syncope that should be considered in girls that complain of loss of consciousness during different hair care acts, even if seizures are present.” A 2009 study found that while this condition occurs most frequently in females, male children can also experience hair-grooming syncope: “Of the 111 patients, 78% were girls. We found characteristic difference between boys and girls with boys experiencing syncope more during hair cutting whereas girls experienced syncope more during hair combing and brushing.” We weren’t able to find any concrete numbers regarding how often hair-grooming syncope occurs. Knoxville’s WBIR reported that doctors see a “handful” of cases a year, but it’s possible this condition often goes undiagnosed because most parents aren’t aware that the condition exists, or it may be misdiagnosed as epilepsy:


Donald Trump Says Joe Biden has “written a letter of apology” for calling Trump’s travel restrictions from China “xenophobic.”

Explanation: The Biden campaign said an apology letter to Trump “never happened.” We found no public record of any letter of apology from Biden. Biden’s deputy campaign manager declared Biden’s support for the China restrictions in a statement to CNN on April 3, a Friday. The statement was not an apology. Biden has used the word “xenophobic” several times in reference to Trump and his actions, but never directly in reference to the ban Trump placed on travel from China.

National, China, Elections, Coronavirus, Donald Trump,

President Donald Trump repeated the misleading claim that former Vice President Joe Biden called him xenophobic for banning travel from China in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Trump added a new wrinkle on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, claiming that Biden not only called the travel restrictions xenophobic, but also apologized for the remark "with a letter on a Friday night." "Biden has now written a letter of apology because I did the right thing," Trump said during a May 3 virtual town hall with Fox News. "He actually apologized with a letter on a Friday night saying ‘he made the right move,'" Trump said later. "It wasn’t well played by the press, but he said I made the right move." There may be a simple reason why the letter Trump described didn’t get media coverage: There is no evidence such a letter exists. "Never happened," said Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates. Neither the Trump campaign nor the White House responded to our requests for comment in time for publication, and Trump wasn’t asked to substantiate his claim during the town hall. We found no public record of any Friday-night letter of apology — or any letter of apology — from Biden on Twitter, Google or the Nexis news archive database. Other political reporters and fact-checkers have reached the same conclusion. On Jan. 31, the Trump administration announced temporary restrictions on travel into the U.S. for immigrants and non-immigrants who had recently been "physically present" in China, with exceptions made for U.S. citizens and permanent residents and their family members. The move followed similar decisions from roughly 45 other countries and announcements from a number of airlines that they would be suspending flights between China and the U.S. while the outbreak ran its course. Trump has repeatedly touted the policy, crediting it with saving "hundreds of thousands of lives" during the Fox News town hall. Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, declared Biden’s support for the China restrictions months later in a statement to CNN on April 3, a Friday. CNN posted its story in the afternoon. "Joe Biden supports travel bans that are guided by medical experts, advocated by public health officials, and backed by a full strategy," Bedingfeld told CNN. "Science supported this ban, therefore he did too." But Biden never explicitly called the travel restrictions xenophobic, as Trump has claimed. At a campaign event on Jan. 31, the same day Trump announced the China travel restrictions, Biden cited Trump’s "xenophobia" but did not specifically mention the administration’s policy. He said that in a time of "crisis with the coronavirus," the "credibility of a president is most needed." "This is no time for Donald Trump's record of hysteria xenophobia, hysterical xenophobia, and fear-mongering to lead the way instead of science," he said. The following day, Biden tweeted, "We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering." We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering. He is the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency. Biden used the word twice more in March. But one comment was in reference to Trump calling the coronavirus a "foreign" virus, and the second was not clearly in reference to the travel policy. Bates, Biden’s spokesman, told us in March that Biden "has decried Trump's xenophobia for years, and was saying that it shouldn't influence the U.S. approach to this outbreak." "This was not in reference to coronavirus travel restrictions," he said. An April ad from the Trump campaign selectively edited a clip of Biden to make it seem like the former vice president admitted to complimenting Trump for the China travel restrictions. But in its full context, the clip shows Biden was criticizing Trump for not acting with enough "urgency." Trump said Biden called the ban on travel coming in from China "xenophobic," and that "he actually apologized with a letter on a Friday night saying ‘he made the right move.’" We found no record of any letter or apology from Biden. Trump appears to be citing a campaign official’s statement to the media in support of Trump’s decision. Biden has used the word "xenophobic" several times in reference to Trump, but not directly in reference to the China travel policy. We rate this statement .


Study Shows Chest Pain From Heart Disease Can Be Treated With Stem Cell Therapy

Explanation: Our main constructive criticism is that the story should have emphasized what a Phase 2 study shows and doesn’t show. It says that a Phase 3 study is being planned – but never defines what a Phase 3 study is. These are important concepts for readers to understand but journalists shouldn’t assume that people know what you’re talking about. Fascinating research, worthy of news coverage.

No discussion of cost. A ballpark could have been given. Again, the bulleted breakdown of impact on number of angina attacks, exercise tolerance test scores, and nitroglycerin use was appreciated. We’ll give the story credit for the following – although we think it was incomplete: “About one in three patients had elevations of a cardiac enzyme that is associated with heart attacks. While the elevations did not appear to be clinically significant, Losordo says the researchers will continue to closely monitor cardiac enzymes in patients who receive the treatment.” What does that mean? “Associated with heart attacks”? How? Why? How often? In what past research? And what does “did not appear to be clinically significant” mean? Did it cause any problems or didn’t it? We appreciated the bulleted breakdown of major findings. But the story never emphasized that this was a Phase 2 study – which is not primarily designed to test efficacy but safety. Yet the subheadline was “Study shows chest pain from heart disease can be treated with stem cell therapy.” The story finally gets close to where it should be at the very end, quoting Dr. Tomaselli saying “he study shows that the approach is both safe and feasible in patients with significant coronary disease…. The next step is to prove the treatment is clinically useful.” But it’s better to be overt and clear about what the study didn’t show and to emphasize the uncertainties – perhaps to a greater degree than what may be assumed to be certainties. It wouldn’t require much time or space or effort to define the phases of trials. No disease mongering here. The president of the American Heart Association was quoted liberally throughout the story. It could be argued that since the work was published in an AHA journal, he is not the most independent observer, but we’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt on this. Independent researchers working in the field of stem cell experimentation might have been better choices. The story puts this approach into the context of attempts to help people who have angina despite available treatments. The story calls the approach “experimental”…says Phase III studies are planned…and ends with “the next step is to prove the treatment is clinicallly useful.” We are given some sense that this isn’t brand new research: “The new treatment came from the discovery about a decade ago that CD34 stem cells stimulate the formation of new blood vessels…The approach also showed promise in a 2007 pilot study involving fewer than 30 patients.” Although a news release from the American Heart Association is cited as one source for the story, we do not see evidence that the story relied solely or largely on that or any news release.


Principal who went into coma after bone marrow donation dies.

Explanation: A New Jersey high school principal who had agreed to donate bone marrow to a 14-year-old stranger in France has died, weeks after he lapsed into a coma during the procedure, his family said.

Willie Nelson, Hackensack, New Jersey, Health, France, North America, U.S. News

Westfield High School Principal Derrick Nelson, 44, told the school’s newspaper that he found out in October that he was a match for the unidentified French teen. Nelson underwent the typically low-risk donation procedure at Hackensack University Medical Center in February. His father, Willie Nelson, said Wednesday that his son went into cardiac arrest at some point during the procedure, but he didn’t know any other details. He died Monday, according to the hospital. “He excelled at everything he did,” his father said. “Everything he did in life was for a purpose.” Nancy Radwin, a spokeswoman for Hackensack Meridian Health, said she couldn’t comment on the cause of death or whether any bone marrow was successfully extracted. “This was a tragic outcome and we extend our deepest sympathies to the family of Dr. Nelson, to all of his students and their families, the community, his friends and colleagues whose lives he touched,” Radwin said. Nelson, who had a 6-year-old daughter and was engaged to be married, didn’t know the French teen but wanted to help nonetheless, he told the high school newspaper in February, before the procedure. “If it’s just a little bit of pain for a little bit of time that can give someone years of joy, it’s all worth it,” he told the student newspaper. He also told the newspaper that he had several health issues that complicated his planned donation. His sleep apnea prevented doctors from using general anesthesia, and they instead were to harvest stem cells intravenously. However, at his final physical exam on Jan. 21, Nelson was asked if he had sickle cell anemia, a blood disorder. “I said well I don’t have sickle cell, but I have the sickle cell trait,” Nelson told the newspaper. ”(The doctors) said, ‘Well if you have the trait, you can’t do stem cell.’” They ultimately decided to do the bone marrow surgery under a local anesthetic, he said. Nelson and the teen were connected through Be the Match, a worldwide bone marrow registry network. About 70% of patients needing a bone marrow transplant don’t have a fully matched donor in their family, according to Be the Match’s website, Bone marrow donation is considered a low risk procedure. About 2.4% of donors experience a serious complication due to anesthesia or damage to bone, nerve, or muscle in their hip region, according to the National Marrow Donor Program’s website. No details could be given about the teen’s identity, diagnosis or whether he received any marrow from Nelson due to privacy and confidentiality obligations, according to Be the Match. “We deeply appreciate Derrick’s willingness to step forward to donate, and we share our sympathies and condolences with his family,” said Dr. C. Randal Mills, CEO of Be the Match. “Marrow donation is a selfless decision that helps save the lives of thousands of patients each year. ... we thank anyone who steps forward to donate and help save a life.” Nelson also served as an officer in the Army Reserve for more than 20 years and had recently re-enlisted. His military service included an assignment in the Middle East.


Massachusetts officials rescind ban on vaping product sales
.

Explanation: Retailers in Massachusetts will once again be allowed to sell unflavored vaping products after state officials on Wednesday ended an emergency ban on their sale and approved new restrictions on flavored vaping products.

Health, General News, Legislation, Charlie Baker, Massachusetts, Vaping, Public health, Tobacco industry regulation, Laws

The state’s Public Health Council on Wednesday voted to rescind a temporary ban on the sale of all vaping products that was imposed by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration in September. The ban had been set to expire Dec. 24, but Baker had said his administration would move to end the ban early in light of new legislation he signed into law last month restricting the sale and use of flavored tobacco and vaping products. The council on Wednesday also approved emergency regulations related to the new law, which took effect immediately for flavored vaping products but take effect for flavored tobacco products in June. A handful of states have imposed temporary bans on vaping products, but Massachusetts is now the first with permanent restrictions in place. The new law specifically restricts the sale and consumption of flavored tobacco and vaping products to licensed smoking bars such as cigar bars and hookah lounges. The restriction extends to popular menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco and chewing tobacco. It also places a 75% excise tax on nicotine vaping products and requires health insurers to cover tobacco cessation counseling. Wednesday’s actions effectively mean convenience stores, gas stations, liquor stores and other licensed tobacco retailers will be able to resume selling unflavored tobacco and vaping products. State Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel said the new provisions limit youth access to vaping products and create new public warnings while their health effects are still being studied. “From a public health point of view, we cannot recommend anybody use e-cigarette or vaping products at this time,” she said after the votes. Bharel said retailers will be able to resume sales once they put up new signs detailing the new state restrictions, the health risks of vaping and information about tobacco cessation services. Retailers will also have to place vaping products behind the store’s counter, just like tobacco products. And they’ll need to make sure any vaping products on their shelves have a nicotine concentration of less than 35 milligrams per milliliter of vaping solution. Anything containing higher nicotine concentrations, such as certain products by popular electronic cigarette maker Juul, will be restricted to tobacco stores that restrict entry for people under the age of 21. Violators face fines starting at $1,000 for the first offense. Tony Abboud, the executive director of the Vapor Technology Association, said in a statement that the bans “will do nothing to protect youth.”  He added that the Vapor Technology Association is ready to work the state “on the many real solutions,” including their ‘21 & DONE!’ plan that they presented at the White House to preserve “flavored vapor as an alternative for adults desperately trying to quit smoking.” The governor imposed the temporary emergency ban on vaping products amid a rash of suspected vaping-related lung illnesses and deaths nationwide. State officials say they’ve identified 90 probable and confirmed cases of vaping-related lung illnesses in Massachusetts. Three of those people have died. Officials recently disclosed that at least six of the residents had used products purchased from state-licensed marijuana retailers. The state’s Cannabis Control Commission has imposed a separate moratorium on the sale of marijuana vaping products.


Taiwan reports no new coronavirus cases for first time in a month.

Explanation: Taiwan on Tuesday reported no new cases of the coronavirus for the first time in more than a month, in the latest sign that the island’s early and effective prevention methods have paid off.

Taiwan has won plaudits from health experts for how it has fought the virus, including starting as early as Dec. 31 checks on passengers arriving from China’s Wuhan city, where the first cases were reported late last year. Taiwan has reported 393 cases to date, and six deaths. A total of 338 were so-called imported cases, where people were suspected of getting infected overseas before entering Taiwan, with the rest cases of local transmissions. “Of course, we hope it has passed,” Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told a news conference, referring to the virus on the island. “But we still need to be on our guard. Of course we feel happy at no new cases today.”  Chen said the last time Taiwan reported no new cases was March 9, after which numbers spiked for a time with people coming back to the island from places now reeling from the virus in Europe and the United States. The number of people discharged after they were diagnosed with the coronavirus has reached 124, Taiwan’s government added. However, restrictions remain in place, such as compulsory 14-day quarantines for all arrivals onto the island, and the number of international flights has fallen dramatically. Taiwan has not gone into total lockdown because of the virus and life has continued relatively normally, though the government has promoted social distancing and mandated the wearing of face masks on public transport.


By spring 2020, the sun had entered a "lockdown" period where its solar activity decreased to the point that famine, earthquakes, and freezing weather threatened life on Earth.

Explanation: What's true: Solar activity, which is often defined by the amount of sunspots on the star's surface, pendulates on a roughly 11-year cycle. The most recent cycle, which began in late 2008, peaked with sunspots in April 2014 and then steadily decreased until reaching a "solar minimum" — or a period with zero sunspots — in late 2019 and 2020. That means, yes, by spring 2020, solar activity had reached a so-called "lockdown," or solar minimum. What's false: While the sun had entered a so-called "lockdown" period — when the number of sunspots on the star's surface decreased to few or none, technically called a "solar minimum" — by spring 2020, it was a normal occurrence for the star and was not projected by scientists to threaten life on Earth with famine, earthquakes, or freezing weather.

In mid-May 2020, as people worldwide remained quarantined to limit the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease, social media posts claimed not only were humans on Earth sheltering-in-place during the pandemic, but our life source — the sun — had gone on “lockdown,” too. Recirculating sensational headlines on the concept — including the New York Post’s May 14 article “The sun has entered a ‘lockdown’ period, which could cause freezing weather, famine“ — numerous people reached out to Snopes to investigate the validity of the claim: that the power of our solar system’s star had decreased to the point that life on Earth would be threatened by famine, earthquakes, and freezing temperatures. First, we considered the definitions of key terms in helioseismology (the study of the sun) to make sense of the claim. Per astronomers’ research over centuries, the sun generates powerful magnetic forces that are constantly changing, affecting the intensity of ultraviolet radiation and X-rays from the ball of gas that illuminates Earth. In areas of the star where the magnetic fields are particularly strong — thus restricting some heat from the sun’s core from reaching its surface — dark spots appear, or what astronomers call sunspots. In other words, sunspots are places on the sun that are cooler than other areas. Sarah Scoles, a writer for the peer-reviewed Science Magazine, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, wrote in 2019: Sunspots can be seen with the naked eye, but it wasn’t until the mid-1800s that astronomers realized they come and go on a rough schedule. They first appear at midlatitudes and then proliferate, migrating toward the equator over about 11 years. In contrast, flashes of light on the star’s surface occur when magnetic fields tangle or cross each other, causing a sudden explosion of energy — a phenomenon astronomers call solar flares. All of these factors — the number of sunspots, their locations, and the intensity of solar flares, etc. — are known as solar activity, which, like Scoles pointed out, fluctuates on a relatively predictable cycle every 11 years or so. Astronomers measure this 11-year timeframe, the sun cycle, in two major phases: when sunspots gradually increase over roughly five or six years, peaking for a solar maximum, and when sunspots diminish over the next approximately five or six years until there are few or zero sunspots, called a solar minimum. NASA writes: While intense activity such as sunspots and solar flares subside during solar minimum, that doesn’t mean the sun becomes dull. Solar activity simply changes form. In late 2008, the sun began its 24th solar cycle since scientists began taking accurate measurements of solar activity. The cycle’s solar maximum, or when the sun was at its most active state with its highest level of sunspots, occurred in April 2014, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). And from that point on, the number of sunspots decreased until late 2019, when the sun had zero sunspots, or reached a solar minimum. As of May 2020, the sun remained at a solar minimum, which meant one facet of the claim — that the sun had entered a so-called “lockdown” period, or solar minimum, by spring 2020 — was true. Dr. Tony Phillips, a former NASA researcher who now runs a daily website with astronomy updates for scientists, said in a May 19, 2020, email to Snopes that scientists expected the latest phase to last through much, if not all, of 2020. For solar scientists like him, the phases in the sun cycle are important because they can change how satellites or natural debris orbit the Earth; different periods can also intensify cosmic rays and slightly dim the brightness of the sun’s rays. With little or zero sunspots on the star’s surface, there’s greater likelihood of long-lived coronal holes, which are low-energy regions in the outermost part of the sun’s atmosphere where magnetic forces open up and allow streams of solar particles to escape the star — and those flows of solar wind can cause space weather effects if, or when, they hit Earth’s magnetic field, according to NASA. In a 2017 article about the upcoming solar minimum in 2019 and 2020, NASA said: These effects (from long-lived coronal holes) can include temporary disturbances of the Earth’s magnetosphere, called geomagnetic storms, auroras, and disruptions to communications and navigation systems. During solar minimum, the effects of Earth’s upper atmosphere on satellites in low Earth orbit changes too. Furthermore, in other periods of the solar cycle, the star’s ultraviolet radiation heats up the Earth’s atmosphere in a way that causes friction for anything hovering and orbiting the globe. That friction causes what scientists call “drag,” a phenomenon that prevents natural and manmade space debris from reaching low-orbiting rings closest to the Earth’s surface. But during a solar minimum, the NASA article stated, “this natural heating mechanism subsides,” adding: Earth’s upper atmosphere cools and, to some degree, can collapse. Without a normal amount of drag, space junk tends to hang around. That means it is accurate to say solar minimums can affect space weather, though the impacts remain at the atmospheric level. Next, to fully investigate the claim, we looked for any indication from scientists that the latest solar minimum — or the 25th sun cycle — was forecasted to affect humans in ways that most cycles in modern history had not: by causing low-crop production, earthquakes, and freezing weather. According to a panel of scientists sponsored by NOAA and NASA that makes such projections, as of April 2019, the upcoming roughly 11-year sun cycle (the 25th) was expected to “likely be weak” compared to others in modern history, yet similar to the previous cycle (the 24th) in terms of its number of sunspots and how they pendulate over time. NASA released the following graphic to help people visualize the prediction:  That means, as of this writing, astronomers were not predicting any catastrophic damages as a result of the 2019-2020 solar minimum. Phillips said: This is a normal part of the solar cycle. … Although this Solar Minimum is unusually deep compared to other Minima of the Space Age (1957 to present), it is hardly unprecedented. The Solar Minimum of 2008-2009 was similarly deep and, by the way, caused *no* famines, earthquakes or other catastrophes. If Solar Minimum went on forever — that is, if the sun got “stuck” and never produced any more sunspots — then, yes, new types of effects might emerge. Since the start of astronomers’ research into the sun’s patterns, it has always produced sunspots after a solar minimum, even after the 17th Century’s Maunder Minimum, or “prolonged sunspot minimum,” from 1645 to 1715, when sunspots were exceedingly rare for about 70 years. “However, there is no evidence that the sun is currently ‘stuck’,” Phillips said of the 2020 claim. “On the contrary, we are already starting to see the first sunspots of the next solar cycle. By the end of this year, we will probably be on the up-swing again.” Lastly, to complete our examination, we looked at where the concerns about the sun had originated; the New York Post’s article was a recycled report by the British tabloid newspaper, The Sun, which appeared to have been the first publication to dub what is a normal occurrence in the sun’s 11-year cycle a “lockdown” without any specific attribution. The tabloid stated declaratively in the report’s first paragraph:


Julian Assange asked President-Elect Donald Trump for a pardon in exchange for his help in defeating Hillary Clinton.

Explanation: What's true: Julian Assange has called upon the United States to "renounce its witch-hunt against WikiLeaks" and "dissolve its FBI investigation." What's false: Assange's pleas long antedate the 2016 election and are unrelated to its outcome.

Uncategorized, joe. my. god, julian assange, president obama

On 16 November 2016 the web site Winning Democrats published an article implying that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was seeking a personal presidential pardon from Donald Trump as recompense for “[s]abotaging Clinton]”: Julian Assange Finally Asks Trump for Payment for Sabotaging Clinton — A Full Pardon With the 2016 elections over and Trump as the President-elect, Julian Assange is finally asking for payment for his part in assisting the Trump campaign. Since 2011, Assange has been avoiding prosecution in the United States for leaking documents through his organization, Wikileaks, relating to foreign affairs with information that had been given “secret” classification by the U.S. government … In light of his anti-Clinton sentiment and despite the fact that he once likened Trump to cholera, Assange is now appealing to Trump to pardon him — the fact that he is currently under investigation and hasn’t actually been convicted of anything notwithstanding. With a history of anti-semitism and misogyny behind him, Julian Assange would fit in well with the company Trump currently surrounds himself, including alt-right advocate Steve Bannon and of course, Trump himself. As Breitbart correctly noted, WikiLeaks has already been negotiating with American authorities for several years with respect to the organization’s operations. On 19 August 2012, Assange issued a formal statement from the Ecuadorean Embassy in which he implored President Obama that: As WikiLeaks stands under threat, so does the freedom of expression and the health of our societies. We must use this moment to articulate the choice that is before the government of the United States of America. Will it return to and reaffirm the values it was founded on? Or will it lurch off the precipice dragging us all into a dangerous and oppressive world in which journalists fall silent under the fear of prosecution and citizens must whisper in the dark? I say that it must turn back. I ask President Obama to do the right thing. The United States must renounce its witch-hunt against WikiLeaks. The United States must dissolve its FBI investigation. The United States must vow that it will not seek to prosecute our staff or our supporters. The United States must pledge before the world that it will not pursue journalists for shining a light on the secret crimes of the powerful. There must be no more foolish talk about prosecuting any media organization, be it WikiLeaks or the New York Times. The US administration’s war on whistle-blowers must end. Thomas Drake, William Binney, John Kirakou and the other heroic US whistle-blowers must – they must – be pardoned and compensated for the hardships they have endured as servants of the public record. And the Army Private who remains in a military prison in Fort Leavenworth Kansas, who was found by the UN to have endured months of torturous detention in Quantico Virginia and who has yet — after two years in prison — to see a trial, must be released. (Assange currently resides at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after seeking asylum from that country and is wanted by Swedish authorities over allegations of sexual assault, so he would not necessarily escape legal troubles personally if he were pardoned by the U.S. president.) In November 2010, the Program in Law and Journalism at New York Law School blog Legal As She Is Spoke argued WikiLeaks (and by extension, Assange) had “committed no crime” for publishing leaked documents pertaining to the U.S. conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The piece stood in stark relief to items published in 2016 decrying WikiLeaks for its activity: Since August, when Wikileaks first published 91,000 classified documents relating to the Afghanistan War, and in October, when they published approximately 400,000 more relating to the War in Iraq, many conservative commentators have been clamoring for the Justice Department to prosecute Wikileaks for publishing classified information. But in the United States, generally publishing classified information is not a crime. The sort of information that a news organization can be prosecuted for publishing is limited to: nuclear secrets (Atomic Energy Act), the identities of covert agents (Intelligence Identities Protection Act), and certain forms of communications intelligence (Section 798 of the Espionage Act). Perhaps lamenting that the U.S. does not have an Official Secrets Act like the United Kingdom, right wing columnists have consistently misinterpreted these Acts, or have cited other provisions of our espionage laws which almost surely do not apply to Wikileaks. The most commonly cited statute by those who advocate prosecuting Wikileaks is Section 793(e) of the Espionage Act. In August, former Bush speechwriter Marc Theissen linked to this section in an article for the Washington Post when he wrote that Wikileaks is “a criminal enterprise” whose founder, Julian Assange, should be arrested by U.S. forces on foreign soil, international law be damned. But this provision does not apply to those who publish information. Section 793(e)reads “Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document…relating to the national defense…willfully communicates… the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it…[s]hall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.” As made clear in the Pentagon Papers case, the word “communicates” was never meant “to encompass publication” or to affect the press. Congress included the word “publish” in three other sections of the Act but intentionally left it out of 793. As the legislative history of this provision states, “Nothing in this Act shall … in any way to limit or infringe upon freedom of the press or of speech as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.” Slate published an editorial titled “Why I Love WikiLeaks” on 30 November 2010 that lauded the site for “shock[ing] us out of [] complacency,” again with a tenor absent from coverage of the platform during the 2016 election: As Assange navigates from military and diplomatic exposés to financial ones this year, his Wall Street targets won’t be able to shield their incompetence and misconduct with lip music about how he has damaged national security and violated the Espionage Act of 1917 and deserves capital punishment. But I’m sure they’ll invoke trade secrets, copyright, privacy, or whatever other legal window dressing they find convenient. Rather than defending their behavior, they’ll imitate Clinton and assail Assange’s methods and practices. As the Economist put it, “secrecy is necessary for national security and effective diplomacy.” But it “is also inevitable that the prerogative of secrecy will be used to hide the misdeeds of the permanent state and its privileged agents.” Assange and WikiLeaks, while not perfect, have punctured the prerogative of secrecy with their recent revelations. The untold story is that while doing the United States’ allies, adversaries, and enemies a favor with his leaks, he’s doing the United States the biggest favor by holding it accountable. As I.F. Stone put it, “All governments lie, but disaster lies in wait for countries whose officials smoke the same hashish they give out.” We contacted WikiLeaks’ Task Force, a subset of the organization dedicated to ensuring accuracy in reporting about the platform’s activities. A volunteer with whom we spoke confirmed that WikiLeaks had beseeched the Obama administration for many years to cease investigating their activities and to pardon whistleblowers, adding that the organization “publishes without [favor]” and would never release or withhold information based upon the possibility of favorable treatment from any state or entity.


The United States is "the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege.

During the Democratic presidential debate in Des Moines, Iowa, Bernie Sanders returned to a health-care talking point that he has used often. In fact, he made it more than once in the debate. "I want to end the international embarrassment of the United States of America being the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege," Sanders said. This is virtually identical to a statement by Sanders that we checked in June 2015. We’ll recap our research here. When we looked at the claim before, Michael Briggs, a spokesman for Sanders, said the senator was referring to nations that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. We’re not sure Sanders made that entirely clear (for instance the OECD doesn’t include China or Russia, which many people would consider a major country), but we’ll put that aside for the moment. Briggs directed us to a 2014 OECD report that found only two member countries, the United States and Mexico, lacking universal health care coverage. "However, Mexico passed a law in 2004 with the goal of establishing universal coverage, and they're currently at 90 percent," Briggs said. "The ACA was never intended to establish universal coverage, and according to the January CBO estimate, 90 percent is about as good as it's going to get." We checked and Briggs is close on his numbers. In Mexico, as of 2013, public insurance reached about 86.7 percent of the people. That’s actually not much different from where America stood, if you combine public and private coverage. The figure in the United States was 84.9 percent. However, in 2015, the CBO estimated that 89 percent of American residents -- excluding undocumented immigrants -- have coverage. The number drops to 87 percent if you include undocumented residents. The median income in Mexico is so low -- about a third of that in the United States -- that some would not group it with the stronger OECD countries. But since Sanders’ spokesman included it, we thought it only fair to include it, too. Beyond the raw numbers, Sanders’ statement highlights the tricky questions that come up when you start talking about a right to health care. Is it defined as universal coverage, or a legal right to care? The two are not identical. The gold standard Europe covers both bases. Nearly every European nation has signed and ratified the European Social Charter. That treaty’s section on health care casts coverage as a right. "The system of health care must be accessible to the entire population. To that end, states should take as their main criterion for judging the success of health system reforms effective access to health care for all, without discrimination, as a basic human right." Countries follow different paths to make good on that promise. Great Britain has its national health service where the government runs the hospitals and pays the doctors and nurses. Germany and France have a more complicated mix of highly regulated public and private insurance companies, and, as in America, a law that makes insurance mandatory for everyone. Those European nations score 100 when it comes to universal coverage. But so does Australia, and Australia operates under no legal claim that health care is a right. The government’s Attorney General’s Department posted on its website "there is no Commonwealth legislation explicitly enshrining the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health." That doesn’t stop the Aussies from running an extensive system of public hospitals and a robust public health insurance program. Japan uses a different mix of tools to achieve the same results, and it too lacks a formal legal right to health care. There is a substantial body of Japanese health care law, but it has to do with creating various government programs and setting the rules of the game. A weak guarantee There are several international treaties and conventions that speak of the obligation of countries to provide for the health of their residents. The list includes the World Health Organization constitution and the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The United States signed and ratified the former, but it is literally one of a handful of countries that has not ratified the latter. For some, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a landmark document that comes very close to asserting health care as a right. The treaty’s language is ambitious. It speaks of "the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health." Countries that get behind it promise that they will aim to create the "conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness." But the convention’s legal heft is considerably less than its stated goals. It pushes no country to spend beyond its "available resources," a quantity that could be whatever the leaders say it is. Lawrence Gostin is the director of Georgetown University’s O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. Gostin said the convention lacks teeth. "These international obligations are vague and unenforceable so really don’t translate into a ‘right’ in all states," Gostin said. For Gostin, the test of a nation’s commitment should be measured by the facts on the ground. "Does it provide even reasonably fair access to the entire population, and is there a way to enforce or implement the right?" Gostin said. "By those measures, the U.S. has many entitlements to health care, including Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Affairs, and ACA subsidies. Yes there are many left out, but that is true in lots of countries, including China that provides a minuscule amount of health dollars to rural residents." Whether China is an industrialized country of the sort Sanders mentioned is a matter of debate, but China helps illustrate the difference between a right in law and a right in practice. China has ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. On top of that, its Constitution commits the state to provide health services and facilities "all for the protection of the people's health." But the record of the world’s most populous nation is checkered to say the least. David Blumenthal, president of the Commonwealth Fund, a Boston-based health policy group, has written about the evolution of health care in China. In an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Blumenthal wrote that about 95 percent of the population has access to modest coverage. "The government has decided to provide all Chinese some protection against the cost of illness, not necessarily as a matter of right, but as a matter of fact," Blumenthal told PolitiFact. Ake Blomqvist, a health care economist at Carleton University in Canada, has a dimmer view of the connection between China’s legal promises and what it delivers. China might have signed that UN convention but that has had limited effect. "In reality the majority of people in China are at risk of not being able to receive even urgently needed health care if they are unlucky enough to require something that is expensive," Blomqvist said. A spokesman for Sanders, Warren Gunnels, told PolitiFact after the debate that Japan and Australia have created the right in practice even if it doesn't exist in law. He added that the Commonwealth Fund ranks the United States last in health care access among seven major nations. Our ruling Sanders said that the United States is the only major country that doesn’t guarantee health care to everyone as a right. Among the wealthy OECD nations, America -- with the possible exception of Mexico -- stands out as the only one that lacks universal coverage. The question of a guaranteed right to health care is murkier. Sanders spoke as though every advanced economy has it. In reality, some do and some don’t. We rate the claim .


Officals say the flu is ‘prevalent’ in New York.

Explanation: New York officials have declared that the flu is “prevalent” in the state.

This declaration initiates a state regulation that will require healthcare professionals who are not vaccinated for influenza to wear masks in areas where patients are present. “Getting vaccinated remains the best way for all New Yorkers to protect against the flu, and it is vital for caregivers who come in contact with patients to get vaccinated to help prevent the spread of flu,” State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said. As of Nov. 30 there have been 3,158 laboratory-confirmed cases, 691 hospitalizations and one child death, according to the state Department of Health. Heath officials recommend that anyone older than six-months should be vaccinated, particularly the elderly and children younger than 2 years old. Vaccines change each year based on predictions on what strains of the virus will be prevalent, according  to Times Union. Health officials recommend getting vaccinated regardless of efficacy as it will still make the illness milder.


Jeb Bush Says that during his eight years as Florida governor, "we created 1.3 million net new jobs -- more jobs created than Texas.

At an event in Orlando attended by several GOP presidential contenders, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a likely Republican candidate, touted his state’s record on job creation during his tenure. "In Florida, during my eight years, we grew at 4.4 percent per year, and we created, together, many of the people in this room, by creating a better environment, we created 1.3 million net new jobs -- more jobs created than Texas, more jobs created than any state in country other than California, a state 2 1/2 times our size," Bush said. That’s a direct knock at one of his likely rivals in the presidential race -- former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who also spoke at the summit and is expected to announce his candidacy for president later this week. We decided to look at the number of jobs created in Florida and Texas, respectively, and how much credit Bush deserves for that. Bush was governor from January 1999 through January 2007; Perry was governor from late 2000 to early 2015. Net jobs in Florida vs. Texas Bush’s term in office was bookended by two periods of robust job growth -- 1998-2000 and 2004-06. The 2007 recession hit after he left office. Bush’s spokesman pointed to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for total, nonfarm, seasonally adjusted jobs. In Florida, there were about 6.7 million such jobs in December 1998 and 8 million in December 2006. That works out to about 1.3 million net new jobs. By comparison, in Texas, there were about 9.1 million jobs in December 1998 and 10.2 million jobs in December 2006. That works out to 1.1 million net new jobs. So during Bush’s two terms in office -- which, we’ll note, includes a period before Perry was governor -- the number of net new jobs in Florida was 186,800 higher than in Texas. Does Bush get credit for the job growth? Bush took a measure of credit during his speech. And on his PAC’s website, Bush also took credit for growth saying that "his limited-government approach helped unleash one of the most robust and dynamic economies in the nation, creating 1.3 million net new jobs ... ." Is that justified? We started by asking his spokesman if he could point to anything that Bush did to fuel that job growth. "Creating 1.3 million new jobs and leading the nation in job creation over your final five years in office doesn’t just happen by riding an economic wave," Matt Gorman said. "That takes strong, pro-growth economic policies like those put in place by Gov. Bush. He consistently improved Florida's business climate, including cutting taxes every year he was in office." PolitiFact has frequently noted that when it comes to the economy and jobs, assigning credit (or blame) for a given statistical accomplishment isn’t as clear cut as politicians would like voters to believe. Much has to do with timing: Bush was fortunate to have governed during some economically robust years. "It is very hard to measure how much credit Gov. Bush should get for the job creation in Florida during his eight years, since so many different factors affect a state's job creation," George Washington University economist Tara Sinclair said. Sean Snaith, the director of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Economic Competitiveness, compared the state’s economy to an omelet with many ingredients going into the final product. Snaith said it’s "difficult to point to one specific ingredient as being responsible for the omelet itself. Florida’s economy performed very well during this time period, the economic omelet was quite tasty. Not all of the ingredients, however, originated in Tallahassee’s kitchen. Low interest rates and a global thirst for oil impacted these state’s economies but neither had any control of these important ingredients." Moody’s economist Kwame Donaldson added that in the early 2000s, Nevada and Arizona  experienced a similar growth trajectory as Florida, suggesting that Bush’s policies were not singularly responsible for his state’s growth. (Arizona, for instance, had a Democratic governor for the second half of the period in question.) Construction fueled Florida’s job growth -- and then bust The experts added that it’s worth looking at what happened after Bush left office. Texas’ job growth during that time frame was also relatively strong – a 19.6 percent increase in Florida vs. a 12.5 percent increase in Texas. Both states were higher than the 7.6 percent for the country as a whole over that period, said David Cooper, an expert on state labor markets at the Economic Policy Institute. Construction employment in Florida grew by 46.6 percent over that time frame -- more than double the growth in Texas and the nation. Then, when the recession hit, the construction job market in Florida nosedived. As a result, "Florida’s job losses were much more severe than in Texas," Cooper said. "I am not sure that the job growth during Jeb Bush administration should be celebrated, because it was primarily fueled by a housing bubble that burst as Bush’s term was ending," said Donaldson of Moody’s. "Florida is still struggling to recover from this housing bust." Sinclair concurred. "Although it makes more sense for a governor to compare across states in order to somewhat control for national level events, it would also be fair for him to take some of the blame for the worse performance of Florida so soon after he left office if he wants to take credit for the good times," she said. Texas, by contrast, was not as hard hit because it had stronger bank regulation, meaning it didn’t have as many bad loans as Florida, said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. As The Economist explained in 2010, "Texas has strict rules on home-equity lending, relative to other states, and this has helped to prevent ratios of loan size to home value from rising as high as they have elsewhere." Residential construction fell by about two thirds in Texas, but it collapsed by even more -- 85 percent -- in Florida, said Moody’s senior economist Chris Lafakis. "I certainly wouldn’t blame only Gov. Bush for Florida’s recession — there were many culpable parties that overlooked and underestimated the effect of horrific lending standards and bad mortgages — but Gov. Bush certainly didn’t prevent or mitigate the recession either," he said. "Vermont is an example where state policy restricted the housing boom but prevented the housing bust." It’s also worth noting that the sheer number of new jobs doesn’t say much about how well they paid, said Harry Holzer, a Georgetown University economist who is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. "Texas and Florida are both places that get a big influx of migrants either from other states or immigrants from other countries and I think they drive a lot of job creation in both places, often low-wage job creation," Holzer said. Our ruling Bush said that during his eight years in office, "we created 1.3 million net new jobs, more jobs created than Texas." He got his numbers right, but it’s worth noting that no governor is solely, or even mostly, responsible for economic growth in their state -- and if he wants to take credit for the expansion on his watch, then he also needs to shoulder some of the blame for the bust that followed his departure from office. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.


Today in America, between 40 and 50 percent of all African-American babies, virtually 1-in-2, are killed before they are born.

U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., has been active in the nation’s capital recently, lobbying for legislation he introduced that would ban abortions based on race or gender. Critics say the proposed ban is "stereotyping," as women seek abortions for a multitude of reasons, such as financial constraints. Franks presented a series of abortion statistics at an April 14 House subcommittee hearing on the legislation, called the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, or PRENDA. "Today in America, between 40 and 50 percent of all African-American babies, virtually 1-in-2 are killed before they are born, which is a greater cause of death for African-Americans than heart disease, cancer, diabetes, AIDS and violence combined," Franks said. The congressman’s matter-of-fact claim intrigued us, so we decided to check it out. Limited data Franks’ spokeswoman, Destiny Edwards, referenced multiple reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, for his claim. Because Franks is talking specifically about abortion, we did not account for babies who may die as a result of domestic violence, for example, before birth. Guttmacher notes that African-American women accounted for an estimated 37 percent of the 1.21 million total abortions performed in 2008. That would in theory translate to 447,700 abortions. That same year, according to the CDC, 670,809 African-American babies were born. But Guttmacher’s abortion data is based on surveys with women and abortion providers. It is not a complete picture. Plus, total abortions dropped to about 1.06 million in 2011, but Guttmacher doesn’t have updated demographic breakdowns, Guttmacher Institute spokeswoman Rebecca Wind said. The CDC’s data is similarly imperfect. As we’ve noted in a previous abortion claim from PolitiFact Florida, the CDC does not have a complete record of abortions. Most states require hospitals, facilities and physicians to report all abortions to a central health agency. But not every state reports this abortion data to the feds -- and they’re not required to either. The data also leaves out more than 20 states, including Arizona, California and Florida. According to the CDC’s 2012 data, the most recent available, the abortion ratio for non-Hispanic African-American women was 435 abortions per 1,000 African-American live births. But Nikki Mayes, a CDC spokeswoman, said that interpreting the ratio as a percent wouldn't be fair. Live births exclude stillbirths and miscarriages. According to the Mayo Clinic, 10 to 20 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. The second half of Franks’ claim, comparing other causes of death, is even more complicated. CDC data is split among leading causes of death between African-American men and women. For African-American men, the leading causes of death are heart disease (24.1 percent), cancer (23.3 percent) and accidents (5.5 percent). Diabetes accounts for 3.9 percent of deaths and HIV, not AIDS, makes up 2.1 percent. For African-American women, it's heart disease (24.1 percent), cancer (22.6 percent) and stroke (6.4 percent). Diabetes among African-American women account for 4.6 percent of deaths, while accidents make up 2.8 percent of deaths. Our ruling Franks said, "Today in America, between 40 and 50 percent of all African-American babies, virtually 1-in-2 are killed before they are born." Data suggests a disparity in the number of abortions performed on African-American women than other races. But saying that "between 40 and 50 percent of all African-American babies" are aborted goes beyond the limits of the data. Federal data doesn’t account for all 50 states, and fails to factor in pregnancies that end in a miscarriage. Private data is based on surveys and is years out of date.


Raw milk debate simmers as states and FDA mull rules.

Explanation: Clifford Hatch cares for about 20 cows at his family-run farm, producing fresh raw milk that is at the center of controversy over its sale and safety.

A bottle of milk in a refrigerator bears a label showing that it is from cows not treated with artificial growth hormones, in Washington in this November 9, 2009 file photo. REUTERS/Jim Bourg Hatch sells raw, or unpasteurized, milk products from a retail shop at his dairy farm, which state regulations allow him to do because the business is located on the same property where his Ayrshire cattle are milked. He said he might sell 40 to 50 gallons a day at his Upinngill Farm, which started producing raw milk and cheese years ago when local residents began seeking an alternative to dairy from big, industrialized producers whose use of artificial bovine growth hormones was widespread then. “The system is pretty sensible and reasonably well-enforced,” Hatch said. But debate is swirling over raw milk in many U.S. states, and the thought of tighter federal rules on its production and sale makes independent producers such as Hatch uneasy. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both strongly warn the public against drinking raw milk. They see potential health risks from pathogens like E. coli bacteria, which in some instances can get into milk from an animal’s manure. But raw dairy advocates say unpasteurized milk is at least as safe as the “superheated” varieties because of the dedication small-batch farmers have to maintaining hygienic facilities. Some people prefer raw milk, saying it is sweeter and has more vitamins and minerals, “healthy” bacteria and digestive enzymes. They say pasteurizing milk, or heating it to above 160 degrees Fahrenheit, destroys most of those features. Part of the debate centers on cheese, which is legal under federal law if it is aged at least 60 days to kill bacteria such as E. coli. But the FDA is mulling extending the aging requirement past 60 days which could, in effect, outlaw some popular raw milk cheeses as well as pasteurized ripened cheeses. An FDA spokeswoman said on Wednesday the agency is looking at whether the aging requirements for cheese “are sufficient to minimize pathogens,” including salmonella and E. coli. The FDA’s review could take until late in the year, when it would release results of its risk study, she said. Some raw dairy proponents fear the FDA could outlaw raw milk production altogether. “Their policy certainly is very anti-raw milk. It’s always a concern,” said Winton Pitcoff, raw milk network coordinator for the Massachusetts chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFAMass). Some U.S. states are restricting raw milk use already. Vermont has both deep agricultural roots and a newer local-food renaissance boosting the economy. But the state this month suspended workshops led by an advocacy group teaching people how to turn unpasteurized milk into butter and cheese. Vermont’s agriculture agency says the state’s 2009 raw milk law limits farmers to selling it to customers for fluid consumption only. But the agency says it will not interfere with how people use or consume raw milk in their own homes. In ten states, including California, Maine, Connecticut and New Hampshire, people can buy raw milk in grocery stores. But sales are banned in many other states, including dairy giant Wisconsin. Federal law also bans interstate sales of raw milk. A few states are considering legalization or loosening regulations, among them Texas, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Massachusetts does not allow raw milk sales in grocery stores, but it is considering a bill to let farmers deliver to customers and sell at stands away from their farms. Raw milk producers can sell a gallon of fresh milk for $6 to $12 — about four times what processors pay dairy farmers for milk they truck to processing plants. Farmers say the heftier price can make the difference between a farm being profitable or needing to shut down. The number of dairy farms nationwide has dwindled. In Massachusetts, about 5,000 farms existed in 1950 but today fewer than 180 remain, NOFAMass says.