Q: Did people develop cancer because of the polio vaccine?
A: There are no known cases, and it’s very unlikely. In the 1950s and 1960s, people did receive polio vaccines contaminated with a virus that causes cancer in rodents. But research suggests this virus doesn’t cause cancer in humans.
Q: Has the Food and Drug Administration announced that vaccines cause autism?
A: No. FDA statements are grounded in scientific evidence. There is no evidence that vaccination is linked to autism.
A European Union court decision about vaccines raises interesting two scientific questions: How do scientists decide whether vaccines can cause conditions such as multiple sclerosis. And how certain can they be about their conclusions?
The candidates flubbed claims on vaccines, immigration, Hillary Clinton and more.
Carly Fiorina said some unnamed vaccine-preventable diseases are “not communicable” and “not contagious.” Every immunization recommended by the CDC covers a highly communicable disease.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is now the second major Republican candidate to officially declare he will run for president. We present a sampling of some past claims from Paul that we have reviewed on our site.
FlackCheck.org, our sister website for political literacy, recaps the recent work of SciCheck, our new feature on false and misleading scientific claims that are made by partisans to influence public policy.
Rep. Mo Brooks and potential presidential hopeful Ben Carson both suggested a connection between illegal immigration and the spread of diseases such as measles in the United States.