FactCheck.org’s SciCheck feature focuses exclusively on false and misleading scientific claims that are made by partisans to influence public policy. It was launched in January 2015 with a grant from the Stanton Foundation. The foundation was founded by the late Frank Stanton, president of CBS for 25 years, from 1946 to 1971.
Since regaining power in January, the Trump administration has repeatedly claimed with false certainty that the COVID-19 pandemic originated in a lab. But there isn’t clear evidence that the virus came from a lab. A new government website promoting the claim also gets some basic facts wrong.
Former President Joe Biden’s office announced on May 18 that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer two days earlier, following the discovery of a prostate nodule. President Donald Trump and others have suggested, without evidence, that Biden’s diagnosis had been known much earlier and hidden from the public.
Speaking before Congress, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. misleadingly claimed that Europe doesn’t vaccinate children against chickenpox because a study shows that when you do, “you get shingles in older people.” While that is a theoretical concern, studies have not borne that out — and parts of Europe do vaccinate kids.
In signing an executive order aimed at reducing U.S. drug prices, President Donald Trump said some prices would be cut in half or more “almost immediately.” But the order is light on details of how the plan would be implemented.
In recent interviews, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has minimized the risk COVID-19 poses to kids and exaggerated the risk of the vaccine, incorrectly claiming that the shot poses a “profound risk” to children. While serious side effects can occur, they are rare, and have not been shown to outweigh the benefits of the vaccine in protecting against COVID-19.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has misleadingly claimed that vaccines are not tested in placebo-controlled trials. Now, an HHS spokesperson has used similar language in a statement that falsely said there’s little available evidence on whether vaccines are safe.
In announcing new autism prevalence data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. distorted scientific research to argue that there is an “epidemic” of autism that must be due to an “environmental toxin.”
In recent weeks, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said that “very, very strong studies” link food dyes to cancer and ADHD. Experts are concerned about the impacts of unhealthy diets and obesity in the U.S., but some say Kennedy overstates the role of food dyes in chronic disease.
On four separate occasions, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Health and Human Services secretary, has suggested that the measles outbreak in Texas, which is now over 500 cases, is beginning to subside and grow more slowly. But a review of state data indicates there’s no decline yet in the pace of cases.
We fact-check various aspects of two of President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting transgender people.