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.
Sarah Palin says man isn’t to blame for climate change, citing the fact that some glaciers in Alaska are expanding. But an individual glacier’s growth does not disprove the existence or causes of global warming. The vast majority of glaciers are losing ice rapidly.
Rick Santorum made two false claims regarding the scientific consensus on climate change in an interview with HBO’s Bill Maher.
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.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has said at least twice that climate change is causing bears in the Sierra Nevada mountains to change their hibernation patterns. There is no evidence that climate change is actually having such an effect.
Mike Huckabee claimed that a single volcanic eruption “will contribute more than 100 years of human activity” toward global warming. This is far from accurate.
The full Planned Parenthood video shows an executive repeatedly saying its clinics want to cover their costs, not make money, when donating fetal tissue from abortions for scientific research.
A Republican congressman says the Environmental Protection Agency wants “to stop you and I from grilling,” and he has proposed legislation that would prohibit federal regulation of backyard barbecues.
In questioning the value of medicinal marijuana, Carly Fiorina said “we don’t understand how it interacts with other drugs.” In fact, there is information about marijuana’s interactions with other medications.
Kentucky Sens. Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell misrepresented cases involving the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Water Act.
Ted Cruz said that “one of the worst things that can happen to a species is to be listed on the Endangered Species Act.” But the ESA has led to recovery of a number of species, and there is little evidence that listing harms animals and plants.