Our new research in @plos.org shows how #sunscreen misinformation drives, on average, the high amounts of audience engagement. Great collab with @marcozenone.bsky.social @cherylepeters.bsky.social @caulfieldtim.bsky.social #health #cancer #skincare #wellness journals.plos.org/digitalhealt...

New paper out! 📢 The #wellness industry is a multi-trillion $ force: selling products, shaping norms, and now influencing policy. But it's rarely analysed in the way we scrutinize tobacco or pharma. We apply a commercial determinants of health lens to wellness, including #MAHA. Short thread 🧵⤵️

My latest for @mcgilloss.bsky.social is a weighty tome: the hallmarks of pseudoscience. I'm very proud of it. Lots to chew on. W/ help from the amazing @nbtiller.bsky.social @mrmmarsh.bsky.social @caulfieldtim.bsky.social & Dr. Alice Howarth of @skepticswithak.org. www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/...

The Hallmarks of Pseudoscience

I’ve been investigating pseudoscientific claims for 13 years now. The word “pseudoscience” means “fake science,” something that superficially looks like science—and is often sold as such—but that isn’...

mcgill.ca

Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies... Our team's health misinformation audit on popular and free AI chatbots found nearly 50% of responses were problematic. Link: bmjopen.bmj.com/content/16/4... Team: @nbtiller.bsky.social; @marcozenone.bsky.social; @caulfieldtim.bsky.social, et al.

Nice to see our AI chatbout audit on health misinformation getting coverage in NBC News. AI chatbots are giving people alternatives to chemotherapy, study finds www.nbcnews.com/health/healt... #health #misinformation #AI

AI chatbots are giving people alternatives to chemotherapy, study finds

Popular artificial intelligence programs told users where to find alternative, potentially dangerous treatments for cancer and other health scenarios.

nbcnews.com

Our new study explored how well various AI chatbots responded to health questions on various topics. Sum: not great. Nearly half (49.6%) of responses were problematic. See study: bmjopen.bmj.com/content/16/4... via @bmj.com

"Which is closer to your view about Covid?" We were right to have strict measures in place to stop the spread: 53% The response to Covid was probably too heavy-handed: 30% Covid was a hoax and we should never have altered our lives: 10% Research Co. / March 17, 2026

Health-related snippets in the #rogan and #polievre conversation. #joerogan JR: you know what I found out about maple syrup, It’s actually a super food and is actually better for you than honey PP: is that right? JR: ya, it contains a bunch of polyphenols, and a bunch of like, healthy nutrients

Enter Buck Mulligan

Face of the day: Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

Concern among patients and licensed practitioners around BC's plan to reduce regulations on Chinese medicine. Weak move from the province to further reduce regulations in a space where regulation is already too lax. #britishcolumbia #canada #health #wellness www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...

‘Would you dare take it?’: Plan to deregulate Chinese medicine in B.C. sparks outcry

Tom Whitfield takes a ferry from Nanaimo to a traditional Chinese medicine clinic in downtown Vancouver every Monday for acupuncture and other treatment.

ctvnews.ca

Please, we need REAL regulation of supplement marketing! See: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... by (my great colleague) @srmarcon.bsky.social 🙏 "Offering the veneer of regulatory oversight is not only wasteful but can further validate inaccurate & exploitative product claims..."

After unprecedented autism-vaccine messaging change, scientists, CDC no longer trustworthy www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va... @pauloffit.bsky.social: CDC has devolved into “a propaganda machine for RFK Jr.'s fixed, immutable, science-resistant theories." "...a tragic day for public health."

After unprecedented autism-vaccine messaging change, scientists, advocates say CDC no longer trustworthy

cidrap.umn.edu

To again paraphrase Nigel Tufnel... "How much more dark could this be? And the answer is none. None more dark." Yet more horrifying nonsense...👇 CDC website changed to include false claims that link autism & vaccines www.cnn.com/2025/11/20/h...

CDC website changed to include false claims that link autism and vaccines | CNN

Scientific information on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website was replaced on Wednesday with anti-vaccine talking points that don’t rule out a link between vaccines and autism,...

cnn.com

Those marketing (totally bunk) "stem cell" supplements love lean on meaningless wellness-woo phrases, like natural, GMO-free, pure, organic, toxin-free... Science-y nonsense + wellness nonsense = BS Supergroup! Our study: www.cell.com/stem-cell-re... cc @stemcellnetwork.ca @isscr.org

"Cracker Barrel Outrage Was Almost Certainly Driven by Bots, Researchers Say" gizmodo.com/cracker-barr...

Cracker Barrel Outrage Was Almost Certainly Driven by Bots, Researchers Say

Doesn't that make more sense than lots of people caring about Cracker Barrel?

gizmodo.com

Update from the clown car!

Stem cells wildly and recklessly promoted in #alternativemedicine and #wellness worlds by @drkatiesuleta.bsky.social "Stem cell clinics essentially market themselves as the “We can cure your (insert condition, disease, concern here).” www.acsh.org/news/2025/09...

Stem Cell Therapies: The Truth Behind Wellness Scams

Stem cells made a public splash with large research breakthroughs in the 90s and early 2000s. However, since then, stem cells have largely been adopted by the alternative medicine and wellness world a...

acsh.org

#CDC data shows that from 2021-2023 ultraprocessed food made up 62% of young people's diets in #America Widespread consumption of real food needed - but a real challenge: cultural norms, price, time, availability, etc. #health #publichealth #diet #nutrition jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Ultraprocessed Foods and Health

This Medical News article discusses a new American Heart Association science advisory on ultraprocessed foods, cardiometabolic health, and policy recommendations for improving dietary patterns.

jamanetwork.com

Vaccines are one of the greatest public health achievements in modern medicine. Protecting access is vital to the health and safety of Minnesotans. www.mprnews.org/story/2025/0...

Walz counters federal vaccine moves with state-level order to maintain broad access

Minnesota moves to maintain access to vaccines after federal guidance last week ordered limitations on who has access to the COVID-19 booster shot.

mprnews.org

#ScienceMatters We all have a role to play in standing up for science. Speak up and share your stories about how false health information is impacting you, Canada, and the world. For the web version of this letter, visit ScienceUpFirst.com #ScienceUpFirst

True. And in Canada, NACI’s and the Canadian Pediatric Society’s “you do you” unwillingness to strongly recommend COVID vaccination for children despite @jamapediatrics.com declaring long COVID a leading chronic childhood disease has carried water for the restriction of vaccine access in Alberta.

James Andrew Smith@drsmith.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Yes. And all the Public Health officials who endorsed the "you do you" vibes-based approach to COVID? You helped support this. You fed the fire.

Teachers: we really need supports for complex needs in classrooms, lower class sizes, better working conditions, and appropriate funding UCP: best we can do is a book ban

Well, the list of books being banned from EPSB is appalling. And it's very likely that an author on this list will get their other works pulled too, especially in the absence of teacher librarians. There are books on this list that changed my life. This is what the UCP is taking away from kids.

Unbelievable but believable. Ugh. Trump and RFK Jr. to Ban Covid-19 Vaccine ‘Within Months’ www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump... Yet another discredited voice using a discredited “study” (while ignoring a large body of evidence) used to support harmful BS. Dark Age 2.0

Trump and RFK Jr. to Ban Covid-19 Vaccine ‘Within Months’

A close associate of the HHS secretary claims the U.S. government will soon pull COVID-19 mRNA jabs from the market.

thedailybeast.com

So... Can we talk about the fact that the Alberta Government has apparently banned COVID-vaccines for kids 12 and under? (Unless they have a serious health condition) This is in direct contradiction with the NACI guidelines. #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

Scary stuff! 1) Test your home for #radon! Kits are around $200 CAD and money very well spent. 2) If you are exposed to wildfire smoke - MERV up your furnace filtres for those seasons - the higher MERV, the better. Also consider a HEPA air-filter all year round www.ctvnews.ca/health/artic...

Vladdy and I have a similar body type. Vladdy and I do not move that body in similar ways. #jays #bluejays

Tomorrow #Instagram content from "professionals" will now be indexed (appearing) on Google search results. It's vital for scientists and scientific orgs to be active on social media. The attention wars are heating up. Truth and accuracy have much to lose. thekeyword.medium.com/instagram-to...

Instagram to let Google and Bing index public posts from professional accounts

The new update could enhance content discovery in search result pages

thekeyword.medium.com

Vinay Prasad overrode the recommendations of a panel of scientists who said that 2025-2026 COVID19 vaccines should be recommended for everyone over the age of 12 years. COVID19 remains a serious public health threat. He will get people killed. He doesn’t care. His ego wins, always.

FDA vaccine official restricted COVID vaccine approvals against the advice of agency staff

A top official at the Food and Drug Administration recently overruled government scientists on the availability of two COVID-19 vaccines

abcnews.go.com