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Health scare artists have found a whole new medium for terrorizing the public - the Internet. Individuals in search of accurate health information may literally become caught in the Web, where health hoaxes and urban medical myths run rampant. The health scare messages are always the same - whatever it is, it will make you sick.

Some people claim that dairy products promote excess weight gain and even increase appetite. Obviously, there is no biological basis for this belief. Add to that, a review recently presented at the European Congress on Obesity found that dairy is not causing kids, or anyone else, to put on the pounds.

Anti-pesticide activist Carey Gillam recently moderated a panel discussion about the weed killer glyphosate. I attended and took notes. Here's what I saw.

Though we spent about nine months of the year focused almost exclusively on COVID, we did find time to debunk pseudoscientific nonsense. Here are the top 10 junk science and bogus health claims we debunked in 2020.

Upon seeing what he deemed a poorly-constructed paper by a colleague in physics, Wolfgang Pauli is apocryphally said to have, "This isn't right. This isn't even wrong."

The FDA has tried to fight opioid addiction by asking patients to mail their excess prescription pain meds to the agency for disposal. It's an absurd proposal. There's lots of anti-pesticide 'facts' floating around the internet; let's debunk the most popular of these claims.

As is the case every year, 2019 was full of junk science, bogus health claims, misinformation, and outright lies. We debunked scores of them this year, but the following list is what we consider the top 10.

A new health scare is brewing as reporters speculate about the cancer risk of consuming the sweetener sucralose. Is there any evidence behind the panic? No. A team of scientists recently argued that it's time for oil companies to pay reparations for causing climate change. Let's take a critical look at their claims.

In a world dominated by the click of a button, where bad news seemingly travels at the speed of light, while science-based good news barely makes it into the media at all, it should come as no surprise that an article titled "Eight Foods That We Eat In The U.S. That Are Banned In Other Countries" would get a half million hits on BuzzFeed.

In part one of this series, we looked at some of the hallmarks of sloppy pesticide reporting. We round out our analysis here with a breakdown of three more themes common to this species of junk journalism.

1. In America, we have the luxury of plentiful, affordable energy and full bellies - and so we have groups who are raising a billion dollars a year criticizing modern science and technology. Most media outlets just play along but UPI recently took a critical look at one topic; the claims of health effects related to modern natural gas extraction.

Should Facebook be in the business of "debunking" news and scientific data when events are rapidly changing? What's true today may be declared false tomorrow, only to be declared true again a week later. Furthermore, does Facebook have the expertise to do so?

The October DEA National Drug Assessment, which claimed that opioid analgesic pills were doing most of the killing was pure BS. Now there is even more evidence of this, courtesy of New Hampshire. Only 9% of OD deaths were from pills, the rest for heroin and fentanyl. More lies put to rest.

The American Council on Science and Health writes at least 1,300 original articles on our website, produces five books, and writes science op-eds in America's largest newspapers every month. That means we get a lot of media traction. Here is who used our work this past week.

In a masterful example of thorough scientific reporting, Jon Entine makes it clear that the recent accusations that the group of pesticides called neonicotinoids (neonics) is responsible for Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) of honeybees are baseless.

Dr. Chuck Dinerstein and Cameron English recently joined Dr. Jay Lehr and Tom Harris on The Other Side of the Story radio show to discuss the controversial claim that "obesity acceptance is ruining our health." Is that true, or has the public health establishment actually exaggerated the dangers of being overweight?

In the first of a series for the FOX podcast network, the Council's medical director clarifies misperceptions surrounding infant nutrition. This includes new trends, like importing specific organic formulas from overseas for being so-called "more pure" or "natural."

Branding normal phases of development and transitions have become a thing, mainly to sell books more than identify any new discovery. That said, the first three months of a baby’s life after birth and mom’s postpartum period is a rather unique time for many reasons.

Peer review is not a corporate conspiracy, even though at least one biology professor thinks so.

Dr. Josh Bloom in TV interview about the unadulterated junk science behind a phony scare about premature infant deaths near a nuclear power plant in Huntsville, AL. The scare worked, but the data sure don t. Read more

Two new additions to the growing scientific (as opposed to the ideological) literature on reduced-risk nicotine products (e-cigarettes in shorthand) show more clearly their high likelihood of benefiting smokers trying to quit smoking.

A January 29, 2006 "Blog On!" column by Dawn Eden described avowedly skeptical and counter-skeptical blogs, noting ACSH's own HealthFactsAndFears.com:

The Centers for Disease Control notes that obesity-related cancers now comprise 40 percent of all cancers diagnosed. When scaremongering groups insisted chemicals were the problem, we noted this was happening.

In his syndicated column, Fox Business News’ John Stossel debunks the myths surrounding the recent claims of adverse health effects associated with bisphenol-A (BPA), a plastic ingredient widely and safely used in many products for over 50 years. Stossel stated that in many cases, the media is responsible for much of this fear-mongering in order to get better ratings.

This new work, "Factfulness," is all about giving us the means of debunking and separating the reality of life from the dramatic narratives we create instinctively or are told about. It continues the teachings and wisdom of Dr. Hans Rosling.