Health
You do not inhale a credit card’s worth of microplastic every week
This misunderstanding traces back to a scientific paper that said no such thing. Read
Fact checks
Leo Benedictus
Journalist
Leo joined Full Fact in January 2020. For 15 years, he worked freelance as a feature writer for the Guardian, Prospect, the New Scientist and others, making maps of immigration, explaining citizens’ assemblies and debunking superfoods. He has a fondness for science and statistics. He also writes novels.
Health
NHS England was wrong to claim its data showed 3.4 million children are ‘unprotected’ against measles
It seems the health service actually calculated that 3.4 million children might have missed at least one vaccine dose. Read
Fact checks
Health
Junior doctors do not earn £140 in ten hours
This was about the hourly rate of basic pay only, for first-year doctors only, last year. Read
Fact checks
Health
Raw milk doesn’t make it easier to digest lactose
It may also contain harmful pathogens, so people with weaker immune systems are advised not to consume it. Read
Fact checks
Health
The NHS Covid-19 app didn’t cost £37 billion
An old myth that the NHS Covid app cost £37 billion has resurfaced. In fact, that’s the budget for the first two years of the entire Test and Trace programme. Read
Fact checks
Health
Health committee posts incorrect stat about doctors’ union membership
About 60% of NHS consultants in England are BMA members, not the 40% that the committee’s post on X claimed. Read
Fact checks
Health
Rishi Sunak wrong to say 18-week waits have fallen since pledge
The Prime Minister may have meant to say in a Telegraph article that waits of 18 months have fallen, which they have. Read
Fact checks
Health
Measles is a potentially dangerous disease
Between 10% and 20% of cases result in complications, even in the developed world. Read
Fact checks
Health
A German court did not rule that the measles virus doesn’t exist
A famous case in the 2010s concerned whether proof had been provided in ‘a single publication’, not whether measles itself existed. Read
Fact checks
Health
Covid-19 vaccines don’t alter your DNA
Many Facebook posts have falsely described the vaccines as ‘DNA altering technology’. Read
Fact checks
