Searching YouTube across 10 languages, the BBC found more than 80 videos containing health misinformation - mainly bogus cancer cures. Ten of the videos found had more than a million views. Many were accompanied by adverts.
The unproven "cures" often involved consuming specific substances, such as turmeric or baking soda. Juice diets or extreme fasting were also common themes. Some YouTubers advocated drinking donkey's milk or boiling water. None of the so-called cures offered are clinically proven to treat cancer.
bbc.com/news/blogs-trending...
From Will J Grant, Senior Lecturer and Rod Lamberts, Deputy Director, Australian National Centre for Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University -
There are huge bodies of research on what motivates us to not only believe, but seek out information that isn’t true. But often the simplest explanations are the best.
We tend to do and believe things that people we like, admire or identify with do and believe. It reinforces the bonds among our families and friends, our communities and countries, and is often referred to as the consensus heuristic. You see it in action, and use it yourself, every day.
Every time you uncritically accept the opinion of someone you like, you are applying consensus thinking – the consensus as you perceive it to be among “your” people.
theconversation.com/merchan...
Misinformation exists, and all of us - even the most critically minded - are in some ways sucked in. And there is no doubt scientific misinformation thwarts efforts to resolve key policy issues, such as vaccination rates or climate change.
I've attempted to provide references from reputable sources to assist anyone prepared to critically evaluate claims regarding cures for CLL in my reply to this post: healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...
This post is unlocked - so that it can be found via an Internet search
Neil
Photo: Out of a fog can come beauty. If only the same could be true of the misinformation fog
