Dubious science and health articles: Deadlier than fake news?

By now, at least most of us are already aware how misinformation, through these “fake news” peddled by digital “trolls,” can generate misjudgment and skewed perspectives. The sources of fake news may have its own agenda, whether to monetize on manufacturing falsehoods or propagandizing inaccurate information; the bottomline here is both are investing on lies and deception in order to sway and condition the minds of people.

Mindanews and Vera Files have rolled out this year a special caravan, by visiting colleges and universities in Mindanao, to amplify its cause to educate students on fakes news through its Mindanao Institute of Journalism program. In Cagayan de Oro City, this was co-presented by the Department of Technology Communication Management of the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (DTCM-USTP) Cagayan de Oro Campus, of which I am also a faculty, and transformed it into a conference and colloquium event as recent researches or theses made by TCM students were presented and discussed in relation to fake news and trolls.

However, when we talk about “fake news,” we easily associate it with pseudo journalistic works which scope was more on politics and governance, often on showbiz, since these are the current trends that are subject for massive debate especially in the social media sphere. But this is becoming a growing problem, as we are more conscious on misinformation and lies in political stories guised as “news,” we are becoming unaware that another form of deception is rearing its ugly head again without us knowing.

Be wary of science and health articles - some may be gravely giving out wrong information that might kill you more than saving your lives.

In the Philippines, the reemergence began when news about the death of an actress, Isabel Granada. She died due to aneurysm some couple of weeks ago this November. Days after, stories and factoids about aneurysm and how to prevent it circulated not only in social media but in text messages as well. While there are some helpful and legitimate insights about the illness, however not all are scientifically proven to be accurate.

This has prompted medical doctors to clarify things out by debunking some beliefs, which are becoming more superstitious than scientific, such as the deadly effects of pouring cold water to the head first when taking a bath (causing brain aneurysm as the body heat will go up to the head).

Articles about aneurysm proliferating in not-so known websites in social media have led to a full realization that we might be falling to another trap of false information, this time on science and health, and this warrants us to double our vigilance in identifying and avoiding it more than the political fake news that have sprung. This is because other than there are websites that write about plain false information on health and sciences, there are organizations, with biased agendas, are pushing on stories with legitimate researches to advance their goals. The crux, however, that these researches may only present one aspect favorable to their cause and not taken the entirety of the whole research processes (this is something journalists should take into consideration).

Filipinos have a long history of health practices and beliefs from traditional to Western influences. Any stories relating to health, we tend to take everything seriously. Until now, we still see some traditional “manghihilot,” and sellers of “healing oil.” We still have quack doctors, some are being innovative by adopting concepts in legitimate alternative medicine pedagogy. That is why if we read articles relating to health, we have the tendency to click the bait and with less questions, we share it on our feeds. Again, the problem: we might be sharing wrong information.

Even Americans have this problem. In a survey result published in July this year by Healthline, where they asked 1,300 Americans whether they were aware of the proliferation of fake health news articles and websites.

It turned out that one out of three seldom or never trust health news, this may imply that many of the American respondents were aware that indeed, there are fake health news stories published online.

However, three out of five Americans were reported to have visited a fake health website, and five percent of the total respondents are not sure if they have been on a fake site in general. These figures maybe different if the respondents were Filipinos, and I am fearing that many will fall victim on fake health websites the same way they fell for fake political news stories, unless, we begin educating ourselves and become vigilant on this.

Typical in fake health news articles are more often than not, these stories mentioned about “scientists” and “according to a study published in a journal,” but short of not specifically mentioning the names of these scientists, their institutions, and even the title of the journal it was taken from. If there were, it is still subject for further verification as it might be just made-up or inaccurately associated.

That is why, it is important that we should check our sources first and verify if what we read online are indeed factual, and truthful. In reading science and health articles, we can always go to the doctors to help us understand and clarify things up. This may sound impractical and expensive (some may ask for consultation fees), but it is the best option that we can get.

So, the next time, you will come across a science and health article about a certain grass that heals all the cancers and HIV/ AIDS, always: Research, Verify, Cross-check (ReVerCross).