News flash: Stem cells don't regrow your brain
[Originally published on Dec. 2, 2018]
When it comes to news about stem cells, where there is hope, a hoax is often not far behind, says author and researcher Tim Caulfield.
Caulfield is the the Director of the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta and the author of the best-selling book "Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?": When Celebrity Culture and Science Clash.
He says research about stem cells is particularly vulnerable to being turned into fake news because purveyors can incorporate bits of cutting-edge real science and the excitement about the possibility of a medical breakthrough.
"Science-ploitation"
"I call it "science-ploitation," Caulfield tells tells Dr. Brian Goldman, host of White Coat, Black Art.
"You take a real area of science and leverage that excitement to push nonsense."
He and his colleagues published a study, "Fake news portrayals of stem cells and stem cell research" last month. which examined how stem cells and stem cell research are portrayed on websites that deal in distorted and dubious information.
"You have absurd headlines like 'Stem cells regrow brains!' or that stem cells allow you to regrow your teeth."
The study found fake health news websites rely on conspiracy theories and promote fear and mistrust of conventional medicine
As a result, he says public discourse on health topics is more polarized then ever.
The study also found evidence of "organized misinformation networks" putting out fake news.
It's an industry.- Researcher and author Tim Caulfield on the proliferation of websites that deal in fake health news.
The researchers found many fake news sites were just trying to "generate clicks" for the sake of ad revenue.
Others have aligned themselves with companies that sell dubious products, or worse, clinics that offer unregulated stem cell treatments.
Dangers of fake news
That is when fake news turns dangerous, says the author.
"There are people that are looking for therapies for diseases where there are no cure, or they have a severely disabled child. Thousands and thousands of people are going to these clinics to get unproven therapies and we are concerned that fake news is becoming a driver of this industry, and there's some research to back that up."
For example, more than one patient who sought treatment for macular degeneration ended up blind after undergoing stem cell treatment.
Often the treatments are expensive.
"They can be tens of thousands of dollars and if you go for several treatments, you are looking at hundreds of thousands."
More concerning are cases where people have gotten tumours after being injected with stem cells or even died.
Caulfield says health systems should be taking a more pro-active role to clamp down on and correct fake health news.
He points to the UK, where a cancer charity recently hired a full-time nurse whose job is to combat fake online news.
He says there is evidence that getting "trusted voices" to call out fake news on social media is also helpful.
"We also need to teach critical thinking skills early," Caulfield says.