Index/Organizations/The BMJ

The BMJ

Peer-reviewed medical journal

Fact-Checks

143 results
Oct 14, 2025
Most Viewed

How many people are estimated to have died due to USAID defunding in the past year?

Multiple contemporary reports and commentaries estimate that USAID-related funding cuts have been linked to substantial excess deaths, but . Published analyses presented here range from an 80,000 deat...

Dec 10, 2025
Most Viewed

What does the latest scientific evidence say about face masks and respiratory infection transmission?

Randomized trials show inconsistent or modest effects of masks at the individual level, while larger syntheses and public-health bodies conclude masks and respirators reduce transmission—especially wh...

Dec 15, 2025
Most Viewed

How are uk junior doctors paid

Junior (resident) doctors in the UK are paid on structured NHS scales that vary by training grade, location and extra “enhancements” for nights, weekends and on‑call; basic pay for junior doctors rang...

Oct 25, 2025

What are the most common long-term side effects of the Pfizer Covid vaccine?

The assembled evidence identifies as the most consistently observed rare long-term adverse events associated with the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine, particularly after mRNA dosing in younger age gr...

Dec 12, 2025

How many excess deaths occurred in the US during the Trump administration compared with the Biden administration?

Available reporting shows more COVID-19 deaths and higher excess-death signals occurred during the period after January 2021 than before, but comparisons between “Trump years” and “Biden years” are co...

Nov 26, 2025

What long-term side effects have been documented for mRNA COVID-19 vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna?

Large safety reviews and surveillance systems report that most consequences of Pfizer and Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are short‑lived (local pain, fatigue, fever) but rare serious events have been ...

Dec 20, 2025

Florida has already ended all vaccine mandates

Florida has announced an intention to end all vaccine mandates, and state health officials have begun rulemaking to remove certain Department of Health–imposed school-entry requirements, but the state...

Dec 14, 2025

How have legal definitions of 'vaccine' changed in the US over the past century?

Legal and regulatory definitions and policy treatments of “vaccine” in the United States have shifted from broad, program-driven public‑health mandates toward more product‑and‑risk‑based and individua...

Nov 22, 2025

Has Dr. Oz been criticized or faced consequences for promoting tinnitus remedies?

Dr. Mehmet Oz has faced broad criticism over the years for promoting health claims on his show that lack solid evidence; independent fact‑checks have found less than one‑third of advice on The Dr. Oz ...

Nov 21, 2025

Are there randomized controlled trials showing black salt reduces blood pressure in people with hypertension?

Available randomized trials and meta-analyses show that reducing overall sodium or using potassium-enriched salt lowers blood pressure in people with hypertension, and subgroup analyses report effects...

Dec 16, 2025

Has any peer-reviewed research contradicted Dr. Berg's recommendations on intermittent fasting or keto?

Peer‑reviewed clinical research has both supported and questioned broad claims about intermittent fasting (IF); large systematic reviews and network meta‑analyses generally find IF produces weight los...

Jan 17, 2026

What were the full timelines and texts of the Lancet letters on COVID‑19 origins and subsequent corrections?

The Lancet first published a 27‑author statement on Feb 19, 2020, endorsing the view that SARS‑CoV‑2 most likely had a natural origin and “strongly condemn[ing] conspiracy theories” to the contrary, a...

Jan 13, 2026

How many unnecessary deaths occurred during the pandemic due to tRump's botched handling of the pandemic

Multiple peer-reviewed and investigative assessments conclude that a substantial share of U.S. COVID-19 deaths during 2020–early 2021 were avoidable and plausibly attributable to failures of policy an...

Nov 30, 2025

Are there news reports or investigations alleging misconduct by Dr Paul Cox?

Available reporting shows multiple different people named Paul Cox in public records and journalism — notably ethnobotanist Paul Alan Cox, a physician Paul Cox in Atlanta, and other unrelated figures ...

Feb 1, 2026

What did the ELITE Palantir tool allegedly used by ICE do and what evidence supports its existence?

Reporting indicates (Enhanced Leads Identification & Targeting for Enforcement) is a that pulls together , other government and commercial data to populate maps of potential deportation targets, produ...

Jan 31, 2026

How does sexual arousal physiologically change vaginal length and shape according to imaging studies?

Imaging studies—principally magnetic resonance imaging ()—show that female sexual arousal produces measurable changes in pelvic anatomy: the uterus elevates and the anterior vaginal wall lengthens, an...

Jan 17, 2026

How have conflicts of interest and prior funding ties shaped early scientific responses to the lab‑leak hypothesis?

Conflicts of interest and prior funding ties played a central, contested role in shaping the scientific community’s initial response to the lab‑leak hypothesis: early, authoritative statements that fr...

Dec 2, 2025

Have Pfizer and Moderna released all raw study data for Covid vaccines

Pfizer has been subject to court orders and Freedom of Information battles over release of its trial documents; a judge ordered the FDA to release Pfizer data at 55,000 pages a month after the agency’...

Nov 11, 2025

Did suicide rates increase or decrease during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021)?

The evidence assembled from systematic reviews, peer-reviewed papers, public-health analyses, and country-level trend studies shows , but it does show . Broad meta-analytic and multi-country surveilla...

Feb 1, 2026

Is Brownstone Institute impartial?

is not neutral in practice: it is a libertarian, right-leaning think tank with clear intellectual and personnel ties to and an editorial record that multiple media-bias trackers classify as “Right” or...