Posted by Gary Schwitzer in Health care journalism
There’s now a website that actually tracks The Daily Mail of London to categorize its stories as either “kill or cure” stories. The site quotes British physician-author Ben Goldacre: “The Daily Mail, as you know, is engaged in a philosophical project of mythic proportions: for many years now it has diligently been sifting through all the inanimate objects in the world, soberly dividing them into the ones which either cause – or cure – cancer.”
Visitors to the site can vote on the stories.
So far, the following things cause cancer: age, air pollution, air travel, aluminum, artificial flavors, artificial light…. You get the picture. That’s only in the A alphabetical listing.
So far, the following things prevent cancer: bananas, Brazil nuts, breakfast, etc. Beer, it should be noted, both causes and prevents cancer!
Hmmm. I may have just received inspiration for a new health news review project in this country!
Treatment for advanced ovarian tumors may lengthen survival, but questions still remain, despite the story’s emphasis on “promising” and “new hope.”
As with the HealthDay story on this research that we reviewed, readers of this story get a good dose of caveats and cautions along with the suggestions that electrical brain stimulation might someday “have implications” for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
The readers of this story and the other one we reviewed by Reuters are likely to understand that electrical brain stimulation could have some memory effects, but it’s a long way from becoming a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
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