• On the Internet and social networks, several publications relay a "scientific study" supposed to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of wearing a mask against Covid-19, as well as its dangers to health.

  • In fact, this publication in the journal 

    Medical Hypothesis,

    an unreliable monthly, is not a real scientific study.

    It presents a series of hypotheses already denied by the scientific community.

  • The document is even used in a science education program to teach students to beware of so-called serious studies.

“Here is the table of disorders caused by the mask […]: fatigue, insomnia, stress, depression, cancer, premature death.

"According to a publication relayed many times on the Internet and social networks, a study" very seriously published but not at all publicized "from Stanford University would show that the mask" does not block the transmission of Covid "and would cause a myriad of adverse health effects.

A study from Stanford University, very seriously published but not at all publicized, shows that:


1. The mask does not block the transmission of Covid


2. Worse: it causes a lot of physical damage, psychic and diseases (cancer 😳 )


⬇️⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/vhgPeYcQgo

- Laure Gonlézamarres (@LaureGonlezamar) April 20, 2021

We cannot repeat it enough for you in the Fake Off section: beware of appearances!

Because unfortunately for the author of this publication, this supposed very serious study is not scientific, and has already been denied on several occasions. 

20 Minutes 

takes stock.

FAKE OFF

Everything seems correct at first glance. “The scientific study”, titled “Facemasks in the Covid-19 era: A health hypothesis” is online on the website of the American National Library of Medicine. The author, Dr. Baruch Vainshelboim, is presented as belonging to the cardiology division of a military hospital in Palo Alto, California (and actually connected to Stanford University). And his study, written in English, looks like any other scientific study to the untrained eye.

Except that beyond the introductory paragraphs

,

nothing on the methodology, the control groups, the results, or even peer review, which is essential before publication in a scientific journal. And this is quite normal, because this scientific study is not one (Here, you can find our advice for reading a scientific study).

The article was originally published last January in the journal

Medical Hypotheses

, a monthly magazine which explains itself that its purpose "is to publish theoretical articles" and which takes into account "radical, speculative and unconventional scientific ideas. , provided they are expressed consistently.

This journal gained a bad reputation in the 2000s, following the publication of articles denying the links between HIV and AIDS.

Let's go back to the author of the article, Baruch Vainshelboim.

The latter is not a doctor, contrary to what the publication might suggest.

He is actually an exercise physiologist, and obtained his doctorate from the University of Porto (Portugal), as his LinkedIn profile indicates.

He is not an employee of the Palo Alto Military Hospital, as one of the spokespersons for the medical establishment told The Associated Press: “He is not one of our staff. practitioners.

It is not in our system ”.

Neither does the prestigious Stanford University.

“Stanford never employed Baruch Vainshelboim.

In 2015, he was a guest researcher for a year, on subjects unrelated to this article, ”explained Julie Greicius, the university's communications director.

"A misleading article, written by a person without expertise"

As for the famous undesirable effects cited in the publication, either they are negligible, or they have already been denied by the scientific community.

This is particularly the case of hypoxia (lack of oxygen in the blood), or hypercapnia (the increase in partial pressure of CO2 in the blood) through fatigue or headaches. .

According to the document, the physical and psychological effects induced by wearing the mask could even lead to the development of serious diseases such as Alzheimer's, various cancers, and even death.

However, to date, nothing has made it possible to establish this kind of causal effect induced by wearing a mask.

The independent American verification media Politifacta moreover devoted an article to the publication of Baruch Vainshelboim, which circulated widely across the Atlantic. He classified the latter as false. Dr. Benjamin Neuman, professor of biology at Texas A&M University, and chief virologist at the affiliated Global Health Research Center, explains, among other things, that it is "a misleading article, written by an individual. without expertise ”, and that“ this is not science ”.

The science education program Amgen Biotech Experience, which introduces high school students to the excitement of "scientific discovery," also featured an article on Barush Vainshelboim's hypotheses published in

Medical Hypothesis

.

The latter is in fact used by the program as a means of demonstrating to students that a study can seem very serious, and yet have nothing scientific within it.

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