Berjast gegn fölskum heilsuupplýsingum. Matvælastofnun og heilbrigðiseftirlit sveitarfélaga rannsakaði nýlega fullyrðingar á matvörum og fæðubótarefnum.
Fullyrðingarnar birtust í auglýsingum og á pakkningunum sjálfum og það vakti athygli að mikill meirihluti fullyrðinga, sem voru á fæðubótarefnunum, voru ekki réttar. Í auglýsingum eða á pakkningunum stóð t.d. að fólk fengi meiri orku, því liði betur, allt verði auðveldara og skemmtilegra, að efnið styrkti náttúrlegt varnarkerfi líkamans, allir liðverki hyrfu o.s.frv. o.s.frv. Björn segir að þetta komi ekki á óvart: „Fæðubótarefni eru matvæli og eru seld sem slík. Fæðubótarefni hafa enga þekkta eigin verkun.
Vegna þess að ef þau hefðu einhverja heilsubætandi eða heilsuáhrif þá þyrfti að athuga hvort þetta væru ekki lyf. Björn segir að ekki sé vitað hve mikið er um rangar upplýsingar um lyf og fæðubótarefni. Ekkert fjármagn eða tími starfsmanna Neytendastofu fari í að elta þetta uppi því almennt er litið svo á að þetta sé saklaust og hættulaust. Sagður ábyrgur fyrir vísindalegu misferli - mbl.is. The limits of reason: Philip Pullman on why we believe in magic. A new exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford brings together a multitude of objects and artworks – there’s a “poppet” or rag doll with a stiletto stuck through its face, an amulet containing a human heart, a wisp of “ectoplasm” apparently extruded by a medium in Wales, and too many others to count – from a dark world of nonsense and superstition that we ought to have outgrown a long time ago.
At least, that’s how I imagine rationality would view it. I find myself in an awkward position rationality-wise, because my name is listed on the website of the Rationalist Association as a supporter, and at the same time I think this exhibition is full of illuminating things, and the mental world it illustrates is an important – no, an essential part of the life we live. I’d better try to work out what I mean. I’ll start with William James. And of course she’s not alone. The universe of magic is a large place. But rationalism doesn’t make the magical universe go away. Fake news: an exhibition on the importance of accurate journalism. In 1914, Missouri journalist Walter Williams penned The Journalist’s Creed, ethical commandments every journalist should live by.
It claims that “accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism” and “a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true”. It also says: “Suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible.” But in a time where “fake news” is at the forefront of American politics, it makes sense to look back on journalistic integrity, the history of propaganda and the future of the mass media as America gears up for the midterm election vote in November.
This creed and more are in a new exhibition entitled The History of Fake News (and the Importance of the World’s Oldest School of Journalism), at the Boone County History & Culture Center in Columbus, Missouri, which traces the history of fake news – from sensational hoaxes to propaganda, yellow journalism, misinformation and factual errors. How a college drop out became a champion of investigative journalism. Things might have worked out very differently for Eliot Higgins if his studies had kept pace with technology.
The 39-year-old founder of Bellingcat, an investigative website, which in its short life has broken scoop after scoop – including last week’s blockbuster, unmasking one of the alleged perpetrators of the novichok attack in Salisbury – never intended to be at the vanguard of open-source journalism. As a teenager, he studied media technology at Southampton Institute for Higher Education. “It was back when everything was still being done on tape and people were transitioning from analogue to digital. All the stuff I was learning seemed to be immediately out of date.”
Disillusioned, Higgins gave up on the course. Instead he took a series of administrative jobs while developing an interest in blogging under the handle Brown Moses. “It started as a hobby. Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga is one person who might wish that Higgins had completed his studies and ended up in a normal job.