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  • Facebook posts mislead on health benefits of cannabis as Thailand relaxes laws

    Facebook posts mislead on health benefits of cannabis as Thailand relaxes laws

    Copyright AFP 2017-2022. All legal rights reserved.

    As Thailand relaxed cannabis guidelines in June 2022, Fb posts circulated with a assert that having “one particular to two drops of cannabis everyday can cure 39 disorders”, which include Alzheimer’s, diabetes and superior blood strain. Nonetheless, the posts are misleading there is no proof that cannabis or its derivatives can overcome these illnesses, but they can be made use of to relieve sure circumstances, according to well being industry experts. They told AFP the use of hashish for medical purposes must be monitored by a healthcare provider.

    “Be informed before applying #ganja to appear after your wellness,” reads a Thai-language Fb post from June 11, 2022, shared around a hundred occasions.

    An accompanying infographic is made up of photos of dropper bottles and Thai-language text that translates to English as: “39 awful health conditions can be cured, just consider 1-2 drops before mattress every single day. Is effective as equally therapy and defense.”

    The write-up names sicknesses which includes Alzheimer’s, diabetic issues, cancer, schizophrenia, depression, paralysis, psoriasis, HIV and much more.

    Hashish extracts protect a broad range of items that normally include high concentrations of cannabinoids, chemical substances found in the hashish plant. These can be marketed in good or liquid type, which can then be put less than the tongue utilizing a spray or dropper.

    The psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the ideal recognized cannabinoid, while cannabidiol (CBD) does not generate a “large” but has been shown to be productive for a array of ailments these as stress or sleeplessness.

    Screenshot of the deceptive Facebook article, taken on June 14, 2022.

    The posts circulated as Thailand — where persons caught with cannabis earlier faced up to 10 many years in prison and a hefty wonderful — comfortable its rules on June 9 2022, making it possible for permitted users to possess and grow the plant underneath new tips.

    Cannabis has been made use of as a traditional herb for generations in Thailand but was banned many years in the past. 

    Although CBD has been accredited for clinical use, hashish extracts with a lot more than .2 {fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} concentration of THC keep on being unlawful.

    AFP noted on the developments in this article.

    The infographic has also been shared with a equivalent assert on Facebook here, below, here and right here.

    However, health and fitness gurus advised AFP the declare is misleading.

    ‘Insufficient evidence‘

    Affiliate professor of preventive medication at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn College Dr Thira Woratanarat — who would only remark on the legalised CBD — claimed most of the diseases and ailments described in the declare have not been verified treatable with the substance.

    Thira explained it is a established option treatment for clients undergoing chemotherapy, sufferers with cerebral palsy, long-term pain and to relieve seizures.

    “It is not a substitute but can be applied as an choice in scenario the primary medication is unavailable,” mentioned Thira, who also mentioned that it has been verified protected and effective within a constrained scope.

    Nevertheless, other disorders — these kinds of as Alzheimer’s, diabetic issues, despair and HIV that are pointed out in the misleading posts — have not been clinically established to be treatable with CBD.

    He urged clients seeking to acquire CBD for its purported health advantages to seek healthcare information.

    Not for direct cancer treatment

    Dr Nicha Zungsontiporn, a lecturer from the oncology division of Chulalongkorn College and The King Chulalongkorn Memorial Medical center, also instructed AFP on June 20, 2022, that extracts from cannabis are not able to be applied to handle cancer right.

    Nicha stated: “CBD is used to help clients taking most cancers treatment or chemotherapy.

    “It is not utilised as a immediate treatment for cancer sufferers, but is made use of to mitigate the facet-consequences of the cure approach,” she extra, which could include things like nausea and lack of urge for food.

    Meanwhile, Thira warned that each day use of CBD could lead to material dependency.

    “Continued use will end result in our body’s amplified tolerance, which can direct to a want for larger dosage.”

  • Facebook is bombarding cancer patients with ads for unproven treatments

    Facebook is bombarding cancer patients with ads for unproven treatments

    One from Verita Lifestyle, in Bangkok, Thailand, targeted Australians like Autar, falsely boasting that a hypothermia cure presented there would “destroy most cancers cells.” When Autar took a screenshot of the ad in his news feed in August of 2020, it experienced more than a thousand likes and 600 shares. 

    Autar reported the adverts he observed to Facebook applying its in-system programs, but they remained up. At one particular issue, he says, he utilized a Silicon Valley relationship to try to flag the advertisements immediately to Facebook management. He stopped looking at the clinic’s advertisements in the Ad Library and on his personal feed right after that, but they returned a handful of months afterwards. 

    Equally CHIPSA and Verita Lifestyle had a number of ads working on Facebook and Instagram in advance of MIT Know-how Overview inquired about them, in accordance to the Advert Library. Verita Lifetime was equipped to position an advertisement as not long ago as June 18, 2022, advertising the testimonial of a affected individual with prostate most cancers. MIT Know-how Evaluation flagged that ad, alongside with two many others marketing the similar testimonial. All 3 continue being energetic.

    1 of CHIPSA’s advertisements, removed soon after we flagged it to Meta (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

    Meta assessments new ads by means of a largely automatic course of action prior to they go dwell. The business observed that advertisements and posts from CHIPSA’s Fb page and Instagram account are qualified to be flagged and truth-checked by 3rd-celebration simple fact checkers. If a enterprise frequently violates its insurance policies, Meta states, it will quickly suspend the company’s means to place adverts. 

    While Meta has rules pertaining to, for instance, misleading promises in adverts, all Fb and Instagram advertisements have to also abide by Meta’s group pointers. The rules ban articles “promoting or advocating for unsafe miracle cures for wellness issues” when these promises both equally contribute to severe personal injury or demise and have no legit wellbeing use. 

    Individuals principles, even when swiftly enforced, can leave a good deal of grey place for sensational promises, Gorski states, because “a great deal of quackery could have a legitimate wellness use.” For instance, he claims, “vitamin C naturally has authentic health and fitness works by using it just does not cure most cancers.” 

    So what about Apatone, the cure marketed by CHIPSA? Pre-medical analysis implies some anti-cancer outcome, but it “has not been shown to be much more advantageous than normal therapies we are utilizing presently in people,” states Skyler Johnson, a cancer researcher who reports misinformation at the University of Utah.

    The danger is not simply just that the remedies are unproven or ineffective. Some choice cancer therapies advertised on the system can cause actual physical harm. Coley’s contaminants, a therapy developed in the late 19th century and provided at CHIPSA, arrives with hazards including infection, internet site reactions, anaphylaxis, and in intense cases shock, suggests Johnson. 

  • Facebook failing to protect users from Covid misinformation, says monitor | Facebook

    Facebook failing to protect users from Covid misinformation, says monitor | Facebook

    Misinformation and sceptical views about Covid-19 and vaccines has been permitted to unfold on a lot more than a dozen Fb and Instagram accounts, webpages and groups that alongside one another have obtained 370,000 followers over the earlier yr, in accordance to a report.

    The misinformation and advertising of vaccine hesitancy features posts in Facebook teams proclaiming that little ones are remaining “murdered by the experimental jab they’re currently being pressured to take”, and an Instagram account advertising and marketing a documentary by Andrew Wakefield, a single of the key figures in endorsing discredited links involving MMR inoculation and autism.

    The 20 accounts, internet pages and groups have been tracked by NewsGuard, an organisation that monitors on the net misinformation. Due to the fact September past calendar year NewsGuard has submitted normal studies to the World Health Organization, at the WHO’s request, flagging social media web-sites and other digital platforms that are spreading falsehoods about Covid-19.

    In investigation revealed on Tuesday, NewsGuard stated 20 of the web-sites that it experienced monitored above that interval experienced gained a complete of 372,670 followers. A whole report containing the investigate has been sent to the WHO.

    The NewsGuard exploration points to distinguished resources of vaccine scepticism this sort of as the Fb web pages of Robert F Kennedy Jr, a popular anti-vaxxer, and Joseph Mercola, an substitute medicine health practitioner, as nicely as more compact resources this sort of as the France Soir account on Instagram.

    Kennedy was banned from Instagram above his vaccine stance in February but his Fb site and Mercola’s Instagram account have attained additional than 140,000 followers due to the fact February, in accordance to NewsGuard. Mercola has mentioned he has “every right to inform the general public by sharing my medical research”.

    Facebook came less than tension to ban Kennedy, the nephew of President John F Kennedy, in March when he released a documentary, Professional medical Racism, which has been accused of trying to get to boost vaccine hesitancy between black People in america. Kennedy has explained the movie “empowers all Individuals to need the most secure vaccines”.

    Fb and Instagram are both of those owned by Meta, the business that right up until a rebranding very last 7 days was regarded as Fb.

    Alex Cardier, the British isles handling director for NewsGuard, said Facebook and Instagram were failing to defend their users from Covid-19 and vaccine misinformation irrespective of owning been warned “repeatedly”.

    He mentioned: “The company’s engagement-at-all-fees mantra indicates that viral and divisive resources of misinformation keep on to flourish, irrespective of warnings from NewsGuard and the apparent threat posed to users. Facebook gave alone a new identify but their marketing of misinformation remains the exact.”

    A Meta spokesperson claimed the company was encouraging customers of its platforms to get vaccinated and it was getting action towards misinformation. “During the pandemic we have eradicated far more than 20m items of hazardous misinformation and we’ve taken down content discovered in this report which violates our guidelines. In total we’ve now banned much more than 3,000 accounts, webpages and groups for consistently breaking our procedures. We’re also labelling all posts about the vaccines with correct info and worked with unbiased factcheckers to mark 190m posts as bogus.”

    In an effort to reassure consumers on the efficacy of vaccines, several of the Facebook web pages highlighted by NewsGuard contained Fb labels directing users to a WHO website page on vaccines or the company’s own Covid-19 details centre page.

    Meta declared past 7 days that was stepping up efforts to market vaccination initiatives for kids on its applications.