A Jan. 26 Rumble video, a photo of Dr. Anthony Fauci, and an old claim about the origin of COVID-19.
“The U. S. government is in the U. S. government. U. S. Admits 5G Radiation Causes COVID-19: Mind-boggling Admission,” the video’s title reads.
The video’s title is the most sensible from a Jan. 26 NewsPunch article attributing the claim to “new peer-reviewed clinical studies. “
According to CrowdTangle, a social media analytics tool, Rumble’s post, made through NewsPunch’s parent company, People’s Voice, was shared on Facebook more than 800 times in a week.
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The messages point to two studies published in federal databases. But one of the studies was pulled before it went to print, and the other explicitly says it’s not a link between COVID-19 and 5G. The claim comes from a serial producer of disinformation.
Both the article and video point to studies available through PubMed and PubMed Central, online repositories of journal articles controlled through the National Library of Medicine. They claim that the lifestyles of articles in the databases depend on government approval of their findings.
Library spokeswoman Allison Elam said the concept was incorrect.
“To be clear, the presence of an article or express citation in NLM’s physical or electronic collections, adding PubMed and PubMed Central. . . constitutes an agreement, endorsement, or promotion of your content through NLM, NIH, or the U. S. federal agency. “U. S. government,” he wrote in an email to USA TODAY.
Their comments echo a disclaimer stating that the library only collects journal articles and does not endorse them.
In any case, the studies do not turn out what the demand intends.
The first study, “5G Technology and Coronavirus Induction in Skin Cells,” was intended to be included in the July 2020 factor of the Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents, but was withdrawn before the publication was printed. The review’s editors cited “evidence of really extensive peer review manipulation. “All that remains in PubMed is the realization of retraction and explanation.
The other test, “Evidence of a link between COVID-19 and exposure to radiofrequency radiation from wireless communications, adding 5G,” was published in October 2021 in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Research. He noted that the symptoms allegedly related to exposure to 5G radiation are similar to those of COVID-19**. But the study explicitly stated that “none of the observations discussed here result in this link” and “the evidence does not determine causation. “
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The claim also calls the studies “new,” but they were in July 2020 and October 2021, respectively.
USA TODAY has debunked the alleged link between 5G and COVID-19 since the early months of the pandemic, noting that the World Health Organization issued a report dispelling myths that 5G caused COVID-19.
Conspiracy theorists have claimed that radiation from 5G signals causes COVID-19 or at least its symptoms, noting that the outbreak began some time after the activation of the first 5G networks in China.
NewsPunch is a common source of misinformation that has published made-up stories about COVID-19 and other health-related topics. USA TODAY debunked stories claiming that the World Economic Forum banned vaccinated pilots at its conference, that the German government said researching vaccines would be a risk to democracy, and that egg intake was linked to blood clots.
USA TODAY reached out to NewsPunch for comment.
Lead Stories and PolitiFact have debunked the claims.
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