Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [public-health]

Use this tag for questions about the health of people on a community or population level. Do not use this tag for questions about the health of individuals or biological mechanisms.

Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities. Overall, public health is concerned with protecting populations. These populations can be small, for example, a local neighborhood, or large, for example a country or region of the world.

115 questions
5
votes
1 answer

Does particulate pollution in outdoor air kill tens of thousands every year?

The effects of particulate pollution have recently been in the news. In the UK the Daily Mail reported: Toxins emitted by Britain’s booming number of diesel cars are fuelling a health crisis that kills 40,000 people a year, a landmark report warns…
matt_black
  • 56,186
  • 16
  • 175
  • 373
5
votes
1 answer

Does supplementation of garlic/allicin reduce the risk of catching the common cold significantly?

The study Preventing the common cold with a garlic supplement: a double-blind, placebo-controlled survey shows a reduction of days challenged virally by about 70% just by taking 180mg allicin every day. This would be really huge. The economic impact…
Tobias Hermann
  • 191
  • 7
5
votes
1 answer

Is water from a sink different from water from a water fountain?

I have heard (particularly but not exclusively from my friends who grew up in Asia, where the situation may be different) that you should not drink water from a sink in the bathroom. Why? They believe the water from a water fountain is safe and good…
Richard Rast
  • 151
  • 1
  • 4
5
votes
1 answer

Has an organ donor ever been at risk of having organs harvested before a sudden recovery?

I have seen claims that one shouldn't be an organ donor because you may be declared dead by mistake and have organs harvested. For instance, this Life Site article gives a few anecdotal examples: SYRACUSE, NY, July 9, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A…
dsollen
  • 10,062
  • 12
  • 43
  • 71
4
votes
0 answers

Are fat people who intentionally lose weight at a greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease?

The Health at Any Size movement, which promotes "body positivity" and de-emphasizes body weight and obesity (among other things), claims that intentionally losing weight increases risk of dying, particularly to cardiovascular disease and…
merrygosquare
  • 183
  • 6
4
votes
3 answers

Is Lyme disease a global pandemic?

Avril Lavigne posted a video on Facebook featuring some celebrities talking about Lyme Disease. At the 0:13 mark, American singer/song-writer, Bebe Rexha, claims: Lyme disease is a global pandemic, but not a global priority. (1) is also also…
BCLC
  • 469
  • 4
  • 15
4
votes
0 answers

Are the lockdown methods implemented for COVID-19 unprecedented?

The The Great Barrington Declaration and it's FAQ make several claims that fly in the face of our approach to this pandemic. The declaration, when read in it's entirety, states lockdowns are not a part of focused protection, and focused protection…
TCooper
  • 876
  • 4
  • 14
4
votes
0 answers

Does milk worsen the amount of mucus in the lungs for Cystic Fibrosis?

For those that are not aware, Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disorder that affects cardic and digestive ability by damaging internal organs such as the liver and stomach (by removing the ability to process food with enzymes) and worsens lung…
user52798
4
votes
0 answers

Did the US Federal government take 3 months from the warning its BARDA chief to require more production of N95 masks?

This exchange from a Congressional hearing was mentioned on Twitter and cited by some news Q: "It took 3 months from your initial warnings...for the federal government to...require the production of millions more n95 masks...What was the…
Fizz
  • 57,051
  • 18
  • 175
  • 291
4
votes
2 answers

Are there artificially created viruses that are both deadly like Ebola and transmissible like the common cold?

A popular YouTube personality, Dr. John Campbell, a retired nurse teacher, makes a claim in a May 4th video around the 4m27s mark: Now let's be quite clear. No-one is saying [SARS-CoV-2] is a synthesized virus. Now, no-one will admit this... but…
user17561
4
votes
1 answer

Do young people with no previous pathologies, end up admitted with bilateral pneumonia and serious breathing difficulties due Covid-19?

In this link https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/347806-fuese-segunda-guerra-mundial-doctora (Spanish) which also contains the YouTube video (where she says basically all of the text mentioned in the link), posted today, hours ago, an emergency…
I likeThatMeow
  • 265
  • 1
  • 17
4
votes
2 answers

Does bodybuilding at early age stunt growth?

Can excessive bodybuilding at an early age inhibit or stop growth (height increase)? I am getting mixed answers; some say several selective exercises can do so and some say it is not a problem at all. It is claimed that this is a myth, but…
Dr.danks
4
votes
0 answers

Is the illegal nuclear waste at The Westlake Nuclear Landfill a risk to public health?

This Question refers to the 1 of 3 the nuclear landfill sites in residential/commercial areas in the St. Louis, MO area. These landfills are a result of the leftovers from the Manhattan Project Westlake Nuclear Landfill Inspired by the new HBO…
RustlerSteakHouse
  • 127
  • 8
4
votes
2 answers

Does more than one unit of alcohol a day damage your long term brain function and increase the risk of dementia?

In a recent article in the The Times bemoaning modern dietary guidelines the author reports new evidence on the affects of alcohol on the brain (my highlights): To add to the agony, it coincides with research showing that the UK’s alcohol rules are…
matt_black
  • 56,186
  • 16
  • 175
  • 373
3
votes
2 answers

Do 1 in 4 of us experience mental health problems each year?

I have seen this quote before but today I received an internal company email with this quote. The ratio is also cited on page 7 of this 2014 report by Boris Johnson, then Mayor of London: In any given year, an estimated 1 in 4 individuals will…
Angus Comber
  • 133
  • 4
1 2 3 4 5
6
7 8