Recently, the official WeChat Rumor Center released the "eight rumors in the first half of 2015" attracted a lot of attention, "steamer water can easily cause cancer," "toothpaste bottom has a black bar can not be used," "genetically modified poisonous "The widely forwarded "health posts" have been confirmed as rumors. Why has the WeChat circle of friends become a rumor "disaster area"? How to break the pseudoscience in the circle of friends?
Making fear is the usual trick of rumors
Summarizing, rumors tend to have the following characteristics:
1.Around the theme of death anxiety. A few days ago, Sun Yat-sen University's Big Data Communication Laboratory launched a new issue of the WeChat "rumor" analysis report. The report analyzes the top 100 rumors from April 10 to June 5, 2015, ***600 public articles, the top rumor themes are: health and wellness, disease, money, personal safety, politics, policy-related, social order, appeal for help, which "health food safety" and other rumors. The rumors with the theme of death anxiety accounted for 55%.
2. Use numbers to exaggerate assertions. Rumors like to use exaggerated words like "100%" and "first" with lots of pictures to evoke fear of death. A statistic by Sun Yat-sen University last year found that more than a quarter (27%) of the rumors used figures such as "100%" and "the first", which seem to be objective, but in fact have no authoritative sources, and are only used to emphasize their own accuracy in order to exaggerate and achieve the goal of death. accuracy to achieve the effect of exaggeration and assertion.
3. Pretend authority. Many rumors usually pretend to be experts, such as the U.S. National Cancer Institute, Canadian oncologists, and so on, and then persuade readers to believe them. At the same time, the use of professional terminology carefully packaged, hormone catalytic technology, antibiotics, vulcanization accelerator and other professional terminology, so that these rumors seem to be the head of the road.
4. The pictures create "seeing is believing". Statistics show that these rumors are accompanied by an average of 3.56 pictures per article, and since the audience generally believes that "seeing is believing," these pictures often leave a strong impression.
5. Capture the audience's fear. "Disfigurement", "toxic", "carcinogenic", "death" and other related words will be frequently used, supplemented by a stolen pillar The pictures are often used, supported by fabricated data and sensationalized claims that trigger panic among readers, who tend to adopt a conservative mindset of "rather believe in what is there than what isn't there", not daring to easily ignore or dismiss such news.
The first half of the circle of friends eight health rumors
A few days ago, WeChat Rumor Center released the first half of the circle of friends eight rumors, including "steaming pot of water easy to cause cancer", "garlic identification gutter oil", "Toothpaste bottom has a black bar can not be used", "a variety of food grams", "homemade fruit enzymes slimming beauty"," 'Meatballs' are full of additives harmful", "fruit kernel boiled in water to cure diabetes" and "genetically modified toxic". WeChat said that users may also often see friends and family in the circle of friends to share a variety of health tips. But these "common sense" are not all so reliable. The above rumors have been included in the WeChat Disinformation Center.
Rumor 1
Steamer water is easy to cause cancer
Rumor repeatedly used to steam steamed buns and other leftover pot of water, heavy metals and nitrate concentration will increase, and nitrate decomposition of nitrite by heat, the human body is a serious hazard.
The truth is that nitrite itself is not carcinogenic, the transformation of nitrosamines into carcinogenic substances, and the transformation requires many preconditions, not boiling water can be generated. In addition, as long as the water meets national standards, which nitrate content is very low, repeated heating will not generate nitrate out of thin air, harmless to the human body.
Rumor 2
Garlic identification of gutter oil
Rumor testing is the easiest way to detect gutter oil: put a peeled garlic in the frying, if the garlic turns red, it is the use of gutter oil. In addition, freezing can also facilitate the detection of gutter oil.
The truth is that this is a very unreliable method, there is no aflatoxin in garlic will change color of the scientific basis, in addition, even if the aflatoxin in the gutter oil qualified, does not mean that the safety of the frozen detection method may be "wrongly accused of" good oil, but also "let go of" bad oil. "
Rumors
Rumor 3
Toothpaste bottom black stripes can not be used
Rumors of toothpaste bottom of the colored stripes identified toothpaste ingredients: green natural; red that half of the natural ingredients, half of the chemical ingredients; black that all the chemical ingredients, the use of black stripes of toothpaste is in drugs.
The truth is that toothpaste is not categorized by natural or chemical ingredients. The color at the bottom of the toothpaste is just a mark on the production line, to help the toothpaste skin cutting, pattern printing, electric eye quality control proofreading.
Rumor 4 various foods are mutually exclusive
Rumor some common foods, such as persimmons and crabs, shrimp and fruits, soybean milk and eggs, mixed together to eat will be mutually exclusive, the light will lead to discomfort, or make a person poisoned.
The truth is that the mainstream opinion in the nutritional field is against the idea of "food incompatibility". Scientists have verified the common "food matching" pairing, and none of the results have been established. The so-called "food matching", mostly due to unclean diet and a very few special allergic reactions, the general public in the life of the need to be careful.
Rumor 5 homemade enzyme slimming beauty
Rumor wants to slim beauty, their own home-made fruit enzymes can do.
TruthTo play a positive role in the health of the fruit, eat the fruit is the most direct, simple and effective practice.
Rumor 6 meatballs are all additives harmful
Rumor now many meatballs price is significantly lower than the price of raw meat, there is no meat, are starch with some gum substances and flavoring modulation and become.
The truth is that businesses and corporations must honestly label ingredients and never falsely claim to have meat when they do not. However, there is no meat in the meatballs has nothing to do with whether it is safe or not, there is no meat in the bionic meatballs are mostly made of soy protein mixed with starch and extruded, which is more suitable for people who need to control their weight and prevent three highs.
Rumor 7 fruit kernel boiled water root cure for diabetes
Rumor diabetes was extinguished, prepare papaya seeds, lychee kernel, Yuan meat bone a number of, decoction of two large bowls, at noon, at night, each served in a bowl, and even served for 20 vice, the majority of patients with blood glucose values return to normal.
The truth about the lychee nucleus "hypoglycemic activity" of the study is still in the preliminary stage of animal pharmacology, and is not enough to prove that it can effectively treat diabetes, and also in the experiments with the crushing of the extraction and other operations and the home of a simple boil water is also a big difference. If a diabetic trusts a prescription and interrupts regular treatment, it may exacerbate the progression of the disease.
Rumor 8 genetically modified toxic
Rumor the U.S. Institute of Environmental Medicine launched a report, said: "Some animal experiments show that the consumption of genetically modified foods have a serious risk of damage to health.
The truth is that the committee of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine has not been accredited by the American Board of Medical Specialties, and the organization's legitimacy and authority are controversial, and in addition to announcing that genetically engineered foods are toxic, it has not published any other information, and its credibility is extremely low. The other GM hazards mentioned in the rumor mill have also been proven to be rumors a long time ago.