Tag Archives: Colombia

Can scopolamine / Devil’s Breath powder put a spell on you?!

Can scammers use scopolamine powder, also known as Devil’s Breath, to put a spell on you?! Take a look at the viral video, and find out what the facts really are!

Video : Woman Uses Scopolamine / Devil’s Breath To Put Spell On People!

People are sharing a video which purportedly shows a woman using long sleeves with scopolamine powder, also known as Devil’s Breath, to put a spell on people!

👆🏻Watch how she flicks her sleeves into people’s faces. She’s using Scopolomine/hyoscine powder aka Devil’s Breath.

https://www.techarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Woman-flicking-sleeves-with-scopolamine-video.mp4?_=1

Scammers Can Use Scopolamine / Devil’s Breath To Induce Loss Of Memory

This is yet another example of half truths circulating on WhatsApp, and social media platforms, and here are the reasons why!

Fact #1 : Video Does Not Appear To Be Genuine

Let me start by pointing out that the viral video does not appear to be genuine. Rather, it appears to be some kind of reenactment by Vietnamese actors.

For one thing, the multiple camera angles suggest that the video was recorded using at least two cameras, and in two different locations to boot. That is pretty much impossible for genuine “caught in action” videos.

The recorded audio was also very clear, even at a distance, and the volume did not change even when the cameraman moved in closer. That suggests that the audio was recorded using a boom microphone hovering near the actors.

Fact #2 : Scopolamine Can Be Used To Induce Loss Of Memory

Scopolamine (which is also known as hyoscine, burundanga or Devil’s Breath) is obtained from nightshade plants. Medically, it is used to treat motion sickness, post-operative nausea and vomiting, among other uses.

Criminals, however, are using scopolamine to render victims unconscious, and cause amnesia – loss of memory. Scopolamine attacks are most common in Colombia, where it is estimated that there are 50,000 victims annually.

In fact, the US Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) issued a 2012 travel advisory warning about scopolamine being used to rob tourists. In March 2019, OSAC further warned that the Colombian National Police have reported an increase in thieves targeting tourists with scopolamine in major Colombian cities.

One common and particularly dangerous method that criminals use in order to rob a victim is through the use of drugs. The most common has been scopolamine.

Unofficial estimates put the number of annual scopolamine incidents in Colombia at approximately 50,000. Scopolamine can render a victim unconscious for 24 hours or more. In large doses, it can cause respiratory failure and death.

The Canadian government also issued a 2022 travel advisory (archive) which warned about the risks of being attacked with scopolamine in Colombia. Scopolamine has also been reportedly used in kidnappings, and sexual assault.

Fact #3 : Criminals May Not Actually Be Using Scopolamine!

Despite the media frenzy over scopolamine attacks, and government advisories appearing to corroborate them, there isn’t much actual evidence to support claims that scopolamine is actually the drug being used to “zombify” or “put a spell” on people.

As Val Curran, a professor of pharmacology at UCL’s Clinical Pharmacology Unit said, in response to a tabloid story about scopolamine attacks in Paris:

You get these scare stories and they (the victims) have no toxicology, so nobody knows what it is. The idea that it is scopolamine is a bit far-fetched because it could be anything.

That’s partly because scopolamine only remains in the body for about 12 hours, with a half-life of just 4.5 hours. By the time victims wake up, traces of it may already be gone, even if they quickly seek treatment and get tested.

That does not mean that criminals are not using scopolamine to incapacitate victims. It only means that there is little, if any, evidence that scopolamine was actually used in any of those “scopolamine attacks”. It is possible that criminals are using more common drugs like Rohypnol (flunitrazepam), GHB, clonazepam, etc.

Fact #3 : Scopolamine Attacks Usually Through Spiked Drinks

While there have been claims that criminals are throwing scopolamine in the faces of their victims, or applied it on pamphlets or items, experts have questioned those methods.

For one thing – skin absorption is low and slow – transdermal patches, for example, are used over hours and days. Even when delivered through an injection, scopolamine takes effect after 20 minutes. So throwing powder into someone’s face would not immediately cause someone to lose consciousness or memory.

It is far more likely that criminals are spiking food and drinks, or even cigarettes, with scopolamine or other drugs. That could explain why most attacks occur during dates, or in night clubs or bars, as OSAC warned:

Scopolamine is most often administered in liquid or powder form in foods and beverages. The majority of these incidents occur in night clubs and bars, and usually men, perceived to be wealthy, are targeted by young, attractive women.

It is recommended that, to avoid becoming a victim of scopolamine, a person should never accept food or beverages offered by strangers or new acquaintances, nor leave food or beverages unattended in their presence. Victims of scopolamine or other drugs should seek immediate medical attention.

In fact, anecdotal reports by victims mostly show that their last memory was drinking beer or some kind of beverage with the perpetrators, like these examples:

Drinking beer in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Drinking pink soda with a lady and her friend in Medellin, Colombia
Drinking rum and coke with a Tinder date in Medellin, Colombia
Drinking sangria with a lady in Cartagena, Colombia
Fake shaman spiking drinks with scopolamine to rape women in Madrid, Spain

Here is the takeaway – you should never go to nightclubs and bars on your own, and you should never leave your food or drinks unattended, or accept food or drinks from strangers.

Fact #4 : No Evidence Scopolamine Can Be Delivered Via Sleeves

While there are reports of criminals slipping powered drugs like scopolamine into drinks and even throwing it into the faces of their victims, there is no report of anyone actually using long sleeves impregnated with scopolamine.

An online search also showed no evidence that any criminal ever used long sleeves to deliver scopolamine or other hypnotic / psychotropic substances to a victim.

It really seems very unlikely that sleeves impregnated with scopolamine would be able to deliver a large enough dose quickly enough to incapacitate anyone, or make them amnesic.

Please help us FIGHT SCAMS + SCAMMERS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

Recommended Reading

Go Back To > Fact Check | Crime | Tech ARP

Support Tech ARP!

Please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or donating to our fund. Thank you!

Did COVID-19 Vaccines Cause 17 Million Deaths?!

Leave a reply

Did researchers discover that COVID-19 vaccines were “causally linked” to 17 million deaths?!

Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Updated @ 2024-01-09 : Refreshed for the revival of this claim on social media
Originally posted @ 2023-10-03

Claim : COVID-19 Vaccines Caused 17 Million Deaths!

People are sharing an article by The Epoch Times which claims or suggests that COVID-19 vaccines did not save lives, but instead, resulted in 17 million deaths in 17 countries!

Here is an excerpt of The Epoch Times article. Feel free to skip to the next section for the facts:

Researchers Find COVID Vaccines Causally Linked to Increased Mortality, Estimate 17 Million Deaths

Data suggest COVID-19 vaccines haven’t saved lives, but instead, have resulted in 17 million deaths and increased all-cause mortality in 17 countries.

A new scientific report challenges the idea that COVID-19 vaccines have prevented deaths after researchers assessed all-cause mortality in 17 countries and found COVID-19 vaccines did not have any beneficial effect on reducing mortality. Instead, researchers found that unprecedented peaks in high all-cause mortality in each country—especially among the elderly population when COVID-19 vaccines were deployed—coincided with the rollout of third and fourth booster doses.

The report, published Sept. 17 by Correlation Research in the Public Interest (pdf) (not yet peer-reviewed), quantified the vaccine-dose fatality rate (vDFR) for all ages—which is the ratio of inferred vaccine-induced deaths to vaccine doses delivered in a given population. After analyzing mortality data, the researchers calculated a mean all-ages fatal toxicity by injection of vDFR of one death per 800 injections across all ages and countries. This equates to 17 million COVID-19 vaccine-related deaths worldwide from 13.25 billion injections as of Sept. 2, 2023.”This would correspond to a mass iatrogenic event that killed (0.213 ± 0.006) % of the world population (1 death per 470 living persons, in less than 3 years), and did not measurably prevent any deaths,” the authors said. The overall risk of death induced by COVID-19 vaccines is 1,000 times greater than previously reported in data from clinical trials, adverse event monitoring, and cause-of-death statistics obtained from death certificates.

All-cause mortality is the death rate from all causes of death for a population in a specific time period. This is the most reliable data for detecting and epidemiologically characterizing events driving death and for measuring the population-level impact of any surge or collapse in deaths from any cause.

“All-cause mortality is a good feature to use in statistical medical analyses since there is no ambiguity in whether someone has died or not,” Stephanie Seneff, a senior research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), told The Epoch Times in an email. “It is highly disturbing that these authors have found a consistent trend among seventeen countries showing a significant increase in all-cause mortality coinciding with extensive COVID vaccine rollout. Their estimate of one death for every 800 injections globally is alarming.”

Ms. Seneff said her investigations into potential mechanisms of vaccine injury have led her to believe that it is plausible that these injections are “extremely toxic” and should not have been approved by regulatory agencies.

Key findings from the 180-page report include: In all countries included in the analysis, all-cause mortality increased when COVID-19 vaccines were deployed.

Nine of 17 countries had no detectable excess deaths following the World Health Organization’s March 11, 2020, declaration of the pandemic until the beginning of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
Unprecedented peaks in all-cause mortality were observed in January and February 2022, during the summer season of Southern Hemisphere countries coinciding with or following the rollout of boosters in 15 of 17 countries studied.
Excess all-cause mortality during the vaccination period beginning January 2021 was 1.74 million deaths, or one death per 800 injections, in the 17 countries studied.
The vDFR increased exponentially with age, reaching almost 5 percent among those 90 years and older who received a fourth vaccine dose.

“There is no evidence in the hard data of all-cause mortality of a beneficial effect from the COVID-19 vaccine rollouts. No lives were saved,” Denis Rancourt, co-director of Correlation Research in the Public Interest with a doctorate in physics, told The Epoch Times in an email. “On the contrary, the evidence can be understood in terms of being subjected to a toxic substance. The risk of death per injection increases exponentially with age. The policy of prioritizing the elderly for injection must be ended immediately.”

Show less

Truth : COVID-19 Vaccines Did Not Cause 17 Million Deaths!

In this article, I will go through some of their points, and show you what the facts really are!

Fact #1 : It Was A Self-Published Report

First, let’s start by pointing out that the paper in question (PDF download) is not a published scientific report, but a self-published report by Correlation Research in the Public Interest.

As far as we can tell, it has not been submitted to any scientific or medical journal for publication. Even if a scientific report has not been peer-reviewed, it would be available as a pre-print.

Fact #2 : It Has Not Been Peer-Reviewed

There is also no indication that this report has undergone even the basic peer review process. In fact, The Epoch Times confirmed this at the end of their very long article.

It’s important to note the scientific report has not yet been peer-reviewed. Articles that are ultimately accepted by peer review are often revised prior to publication, indicating potential for improvement.

In other words – subject matter experts have yet to inspect their data and findings, never mind verify and authenticate them. Perhaps this should have been mentioned right from the start?

Fact #3 : World Mortality Dataset Covers 103-124 Countries

The World Mortality Dataset (WMD) is a public database maintained by two researchers – Ariel Kaplinsky and Dmitry Kobak, that has been tracking the mortality rates of 103 countries since January 2021. They later expanded their data to cover 124 countries.

It is peculiar that Correlation Research in the Public Interest would focus only on 17 countries, out of 103-124 countries in the World Mortality Dataset. Why not look at ALL countries covered by the WMD data?

Fact #4 : There Was No Causal Link To Vaccines

The World Mortality Dataset is a big and critical tool for tracking all cause mortality for many countries around the world. However, it is ultimately just a database of all-cause mortality.

There is no way it can be used to demonstrate the causality of any particular cause of death. After all, it only tracks all-cause mortality! It doesn’t differentiate between death from a car accident or a fall, from death from COVID-19, or death from a vaccine injury.

Hence, if you go through the long Correlation Research report (180 pages!!), you don’t see an actual causal link between those spikes in deaths, and COVID-19 vaccines (or any other potential cause of death).

Fact #5 : Eurostat Data Shows Vaccination Reduced Excess Mortality

Perhaps the reason why the European countries were left out of this Correlation Research report is because the Eurostat data showed a strong correlation between high COVID-19 vaccination rates and low excess mortality.

In this chart provided by @dobssi, you can see that the 2021 excess mortality is much lower in countries with high vaccination rates, than countries with low vaccination rates.

Interestingly, two of those highly-vaccinated countries are Australia and New Zealand, both of which had low excess mortality rates in 2021.

The Eurostats data appear to show that Australia has only a small spike in excess death, while New Zealand actually had LOWER excess deaths after vaccinating its population. Imagine that…

Fact #6 : Those Countries Have Seasons

The report claim to look at 17 equatorial and Southern Hemisphere countries because they have “no summer and winter seasons”, so there won’t be “seasonal variations” in their mortality patterns.

But the truth is – countries in equatorial and southern hemispheres have at least two seasons, instead of four seasons typically seen in the Northern Hemisphere.

Take Thailand, for example – a tropical country that evokes images of sandy beaches and warm weather. Well, Thailand actually has three seasons:

a wet season that runs from May to October,
a cool season that runs from November to February, and
a hot season that runs from March May

Its capital, Bangkok, itself experiences wide variations in temperature throughout the year – from as low as 21°C in the winter, to as high as 37°C in the summer.

And how exactly does proximity to the equator affect the SARS-CoV-2 virus or the COVID-19 vaccine??

Fact #7 : Those Countries Have Different Vaccination Rates

It is hard to understand why those 17 countries were chosen out of 103-124 countries in the World Mortality Dataset. Especially when they have different vaccination rates.

Yes, the report states that these countries comprise 9.1% of the global population and 10.3% of all COVID-19 vaccine injections. That gives us the impression that they are all highly-vaccinated countries.

That’s really not the case. These countries have very different vaccination rates, ranging from 44% to 97%!

Country	1 Dose	≥ 2 Doses
Argentina	14%	77%
Australia	2%	95%
Bolivia	60%
Brazil	6%	82%
Chile	2%	90%
Colombia	12%	72%
Ecuador	85%
Malaysia	2%	84%
New Zealand	1%	95%
Paraguay	56%
Peru	6%	83%
Philippines	79%
Singapore	1%	92%
South Africa	46%
Suriname	3%	44%
Thailand	5%	78%
Uruguay	5%	83%

If they did not select those countries for their high vaccination rate, then why choose those countries and not the dozens of other countries located near the equator?

Why not pick large countries like Indonesia or India? Why not pick small countries like Brunei or Maldives? Why pick South Africa when there are many other African countries much closer to the equator?

Did they cherry-pick those countries because their data fitted the narrative, or was it something else?

Fact #8 : World Mortality Dataset Study Identified COVID-19 As Cause

The two researchers who maintained the World Mortality Dataset (WMD) actually published a peer-reviewed study in the eLife journal, on 30 June 2021.

Unlike this Correlation Research report, this was an actual peer-reviewed study, published in a journal and the NIH National Library of Medicine. It was also written by the two people who knows the WMD database best – the very people maintaining and updating it!

Both Ariel Kaplinsky and Dmitry Kobak used their WMD data to look at the impact of COVID-19 on the all-cause mortality from 103 countries, and here was what they found:

We found that in several worst-affected countries (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Mexico) the excess mortality was above 50% of the expected annual mortality (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Mexico) or above 400 excess deaths per 100,000 population (Peru, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Serbia). At the same time, in several other countries (e.g. Australia and New Zealand) mortality during the pandemic was below the usual level, presumably due to social distancing measures decreasing the non-COVID infectious mortality

Summing up the excess mortality estimates across all countries in our dataset gives 4.0 million excess deaths. In contrast, summing up the official COVID-19 death counts gives 2.9 million deaths, corresponding to the global undercount ratio of 1.4.

In other words – many people were likely being killed by COVID-19 infections, which appear to be undercounted by some 40%.

To be clear – their data do not show COVID-19 vaccines causing those deaths, never mind 17 million deaths!

Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

Don’t forget to protect yourself, and your family, by vaccinating against COVID-19!

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

Recommended Reading

Go Back To > Fact Check | Health | Tech ARP

Support Tech ARP!

Please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or donating to our fund. Thank you!

Colombian Health Minister Walks Back Antivax Comments!

Leave a reply

Colombian Health Minister Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo just walked back his “anti-vaccine” comments!

Take a look at what he said, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : Colombian Health Minister Slams COVID Vaccines!

People are sharing a video, which shows the Colombian Health Minister, Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo, calling the COVID-19 vaccines “experimental”

aussie17 : 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨💥💥Wow!!
Health Minister of Colombia, Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo slams experimental vaccine in an astonishing outburst!

————————————
We are playing with the lives of Colombians, we cannot be a factor of experimentation. All of us who are vaccinated today, today, with the exception of those who took Sinovac,

I have three from Sinovac, all the new technology is a technology and all the vaccines entered here without permission, we went and became an experiment.

All Colombians who are vaccinated served for the largest experiment that has been carried out in the entire history of humanity.

We cannot continue experimenting with the Colombian community, much less with the indigenous people, with the blacks and with the poorest of this country, with the peasants.

Richard : When common sense steps back in:

Health Minister of Colombia, Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo strongly criticizes the experimental covid-19 vaccine, stating that risking the lives of Colombians by being a part of an experiment is totally unacceptable…..

Michaelia 8:32 : Experimental Vaccine Under Fire: Colombia’s Health Minister Denounces Experimental Vaccine in Astonishing Outburst!

“Every vaccinated Colombian has contributed to the largest experiment ever conducted in human history”

Show less

Colombian Health Minister Walks Back Antivax Comments!

What you may not realise is that the Colombian Health Minister quickly walked back his “anti-vaccine” comments. Here is what you need to know…

Fact #1 : Viral Video Appears Legitimate

The video appears to be legitimate, and recorded during a political control debate in the First Commission of the Colombian Senate on Tuesday, 28 November 2023.

In that video, Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo – the Minister of Health and Social Protection of Colombia – claimed that Colombians were vaccinated against COVID-19 as part of the “largest experiment in history”, referring to the approval and use of mRNA vaccines before their full approval by regulatory agencies like the FDA and EMA.

Fact #2 : Guillermo Jaramillo Walked Back His Antivax Comments

After the Minister’s video went viral, organisations like the Association of Epidemiology of Colombia expressed their disagreement with his claims. They pointed out that his comments contradict scientific evidence, and will jeopardise trust in COVID-19 vaccines.

Guillermo Jaramillo then officially responded to the criticism, clarifying that he was only referring to the “experimental phase” that mRNA vaccines went through. He also affirmed his “consistent support for vaccination“, and emphasised the importance of “timely vaccination” and the “completion of vaccination schemes“.

Colombian President Gustavo Pedro also defended the Health Minister, labelling accusations that Jaramillo is “anti-vaccine” as “slander”.

Fact #3 : mRNA Vaccines Are No Longer Experimental

mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna underwent and passed large clinical trials, and received their Emergency Use Authorisations (EUA) in December 2020.

Regardless of what people claim – the mRNA vaccines were no longer experimental, once they received their EUA.

There are some differences between an EUA and a full FDA approval, but the EUA means the vaccines have officially been approved for use by the health regulator.

While Guillermo Jaramillo suggested that the Sinovac vaccine is not “new technology”, it is still a new vaccine that underwent the same clinical trials as the mRNA vaccines. I should point out that the Sinovac vaccine never received EUA or full authorisation from Western health regulators like the US FDA or EMA.

Fact #4 : mRNA Vaccines Received Their Full FDA Approval

In any case, the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna received their full FDA approval on 23 August 2021, and 31 January 2022 respectively.

So there is really no reason for anyone to claim that these mRNA vaccines are still experimental. Even if you “believe” that the mRNA vaccines were “experimental” until they received full regulatory approval, we crossed that bridge a long time ago.

To be clear – the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have long ceased to be experimental.

Fact #5 : mRNA Vaccines Proven Safe + Effective

No vaccine or drug is perfectly safe, or perfectly effective. But the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have proven to be safe and effective for the vast majority of people.

Not only did they pass their large clinical trials with flying colours, post-marketing monitoring showed that they remained safe and effective for the vast majority of people after tens of billions of doses have been administered worldwide.

Yes, post-marketing monitoring have shown that the mRNA vaccines can cause rare side effects like myocarditis. But what anti-vaccine activists don’t tell you is that – the risk of developing myocarditis is much higher with COVID-19 infections!

Please help us FIGHT MISINFORMATION by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

Recommended Reading

Go Back To > Fact Check | Health | Tech ARP

Support Tech ARP!

Please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or donating to our fund. Thank you!

Is Bill Gates Releasing Millions of GMO Mosquitoes?!

Leave a reply

Is Bill Gates manufacturing and releasing 30 million genetically-modified mosquitoes every week?!

Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : Bill Gates Is Releasing Millions Of GMO Mosquitoes!

People are sharing a World Mosquito Program video as evidence that Bill Gates is manufacturing and releasing 30 million genetically-mosquitoes every week, from his mosquito factory in Colombia.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr : Should Bill Gates be releasing 30 million genetically modified mosquitoes into the wild? Part of the mentality of earth-as-engineering-object. What could possibly go wrong?

Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis : BILL GATES – This is Bill’s mosquito factory in Colombia. It’s the largest in the world. 30 million genetically modified mosquitoes are released every week into 11 countries. Because Bill knows better than nature, what could possibly go wrong.

Dr. Lynn Fynn-derella : How is @BillGates allowed to do this? They are likely testing mosquito-borne disease spread in order to roll out more vaccines for the diseases they create. The entire mosquito population should be eradicated- including the king mosquito-

Truth : Bill Gates Is NOT Releasing Millions Of GMO Mosquitoes!

This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created about Bill Gates, and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : Mosquito Factory Video Was Released In 2022

First, let me just point out that the mosquito factory video is not new. It was posted by Bill Gates on his YouTube channel some 9 months ago, on August 16, 2022, garnering over 6.9 million views.

Fact #2 : Mosquito Factory Does Not Belong To Bill Gates

The “world’s biggest mosquito factory” in Medellin, Colombia, does not belong to Bill Gates. It is not Bill Gates’ mosquito factory. He doesn’t own one.

As the viral video clearly states, that mosquito factory belongs to World Mosquito Program.

Fact #3 : World Mosquito Program Has Many “Factories”

The World Mosquito Program actually has a number of mosquito breeding facilities worldwide. The Medellin mosquito factory is merely its biggest. To be clear – Bill Gates does not own any of them.

Fact #4 : Those Are Not Genetically-Modified Mosquitoes

The claim that those are genetically-modified mosquitoes is false. Those are regular Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that have not been genetically modified.

As the video itself explained, the mosquitoes are only being infected with the Wolbachia bacteria, which are extremely common bacteria found naturally in 50% of insect species.

The World Mosquito Program also clearly stated on its website that it does not genetically modify any mosquito:

Unlike most other techniques that aim to prevent mosquito-borne diseases, our Wolbachia method is natural and self-sustaining.

Our method does not suppress mosquito populations or involve genetic modification (GM), as the genetic material of the mosquito is not altered.

Fact #5 : Wolbachia Mosquitoes Prevent Diseases

When Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are infected by the Wolbachia bacteria, scientists discovered that the bacteria competes with viruses like dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever!

This makes it harder for the dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever viruses to multiply in the Wolbachia-infected mosquito, and thus, block the transmission of those viruses.

A randomised controlled trial conducted in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, found that Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes reduced the number of dengue cases in the city by a whopping 77%, and dengue hospitalisations by 86%!

Another study conducted in Medillin (where the mosquito factory is located) showed that the mosquitoes reduced dengue cases there by 89% since they were first released in 2015.

On top of that, scientists also discovered that male Wolbachia mosquitoes can reduce the population of uninfected mosquitoes by breeding with normal female mosquitoes – the eggs they produce won’t hatch!

All this can be accomplished by breeding and infecting mosquitoes with the Wolbachia bacteria, and releasing them. There is no need for any genetic modification.

Credit : National Environment Agency

Fact #6 : World Mosquito Program Is A Monash University Project

The World Mosquito Program is not a Bill Gates project. Formerly known as the Eliminate Dengue Project, it is a non-profit initiative by Monash University of Australia, with funding from the Australian government, as well as other donors.

Fact #7 : Bill + Melinda Gates Foundation Helped Fund The Project

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, together with the Wellcome Trust, awarded the World Mosquito Program with AUD$50 million (US$33.7 million) in additional funds in September 2022.

It is unknown how much the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation alone contributed to the World Mosquito Program, but both foundations have contributed a total of AUD$185 million (US$124.6 million) in funding since 2010.

Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

Recommended Reading

Go Back To > Fact Check | Health | Tech ARP

Support Tech ARP!

Please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or donating to our fund. Thank you!

Parent Company Of Shopee Slashes Costs + Salaries!

Leave a reply

Sea Limited – the parent company of Shopee – appears to be in dire straits, pulling out of markets, slashing costs and salaries!

Parent Company Of Shopee Slashes Costs + Salaries!

Singapore-based Sea Limited – Shopee’s parent company – appears to be in dire straits, pulling out of markets, slashing costs and salaries!

In March 2022, Shopee shut down its France operations less than 6 months after kicking off its “European conquest” in October 2021.

Then in early September 2022, Shopee exited Argentina, and shut down its local operations in Chile, Colombia and Mexico. Sea Limited’s Garena gaming unit also laid off hundreds of employees in Shanghai.

Today (September 15, 2022), Bloomberg reported that Sea Limited’s top management staff will forgo their salaries, and the company will tighten its expenses.

In a 1,000-word internal memo to Sea Limited staff, CEO Forrest Li said that the leadership team will not take any cash compensation “until the company reaches self-sufficiency”, as well as these additional measures :

business travel is restricted to economy class flights,
travel meal expenses are limited to US$30 a day,
hotel stays for business trips are limited to US$150 a night
reimbursements for meals and entertainment bills will be removed

Sea Limited + Shopee Have Been Struggling In 2022

Li noted that Sea Limited has been struggling against rising interest rates, accelerating inflation, and a volatile market – conditions that he foresees will likely persist into the medium term.

He stressed that the company’s primary objective for the next 12-18 months will be to achieve positive cashflow as soon as possible.

With investors fleeing for ‘safe haven’ investments, we do not anticipate being able to raise funds in the market.

The only way for us to free ourselves from relying on external capital is to become self-sufficient, generating enough cash for all our own needs and projects.

Li’s comments mirrors the “tough times” concerns recently expressed by HUAWEI CEO Ren Zhengfe.

Sea Limited saw its market value soar to more than US$200 billion in October 2021, but its share prices tumbled 85%, reducing its market value to just US$27 billion.

Last month, Sea announced that its net loss in the second quarter of 2022 widened to US$931.20 million from US$433.7 million last year. Its total adjusted loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation for that quarter also jumped to US$506.3 minion from US$24.1 million.

This was despite a 29% increase in total revenue to US$2.9 billion, from US$2.3 billion in the second quarter of last year.

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

Go Back To > Business | Tech ARP

Support Tech ARP!

Please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or donating to our fund. Thank you!

WHO Convenes Emergency Meeting On Monkeypox Outbreak!

Leave a reply

The WHO has convened an emergency meeting on the monkeypox outbreak that has spread to 56 countries!

Here is what you need to know…

WHO Convenes Emergency Meeting On Monkeypox Outbreak!

On 23 June 2022, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus convened an emergency committee meeting under Article 48 of the International Health Regulations to discuss the current monkeypox outbreak.

Chaired by Dr. Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele and Dr. Nicola Low, this emergency WHO meeting on monkeypox is only open to members and advisors of the Emergency Committee.

The findings of this emergency meeting would be conveyed to the Director-General of WHO, on whether the outbreak should be classified as a public health emergency of international concern, and also on potential recommendations on how to address it.

This meeting comes as an NGO called World Health Network (unrelated to WHO) issued a press release describing the current monkeypox outbreak as a “pandemic”, urging “immediate and effective action” from country and global health authorities.

This led to a bit of confusion, as their names and acronyms were similar (WHO vs WHN). To be clear, WHO has not declared a monkeypox pandemic.

Read more : What You Must Know About Monkeypox!

Over 4,000 Monkeypox Cases Confirmed In 56 Countries!

Discovered in 1958, the first human infection was only reported in 1970, and there were only like 400 cases from 1970 to 1986.

Monkeypox became more common over time, with 2000 cases per year reported between 2011 and 2014, and several outbreaks in the US (2003 and 2021), UK (2018 and 2021), and Singapore (2019)..

However, nothing has come close to the 2022 monkeypox outbreak which has now affected at least 56 countries outside of endemic African countries, with over 4,000 cases!

Country	Confirmed Cases	Suspected Cases	Total
Spain	918	100	1,018
United Kingdom	793	–	793
Germany	676	–	676
France	330	–	330
Portugal	328	–	328
Canada	223	45	268
United States	173	–	173
Netherlands	167	–	167
Italy	85	–	85
Belgium	77	1	78
Switzerland	52	–	52
Ireland	28	–	28
Ghana	18	–	18
Brazil	11	6	17
Israel	16	–	16
Australia	13	–	13
Denmark	13	–	13
Sweden	13	–	13
UAE	13	–	13
Austria	12	–	12
Poland	12	–	12
Mexico	9	–	9
Slovenia	9	–	9
Hungary	7	–	7
Czech Republic	6	–	6
Uganda	–	6	6
Romania	5	–	5
Argentina	4	–	4
Finland	4	–	4
Malta	4	–	4
Norway	4	–	4
Somalia	–	4	4
Chile	3	–	3
Colombia	3	–	3
Greece	3	–	3
Iceland	3	–	3
Bulgaria	2	–	2
Latvia	2	–	2
Morocco	1	1	2
Bahamas	–	1	1
Cayman Islands	–	1	1
Fiji	–	1	1
Georgia	1	–	1
Gibraltar	1	–	1
Haiti	–	1	1
Libya	–	1	1
Lebanon	1	–	1
Luxembourg	1	–	1
Serbia	1	–	1
Singapore	1	–	1
South Africa	1	–	1
South Korea	1	–	1
Uruguay	–	1	1
Venezuela	1	–	1
Zambia	–	1	1
TOTAL	4,049	170	4,219

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

Go Back To > Science | Tech ARP

Support Tech ARP!

Please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or donating to our fund. Thank you!

Did Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters Die From Vaccine?!

Leave a reply

Did Foo Fighters drummer, Taylor Hawkins, die from his COVID-19 vaccine?!

Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!

Updated @ 2022-06-10 : Added Alison Hawkins’ official statement.
Updated @ 2022-03-29 : Added more details about Hawkins and his health.
Originally posted @ 2022-03-28

Claim : Foo Fighters Drummer Taylor Hawkins Died From COVID-19 Vaccine!

Foo Fighters drummer, Taylor Hawkins, was found dead in his hotel room in Bogota, Colombia on 25 March 2022.

Almost immediately after the news broke, people started claiming that he died from his COVID-19 vaccine. Here are a few examples…

Taylor Hawkins death: Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins dead at 50

And yet another unexpected death but not for us. It’s a death from the Vaccine, which is happening over and over yet the Sheep still think it’s natural that fit and healthy did suddenly.

Did TAYLOR HAWKINS get the PIFZER or MODERMA? COVID-19 VACCINES. WE will never get the TRUTH or ANY VERIFICATION of TAYLOR HAWKINS DEATH. We are the sheep being led to a “MEDIA SLAUGHTER”

#FooFighters drummer Taylor Hawkins actual cause of death will never be revealed ! They will call it an overdose. Dave Grohl forced the vaccine on Taylor. Grohl more than likely is responsible for his demise. RIP Taylor !

Dave Grohl is responsible for Taylor Hawkins death. Taylor was FORCED to take the Vaccine as Grohl insisted any and all people at his concerts be Vaxed

Truth : Foo Fighters Drummer Taylor Hawkins Did NOT Die From Vaccine!

It’s becoming a tradition for anti-vaccination activists to immediately blame all celebrity deaths on the COVID-19 vaccine.

And yet again, they are wrong – Taylor Hawkins did not die from the COVID-19 vaccine, and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : Hawkins Complained Of Chest Pain Before Death

Hawkins actually called the hotel front desk for help, complaining of “chest pain”, and hotel staff immediately called emergency services while a private doctor tried to revive him.

Unfortunately, he did not respond, and was pronounced dead when emergency services arrived. The Bogota City Health Department issued a statement mentioning that :

With regards to the death of the American musician Taylor Hawkins in the neighborhood of Chapinero, which happened on Friday night, the City Health Department states the following:

The city’s Emergency Regulation Centre received an alert about a patient with chest pain in a hotel located in the north of the city.

An ambulance was sent to attend to this case. However when the health department teams arrived, they found a mobile response unit from the company EMI at the scene.

The health professional that was dealing with the emergency indicated attempts to revive the patient had been carried out but there had been no response and the patient was pronounced dead.

Members of the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI) remove the lifeless body of the drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins, at the Casa Medina hotel, in Bogota, Colomia

Fact #2 : Hawkins Had 10 Different Drugs In His System

After Hawkins died, his body was taken by the Colombian authorities for an autopsy, and a urine test found 10 different kinds of drugs in his system.

The Colombia Attorney General’s Office issued this statement on the initial autopsy findings :

Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office can confirm the following after the initial autopsy on the body of Taylor Hawkins.

That in the toxicology test on Taylor Hawkins’ urine 10 types of substances were preliminarily found, including marijuana, tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and opioids.

The National Institute of Forensic Medicine is continuing its medical studies to be able to completely clarify the facts that led to Taylor Hawkins death.

Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office will continue with the investigation and reveal the results obtained as part of this investigation as appropriate.

Fact #3 : Autopsy Found An Enlarged Heart

The initial autopsy report also stated that his heart weighed “at least 600 grams” – twice the average for a man his age.

This finding of cardiomegaly (enlarged heart) suggests that he had a longstanding heart condition like heart failure, or cardiomyopathy.

Investigators have apparently concluded that he suffered a “sudden cardiac arrest” with a “cardiovascular collapse”, after overdosing on heroin, antidepressants and benzodiazepines.

Fact #4 : Hawkins Discovered Enlarged Heart In 2021

Interestingly, Hawkins himself may have discovered that he had an enlarged heart (cardiomegaly) almost a year earlier.

On 15 June 2021, he did a Rolling Stone interview with Brian Hiatt, where he revealed that his doctor recently told him that he had a “big heart”.

I just found out from my doctor, got all my blood tests and my heart everything checked and he goes, “Dude, you’re in amazing shape. Your heart’s big, because you exercise a lot. It’s like a runner’s heart.”

Fact #5 : His Cardiomegaly May Be Due To Sleep Apnea

In the same Rolling Stone interview, Hawkins also revealed an interesting detail that many people missed – he was likely suffering from sleep apnea.

The only thing is, he said, “I think you have sleep apnea.” And my wife’s always saying you snore and you fucking make weird noises while you’re sleeping and stuff.

Untreated sleep apnea increases cardiovascular stress, which elevates blood pressure and forces the heart to work harder. This can result in an enlarged heart (cardiomegaly) over time.

Fact #6 : Hawkins Almost Died From Drug Overdose In 2001

Hawkins had a long history of drug use, and almost died from a heroin overdose in 2001. He recounted the incident in 2018 :

I was partying a lot. I wasn’t a junkie per se, but I was partying. There was a year where the partying just got a little too heavy.

Thank God on some level this guy gave me the wrong line with the wrong thing one night and I woke up going, ‘What the f**k happened?’ That was a real changing point for me.

Tragically, it appears that Hawkins overdosed again, but was not able to recover this time, due to his existing heart condition.

Fact #7 : COVID-19 Vaccine Does Not Cause Cardiomegaly

Just to be clear – it is not possible for any COVID-19 vaccine to cause cardiomegaly.

Not only has there been no reported case of vaccine-induced cardiomegaly, it takes time for the heart to enlarge to such proportions.

In case you are wondering, vaccine-induced myocarditis (a rare risk factor for mRNA vaccines) cannot cause the heart to enlarge to such a large size in a matter of days.

For certain, his COVID-19 vaccination played no role in his death.

Fact #8 : His Wife Did Not Blame Vaccine For His Death

On 8 June 2022, Alison Hawkins posted a family statement on Instagram, thanking his fans and the Foo Fighter community for th eir love.

She notably did not blame COVID-19 vaccines for his death :

STATEMENT FROM THE HAWKINS FAMILY

My deepest thanks and admiration go out to the global Foo Fighters community and Taylor’s fans far and wide for the outpouring of love each and every one of you have shown our beloved Taylor. Your kindness has been an invaluable comfort for my family and me
during this time of unimaginable grief.

As Taylor’s wife, and on behalf of our children, I want to share how much you meant to him and how dedicated he was to “knocking your socks off” during every performance. Taylor was honored to be a part of the Foo Fighters and valued his dream role in the band every minute of his 25 years with them. We consider every band member and the extended Foo Fighters team our family.

Taylor’s endearing spirit and deep love of music will live on forever through the collaborations he so enjoyed having with other musicians and the catalog of songs he contributed to and created.

In celebration of his life, it is now up to all of us who loved him most to honor Taylor’s legacy and the music he gave us.

Thank you all again for your love and sympathy. Taylor loved all of you & we love you too.

With gratitude,

Alison Hawkins

Don’t risk your life, or your family’s lives, on the bad science and misinformation promoted by anti-vaccination activists.

Please help me fight fake news, and SHARE this fact check with your family and friends!

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

Recommended Reading

Go Back To > Fact Check | Health | Tech ARP

Support Tech ARP!

Please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or donating to our fund. Thank you!

Why Steve Kirsch Is Wrong That Taylor Hawkins Died From Vaccine

Leave a reply

Tech millionaire Steve Kirsch challenged me to a debate, claiming to have “the inside story” on how Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins died from vaccine-induced myocarditis.

So let’s take a look at his “inside” information, and see what the facts really are!

Steve Kirsch : Taylor Hawkins Most Likely Died From Vaccine!

Tech millionaire Steve Kirsch has been actively creating misinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccines.

In his latest effort, he claimed to have “the inside story” on how Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins died from vaccine-induced myocarditis.

He even called me out, and challenged me to a debate, for fact checking that false claim earlier. Hilarious!

I would love to debate Dr. Wong on this, but he doesn’t seem anxious to engage with me or Peter McCullough. I’ve posted the link to this story on his “fact check” but it has to be approved by him to appear.

So I’m going to publicly expose the truth about what Steve Kirsch shared, because facts aren’t subject to a debate. They remain true, irrespective of our opinions.

Why Steve Kirsch Is Wrong About Taylor Hawkins Dying From Vaccine

In case you guys don’t know him, Steve Kirsch is a tech millionaire who made his money as one of two people who independently invented the optical mouse.

So he’s definitely a smart guy… when it comes to tech. But let’s see if Steve Kirsch is correct in any of his claims…

I will go through the list of “facts” that Steve Kirsch posted, and tell you what the facts really are.

Claim : He was found dead in his hotel room… after complaining about chest pains.
Fact : Hawkins called the hotel front desk for help, complaining of chest pain. He was treated by a health professional (doctor) hired by EMI, who failed to revive him.

Claim : Press reported he died of cardiac arrest. The vaccine causes death by cardiac arrest.
Fact : There is ZERO evidence that any COVID-19 vaccine causes death by cardiac arrest.

Claim : Marijuana and heroin and the other drugs aren’t consistent with the symptoms observed before he died.
Fact : No one actually observed his symptoms that we are aware of. Hawkins only reported chest pain, so what other symptoms is Kirsch alluding to?
Fact : A cardiac arrest is pretty much consistent with opioid overdose, and less commonly, marijuana use. Even if we discount marijuana, Hawkins had heroin and other opioids in his urine.

Claim : Taylor Hawkins was all about the music and his fans. He was just a great guy.
Fact : Unless his passion for music was a trigger for the vaccine to kill him, it is completely irrelevant and is just Kirsch name dropping his “inside source”.

Members of the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI) remove the lifeless body of the drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins, at the Casa Medina hotel, in Bogota, Colomia

Claim : He was married for 17 years and had three kids. He had everything to live for.
Fact : People with everything to live for can still partake in drugs. A strong desire to live does not prevent a drug overdose either. Does Kirsch really believe that being married for XX years and having X number of kids precludes death from opioid overdose? Seriously?

Claim : There was no mention of the amount of each substance (in the toxicology report).
Fact : This is true, probably because the forensic team would have to first corroborate the urine test results, with the blood test results. It does not change the fact that the 10 types of substances in his urine included marijuana, antidepressants, benzodiazepines and opioids.

Claim : People have mentioned that drug reports from Columbian sources can be unreliable.
Fact : Not only is that incredibly condescending, it is an opinion that is not backed by facts. Where is the evidence that a simple urine test that any laboratory in the world can perform is unreliable because it was conducted in Colombia?

Claim : Columbian authorities claim … Columbian sources…
Fact : The demonym of Colombia is Colombian, not Columbian. Hawkins died in the country of Colombia, not Columbia, South Carolina or the District of Columbia.

Claim : COVID vaccine can cause a heart to double in size and then kill you.
Fact : Vaccine-induced myocarditis can cause the heart to enlarge (but not necessarily so), and in rare cases, it can be fatal. However, you are many times more likely to get myocarditis from a COVID-19 infection, than from any COVID-19 vaccine. If you are worried about myocarditis, you will want to get vaccinated.
Read more : Vaccine Myocarditis Risk Less Than 1 In Million!

Claim : It seems unlikely that he just decided on a spontaneous heroin / benzo / cocaine bender right before a show.
Fact : Unlikely? The fact is the preliminary toxicology test showed that he had 10 different substances in his urine, and a police officer reportedly told prosecutors that he saw a “cocaine-like powder” in Hawkins’ room. Does Kirsch have any “inside” facts to share? Or was he just pontificating?

Claim : He still smoked weed. This was well known [Insider].
Opinion : I’ll take his insider’s word for that, and point out it refutes Kirsch’s point that Hawkins learned his lesson in 2001 (when he almost died from an overdose). If he can still smoke weed, he certainly can still partake in cocaine and heroin.

Claim : Hawkins made it very clear he was against masks, lockdowns and the COVID vaccines.
Opinion : While plausible, there is no public record of Hawkins saying that he was against masks, lockdowns and the COVID vaccines.

Claim : Hawkins was under pressure from both Dave Grohl and the band manager to take the vaccine.
Opinion : While plausible, there is no public record of Hawkins being forced to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Claim : Hawkins’ heart was likely already somewhat damaged from an earlier vaccine dose when … his doctor said he had a “big heart”.
Fact : That is a baseless opinion by Kirsch, unless he is willing to share with us evidence that Hawkins’ “big heart” was related to any vaccine he took.

Claim : So the timing on this suggests that Hawkins had his first and/or second dose before the medical exam.
Fact : This is complete bullshit. Kirsch is doing a logic pretzel – claiming (without evidence) that Hawkins’ cardiomegaly in June 2021 was definitely due to the vaccine, and then using that as “evidence” that Hawkins must have been vaccinated before that.
Opinion : If Kirsch really spoke to insiders who knew Hawkins on a personal basis, they would have told him when Hawkins got his vaccine doses. Kirsch doesn’t even know what vaccine Hawkins took. It may not even have been an mRNA vaccine, for all we know.

Claim : So this is all consistent with a damaged heart on an earlier vaccine shot.
Fact : Kirsch conspiciously “forgot” to point out that Hawkins’ doctor told him that he was “in amazing shape“. If Hawkins had vaccine-induced myocarditis, he would have had noticeable symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath and heart palpitations. His doctor certainly would not have told him that he was in great health.

Claim : Hawkins got a booster on Feb. 26, 2022 [Insider], just a month before he died.
Fact : There is no way to confirm this insider claim, but I should point out that none of the countries that the Foo Fighters were going to play at required a booster dose. They only required travellers to be fully-vaccinated, so it would not have been necessary for Hawkins to get a booster dose before flying to Australia – the first overseas stop.
Opinion : Assuming that his insider source was correct, it actually PROVES that Hawkins did not suffer from vaccine-induced myocarditis – an acute condition that occurs within a few days of receiving an mRNA vaccine. It wouldn’t crop up a month later, and Hawkins would not have been able to undertake strenuous activities like playing with the Foo Fighters in Australia, Chile and Argentina.

Claim : Large study in JAMA said most heart problems surfaced 3 weeks after the vaccine
Fact : Kirsch interestingly did not reference the JAMA study, so we will never know which study he was referring to. In any case, vaccine-induced myocarditis surfaces WITHIN DAYS of receiving an mRNA vaccine.

Claim : Those involved in physically demanding activities are … more likely to get myocarditis due to catecholamine release interaction with the vaccine.
Fact : There is currently no evidence that individuals who participate in physically demanding activities are more likely to get myocarditis. The paper Kirsch quoted to back up that claim is a literature review (not an actual clinical study) by his friend, that has not been peer-reviewed.
Fact : The paper Kirsch quoted mentioned that “vaccine-induced myocarditis … and increase in sudden deaths” are “overrepresented in young males“. That kind of proves Kirsch wrong – Hawkins was 50 years old when he died. The risk of vaccine-induced myocarditis for his age group is practically non-existent.

Age Group	Vaccine Myocarditis Male Rate (per million doses)	Classic Myocarditis Male Baseline (per million doses)
12-17	32.4	2.0
18-24	30.7	1.8
25-29	12.2	1.9
30-39	6.9	1.9
40-49	3.5	1.9
50-64	1.9	1.9

Claim : Their stage manager Andy Pollard died suddenly as well.
Fact : That’s true, but Kirsch does not tell us why that is pertinent information. Bob Saget also died suddenly. Is that equally relevant to Hawkins’ death? Or is he suggesting some kind of Foo Fighters curse?

Claim : [Vaccine-induced myocarditis] fits all the facts like a glove
Opinion : Those must be really weird gloves for aliens with 8 fingers, because Kirsch offered ZERO EVIDENCE that vaccine-induced myocarditis was the cause of Hawkins’ death.

Claim : Hawkins was boosted 30 days before he died, giving his heart plenty of time to double in size
Fact : Hawkins already said he had a “big” heart a year ago… MONTHS before he received that [alleged] booster dose in February 2022.

Claim : Hawkins was observed shortly before his death and appeared not under the influence of drugs.
Fact : Kirsch hilariously used this photo of Hawkins with band members Pat Smear and Samantha Sidley taken TWO DAYS prior to his death as proof. How does the photo prove that Hawkins did not partake in any drugs two days LATER? Let me help him with this analogy – if I post a picture of myself eating a salad today, it does not mean I won’t be eating a steak tomorrow.

Taylor Hawkins (back) on a plane with band member Pat Smear (left) and Samantha Sidley (right) on Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Steve, thank you for helping to invent the optical mouse, but please stop creating and sharing misinformation.

Why not join me in fighting fake news instead? Let your legacy be the unerring pursuit of the truth.

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

Go Back To > Fact Check | Health | Tech ARP

Support Tech ARP!

Please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or donating to our fund. Thank you!

Did Taylor Hawkins Die From Vaccine Myocarditis?!

Leave a reply

Did Foo Fighters drummer, Taylor Hawkins, die from COVID-19 vaccine-induced myocarditis?!

Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : Taylor Hawkins Died From Vaccine-Induced Myocarditis!

Just three days after Foo Fighters drummer, Taylor Hawkins, was found dead in his hotel room in Colombia, The COVID Blog claimed that he died from vaccine-induced myocarditis.

They wrote a long rambling post about him, so let me share the relevant part with you. It’s long, so feel free to skip to the next section for the facts.

Witnesses said Mr. Hawkins called the front desk complaining of chest pains right before he passed away. An ambulance arrived, but could not revive him. That means his heart stopped beating.

Several mainstream media outlets then reported details of a “toxicology report” for Mr. Hawkins, despite toxicology reports typically taking four to six weeks to complete. Mainstream media quickly revised this narrative and starting using the phrase “preliminary toxicology report.” The smoking gun, if you will, came out late Sunday. A forensic examination found that Mr. Hawkins’ heart weighed about 600 grams, which is double the size for the average man his age.

The narrative now is that a urine toxicology test found 10 substances, including benzodiazepines, opioids, THC (weed) and anti-depressants. Note that the latter was likely a prescription, and THC stays in urine for weeks and even months. Now the most recent narrative is that Mr. Hawkins died of “cardiovascular collapse” after binging on heroin and other drugs.

Vaxx zealots are angrily attacking critical thinkers on social media for talking about the obvious. Myocarditis, aka heart inflammation, is the second-most common adverse reaction to the injections after blood clots covered on this blog. Further, we’ve covered numerous cases of vaccinated people dying suddenly and unexpectedly of heart attacks and cardiac arrest. Of course the top symptom of a heart attack is chest pain, which Mr. Hawkins complained of right before he passed.

We’ve seen many people on social media claim that myocarditis does not enlarge the heart. But the Myocarditis Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated solely to saving people from this ailment, says right on its website:

“In simple terms, myocarditis is a disease that causes inflammation of the heart muscle. This inflammation enlarges and weakens the heart, creates scar tissue and forces it to work harder to circulate blood and oxygen throughout the body.”

And there’s also this tidbit from the same page:

“Myocarditis is the 3^rd leading cause of Sudden Death in children and young adults.”

That all said, mainstream media want us all to believe that a 50-year-old man with two kids and a wife of 17 years, who made clear he learned his lesson in 2001, and had lived a solid family life with perhaps occasional drug use here and there, just decided on a spontaneous heroin/benzo/cocaine bender right before a show, called for help, then died of an overdose.

Unfortunately for vaxx zealots and their mainstream media, the Occam’s Razor, critical thinking cause of death is post-injection myocarditis that enlarged and stopped his heart. The deniers are also forwarding the narrative “you don’t know addiction.” What we do know is the difference between someone who wants to die and wants to live. It, again, stands to reason that Mr. Hawkins was in the latter group.

Show less

Truth : Taylor Hawkins Did NOT Die From Vaccine-Induced Myocarditis!

It’s becoming a tradition for anti-vaccination activists to immediately blame all celebrity deaths on the COVID-19 vaccine.

And The COVID Blog (TCB) has peddling COVID-19 fake news and misinformation for a long, long time. So it’s no surprise that they would jump on the bandwagon.

Here are the reasons why TCB is not only wrong, they are intentionally abusing Taylor Hawkins’ death to push their anti-vaccine beliefs.

Fact #1 : No Evidence Hawkins Had Vaccine-Induced Myocarditis

First, let me start by simply pointing out that The COVID Blog has ZERO EVIDENCE that Hawkins had vaccine-induced myocarditis.

They did not perform the autopsy on Hawkins, or run any laboratory test on his blood or urine samples. They did not even base their opinions on publicly-released information.

They concocted that claim out of thin air, without even an ounce of evidence.

Fact #2 : Colombian Authorities Released Urine Toxicology Report

After Hawkins died, the Colombian authorities took his body for an autopsy, and a urine test found 10 different kinds of drugs in his system.

The Colombia Attorney General’s Office issued this statement on the initial autopsy findings :

Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office can confirm the following after the initial autopsy on the body of Taylor Hawkins.

That in the toxicology test on Taylor Hawkins’ urine 10 types of substances were preliminarily found, including marijuana, tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and opioids.

The National Institute of Forensic Medicine is continuing its medical studies to be able to completely clarify the facts that led to Taylor Hawkins death.

Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office will continue with the investigation and reveal the results obtained as part of this investigation as appropriate.

Members of the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI) remove the lifeless body of the drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins, at the Casa Medina hotel, in Bogota, Colomia

Fact #3 : Urine Toxicology Does Not Take Weeks To Complete

TCB claimed that the Hawkins toxicology report cannot possibly be genuine because it typically takes 4-6 weeks to complete, and shared a link to WebMD as evidence.

That’s misleading, because the WebMD article was talking about how long it takes for a complete forensic toxicology report. The 4-6 week time is required because :

the investigation may reveal additional drugs being taken, thus requiring new tests, and/or
the initial results may require additional testing to confirm, and/or
there may be a backlog of cases at one or more laboratories.

It’s also misleading because the Colombian authorities only released the urine toxicology report, not the complete forensic toxicology report.

They basically tested his urine sample for common drugs – a test that is quick to perform. In fact, most laboratories can complete the tests within a few hours.

Fact #4 : Vaccine-Induced Myocarditis Is Rare

TCB misleads you into thinking that vaccine-induced myocarditis is common, by saying that it is “the second-most common adverse reaction” … “covered on this blog“.

In other words, vaccine-induced myocarditis is not the second-most common side effect of the vaccines, it is merely the second-most common adverse reaction they like to write about!

The truth is studies like SAFECOVAC have shown that vaccine-induced myocarditis is extremely rare – less than 1 in a million doses!

In fact, you are hundreds of times more likely to get myocarditis from COVID-19 than from three doses of any COVID-19 vaccine!

Fact #5 : Vaccine-Induced Myocarditis Occurs Mostly In Young Males

Vaccine-induced myocarditis occurs mainly in young adults and adolescent males 12 to 39 years in age.

Hawkins was 50 years old when he died, and in his age group – the risk is practically non-existent.

To help you understand that, I created this table to show you the risk of vaccine-induced myocarditis for different age groups.

Note : Baseline refers to the typical number of myocarditis cases expected in the unvaccinated population.

Age Group	Male Rate (per million doses)	Baseline (per million doses)
12-17	32.4	2.0
18-24	30.7	1.8
25-29	12.2	1.9
30-39	6.9	1.9
40-49	3.5	1.9
50-64	1.9	1.9

Fact #6 : Vaccine-Induced Myocarditis Mild + Resolves Quickly

Vaccine-induced myocarditis is not only rare, most cases resolve quickly, compared to non-vaccine myocarditis.

As Dr. Matthew Elias, M.D., a cardiologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) explained :

In classic myocarditis, there are a wide range of presentations, from very mild symptoms to extremely serious, or even fatal, cases.

Overall, this does not seem to be happening in post-vaccine myocarditis. In the patients seen at CHOP and at other hospitals, symptoms are generally mild and self-resolving, and heart function is less affected, if affected at all.

Fact #7 : Vaccine-Induced Myocarditis Occurs Acutely

Vaccine-induced myocarditis is an acute condition that occurs within a few days of receiving an mRNA-based vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna.

Individuals who develop vaccine-induced myocarditis will experience symptoms like :

chest pain
shortness of breath
heart palpitations

If Hawkins was suffering from vaccine-induced myocarditis, he would not have been able to fly around to play with the Foo Fighters at various concerts around the world :

Feb 26-27 : Innings Festival 2022, Tempe, Arizona, United States
Mar 4 : Foo Fights / Amyl and the Sniffers / The Meanies, Geelong, Australia
Mar 18 : Lollapalooza Chile, Santiago, Chile
Mar 20 : Lollapalooza Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Taylor Hawkins (back) on a plane with band member Pat Smear (left) and Samantha Sidley (right) on Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Fact #8 : Cardiomegaly Takes Time To Develop

The initial autopsy report stated that his heart weighed “at least 600 grams” – twice the average for a man his age.

This finding of cardiomegaly (enlarged heart) suggests that he had a longstanding heart condition like heart failure, or cardiomyopathy.

TCB claimed that was evidence of vaccine-induced myocarditis, because the Myocarditis Foundation says that myocarditis enlarges the heart.

It is true that myocarditis can enlarge the heart by weakening the heart muscle, but that process takes time – weeks, if not months, to develop.

Fact #9 : Hawkins Discovered Enlarged Heart In 2021

Interestingly, Hawkins himself may have discovered that he had an enlarged heart (cardiomegaly) in 2021.

On 15 June 2021, he did a Rolling Stone interview with Brian Hiatt, where he revealed that his doctor recently told him that he had a “big” heart.

Fact #10 : His Cardiomegaly May Be Due To Sleep Apnea

In the same Rolling Stone interview, Hawkins also revealed an interesting detail that many people missed – he was likely suffering from sleep apnea.

The only thing is, he said, “I think you have sleep apnea.” And my wife’s always saying you snore and you fucking make weird noises while you’re sleeping and stuff.

Untreated sleep apnea increases cardiovascular stress, which elevates blood pressure and forces the heart to work harder. This can result in an enlarged heart (cardiomegaly) over time.

Fact #11 : Hawkins Almost Died From Drug Overdose In 2001

Hawkins had a long history of drug use, and almost died from a heroin overdose in 2001. He recounted the incident in 2018 :

I was partying a lot. I wasn’t a junkie per se, but I was partying. There was a year where the partying just got a little too heavy.

Thank God on some level this guy gave me the wrong line with the wrong thing one night and I woke up going, ‘What the f**k happened?’ That was a real changing point for me.

Tragically, it appears that Hawkins overdosed again, but was not able to recover this time, due to his existing heart condition.

For certain, his COVID-19 vaccination played no role in his death.

Don’t risk your life, or your family’s lives, on the bad science and misinformation promoted by The COVID Blog.

Please help me fight fake news, and SHARE this fact check with your family and friends!

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

Recommended Reading

Go Back To > Fact Check | Health | Tech ARP

Support Tech ARP!

Please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or donating to our fund. Thank you!

Fake News : New Malaysia Travel Ban On 23 Countries!

Leave a reply

Please note that the new travel ban by Malaysia on 23 countries with high COVID-19 cases is FAKE NEWS!

Here is what you need to know!

Claim : Malaysia Travel Ban On 23 Countries!

On 7 January 2022, people started sharing a screenshot of a travel advisory by the Embassy of Malaysia in Berlin, Germany.

Please skip to the next section for the facts…

Embassy of Malaysia, Berlin

TRAVEL ADVISORY
ENTRY RESTRICTIONS ON FOREIGN TRAVELERS TO MALAYSIA

Effective from 08 January 2022, the Government of Malaysia is imposing travel restrictions into Malaysia on foreign travellers who are travelling from countries that have recorded over 150,000 COVID-19 cases as listed below:

United States of America
The United Kingdom
Brazil
Bangladesh
India
Saudi Arabia
Russia
Pakistan
Peru
France
Colombia
Turkey
South Africa
Italy
Mexico
Germany
Spain
Iraq
Argentina
The Philippines
Chile
Indonesia
Iran

The entry restrictions include travellers who are citizens of/holders of long-term passes of the countries listed above who are residing in or travelling from those countries.

The latest decision is part of continuing efforts by the Government of Malaysia to contain the spread of COVID-19 and in view of the recent increase in the number of imported COVID-19 cases detected at international points of entry to Malaysia among travellers coming from the listed countries. The restriction is a temporary measure and will be reviewed regularly.

Show less

Truth : There Is No Such Travel Ban!

This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS being created and circulated on WhatsApp and social media, and here are the facts…

Fact #1 : This Travel Advisory Was Forged

This travel advisory was forged from the original September 2020 travel advisory.

Back then, the government of Malaysia announced the temporary travel ban on those 23 countries, that would start on 7 September 2021.

The original travel advisory was edited, with the new date added to make it look like it’s new. But it was a very poor photo-editing job.

If you look carefully, the 08 January 2022, date is not only in bold , but of a different type of font and a much larger size.

Note : Here is the screenshot that went viral. I added a FAKE overlay to prevent further abuse.

Fact #2 : Embassy of Malaysia In Berlin Confirms It Is Fake

The Embassy of Berlin in Malaysia confirmed that the viral travel advisory is FAKE.

ANNOUNCEMENT

The Embassy of Malaysia, Berlin would like to warn the public that there has been a fake news being circulated regarding travel advisory by the Embassy of Malaysia, Berlin on entry restriction on foreign travelers [sic] to Malaysia.

We condemn the actions of those who maliciously spread fake news which can have an adverse effect and concern to the public. The public is advice [sic] to validate the source before circulating any news.

Thank you.

Embassy of Malaysia, Berlin
7 January 2022

Fact #3 : Malaysia Currently Has No Travel Ban

There is currently no travel ban in Malaysia.

In fact, Malaysia just ended a temporary travel ban of 8 countries, on 27 December 2021, due to the risk of Omicron variant.

There is currently only a list of 18 countries that are considered high-risk due to the Omicron variant.

Australia
The United States of America
The United Kingdom
Norway
France
Denmark
Canada
Nigeria
India
Saudi Arabia
South Africa
Botswana
Eswatini
Lesotho
Mozambique
Namibia
Zimbabwe
Malawi

Travellers from those 18 high-risk countries can still travel to Malaysia, but they must comply with the following additional restrictions :

Negative COVID-19 PCR test within 2 days before departure
COVID-19 PCR test on arrival in Malaysia
Wear a digital tracker on arrival in Malaysia
Mandatory quarantine of 7 days or 10 days, depending on vaccination status, either at home or at a quarantine centre, subject to approval.
Additional PCR test on Day 5 (for 7-day quarantine) or Day 8 (for 10-day quarantine).
Risk assessment on the last day of quarantine, which may be extended if you are symptomatic.
You will only be free from the quarantine on Day 8 or Day 11, if there is no quarantine extension and the Day 5 or Day 8 PCR test is negative.
Travellers from the United Kingdom have the additional requirement of conducting daily RTK-Ag tests during their quarantine, which must be reported in MySejahtera.

Now that you know the truth, please SHARE this fact check with your family and friends, so they won’t get fooled by it!

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

Go Back To > Travel | Fact Check | Tech ARP

Support Tech ARP!

Please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or donating to our fund. Thank you!