FDA: ‘Misinformation’ leading cause of death

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this month announced “misinformation” as the leading cause of death in the US surpassing heart disease which is currently the leading cause according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

FDA Commissioner Robert Calliff made the statement at the 2023 Innovations in Regulatory Science Summit sponsored by the UCSF-Stanford Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSI). 

“I actually believe that misinformation is the leading cause of death right now in the US because whether we’re looking at COVID or chronic disease, people are making bad choices driven by the information that they get,” said Califf, according to Regulatory Focus. “We were just not prepared for what broad access to the Internet would do to communication channels.” 

Calliff’s remarks suggest the agency is looking to move beyond regulating products into regulating information as well. 

“Realistically, FDA needs help,” added former FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan, MD, PhD. 

Former Commissioner Scott Gottlieb commended the FDA for “weighing in” on disinformation, likely referencing the FDA’s public campaign against the use of ivermectin as an early treatment for COVID-19 despite overwhelming scientific evidence supporting its use. 

“We’ve seen FDA weigh in, admirably, around some dangerous disinformation on specific products,” he said. “But that can’t be the business of the FDA.” 

The FDA is currently being sued for its misinformation about ivermectin. In November, the agency told the court its aggressive campaign against the drug was only a “recommendation”. 

Gottlieb, who currently sits on Pfizer’s Board of Trustees, advocated for pharmaceutical companies being given a larger platform to directly “inform” the public about their products. 

“I think sponsors need to have the ability to defend their products in the marketplace of ideas when there’s true misinformation,” Gottlieb said. 

The next day, Elon Musk released internal Twitter communications showing that Gottlieb used his status as former FDA commissioner to regularly urge Twitter executives to hide scientific information from the public.  

In one instance, Gottlieb had Twitter executive Todd O’Boyle flag a tweet by fellow former FDA official Dr. Brett Giroir which touted natural immunity as superior to vaccine immunity. 

“This is the kind of stuff that’s corrosive,” Gottlieb wrote in an email to O’Boyle. “Here he draws a sweeping conclusion off a single retrospective study in Israel that hasn’t been peer reviewed. But this tweet will end up going viral and driving news coverage.” 

O’Boyle, noting the request came “from the former FDA commissioner,” had Twitter dutifully slap a “misleading” label on the tweet to prevent it from being shared on the platform. 

In another instance, Gottlieb complained to Twitter about a tweet by user Justin Hart which read: 

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but a viral pathogen with a child mortality rate of <>0% has cost our children nearly three years of schooling.” 

The tweet came just before Pfizer won approval to market the COVID-19 vaccine to 5-11-year-old children, “so keeping parents scared was crucial,” says journalist Alex Berenson. 

Gottlieb, alongside White House officials, also pushed Twitter to suspend Berenson, who had questioned Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine and called it “therapeutic”. 

Gottlieb defended his actions by claiming they were out of concern for “threats” against vaccine messianists. 

“The inability of these platforms to police direct threats, physical threats about people, that’s my concern about what’s going on in that ecosystem,” Gottlieb said.