FDA chief blames America’s abysmal life expectancy on ‘misinformation’ online

People who spread misinformation and conspiracy theories online are responsible for declining life expectancy in America, the head of the Food and Drug Administration claimed.

Dr. Robert Califf, who ran the agency for two years, said the US is now “last place” in longevity, with Americans living up to seven years less than people in other wealthy countries like the UK, Japan and Italy.

During an interview at the FDA’s headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, he claimed that America had always dealt with “snake oil salesmen” who sowed mistrust in health care.

But the problem now got much worse, he said, driving the Internet through which people could spread misinformation to a “billion” others.

The cardiologist warned that this could “mislead” many into avoiding clinically approved treatments that improve their health.

He said this was evident with Covid vaccines — with 106 million Americans, or one in three, still yet to receive their first two doses.

Vaccination rates have also fallen for other diseases in recent years, with 40 million children missing their measles vaccine last year and routine vaccination rates among preschoolers falling to a 10-year low.

America now has the lowest life expectancy of the G7 countries and doesn’t even make the top 50 globally.

The average American can now expect to live about 77 years, while in the UK people live to an average age of 80, while in Japan it is 84 years and in Italy 82 years.

One in 25 five-year-olds alive today will also miss their 40th birthday, data suggests.

Life expectancy in the US has fallen from a high of 79 years just before the Covid pandemic, with experts blaming rising inequality, the opioid crisis and deaths from Covid.

But address CNBC this week, Dr. Califf warned that online disinformation was also at play.

He said: ‘We are essentially in last place and losing ground by three to five years compared to the average of other high-income countries.

“This is not evenly distributed, we have what I call the differences that we have known for a long time.

‘[But] the big new one that we’re really seeing emerging in a major way is rural status. The health of people in rural areas is much worse.’

When asked what caused the decline in life expectancy, he said rhetorically, “Why don’t we use knowledge of nutrition? It’s not that people don’t know.

‘Why don’t we use medical products as effectively and efficiently as our fellow countries?

“A lot has to do with the choices people make because of the things that influence their thinking.

“The Covid vaccines and the antivirals make it easy for us to talk about it, but it’s not limited to those areas.

“With heart disease, so many people don’t take their medicines, even though they are now generic and very cheap.

‘[They are] often misled into taking things sold over the internet that are ineffective.”

He said misinformation about drugs has always existed, but the internet has given conspiracy theorists and skeptics a megaphone.

“We can make a statement about what we found based on the highest level of evidence,” Dr Califf said.

“But in ten minutes someone else’s mind can [be put up] and reach about a billion people. Nothing prevents them from telling people things that aren’t true.’

America, like other rich countries, was skeptical of Covid vaccines during the pandemic.

But the FDA and CDC have also been accused of fueling fears of misinformation and pushing many people to the brink.

Last year, the FDA became embroiled in a scandal over its decision to approve second bivalent boosters — or fourth shots — for all adults in August and then for anyone over six months old in December.

At the time, the agency bypassed its expert panel to sign the recordings.

Experts were quick to reject the FDA’s action, with some even resigning from the panel.

Dr. Califf’s comments are similar to his CNN in May last year, when he also blamed misinformation online for lowering life expectancy.

He said at the time: “We know so much about what to do to prevent the bad consequences of heart disease, but somehow the reliable, truthful message is not getting across.

“It gets swept away by a lot of misinformation, which leads people to make wrong choices that are bad for their health.”

The FDA has created a unit that aims to combat the misinformation circulating online and provide people with reliable facts.

It now runs short YouTube videos and lengthy Twitter threads about new drugs and posts clips that debunk misinformation, such as about fake Covid remedies.

It also regularly shares memes referencing Scooby-Doo and Spongebob and urging Americans to stay up to date on their vaccines.

But these clips tend to have little reach, with almost all of the most recent clips posted to the FDA’s YouTube channel failing to even reach 1,000 views.

Experts have also expressed concern that the FDA’s bad reputation is hampering its ability to combat online disinformation.

Dr. Seema Yasmin, an expert on medical disinformation at Stanford University, said last month, “The question I start with is, ‘Are you a trusted messenger or not?’

“In the context of the FDA, we can highlight multiple incidents that have damaged the agency’s credibility and increased distrust in its scientific decisions.”