Did a 'Stanford/NIH' Study Conclude Masks Don't Work? | Snopes.com
Claim
A "Stanford/NIH" study concluded that face masks worn to prevent COVID-19 transmission do not work.
Rating
False
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Context
The paper was published by an exercise physiologist with no academic connection to Stanford University or the NIH in a journal that accepts "radical, speculative and non-mainstream scientific ideas."
The study’s author, Baruch Vainshelboim, is listed in the study as being affiliated with the cardiology division at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System/Stanford University. However, a representative for the VA Palo Alto Health Care System told the AP in an email that Vainshelboim does not work there.
“I can confirm this person is not one of our physicians,” wrote Michael Hill-Jackson, a public affairs specialist with the system. “I do not see him in our system and our Cardiology team has never heard of him.”
Vainshelboim also does not work for Stanford, according to Julie Greicius, senior director of external communications for the university’s medical school.
“Stanford University has never employed Baruch Vainshelboim,” Greicius wrote in an email to the AP. “Several years ago (2015), he was a visiting scholar at Stanford for a year, on matters unrelated to this paper.”
In November 2020, that journal published
a paper that argued using face masks to prevent COVID-19 transmission does not work and, further, that face masks cause “hypoxia, hypercapnia, shortness of breath, increased acidity and toxicity, activation of fear and stress response, rise in stress hormones, immunosuppression, fatigue, headaches, decline in cognitive performance, predisposition for viral and infectious illnesses, chronic stress, anxiety and depression.” The paper joins the storied ranks of other Medical Hypotheses articles including those arguing that masturbation is
a cure for nasal congestion, that the Gulf War syndrome is caused by
a beef allergy, and that high heels
cause schizophrenia.
