We have received hundreds of replies both on social media and at the Maldita.es email address saying that we have no scientific evidence to say this (which is not true, of course). Some have even threatened to report us through criminal proceedings.
An organized disinformation campaign on WhatsApp
We had started to worry about this reaction from our community — which, as we always say, is a vital part of the work we do — when one maldito sent us a message from a Josep Pámies WhatsApp broadcast list that said the following:
So that was it: Josep Pámies, an old acquaintance of Maldita Ciencia, calling for an organized trolling campaign against our content because, according to him, we wanted to “ban the consumption of seawater”; something that is not said anywhere in our article, because, among other things, how could the consumption of seawater be banned? How could Maldita.es stop you from going to the sea and drinking a glass of water? Or seven. Where does our article say that? Even the starting point of the smear campaign is false.
Who is Josep Pámies? A promoter of pseudotherapies fined for advertising illegal compounds
We say that Josep Pámies is an old acquaintance of Maldita Ciencia because many of you have asked us about the scientific basis of the articles he publishes and the talks he gives. Here are some examples of claims without scientific evidence that Josep Pámies has made:
- Here, Pámies says it is better to replace blood transfusions with isotonic seawater solution.
- Here, Pámies says plants are more powerful than chemotherapy and that tumors can be dissolved with plants.
- Here, Pámies questions the existence of the hepatitis C virus and, at the same time, HIV.
- Here, Pámies says hepatitis C and Ebola can be cured with chlorine dioxide and herbs.
All of these are claims without scientific basis, like the article published on his blog about a false cure for autistic children that we already debunked, written by a pediatrician who was recently suspended by the Madrid Medical Association for spreading the claim that vaccines cause autism.
Josep Pámies has also been fined three times for promoting an illegal compound, MMS, which can be harmful to health. Those fines add up to as much as 750,000 euros.
If the lie is organized, civil society must organize to fight it
Maldita Ciencia exists because we believe that lies related to science are the most dangerous: they are the hoaxes that most quickly become beliefs, threatening everything from public health to the way we understand the world, such as the fact that the Earth is round.
Disinformation like this, spread by a promoter of pseudotherapies without scientific evidence, is very dangerous. We always say that together it is much harder for them to fool us: citizens must organize so we are not deceived. How do we do that? As a community, fighting lies together:
- Send us any possible hoaxes you receive: if you have doubts, send them to Maldita’s WhatsApp +34 655 19 85 38
- If a friend or relative sends you a hoax, do not stay silent: kindly tell them it is not true, send them our fact-check and show them how to use our search tool.
- Lend us your superpowers: we cannot know everything, and we often need expert knowledge to debunk hoaxes. Become a maldit@ and help us with your knowledge and experience. Maldita.es is a non-profit outlet that we must build together.
Dulce Revolución, the association backed by Pámies that also encouraged the campaign
The calls to attack us were not only on WhatsApp, but also on the Facebook page of Dulce Revolución, an association supported by Pámies. Here too, they did it using false claims.
We think it is important to debunk some of the statements made in that post:
- “Without any scientific basis”: if the links to the explanations by nutritionist Juan Revenga are not enough, here is the U.S. National Oceanic Service and here the U.S. Geological Survey explaining why it is harmful.
- “Without anyone signing the article”: at Maldita.es articles are not signed because our work is based on peer review of everything we publish, following our methodology, which is public. We consider our work collective, so nothing is signed. However, we do show who we are: here you can see the team.
- “No comments allowed”: all our social media posts allow comments, and our WhatsApp number and email are public. In fact, thanks to that openness they were able to carry out this disinformation campaign promoted by Josep Pámies.
- “The censor company ‘Maldito Bulo’ of Ana Pastor”: Maldita.es is an independent non-profit outlet registered as an association. We do not belong to Ana Pastor, nor to laSexta, nor to any of the media we collaborate with. One of our projects used to appear on El Objetivo, and some team members have worked at laSexta, but Maldita.es has always had editorial independence.
- “Hired by Facebook to censor content”: it is true that we work with Facebook, but we do not apply “censorship criteria,” nor does Facebook censor content because of us. You can read here how the third-party fact-checking program works, in which we participate together with dozens of fact-checking organizations worldwide.
Remember that together it is much harder for them to fool us, and that we are here to help you with any question you may have.
We have changed “scientific lie” to “pseudoscientific lie” after a member of the community pointed out that the previous wording could be misleading.