The Statement
AAP Factcheck examined a Facebook post from July 21, 2019 featuring a photo collage of five people under the headline: “Doctors who discovered cancer enzymes in vaccines all found murdered”. The text accompanying the post stated: “FLORIDA late 2015 this research team all DIED. May 2015 Dr Bradstreeet (left) stated at a CONFERENCE that he was about to release research showing VACCINES cause CANCER via the ingredient “NAGALASE”.”
This Facebook post from July 21, 2019 claims to depict a research team who were murdered after discovering cancer enzymes in vaccines.
This post has been shared more than 180 times and attracted over 60 comments.
The Analysis
Only one of the five people in the photo collage was identified – the suited male on the far left was named as “Dr Bradstreet”. The image is of Dr Jeff Bradstreet. The Washington Post reported that Dr Bradstreet was found dead in June 2015, in North Carolina, with a gunshot wound to his chest.
Authorities said he was found his death was caused by “an apparent suicide”.
Dr Bradstreet was a medical practitioner who claimed that vaccines cause autism and advocated a controversial treatment involving injections with an experimental drug.
He reportedly took his own life following a raid on his clinic by the US Food and Drug Administration.
AAP Factcheck has found no evidence to support the statement that the five individuals pictured in the post were a “research team”.
AAP Factcheck found the woman at the right of the image collage was US Dr Teresa Sievers, who was found bludgeoned to death in her Florida home in June, 2015. Dr Sievers husband and another man are facing second-degree murder charges and will stand trial in October, 2019.
The photo of woman at the bottom right of the post is identified as US Dr Lisa Riley, reportedly an emergency room doctor who was found dead in her Georgia, USA, home in July, 2015. Dr Riley’s husband has been charged with her murder.
The man in the centre of the collage is identified as Dr Bruce Hedendal, who was found dead in his car in Florida in June, 2015, reportedly from natural causes.
The man at the lower right is identified as chiropractor Baron Holt, who died in Florida on June, 21, 2015. The cause of his death is not evident from available reports.
In July 2015 the fact checking website Snopes addressed the same claim that “five holistic health doctors” had died under suspicious circumstances and concluded the assertion did not stand up under scrutiny.
In May 2017, Snopes addressed a claim that “over 60” holistic health doctors had died in suspicious circumstances within a year and rated the claim false.
Also in 2017, the PunditFact fact checking website rated as “Pants on Fire” a story with the same headline as the Facebook post (“Doctors who discovered cancer enzymes in vaccines all found murdered”) that appeared on a website Neonnettle.com, which describes itself as a “free, independent news source”. The story has been deleted from the website.
The Verdict
Based on this evidence, AAP FactCheck found the Facebook post to be false. There is no evidence to suggest that the doctors were a research team. Not all of the doctors depicted were murdered – one death was an apparent suicide and there is no cause of death reported in two other cases. Two deaths have resulted in murder charges being laid. There is no evidence that any of the doctors apart from Dr Bradstreet were involved in research related to vaccines or claims of any link between cancer and vaccines.
False – The Facebook post is false.
First published August 7, 2019 15:28 AEST
