Smartphones, social media, & teenage mental health bmj.com/content/385/bm… "A precautionary public health response is needed." "...further experimental research must be an urgent priority for funders and the academic community." by Greg Hartwell M and (my wonderful

New article out! Our article in The BMJ argues for a precautionary public health response on smartphones, social media, and teenage mental health. Greg Hartwell Maeve Gill M. Key points below and DM for a copy of the paper if you need access. bmj.com/content/385/bm…

How should we protect children from harms linked to smartphones and social media, while maximising potential benefits? A precautionary public health response is needed, say Greg Hartwell Marco Zenone M Maeve Gill bmj.com/content/385/bm…

Greg Hartwell 👏 Clinicians working with children every day should not need any more evidence. A ‘forever’ wait I agree! We re seeing all we need to see at work & home already to instruct urgent change. Applying the precautionary principle is our safeguarding responsibility 💯

Or, as the Surgeon General put it this week, writing about social media's role in "the mental health crisis" among US teens, "in an emergency, you don’t have the luxury to wait for perfect information. You assess the available facts, you use your best judgment, & you act quickly"

"As health professionals, we will need to use any, and all, opportunities to ensure that the smoke-free generation policy is restored" Greg Hartwell Allen Gallagher May van Schalkwyk M London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine bmj.com/content/385/bm…

Legislation to phase out smoking must be an urgent parliamentary priority for the new government Greg Hartwell Allen Gallagher May van Schalkwyk M London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine bmj.com/content/385/bm…

I'm completing a literature review into oral nicotine pouches for a social media analysis. Many (all?) articles that speak favourably of ONPs as harm reduction have a conflict of interest with some even written by employees of Swedish Match (the makers of ZYN). Mark Petticrew @markpetticrew.bsky.social

Our new study: Alternative cancer clinics’ use of Google listings & reviews to mislead potential patients nature.com/articles/s4427… "...favorable Google listing & reviews of alternative clinics contribute to harmful online ecosystems." "Reviews provide compelling narratives but

New study! We caution against using Google reviews to evaluate treatment options for cancer. While reviews are compelling ("they cured my terminal cancer!"), they are an poor indicator of treatment outcomes and should not be used for treatment decisions. shorturl.at/6BuCr

I'm grateful to BJC Reports for publishing an editorial with our new article: "Alternative cancer clinics’ use of Google listings and reviews to mislead potential patients." We can (together!) hold digital platforms & exploitive providers accountable. nature.com/articles/s4427…

New in BJC Reports Investigating how Google's lack of safeguarding measures means alternative cancer clinics can misrepresent themselves, undermine evidence based cancer treatments, and mislead potential patients through listings and reviews Marco Zenone doi.org/10.1038/s44276…

Thanks so much to Kate Dun Campbell for leading us on this NIHR Three Schools funded review on the commercial determinants of mental ill health in PLOS Global Public Health Commercial Determinants Research Group at LSHTM @GHPUEdinburgh May van Schalkwyk Mark Petticrew @markpetticrew.bsky.social #CDoH journals.plos.org/globalpubliche… Monika Kosinska gauden

Cancer cure BS is everywhere! So many exploitive books... 🚨 Our NEW study! Selling Misleading “Cancer Cure” Books on Amazon: jmir.org/2024/1/e56354 - 50% of the books coded as misleading - First page of results the worst (69.7%) by (the amazing) Marco Zenone May van Schalkwyk

🚨Thanks 2 marco zenone for leading our new paper JMIR Publications jmir.org/2024/1/e56354 ($0):“Selling Misleading “Cancer Cure” Books on Amazon: Systematic Search on Amazon.com and Thematic Analysis #CDoH Marco Zenone @GHPUEdinburgh May van Schalkwyk Greg Hartwell Nason Maani 🧵

Our NEW article in JMIR Publications finds misleading cancer cure books are for sale, visible, and prevalent on Amazon. Books suggest implausible cures (often w/ definitive efficacy assurances), undermine conventional treatment, & spread conspiracy theories. jmir.org/2024/1/e56354

New Commercial Determinants Research Group at LSHTM paper! Umbrella review led by Alice Tompson with Mark Petticrew @markpetticrew.bsky.social May van Schalkwyk Greg Hartwell Muhammad Alkasaby Kate Dun-Campbell, Nason Maani Katherine Körner (she/her) on population-level interventions to address #CDoH WRT mental health in Health Promotion International (OUP) #CDoH: academic.oup.com/heapro/article…

Our new study: Google allows advertisers to target the sensitive informational queries of cancer patients misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/google… "The Google tools used by alternative cancer clinics exploit users’ searches for information and give prominence to websites promoting treatment

When anyone searches for information on cancer treatment options - you shouldn't see ads for scientifically unsupported treatment, or ads targeting people who have exhausted their treatment options. Our new study (unfortunately) finds this is occurring misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/google…