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Are conspiracy theories America’s biggest export?

January 2
27 mins

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Episode Description

We are away for Christmas, so this is a repeat of a previous episode.

Mistrust in science has never been higher. Fewer people are getting vaccinated, a known vaccine skeptic is leading the most powerful health agency in America and an outbreak of measels in Texas this year led to the first fatalities in almost a decade. Then, in August, a gunman opened fire on the headquarters of the Centre for Disease Control with many speculating he was fuelled by misinformation about health.

Increasingly this misinformation is being exported around the world.

Marianna Spring is the BBC’s Social Media Investigations Correspondent and tells the story of how suspicion of science in America helped radicalise a British mom with devastating consequences.

Producers: Cat Farnsworth and Lucy Pawle

Executive producer: Annie Brown

Mix: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

Photo: Kate Shemirani. Martin Pope / Getty

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