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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention falsely claims that obesity is the leading cause of "preventable death" in the U.S.

2004

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) releases a report in the Journal for the American Medical Association that claims obesity is killing 400,000 Americans per year.

The report quickly received widespread criticism for its statistical errors, and the next year the CDC will acknowledge the mistake and release a new report with much lower numbers. However, the initial claim will spark "one of the most violent pseudoepidemics in the nation's history" (Harrison, 2021), leading to a massive increase in anti-obesity public health efforts and pharmaceutical treatments.