Minister Dias Toffoli, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), suspended the decision of the São Paulo Court that determined the payment of compensation for moral damages from two scientists for denying information released by a nutritionist that diabetes was caused by worms.
Scientists Ana Bonassa, PhD from USP, and pharmacist Laura Marise, founders of the portal “Não Vi 1 Cientista”, were sued after denouncing that the nutritionist’s profile spread misinformation and sold “deworming” protocols as a cure for diabetes .
In order to alert the population about the risks of abandoning proven treatments, the scientists published an explanatory video denying the claim that worms cause diabetes and displayed public prints of the nutritionist’s profile to illustrate the misinformation.
The nutritionist filed a lawsuit, and judge Larissa Boni Valieris, from the 1st Court of the Special Civil Court, sentenced the scientists to pay a fine of R$1,000 for moral damages and ordered the video to be deleted.
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Faced with this decision, the scientists appealed to the STF, arguing that the sentence violated freedom of expression, especially on scientific issues.
As a preliminary matter, Minister Dias Toffoli considered that the evidence presented was sufficient to suspend the conviction.
When analyzing the case, the minister considered the restriction imposed on scientists to be disproportionate and stated that the decision attacked the right to expression of thought and free scientific expression.
For the minister, the sentence that condemned the researchers was based on the argument that the nutritionist’s image had been tarnished due to lack of his consent, but, in the minister’s view, it was a well-founded criticism of the nutritionist’s public performance.
Toffoli also highlighted that the scientists’ publications were based on scientific data that categorically states that diabetes is not caused by worms . He reinforced that this type of misinformation, which aims to sell alternative treatments, must be combated and reported to protect public health.
This content was originally published in STF suspends decision that condemned scientists for denying a post about diabetes on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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