Change.org Petition to Cochrane: Withdraw the harmful 2019 Exercise therapy for CFS review

This petition has been posted on behalf of the committee of the international Science for ME forum:

People with ME/CFS are being harmed by inaccurate clinical advice resulting from a flawed Cochrane Review.

Cochrane is an international body that publishes reviews of research evidence for treatments of diseases; it has a lot of influence over clinical guidelines used around the world. Four years ago, in October 2019, Cochrane published 'Exercise therapy for CFS', supporting the use of exercise therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome (more correctly known as ME/CFS).

Cochrane's editor-in-chief admitted the review was not fit for purpose on publication, but it continues to be hosted in the Cochrane Library and cited in scientific journals and clinical guidelines. This is despite government organisations such as the UK's NICE (NG206: 1.11.14) and the USA's CDC having found, following unbiased evaluations, that there is no evidence that exercise therapy is effective for ME/CFS. This is also despite virtually all ME/CFS patient organisations rejecting exercise therapy as a valid treatment of the disease and many people with ME/CFS reporting becoming much sicker after graded exercise therapy.