A conspiracy theory that emerged online recently and has gone viral on social media claims that a recorded phone conversation between a woman and a NASA scientist first uploaded online in July 2013 proves the conspiracy theory allegation that NASA has been secretly dosing Americans with lithium, a powerful anti-psychotic drug, presumably to make Americans docile, tractable, and amenable to government propaganda and control.
An article by Christina Sarich published on the website AnonHQ on April 19, 2016, titled “NASA Confesses to Dosing Americans with Air-borne Lithium & Other Chemicals,” alleges that NASA has been secretly medicating Americans by spraying lithium in the upper atmosphere. The article also claims it is possible that most NASA employees involved in the decades-old program were not aware of the true nature and purpose of the alleged secret program.
The recorded phone conversation uploaded to YouTube in July 2013 (below) purportedly reveals a NASA scientist admitting that the agency has been involved in a program designed to dose Americans with lithium, which is used to treat people with mania and bipolar disorder, through “chemtrails” sprayed secretly in the upper atmosphere.
The AnonHQ article claims the YouTube audio proves that NASA has been spraying lithium in the upper atmosphere under the pretext of conducting research to understand natural processes in the upper atmosphere. The agency has also been claiming falsely, according to the conspiracy theorist, that lithium is “harmless to the environment.”
While the latest allegations have gone viral as “proof” that the government has been secretly spraying a cocktail of chemicals and biological agents over an unsuspecting populace, skeptics have dismissed the latest claimed “proof,” arguing that it is clear from the transcript of the phone conversation that “Sue” and the NASA scientist were having a parallel conversation.
Skeptical critics, such as Snopes writer Kim LaCapria, note that while Sue’s intention was to obtain evidence that NASA has been secretly targeting the population with the regular spraying of lithium, the NASA scientist thought the conversation was about published scientific studies being conducted in the upper atmosphere and the ionosphere using lithium vapor trails to observe wind movement.
According to skeptics, although the scientist took pains to explain why NASA was interested in studying the patterns of wind movement that drive electric currents in the upper atmosphere, Sue’s questions were motivated essentially by a desire to obtain information that could be fitted into the framework of her pre-existing conspiracy theory belief that the government has been dosing Americans with an array of chemicals and biological agents sprayed clandestinely into the atmosphere.
The conspiracy theorist cites a random selection of studies on aerosol vaccination of humans with the aim of suggesting that academic studies about the methods of aerosol vaccination of large human populations provide circumstantial evidence that NASA may have been dosing Americans with lithium sprayed in the atmosphere without their knowledge and consent.
The conspiracy theorist cites a study published in March 2003 on PubMed.gov titled “Feasibility of Aerosol Vaccinations in Humans,” which investigates “the feasibility of using aerosol vaccines to achieve mass and rapid immunization, especially in developing countries and disaster areas.”
The theorist draws attention to the information provided in the study abstract that there have been successful field trials of the use of “aerosolized” inactivated and live-attenuated vaccines on large populations in South America and Russia. She draws attention to this information apparently as a way of suggesting to readers that it is not inconceivable that similar but clandestine programs are ongoing in the Unites States.
But critics note that nothing in the abstract suggests that the South American and Russian aerosol vaccination programs were secret or clandestine programs conducted by mass spraying from airplanes without the knowledge or approval of the target population.
The AnonHQ article also cites a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), titled “A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Aerosolized Vaccines Against Measles,” that reports on tests of aerosol vaccines on children in India. But skeptics note that as in the previous case, there is nothing to suggest that the tests were conducted secretly by mass spraying from airplanes on unsuspecting populations.
While the compelling link between random examples of published studies on aerosol vaccination and an alleged clandestine lithium drug spraying program is not clear, what is clear is that the author intends to use the examples to lend credibility to the suggestion that NASA is secretly dosing Americans with an anti-psychotic drug sprayed in the upper atmosphere.
As part of efforts to substantiate her allegations, the conspiracy theorist notes that WHO has been researching aerosol vaccines for years. She then subtly links WHO’s research with the work of “philanthropic agencies which have clear aims to sterilize the population.” She also links to a WHO document that discusses trials of aerosolized measles vaccines in multiple countries. But skeptics note that she provides no clear evidence to support her allegation that governments have been conducting “forced vaccination, and the dumping of any number of attenuated viruses, chemical concoctions and other ‘chemtrails’ on our heads with dogged frequency.”
Critics insist that the conspiracy theorist provides no evidence that WHO has been involved in the clandestine spraying of large unsuspecting populations from airplanes. According to skeptics, the conspiracy theorist makes far-reaching claims without showing the compelling link between randomly selected published studies about the delivery of aerosolized vaccines and claims that NASA is involved in a sinister and clandestine program of spraying lithium anti-psychotic medication on unsuspecting citizens.
According to Snopes, NASA’s use of lithium for studying atmospheric phenomenon in the upper atmosphere was never a secret as the conspiracy theorist suggests. On the contrary, since the 1950s, the agency has published studies and reports anyone can access that give details about the agency’s work using lithium vapor trails in the upper atmosphere, at the edge of space, to study conditions in the upper atmosphere.
And the agency has stated consistently that the studies pose no threat to the public. Experts point out that while commercial aircraft fly at about six miles altitude, the lithium studies have been conducted in the upper atmosphere and ionosphere between 50 and 248 miles altitude. Astronomers generally consider that space starts at an altitude of about 50 to 62 miles (the most widely accepted standard is 62 miles), thus, the studies have been conducted mostly in space and on the “edge of space.”
NASA also points out that lithium is just one of several chemicals used for chemical propellants and as research agent in the upper atmosphere. Others include rubidium, potassium, and sodium.
But the conspiracy theorist insists that NASA has been dissimulating, pretending to be studying atmospheric phenomenon in the upper atmosphere while medicating the populace with an anti-psychotic drug.
Skeptics responded to the grave allegation, saying that the suggestion that NASA is medicating the masses on lithium while pretending to study the upper atmosphere smacks of paranoia.
Conspiracy theorists are firmly convinced that government is dosing Americans on lithium to make them docile, gullible, susceptible to propaganda, and amenable to government control. This is a non-falsifiable hypothesis and could only remain a conspiracy theory. It would be difficult or even impossible to convince anyone naturally suspicious of the government that the honest intention of NASA is to study upper atmospheric wind that drives electric current and not to medicate the populace with the anti-psychotic drug lithium.
[Image via Shutterstock]