Chemtrails

Author: Dave Sorensen
Added: December 3rd, 2010
Discuss: Discuss this article
Contributors: Edward L Winston

Table of Contents

1. Terms and Terminology
   1. What a contrail is
   2. What a chemtrail is
2. Conspiracy Claims
   1. Chemtrails last longer than contrails
   2. Chemtrails are making people sick
   3. Chemtrails appear in strange formations
   4. Chemtrails contain barium and other heavy metals
   5. Checkerboard patterns
   6. Planes with sprayers
   7. Chemtrails leaves behind mysterious jelly
   8. Chemtrails cause Morgellon's disease
   9. The UK admits to spraying their citizens
   10. They are spraying harmful biological agents
   11. They are spraying "cob webs" and other strange stuff
   12. Kucinich wrote the Space Preservation Act HR 2977
   13. Germans have admitted on television that they are spraying "chemtrails"
3. Alleged Purposes
   1. Chemtrails are being used to prevent global warming
   2. Chemtrails are being used to create a projection screen
   3. Chemtrails are being used to poison us

What a contrail is

As defined by Encyclopedia Britannica [ref]:

It forms upon condensation of the water vapor produced by the combustion of fuel in the airplane engines. When the ambient relative humidity is high, the resulting ice-crystal plume may last for several hours. The trail may be distorted by the winds, and sometimes it spreads outwards to form a layer of cirrus cloud. On rare occasions, when the air is nearly saturated with water vapor, air circulation at the wing tips of an airplane may cause sufficient pressure and temperature.

Or to simply those white lines in the sky that jets leave behind, but not the ones on Eric Clapton's mirror.

What a chemtrail is

A chemtrail behaves like a persistent contrail, only its not water vapor. Its something else being "sprayed" for nefarious purposes., be it mind control, population control, or global warming. In other words, the government is spraying the skies with chemicals in order to accomplish a top secret plan.

Chemtrails last longer than contrails

This is the biggest claim that the "chemtrailers" get wrong. Contrails may persist in the sky for hours, and they have done so since the inventions of jets. Various photographs, newspaper clippings and scientific articles[1][2][2b] from and before the 1970's are good evidence that this is true. Two photographic example can be seen below, but there are dozens more[3].

A scientific article from 1970, both explains and illustrates how and why persistent contrails form[4]:

"The spreading of jet contrails into extensive cirrus sheets is a familiar sight. Often, when persistent contrails exist from 25,000 to 40,000 ft, several long contrails increase in number and gradually merge into an almost solid interlaced sheet.
[....]
Contrail development and spreading begins in the morning hours with the start of heavy jet traffic and may extend from horizon to horizon as the air traffic peaks. Fig. 1 is a typical example of midmorning contrails that occured [sic] on 17 December 1969 northwest of Boulder. By midafternoon, sky conditions had developed into those shown in Fig. 2 an almost solid contrail sheet reported to average 500 m in depth."

But a simple series of observations can either falsify or prove this notion. Let's assume for a second that the military really did start spraying chemtrails in 1999, when Art Bell first discussed them on his radio show C2C. Don't you think this new phenomenon would be interest meteorologists, atmospheric physicists and other weather-related scientists? I would think so. The reason why this hypothetical scenario lacks any basis in reality, is because scientists have studied and understood this phenomenon for decades.

And you can study this too. Go outside every day and take pictures of the sky. Record when you see persistent contrails, and compare these observations to information that can be found on a weather site like weather.com. Persistent contrails will form when the temperature and humidity are at certain conditions. The Appleman chart is used for predicting contrails. It also illustrates the right conditions for persistent contrails. If you observe persistent contrails, and they match ideal weather conditions, we have a strong correlation.

Some conspiracy theorists claim that you in fact CANNOT tell contrails and chemtrails apart. It's all part of the secret military projects. How clever. But hold on a second. If you cannot distinguish a contrail from a chemtrail, then what truths have been revealed since 1999? Earlier it was claimed that the "chemtrails" themselves were evidence of the conspiracy, but if you agree with the before mentioned premise, what evidence or arguments do you have?

Chemtrails are making people sick

Many people on the net assert that chemtrails are making people sick. Not just in the United States, but they are making people sick all over the globe! Here are some headlines to a couple chemtrail articles:[5]

"Did Olympic Athletes get Chemtrailed?- Many sick with 'flu-like symptoms?"
"Chemtrails continue to sicken many-International Uproar brewing"
"A doctor observes that chemtrails are making people sick"[6]

I think the more rational explanation for the first article is that these Olympic athletes just got the flu! Occam's razor at its finest. Let's skip to the third article, for a more lengthy rebuttal:[6]

How does this doctor know that all of these illnesses were caused by "chemtrails." He seems to imply that the discovery of barium in his patient's hair analysis proves a link. We don't get any figures for these "high levels" so that claim is at the moment unverified. The doctor's name is Michael Pece, who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Is there something else in or near Phoenix that may explain the "high barium levels"?

Phoenix is the 5th most populated city. Big cities often contain large factories and thousands of cars. Both of which give off lots of pollutants, notably barium. Its also documented in several environmental studies that Phoenix's air quality is very poor. I do realize that "chemtrails", if they did exist, would show the same symptoms as pollutants (respiratory problems, ear infections, chest problems). But this isn't the point. It is implied that there is no other explanation that can account these symptoms. I would argue pollution probably has a role in these illnesses. But don't forget those germs!

Since the early 1990s, residents of the Valley of the Sun have been looking for some relief of their own. The "Brown Cloud", as it has come to be known, shrouds the Phoenix area in pollutants nearly year-round resulting in the American Lung Association giving Maricopa County its lowest grade for air quality in both ozone and particulates in 2005.

For the most part, the Brown Cloud consists of tiny particles of carbon and nitrogen dioxide gas. These substances are deposited into the air mostly from burning fossil fuels. Cars, construction-related dust, power plants, gas powered lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and more contribute to the cloud daily.

Pollution from factories and cars have been causing respiratory problems for a long time, but for the past 20 years the EPA has helped greatly improve air quality in the US, by banning asbestos, DDT and other harmful pollutants, and reducing emissions from factories.

Chemtrails appear in strange formations

It is said that you can differentiate a chemtrail from a contrail by its formation. Long lasting contrails only appear in "normal" formations. Chemtrails appear in grid lines, parallel lines or "x" formations. These claims are only true in the sense that these formations do appear.

But to imply something sinister is going on is unfounded. If you live near an airport, you will probably see some of these "mysterious" formations. The simple reason is that with all of these planes, you will end up getting contrails from different directions. These seemingly "designed" formations occur because there are so many planes flying around the United States![7]

It's not like commercial jets all follow their own unique "air road." After a while their paths will intersect, and as I've already demonstrated, this can happen with persistent contrails.

Chemtrails contain barium and other heavy metals

How could someone know this for sure? Hypothetically speaking, if "they" were spraying us with these heavy metals, how would one distinguish other possibilities such as pollution from chemtrails? To properly address the claim, I will explain how this all originated. *Note: CTs still reference this "study" to this day. They won't mention what you're about to read. In 2007, a man from Arkansas named Bill Nichols came forward to KSLA, a local news station to report his "scientific findings."[8]

"it was rainwater. i collected it in two separate bowls on the hood of a pickup truck in my backyard. we are 25 miles from the nearest interstate. this is a very poor county, the only industry is chickens, logging , farming, a little oil--no coal burners or anything like that. i wasn't looking for attention. i was looking for answers, ksla said they would pay to get it tested. i dropped it off, and they asked my opinion

i put 2 clean bowls there specifically because i wanted to catch what was falling. i don't recall exactly when i put the bowls there, but they were there for about a month before i contacted ksla. the goo that i caught was full of barium. have a cool day!"

This collection of rainwater was tested and found to contain 68.8 ug/l of barium[9]. Ug stands for microgram which is a millionth of a gram. The EPA's safety limit for barium is 2 ppm. (Parts per million). In other words the amount of barium was a mere 3.4% of the allowable limit. It was the confusion between ug and ppm is where there where KSLA failed to accurately report the lab results. KSLA intially reported: "The results: a high level of barium, 6.8 parts per million (ppm), more than three times the toxic level set by the EPA". (PPM is parts per million of a kilogram of water. Ug is parts per billion)

With this correction noted, the barium in the sample is a little higher than normal tap water (43 ug), but this too can be accounted for. Frequently on chemtrail websites, you will be told that barium is unnatural, toxic and the main ingredient in chemtrails. The truth of the matter is that barium can be found in topsoil(dirt). The amount varies depending on the geography and types of rocks in the area.  Arkansas' top soil happens to be one of the richest sources of the mineral barite, which barium originates from[10].

Checkerboard patterns

There is a rational explanation for this. Stamps, Arkansas is right where there is an intersection of cross country flight routes from airports located in Atlanta, Orlando and Jacksonville[11]. When the humidity and temperature is right, it would be inevitable to see checkerboard persistent contrails.

In May of 2009, the reporter from KSLA had been contacted about the two year old story and had this to say:

"Yes, I did make corrections to my first report, which originally aired almost 2-years ago now... after quickly realizing my very embarrassing mistake. I was not happy with myself. Unfortunately, the first version of my report got out to the internet before I could make the correction(s), and the wrong version is shown repeatedly."

Planes with sprayers

What are the barrels for? Do they contain barium or other heavy metals? According to the below page of a Boeing manual, these barrels were used in a test. The barrels contained water and were used to simulate the movement of fluids in human passengers.

Chemtrails leaves behind mysterious jelly

Since the 17th century there have been accounts of a mysterious jelly found in Scotland and the UK[12].

"Hans Sluiman, an algae expert at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, told Out of Doors listeners he is convinced the gel itself is not a plant or animal.

Dr Andy Taylor studies fungi at the Macaulay Institute in Aberdeen. He says there are fungus filaments in the slime but agrees with Hans that they're growing in the gloop rather than creating it."

There is no consensus on what this "jelly" is, but how does this fit in to chemtrails? Alex Jones, has claimed that they are spraying this in those areas, but we have three serious problems with that hypothesis. There have been accounts of this stuff for centuries, the jelly is 99% water(nothing sinister here), and there isn't any of this stuff found anywhere else in the world. If "chemtrails" are part of some kind of depopulation plan, why would they go Scotland and dump off a bunch of jelly? There is no coherency here. What would be the point on dropping something that is 99% water? And why have there been no accounts of this stuff falling from the sky?

Chemtrails cause Morgellon's disease

Conspiracy theorists are avid anomaly hunters. Whenever they find something they immediately fail to understand, they try and weasle any correlation they can to fit their beliefs. The before mentioned jelly is a good example, but others include the molten steel gambit(9/11). Molten steel has nothing to do with controlled demolition or any of the varieties of thermite, but to the conspiracy theorist, anything other than what the government tells them will have to do. Getting back on topic, Morgellon's disease is a rather peculiar one, which is still not completely understood. Symptoms include itchy skin, sores, strange fibers and the sensation of insects crawling under the skin. This leaves an opening for speculation. Is is aliens? Chemtrails? Rense.com features an article from 2006 which explain the illness and its history but utterly fails to create a logical connection to "chemtrais[13] ."

The reasoning goes like this. Chemtrails are being sprayed everywhere, morgellon's disease is still a mystery, therefore chemtrails cause morgellon's disease. Doesn't sound like a good hypthothesis. Wait! Do the fibers contain barium? No they don't, they are just strange, and I guess that's all it takes to fit the side effects of chemtrails. What are some other hypotheses?

"Dr. Raphael Stricker, a Lyme disease specialist in San Francisco, sees a handful of Morgellons patients--all of whom have tested positive for chronic Lyme disease. He thinks that Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria behind Lyme disease, has set his patients up for another, as-yet-unidentified, infection. And Dr. George Schwartz, a Santa Fe, N.M., trauma specialist, treats his patients with antibiotics targeted to Stenotrophomonas maltophilia -- a usually harmless waterborne bacterium--and says he's seen them improve in only 48 hours."

"Dr. Peter Lynch, professor emeritus of dermatology at the University of California, Davis. He says he has examined about 75 people with Morgellons-like symptoms in the past 35 years and believes they suffer from delusional parasitosis--literally, delusions of parasites in the skin. It's a diagnosis people don't like."

Why doesn't the chemtrail hypothesis work -- despite the fact that chemtrails don't exist. Contrary to internet claims, it seems that this disease isn't new

"Leitao picked a name for what afflicted Drew: Morgellons disease, from an obscure, 17th century French medical article describing an illness, called the morgellons, in which black hairs emerge from the skin."

And most of these mysterious fibers have turned out to be strands of clothing!

"Morgellons patients often show up in the doctors' offices carrying Ziplocs full of fibers; dermatologists say they are simply fibers from clothing, embedded in self-imposed sores[14]."

The best explanation at the moment is that Morgellon's disease is a delusional disorder, probably resulting from a virus. 95% of the patients treated for Morgellon's end up diagnosed with a type of psychosomatic disorder, and when treated with psychosomatic drugs, the symptoms usually go away within a couple weeks.

The UK admits to spraying their citizens

Britain has recently released information on a series of secret biological warfare experiments conducted from 1940-1979. The research was being done to find out the British population's vulnerability to certain pathogens, in case the Russians were to release clouds of deadly germs over the country. Most of these experiments consisted of germ-like substitutes which had very little health risks.[15]

"In most cases, the trials did not use biological weapons but alternatives which scientists believed would mimic germ warfare and which the MoD claimed were harmless."

But of course that is what they would like you to believe... Several families have come forward and insisted that their child's birth defects were from these experiments. The Ministry of Defense notes that the most affected would be elderly people or people with respiratory problems. Birth defects would be unlikely, but still possible.

"In recent years, the MoD has commissioned two scientists to review the safety of these tests. Both reported that there was no risk to public health, although one suggested the elderly or people suffering from breathing illnesses may have been seriously harmed if they inhaled sufficient quantities of micro-organisms."

Sue Ellison, who worked for Porton Down, said:

'Independent reports by eminent scientists have shown there was no danger to public health from these releases which were carried out to protect the public.

'The results from these trials_ will save lives, should the country or our forces face an attack by chemical and biological weapons.'

Do any of these tests resemble the chemtrail phenomenon? To be more specific, did they "spray" any of these agents from altitudes of 30,000 feet? This is what conspiracy theorists would like you to believe but that claim is a bit misleading. Let's look at the different studies and compare them to the characteristic "chemtrails".

"The Fluorescent Particle Trials', reveals how between 1955 and 1963 planes flew from north-east England to the tip of Cornwall along the south and west coasts, dropping huge amounts of zinc cadmium sulphide on the population. The chemical drifted miles inland, its fluorescence allowing the spread to be monitored. In another trial using zinc cadmium sulphide, a generator was towed along a road near Frome in Somerset where it spewed the chemical for an hour."

This overview doesn't give us specific information on how high the planes flew, but if they wanted to see the effects on the population, they were probably spraying the bacteria close to the ground. And where does it say that these planes left behind chemical trails? It say that the particles were fluorescent and drifted inland but what does this have to do with the persistent contrail phenomenon?

"between 1961 and 1968 more than a million people along the south coast of England, from Torquay to the New Forest, were exposed to bacteria including e.coli and bacillus globigii , which mimics anthrax. These releases came from a military ship, the Icewhale, anchored off the Dorset coast, which sprayed the micro-organisms in a five to 10-mile radius."

These "sprays" all came from a military ship. That's right. You know that smoke exiting ship's exhaust pipe? It's "Chemsmoke". (Hope I don't create another monster...)

"The report also reveals details of the DICE trials in south Dorset between 1971 and 1975. These involved US and UK military scientists spraying into the air massive quantities of serratia marcescens bacteria, with an anthrax simulant and phenol."

"Similar bacteria were released in 'The Sabotage Trials' between 1952 and 1964. These were tests to determine the vulnerability of large government buildings and public transport to attack. In 1956 bacteria were released on the London Underground at lunchtime along the Northern Line between Colliers Wood and Tooting Broadway. The results show that the organism dispersed about 10 miles. Similar tests were conducted in tunnels running under government buildings in Whitehall."

So these tests released bacteria into buildings. My guess is that if the UK or any other country was spraying bacteria from planes, it would all be invisible to the naked eye. I don't see any reason for it to be colored, or to stay in the air in contrail-like bands. So this assertion 'that since the UK did it we did' is just pure speculation. If the government did secret biological spray experiments, the chemtrail phenomenon and its adherents would be no help in investigation because it has nothing to do with the tests that we know have already been done in the UK. If the "chemtrailers" were serious researchers, they would come out with a good scientific study and submit their findings to a peer reviewed journal. Like mentioned before, it would be illogical to spray at altitudes of 30,000 ft, and we know that persistent contrails have been around since the invention of jets.

They are spraying harmful biological agents

This claim originates in 1999 from a man named William Thomas. William Thomas was one of the first to "notice" the chemtrail phenomenon. He discovered a mysterious brown gel substance and believed it was from an aircraft. He would later test two samples to find four types of bacteria (only one of which is properly named), and four types of fungi (only 2 were named)[16].

As unmarked tanker-type aircraft continue spraying sky-obscuring chemtrails over regions of the U.S. and Canada, this writer and American journalist Erminia Cassani have obtained laboratory tests of fully-documented samples of aerial fallout. The samples were tested by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) licensed facility.

The two samples were taken from aluminum-sided structures in separate states nearly a year apart after their respective owners went outside in the wake of low-flying aircraft to find dwellings and outbuildings splattered with a brown, gel-like substance.

The biological agents Thomas discovered in the two samples were:

1. Pseudomonas fluorescents
2. A "fluorescent-type of bacteria found in distant coral reefs"
3. "a bacteria capable of causing a painful ear infection."
4. "Another bacillus contained a "restriction enzyme" used in research laboratories to "restrict" or cut DNA material for transfer to other organisms."
5. Streptomyces (fungus)
6. "black yeast"
7. and 8. not mentioned

Why doesn't this "researcher" bring up any actual data, or even give us the names to these bacteria and fungi? We'll forget about for now, but are any of these bacteria unusual in any way? Since William Thomas failed to give us the appropriate names of the bacteria and fungi, we'll work with what he has given us.

Pseudomonas fluorescens is a very common bacteria found in soil and water[17].
Streptomyces - another very common fungus found in soil[18].
Black Yeast - also commonly found in soils.

In conclusion, we have samples bacteria and fungi that are common and naturally occurring in nature. And William Thomas has failed to properly document his findings and to connect the dots between these samples and the alleged aircraft he claims to have witnessed. Additional problems with any claims dealing with biological agents include:

• bacteria dropped from flight altitudes of 30,000 feet would probably end up killing all of the bacteria due to the sun and temperature changes
• the remaining bacteria would be so spread out, it would blend in the the background bacteria
• this lack of control and efficiency would be impractical and fail to show any kind of solid research for effects on humans

They are spraying "cob webs" and other strange stuff

YIKES! Viscous, reddish material covering trees? Spider web-like substance? What is going on here? My initial prediction when researching these claim, was that the spider web-like substance may be spider webs. But I guess I'm just naive...

Let's tackle the spider webs first, since I brought them up first. Why on earth would spider webs fall from the sky? Spiders haven't invented airplanes yet, so someone or something else must be responsible. Turns out there is a rational explanation for the falling spider web phenomenon, and it has been documented for a while.

"Such widespread distribution leads to the question of how spiders manage to populate very remote areas, such as islands, for instance. One explanation is based on the ability of many young spiders to float through the air on their own threads. This "ballooning", as it is called, is actively undertaken by the spider. The spiderling stands on "tiptoe", facing the wind, and inclines its abdomen upward while exuding a silk thread. This strand is caught by the slightest current, which can easily lift the spider.

Usually the voyage ends after a rather short distance. Under favorable wind conditions, however, these aeronauts may attain quite remarkable heights and distances. Spiders, as a kind of 'aerial plankton," have been caught from airplanes flying at altitudes of several thousand meters (Gretsch, 1949;Glick, 1939)

Conspiracy theorists claim that the webs they have analyzed contain unusual chemical and can be harmful to humans, but we have is another case of the "William Thomas syndrome". Bad science and terrible data[20].

Let's move onto the "reddish material". Kerala, India was witness to some of this "red material" in 2001. At first scientists believed it to be the result of an exploding meteor, but later it was identified as a local fungus[21]:

The color was found to be due to the presence of a large amount of spores of a lichen-forming alga belonging to the genus Trentepohlia. Field verification showed that the region had plenty of such lichens. Samples of lichen taken from Changanacherry, when cultured in an algal medium, also showed the presence of the same species of algae. Both samples (from rainwater and from trees) produced the same kind of algae, indicating that the spores seen in the rainwater most probably came from local sources.

Kucinich wrote the Space Preservation Act HR 2977 which specifically banned chemtrails

This bill was actually written by UFO enthusiasts. The bill's goal was to:

1. Nullify a vast conspiracy by the "military-industrial complex"
2. Allow the use of suppressed alien technology for free energy
3. Avoid accidentally shooting down (or scaring away) visiting aliens

Some of the banned weapons and technologies the bill included were[22]:

1. electronic, psychotronic, or information weapons;
2. chemtrails;
3. high altitude ultra low frequency weapons systems;
4. plasma, electromagnetic, sonic, or ultrasonic weapons;
5. laser weapons systems;
6. strategic, theater, tactical, or extraterrestrial weapons; and
7. chemical, biological, environmental, climate, or tectonic weapons

So what does Dennis Kucinich have to do with all of this? Well it seems that he didn't read the bill before endorsing it. When he eventually did, he had the bill re-written. Unfortunately for him, the newly written bill never passed and was dropped entirely in 2002. Later when asked about this particular bill:

I'm not into that. Understand me. When I found out that was in there, I said, 'Look, I'm not interested in going there.

Germans have admitted on television that they are spraying "chemtrails"

The following German tv report apparently states that the Germans have been spraying chemical trails (chemtrails) http://youtube.com/watch?v=MVc9GX5K_As

What we have here is a poor German to English translation. In the video, the word duppel is translated to "chemical trail". Duppel really translates to "chaff"[23]. Once we understand that the report is talking about chaff, the claim no longer holds any water.

"Chaff- Chaff, originally called Window by the British and Düppel by the World War 2 era German Luftwaffe is a radar countermeasure in which aircraft or other targets spread a cloud of small, thin pieces of aluminum.

Chemtrails are being used to prevent global warming

Only a select conspiracy theorists go with this theory, mainly because most of them believe global warming is a hoax. But if the government were saving the planet, why would they keep this a secret?

We haven't yet observed any good evidence that the general population has been suffering from anything new in the past 10 years. The whole "chemtrails are making us sick" myth is just a post hoc fallacy spread through internet anecdotes which linked flu-like symptoms with persistent contrails. Since the effects of these "chemtrails" aren't noticed by the scientific and medical communities, they mustn't be that significant. If the effects aren't significant, why keep it a secret? What would they be spraying to slow down global warming? Anti-CO2 spray? I have yet to see any serious scientific opinions on how something like this could work.

Chemtrails are being used to create a projection screen

The short rebuttal is: this is insane and totally wrong, for the long version see our Project Blue Beam article.

Chemtrails are being used to poison us

Despite the fact that this doesn't seem to be working, the depopulation plans conspiracy theorists speculate about are terrible ideas. If the government fat cats wanted to reduce the herd, why not release a super virus in Africa?

HIV/AIDS was created by nature. See our HIV/AIDS article for more information.

If they really wanted to create a super virus, it wouldn't be anything like AIDS. How about an genetically modified ebola virus? Something that is airborne and kills quickly. In conclusion I will address the entire depopulation conspiracy theory, and why I think it ultimately fails for logical reasons. Conspiracy theorists have a long laundry list of secret tactics that Big Pharma and the government utilize to reduce the population. And this list gets so long and ridiculous. Vaccines, AIDs, chemtrails, fluoride, food additives etc.

Why hasn't the population decreased yet? Why is it continually rising and why are people living longer and healthier lives? The average age of death 100 years ago was 48. It is because of modern medicine and scientific research groups (including government ones) that the population and life expectancy has increased, yet conspiracy theorists continually ignore and deny any historical or scientific facts that don't fit in their worldview. Denialism at its finest.