Original article (in Montenegrin) was published on 15/4/2024; Author: Jelena Jovanović
For decades, the theory that chemtrails poison people from the air has been circulating. Disinformers keep this topic alive by continually searching for new evidence to back their claims.
Raskrinkavanje has frequently debunked such assertions, and one of the latest conspiracy theories about “dangerous spraying” was recently shared on Facebook.
The post features a video clip over a decade old in which the late American musician Prince discusses the ‘chemtrails phenomenon.’ Speaking about ‘traces in the sky,’ the 2009 interview accompanies a description that reads:
“Interviewed in 2009. Poisoned on April 21, 2016. Moral of the story: don’t go to the mountain in slippers; the deep can be crampy. As that little fellow from Rage would say – fear is your only God.”
In the video, the legendary musician Prince recounts observing patterns in the sky as a child. Initially fascinating to him, he later noticed a troubling pattern: ‘Then you see a bunch of the same traces, and the next thing you notice is that everyone in the neighborhood is arguing and fighting,’ Prince explains.
The full interview is available on YouTube.
Prince’s death has frequently been the subject of unverified claims online, fueled by conspiracy theories similar to those seen in the controversial Facebook post. Two years after his passing, authorities in the US state of Minnesota released the findings from their investigation into his cause of death, providing some clarity amid the speculation.
“(…) authorities in Minnesota released two years’ worth of findings from their investigation into the superstar’s death as they announced that no criminal charges would be filed.
Prince, 57, died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in his Paisley Park estate April 21, 2016.
In surveillance footage hours before his 2016 death, Prince, dressed in black and looking gaunt, can be seen walking into a doctor’s office with friend and bodyguard Kirk Johnson,” states an ABC News article.
The article published details on the popular musician’s last few days, suggesting that he had certain health problems.
In relation to the persistent ‘chemtrails’ conspiracy theories highlighted in the post, it’s important to recognize the wealth of studies and facts that have thoroughly debunked these claims. These phenomena, often attributed by conspiracy theorists to deliberate aerial spraying, have been explained scientifically in numerous studies.
For example, meteorologist Herbert S. Appleman’s significant contribution came in 1953 when he published a detailed scientific paper on contrails, also known as condensation trails.
In his seminal work, Appleman detailed that contrails, or sky trails, form under specific atmospheric conditions. These occur when the warm exhaust gases from an engine meet the cold ambient air, causing water droplets to rapidly freeze into ice crystals.
Additionally, the theory of chemtrails has been rigorously examined in a comprehensive report by a group of 77 scientists in the Environmental Research Letters periodical.
“Thus, 98.7 percent of scientists, specifically 76 out of 77 scientists, said that there is no evidence of a ‘secret large-scale atmospheric program,'” reads one of the study’s conclusions.
During the coronavirus pandemic, a claim circulated suggesting that the virus could spread through airplane spraying. This was categorically refuted by an expert analysis in a scholarly article. Considering this and other facts that once again debunk theories about ‘suspicious’ trails in the sky, coupled with the misinformation surrounding the death of the legendary musician, we conclude that the Facebook post contains several false claims..
Therefore, we have assessed these posts as disinformation and a conspiracy theory.
The “Disinformation” rating is given to a media report that contains a “mix “of facts and incorrect or half-true content. In such cases, the media may not necessarily be aware of incorrect information being published alongside the true ones. Also, this grade will be given to media reports with false attributions or titles that do not reflect the text in terms of information accuracy.
The “Conspiracy theory” rating is given to a media report which features an untrue or unverifiable description of a phenomenon, event or person, presenting them as part or the result of a hidden agenda (“conspiracy”). Such contents feature a series of claims, presented as facts, between which cause and effect relationships are established without offering any credible evidence.
