A new amendment advanced by the House last week will require the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (DOD) to investigate claims that the DOD weaponized Lyme disease in ticks and other insects from 1950 to 1975.
The amendment was introduced by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who has been inspired by “a number of books and articles” suggesting the DOD conducted significant tick research to create effective bioweapons for use on their enemies. Smith fears that the experiments could have caused Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases to mutate and spread throughout the United States.
“With Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases exploding in the United States—with an estimated 300,000 to 437,000 new cases diagnosed each year and 10-20 percent of all patients who have chronic Lyme disease—Americans have a right to know whether any of this is true,” Smith said.
The amendment, now a part of the House’s 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), would require the Inspector General to investigate the parameters of such research programs, who ordered them done, if the programs resulted in any accidental releases of diseased ticks — or intentional releases — as well as if the program contributed to the modern disease burden. Smith wants all of this to lead to an answer for the question: could any of the information from such a program help modern researchers mitigate these diseases?
In particular, Smith has turned to the testimonies of Dr. Willy Burgdorfer, the researcher credited with discovering Lyme disease. In his most recent book, Burgdorfer reveals his time as a bioweapons specialist. According to Smith this, along with Burgdorfer’s lab files, suggest he and other scientists injected ticks with pathogens capable of causing severe disabilities, disease, and death.