Lyme Disease Conspiracy
Reading through the the FY26 NDAA, I saw a provision regarding ticks, which piqued my interest. I’m not the only one. Section 1068 requires a GAO report on “ biological weapons experiments on and in relation to ticks, tick-borne disease.” The provision was inserted by Rep Smith (R-NJ)
The report is meant to address allegations raised in the book Bitten (I’m not linking to it on purpose) - that Lyme Disease is a bioweapon invented in the post-World War II era. Specifically, the conspiracy theory forwarded by the author is that Erich Traub, a Nazi, was taken to the United States as part of Project Paperclip and the group bioengineered Lyme Disease.
There are a number of issues with the theory
The bacteria that causes Lyme disease has been identified in samples tens of thousands of years old. Meaning that unless there’s a time machine, or the samples have been contaminated, the bacteria could not have been invented in the 1950s/60s.
Lyme disease is not an efficient bioweapon - it kills very few people.
And we all know there are a number of crackpot theories that not only are not true, but undermine trust in the public health system. Including those forwarded by the President, HHS Secretary and others. So this theory would not have raised my interest (even if Tucker Carlson agrees with it) if it wasn’t for the NDAA and no less than the Commissioner of the FDA endorsing the theory.
This doesn’t mean that Lyme disease is wholly benign - it can be debilitating! Further, we need better treatment and diagnosis of the disease. But wasting time, effort and money on tracking down a conspiracy theory might not be the best use of federal resources.
In the best case scenario, the GAO report will find that Lyme Disease is caused by a bacteria tens of thousands of years old and is not a bioweapon, and this issue is but to rest. But it will be hard to change people’s minds about this conspiracy theory. And my concern over the mainstreaming of these types of theories is related to the erosion of public trust around our public health system. When the FDA Commissioner (or other expert) speaks, with authority but without proof, about medical issues, we have a problem.