by We’ve all seen those white streaks drifting behind jets, creating streaks against the blue sky.
The lines are called contrails, short for condensation trails, and appear when water vapor condenses and freezes around the exhaust from an aircraft, according to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.
At least that’s what science says. In recent years, a growing number of people believe that these contrails are actually chemtrails – an established conspiracy theory that asserts that these trails are not made of condensation at all, but are instead chemicals sprayed by the government.
Although the theory may be far-fetched, chemtrails are a popular conspiracy in the United States and around the world, despite evidence to the contrary.
What is the chemtrails conspiracy theory?
The idea of chemtrails has been around since 1996, and is largely rooted in an Air Force research paper from the same year, “Weather as a Force Multiplier: We own the weather in 2025.” It outlines a “future weather modification system to achieve military objectives” using “aerospace forces,” and “does not reflect current military policy, practice or capability,” the Environmental Protection Agency said.
At its most basic level, the chemtrail conspiracy theory suggests that contrails are not created by water vapor at all, but instead are a sign that the government, the wealthy, or some combination of the two, are releasing toxic chemicals into the air, which creates these. white lines.
Ideas about the purpose of these toxic chemicals vary. Some people believe the chemicals are being used to poison humanity, others say it’s for mind control, and some think it’s a way for the government to control the weather.
There is no one official version of the theory, said Sijia Xiao, a PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, who conducted a 2021 study that explored the chemtrails conspiracy theory and interviewed 20 believers and former believers. Instead, individuals pick and choose aspects that apply to them, mixing in personal interpretations or selectively adopting parts of the theory.”
How successful was the chemtrails conspiracy theory?
The idea that the government is spraying humanity with chemicals is not entirely without foundation.
During the Cold War, the British government carried out more than 750 fake chemical warfare attacks on the general public, according to researchers. This exposed hundreds of thousands of people to zinc cadmium sulfide, a chemical chosen because of its small size — it resembles germs — and because it glows under ultraviolet light, making it easy to trace. The chemical was thought to be non-toxic at the time, although repeated exposure could be cancerous. The US did the same thing in the 1950s and 1960s — using the chemical as a tracer to test the spread of biological weapons.
Although these tests were conducted decades ago, the theory is gaining momentum – so much so that the EPA published a 14-page document in 2016 explaining contradictions, describing the chemicals used by the Air Force, and calling for a conspiracy to dispute.
In 2021, a Facebook post claiming that President Joe Biden had “manipulated” the weather through chemtrails and caused a deep freeze in Texas for a week that February went viral – with hundreds of people engaging with the message.
On X, thousands of people follow accounts dedicated to tracking and posting proof of these chemtrails. One 2017 study, with a nationally representative sample of 1,000 people, found that about 10% of Americans believed in the conspiracy “absolutely,” and more than 30% of Americans found that at least it was “somewhat” true.
Belief in conspiracies is often traced back to suspicion of authority figures, Xiao said, and social media has also played a role in exacerbating the problem.
The algorithmic structure of social media means that people see information that reinforces their existing beliefs. Ex-believers interviewed attributed their continued faith in part to the “massive amount of pro-conspiracy information” on their social media feeds, said Coye Cheshire, a UC Berkeley professor who studies social psychology, who was involved in the also studied with Xiao. Scientific evidence for the theories would not affect their feeds or social groups. Even if he did, other believers will only reinforce the theory.
The malleable nature of the conspiracy theory helps give it strength, Cheshire said.
“As some believers have told us, the power of the conspiracy is that it can be adjusted to fit any new information since the ‘smoking gun’ evidence doesn’t seem to come,” Cheshire said. “For example, even if believers are not convinced that the so-called chemtrails are really being used for population control, it is easy to shift the story to weather manipulation and climate change without claiming any new information or evidence.”
There is also the simple fact that we can see the contradictions with our own eyes. Their visibility and presence in everyday life helps draw more interest in the theory, Xiao said.
“Chemtrails was the most interesting conspiracy, because it’s right in front of our faces and we still choose to ignore it,” one believer told Xiao and Cheshire.
While the theory may seem silly to some, the fundamental concerns of believers come from “legitimate societal and environmental issues that need attention,” Xiao said. Distrust in government, concerns about environmental issues, or even struggles with chronic illnesses can lend credence to the chemtrails theory, suggesting that something else is causing these societal issues.
Are chemtrails real? Here’s what experts said
Scientists have said that there is no evidence that chemtrails exist. Even if a government conspiracy were at work in an aircraft contrail, it would be difficult to cover up such a large-scale program given the number of people that would be necessary to operate, the Harvard researchers noted.
Around the world, scientists have investigated the chemtrails conspiracy theory, describing the existence of contrails and their long variance. Even Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency, He said chemtrails are not a thing.
Still, believers are not convinced. Belief in the theory has become so strong that meteorologists around the world have reported an uptick in harassment and threats, usually after extreme weather, especially from conspiracy theorists who they accuse of withholding information.
“The collective agreement within these communities often overpowers the rational disagreement of scientists,” Xiao said. This makes it “extremely difficult for factual corrections to change these deeply held beliefs.”
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