Biological warfare (Bioweapon)—also known as germ warfare—is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi with the intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war.
Have you heard the latest conspiracy theory about the COVID – 19 being a man-made bioweapon and it was built for mass destruction. Obviously, the coronavirus is turning conspiracy theorists into workaholics, depending on who is shouting louder so are the narratives following its lead, sometimes it’s the U.S. and then it’s China. According to various sources the following summary defining the bio-weapons can be offered: Biological weapons (often termed “bio-weapons”, “biological threat agents”, or “bio-agents”) are living organisms or replicating entities (viruses, which are not universally considered “alive”). Biological warfare (BW)—also known as germ warfare—is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi with the intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war. The idea was widely dismissed by disease and defense experts. A good bioweapon, some say, wouldn’t spread as easily and indiscriminately as the new coronavirus does. But for political opportunists and conspiracy theorists, the rising number of Covid-19 infections, the growing ranks of the dead, and the mass disruptions to the daily rhythms of life have created fertile conspiratorial ground[1].
North Macedonia is also caught up with these theories, on a recent television show Gordana Siljanovska – Davkova, stated that she got a message on her phone about the cycle of technological development, she said she couldn’t sleep that night because of the “revelation” about the new era in the year of 2020 where there will be a beginning of a bio – technology, she stated: “Call me paranoid, but when I saw the death toll in Wuhan, 2020 is the end of the internet, it seems as a new cycle is coming, an era of a bio – world.” Many viewers turned to their Facebook pages and shared their amusement of the ridiculous claims that Davkova made on the show, some claimed she should leave terminologies to the experts. Davkova was a candidate for the 2019 presidential elections of North Macedonia, she was defeated by Stevo Pendarovski.
On March 19, an online portal named Infomax.mk in North Macedonia, published an article with the title – “The Coronavirus is an offensive bioweapon – states the American scientist: Just like the Ebola, Zika, Lyme Disease, this is not the first leak, the situation is serious”, the “author” of the article shares a couple of information about Dr. Francis Anthony Boyle who is an American human rights lawyer and professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law. In the same article, there a is an exclusive interview given to Geopolitics and Empire, where Dr. Boyle discusses the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China and the Biosafety Level 4 laboratory (BSL-4) from which he believes the infectious disease escaped. He believes the virus is potentially lethal and an offensive biological warfare weapon or dual-use biowarfare weapons agent genetically modified with gain of function properties, which is why the Chinese government originally tried to cover it up and is now taking drastic measures to contain it. The Wuhan BSL-4 lab is also a specially designated World Health Organization (WHO) research lab and Dr. Boyle contends that the WHO knows full well what is occurring.
In the same article, the author doesn’t share his own opinion about the conspiracy theory, instead there are copy – paste information about Bill Gates being “involved” in the creation of bioweapons, because in a video for Business Insider, he predicted that the world will face a new war, the virus war! At the end of the article, the author is suspicious why the video of Dr. Francis Boyle has been taken down on YouTube, so the readers should judge on their own why the video is not there anymore.
So, what evidence have Senator Tom Cotton, Gordana Siljanovska – Davkova, and others provided to support these suggestions or claims? Incriminating pictures? Suspicious messages? Some awkward selfies? Any kind of scientific evidence? Yoga?
In fact, there is not only a lack of evidence supporting these conspiracy theories, there has been growing strong scientific evidence against both of them. Scientists, you know the ones who are actually trying to find the truth and solve a problem rather than blame people, have been conducting genetic analyses to determine where the virus came from and how it ended up infecting humans. Although viruses aren’t exactly like people as they don’t seem to have feelings or spread rumors, viruses do have genetic material like people, except their genetic material is not quite as complex as those of humans.
The question here is – Will the scientific findings finally end the “virus-was-made-in-a-lab-and-it-is-your-fault” rhetoric between the politicians and on social media? Of course not! When has science stopped such political rhetoric? Maybe, though, it will get more people to focus on the much more important matter at hand: trying to control this pandemic together.
Meral Musli Tajroska – Psychologist, Consultant on violent extremism and radicalization, activist for gender equality.
Cartoon Credit: Emad Hajjaj
[1] https://thebulletin.org/2020/03/why-do-politicians-keep-breathing-life-into-the-false-conspiracy-theory-that-the-coronavirus-is-a-bioweapon/#
FINANCED BY
This project was funded in part through a U.S. Embassy grant. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the implementers/authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Government.
PARTNERS
