Scientists Debunk Popular Conspiracy Theory About Chemtrails

A new study from Carnegie Science, University of California Irvine and the nonprofit organization Near Zero has debunked a popular conspiracy theory claiming a secret, elite-driven plot to release harmful chemicals into the air from high-flying aircrafts.

The study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, showed that evidences presented to prove the so-called "chemtrails" could be explained by other factors, such as typical airplane contrail formation and poor data sampling.

Conspiracy theorists claim that chemtrails or the condensation trails produced by the heat from aircraft engine composed of not only condensed water vapor of chemicals and elements such as aluminum, barium and strontium. They believe that powerful, high-entities have been intentionally and covertly released in the atmosphere by the government for decades.

Allegedly, government and some industries spray chemicals in the atmosphere to regulate food supply, control human population, manipulate weather patterns and mitigate climate change. Conspiracy theorists find the increased number ad long-lasting presence of the condensation trails suspicious. They even presented water and soil samples contaminated with toxic substances.

For the study, the researchers surveyed two groups of scientists. The two groups of scientists comprises of atmospheric chemists who specialize in condensation trails and geochemists working on atmospheric deposition of dust and pollution.

Out of the 77 experts, 76 reported that they did not encountered evidence of a secret spraying program. The experts believe that the alleged evidence of toxic contamination in soil and water samples.

"We wanted to establish a scientific record on the topic of secret atmospheric spraying programs for the benefit of those in the public who haven't made up their minds," said Steven Davis, UCI associate professor of Earth system science and co-author of the study, in a statement. "Our survey found little agreement in the scientific community with claims that the government, the military, airlines and others are colluding in a widespread, nefarious program to poison the planet from the skies."