"Mystery in the Sky - Chemtrails over Ontario" - By Micky Absil

"Complete Health" Ontario magazine - Fall/Winter 2002

"Mystery in the Sky - Chemtrails over Ontario"
By
Micky Absil


Stories about suspicious chemical trails in the sky have been floating about for years. I don't know if they're true, but if there is truth to any of them, the implications are, at the least, very disturbing.

I first heard about Chemtrails on a sunny clear day in October 2001 when I was visiting a farm near the small rural community of Marlbank, Ontario. Looking up, I noticed an unusual number of vapour trails in the blue vastness above. The trails formed a criss-cross pattern across the sky, looking as if a group of hotshot jet pilots had been horsing around. My host said that she believed they were chemtrails, that is, chemicals that are sprayed from jets. She had been noticing them for some time, but since September 11, they were appearing far more frequently, often daily. She went on to explain that odd-looking commercial airline vapour trails (contrails) were being reported all over the world since 1998. I had to admit the trails did appear strange and puzzling and so I left, determined to investigate.

I called the Ministry of the Environment in Kingston and explained what I had seen. The man I spoke to suggested it might be crop dusting. "In mid October?" He admitted that it was not likely, but that this sort of thing was not in the jurisdiction of his ministry, so he could not help me. I received a similar response from the ministry office in Toronto." An e-mail to the then Minister of Health, Allan Rock, elicited a two-page letter explaining that his ministry "was not aware of any chemtrail activity in Canada and that contrails, condensation trails, which do not pose health risks to humans, have been a normal effect of jet aviation since its earliest days." He added, "Recently, more people have noticed them because they have become more frequent as a result of the increase in air traffic transport." Some time later I received another two-page letter informing me that The Honourable Allan Rock, former Minister of Health had forwarded my email to The Honourable David M. Collenette, Minister of Transport, and that Minister Collenette wished me to know that what I had seen were "contrails, which are composed of ice particles and are a normal by-product of aircraft flying at high altitudes." The letter went on to say that contrails are becoming more common as a result of the very efficient engines of modern aircraft. I was frankly surprised to see that my short e-mail had elicited such serious responses by the offices of two busy ministers. I also wondered which minister was correct in explaining why contrails were being seen more frequently. The Sierra Club responded to my query about contrails with an e-mail saying, "Unfortunately this is an issue that the Sierra Club is not currently addressing." They recommended that I contact the Institute for Concern for Public Health. I did, but never heard back from them.

I continued to dig. On the Internet I found a barrage of websites on chemtrails, including photographs, scientific data, maps, petitions and even lab reports. It appears that there is a large network of people, including scientists, environmentalists, biomedical researchers, journalists and former members of the military, gathering information and demanding answers for this suspicious phenomenon. Citizen action groups such as Blue Skies International are actively seeking information as well.

What's going on? There are various theories as to the nature and origin of the trails. Many believe there is more than one military project operating simultaneously, but most of the websites agree on the basics: chemtrails look like contrails initially but are thicker and last longer, often hours. (According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologist Thomas Schlattes: "Even in most ideal conditions a jet contrail lasts no more than 30 minutes.") Usually chemtrails form criss-cross patterns of Xs, grids or parallel lines across the sky for miles at a time, often appearing outside of commercial airline routes. The lines widen and spread featherlike, creating a cloud cover of the sprayed substance which then settles to the ground, blanketing the area sprayed. Although the material is difficult and rare to come by in large quantities, some tests show that it contains biological material. In some cases it has been found to include building blocks of a viral nature that would have needed to be generated in a lab. The substance has been described as a 'brown goo' and is considered dangerous.

"Ground fallout [from the chemtrails] analyzed in the United States contained carcinogens and bacteria. Coincidentally in the past decade, most jet fuel was re-engineered to reduce fire hazards by adding a long-banned pesticide, which was reportedly also found in gel samples from chemtrails. Also found were toxic micro-fibers, much finer than asbestos," the Ottawa Citizen wrote. (A fervour over chemtrails, May 16, 2001)

I spoke with Ben McNenly from Espanola Ontario who spearheaded the efforts to stop chemtrail spraying in his small northern community. In the spring of 1999, according to Ben, military aircraft started flying in formation overhead and spraying heavily. "One evening I was photographing the trails when I felt a fine particulate pelting my face and hands. It stung my skin so badly that I had to run inside." Residents over a 50 mile radius started complaining to the provincial Ministry of Environment of severe headaches, chronic joint pain, dizziness, extreme fatigue, acute asthma attacks and feverless flu-like symptoms. They attributed their ailments to the months of spraying by photo identified US Air Force tanker planes. Lab tests on particulate and rainwater samples found quartz and extremely high levels of aluminum, seven times government safe levels and high enough, according to the lab, to kill fish. "I'm convinced people here have died as a result of this spraying, including a close friend," Ben recounted sadly. Another Espanola resident reported that mental confusion and short-term memory loss were so prevalent that forgetting where their cars were parked had become a standing joke in the small town.

On November 18, 1999, the people of Espanola petitioned Parliament. Addressing the Canadian government on their behalf, NDP Defence Critic Gordon Earle explained: "Over 500 residents of the Espanola area have signed a petition raising concern over possible government involvement in what appears to be aircraft emitting visible aerosols. They have found high traces of aluminum and quartz in particulate and rainwater samples." These concerns, combined with associated respiratory ailments, have led these Canadians to take action and seek clear answers from this government. The petitioners call upon Parliament to repeal any law that would permit the dispersal of military chaff or of any cloud-seeding substance whatsoever by domestic or foreign military aircraft without the informed consent of the citizens of Canada thus affected."

The Ministry of Defence eventually replied, denying their involvement in any spraying program over Espanola and added somewhat ambiguously "In addition, the Canadian Forces have confirmed that they are not aware of any visiting foreign military aircraft having requested diplomatic clearance to conduct aerial spraying or to drop chaff in the vicinity of Espanola."

How often is this occurring? The consensus is that since 1998, citizens throughout the world have documented spray patterns on a nearly daily basis, with an average of one "clear" day per week. It's suggested that we have all become accustomed to these changes in our skies, as they've been introduced bit by bit, and have presumed them to be normal.

Government agencies deny the existence of chemtrails but according to reports, intense spraying occurs in some areas of the U.S., Canada, Europe and England, including areas with no commercial flight paths overhead. Recently, Australia, Mexico, South Africa, Bahamas, Puerto Rico and Croatia have reported chemtrail spraying. Sightings have now been reported in fourteen NATO nations and investigative reporter William Thomas notes that Croatian chemtrails began the day after that country joined NATO.

In spite of government denials, some highly placed individuals have come forward to confirm the existence of chemtrails. US Congressman and Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich introduced Bill HR2977 calling for the peaceful uses of space and a ban on "exotic weapons." Section 7 of the Space Preservation Act of 2001 sought to "proscribe any substance which could be weaponized, including chemtrails." Kucinich recently told the Columbus Alive newspaper (Jan. 24, 2002) that, despite official denials, as head of the Armed Services Oversight Committee, he is well acquainted with chemtrail projects. "The truth is there's a program in the Department of Defence, The U.S. Space Command's 2020 vision that calls for dominance of space, sea and air through multilayered weapons systems", Kucinich told reporter Bob Fitrakis.

What is the purpose behind the trails? This is where the varying reports differ. Secret government mass inoculation against possible bacterial and viral attack (Biowarfare) is one theory. There is evidence in the form of research that the US Department Of Defence has an interest in aerosol mass application of decontaminants. Maxygen, Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., has been awarded a $6,753,064 research and development cost contract to support the Defence Advanced Research Project Agency's Biological Warfare Defence Program. The contractor proposes to use bacillus spores as an aerosol-based delivery vehicle for medicinal purposes, specifically, vaccination and therapeutics. The SPAWAR reference to this work and its defence applications: http://www.spawar.navy.mil/corporate/spawarpao/ca/1999/ca9942.html

Another theory relates to government efforts to control global warming. Cited as evidence is a project designed to block and reduce the radiation from the sun to the earth with an aerosol emitted from aircraft. (Source: Edward Teller, Director Emeritus, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, The Planet Needs a Sunscreen, Wall Street Journal, October 17, 1997. Mr. Teller was the father of the H-bomb and an ardent advocate of the Reagan administration's Star Wars program.)

It's been reported that a scientist working at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, who insisted on anonymity, claims that the two most common substances being sprayed into chemtrails are aluminum oxide and barium stearate. When you see planes flying back and forth marking parallel lines, X-patterns and grids in a clear sky, that's aluminum oxide, according to the scientist. The goal is to create an artificial sunscreen which reflects solar radiation back into space to alleviate global warming.

Computer simulations by Ken Caldeira at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory calculated that this method could stop warming over 85 per cent of the planet, despite an anticipated doubling of carbon in the atmosphere within the next 50 years. Lawrence Livermore priced the aerial spray program at US$1 billion dollars a year, a cheap fix to maintain massive petroleum profits in the face of Kyoto's internationally agreed carbon cutbacks. But Ken Caldeira, the climate expert who ran the computer model, has warned that the stratospheric spraying of sunlight-reflecting chemicals could destroy the ozone layer and pose human health risks.

A third theory points to the use of chemtrails in electromagnetic warfare. According to scientists, "In some cases, barium may be sprayed in a similar manner for the purpose of "high-tech 3-D radar imaging. The barium can be used as a 'wire' through which to shoot an electromagnetic beam through in order to take 3-D images of the ground far over the horizon." William Thomas, writing in the November-December 2001 issue of NEXUS New Times magazine, essentially confirmed this assessment. "The barium spread in exercises conducted out of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base acts as an electrolyte, enhancing conductivity of radar and radio waves," Thomas reported. "Wright-Pat has also long been deeply engaged in HAARP's electromagnetic warfare program." (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program in Alaska)

Another theory proposes a government program to modify and control weather patterns. There is evidence that throughout the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union actively investigated the military use of weather modification. The U.S. Air Force admitted to CNN in July 2001 that it had broken up a storm over the Atlantic using products made by a company called Dyn-O-Mat. The company's website, www.dynomat.com lists "environmental absorbent products" such as Dyn-O-Drought and Dyn-O-Storm.

Other reports on Chemtrails present a variety of frightening scenarios. It all sounds too much like an X Files episode to be true, but I do wonder if there is something worrisome about the trails that I saw in the sky above Marlbank and have seen since in other areas. Is there some validity to all the reports and websites? Is there a secret spraying program? I honestly don't know what to make of it all. Much of what I found in the chemtrail websites may be the rantings of a lunatic fringe of Chicken Little conspiracy theorists, but clearly some evidence and first-hand reports do appear rational, compelling and very disturbing.

Update: I have noticed that the skies over the Kingston area during this summer of 2002 have been clearer; with far fewer suspicious looking jet trails. I recently spoke to Ben McNenly in Espanola and he reports that the spraying over his region of northern Ontario seems to have been scaled back, or at least the noticeable low altitude spraying. He added that, although some of the symptoms of joint pain and respiratory problems persist for some Espanola residents, most are feeling better