What are Chemtrails? Details explored as the Tennessee state allegedly passes bill based on wild conspiracy theories

On Monday, March 18, the state of Tennessee passed a bill that reportedly aimed to outlaw chemtrails. SB 2691/HB 2063, which passed in the Senate on Monday and is yet to move forward in the House, was sponsored by Sen. Steve Southerland and Rep. Monty Fritts. Chemtrails refer to the conspiracy theory that the government is allegedly spreading toxins into the air via aircraft.

Contrails, or condensation trails, are visible white cloud trails released by aircraft due to their hot exhausts coming into contact with frigid air, thereby causing condensation. Conspiracy theorists allegedly believe that some of these trails are toxic and are the result of the government secretly trying to add chemicals to the atmosphere for reasons including, but not limited to, weather and mind control.

The official Senate Bill 2691 declared:

"The intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus within the borders of this state into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight is prohibited."

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The chemtrails conspiracy lacks scientific proof

When the hot exhausts of any commercial or military aircraft come into contact with the extremely cold air in the atmosphere, condensation occurs, and the aircraft leaves visible trails of white clouds. These trails are called contrails or condensation trails. These are simply visible condensed moisture or simply trails of water vapor.

Conspiracy theorists believe that some of these trails are allegedly chemically infused with toxic substances, thereby giving rise to the term chemtrails. A study published by a Harvard University research group stated that theorists believed that the government or powerful third parties were spraying the atmosphere with chemicals as part of a secret program.

Conspiracy theorists believe that some of the motivations of the government for this alleged chemtrail spraying include weather control, mind control, sterilization, and life expectancy reduction. Another theory is that chemtrails were reportedly being used for albedo modification or solar geoengineering.

Albedo modification is an engineering approach that aims to reflect some sunlight back into space, thereby combating global temperatures. One of the ways this could be possible is by releasing aerosols into the stratosphere, which would reflect some sunlight back into space.

However, there has not been any scientific evidence to support the chemtrails theory. The Harvard report argues that if chemicals were being dumped into the atmosphere, it would require a large-scale operating program with thousands of employees, which would require the same amount of documents that can be leaked. Such a program would be susceptible to leaks.

However, such leaks have not happened, and no prominent possible whistleblower has come up with any information. As for Albedo modification, Harvard ensured that studies regarding the process were all available to the public and was confident that no active program was even field testing the theory.

Harvard University geoengineering research director, Joshua Horton told USA Today that the technology required for Albedo modification does not exist at the moment. The Harvard report stated:

"The claim that there is a large-scale secret program to spray materials from aircraft is extraordinary. Yet all the evidence we have seen to date has been very weak."

It added:

"The most common claim is simply that aircraft contrails look “different”, without any comparative analysis. This as convincing as saying that alien beings walk among in disguise as people because some people act very strangely."

CNN dates the popularity and emergence of the theory to the Cold War, when the British government reportedly subjected thousands of public citizens to over 750 secret biological mock warfare trials by spraying zinc cadmium sulfide, an easy-to-trace chemical, from various vehicles, including ships and aircraft. The chemical was thought to be harmless at the time, but it is now recognized as a carcinogen.

The USA also reportedly engaged in similar tests using the same chemical in the '50s and '60s. Social media algorithms that have a tendency to bombard users with content that reaffirms belief systems are also a cause for the popularity of the theory. When Texas went into a deep freeze in 2021, some believed that it was allegedly caused by Joe Biden's weather modification via chemtrails.