Social media reports claim that Poland, Sweden and Norway are suing the World Health Organization (WHO) for “contamination of Europe” with “chemical pneumonia” released from aircraft, with some repetitions including claims that Reuters These allegations are untrue: Reuters did not report this or anything similar, nor did any other media organization.Poster contains falsely labeled photos of aircraft, some of which were previously used to illustrate the conspiracy theory of ‘chemtrails’ .
Sample reports that make this claim are visible here, here, here and here
According to the earliest repetitions that Reuters could find, it appears that the claim was only written in Bulgarian in December 2020. Facebook posts with over 100,000 shares can be seen here and here.
The reports, translated from Bulgarian, say: “Extraordinary! Poland, Sweden and Norway are suing the WHO for infecting Europe. This was reported by Reuters. The detained pilots admitted that they sprayed with a chemical that causes chemical pneumonia! ‘Most are accompanied by four photographs, the first of which is an airplane.
Instead of claiming “This was reported by Reuters”, some reports in English say “this is what Reuters betrayed” (here, here), which apparently is the result of a poor translation (using the automatic Facebook translation tool).
Reuters has not reported (here) on such a lawsuit, nor any other reliable newspaper.
To illustrate the claim, most iterations contain four photographs that were captured in different years and places and have nothing to do with lawsuits or chemical diseases.
AIRCRAFT PHOTO
The photo with an Evergreen International Airlines plane and a contrast (the long clouds left by aircraft cars) can be seen here. According to the description by JetPhotos, an aerial photo database, the image was captured on May 19, 2006 on the Sacramento McClellan. Air Force Base, California.
According to the civil aviation database Planespotters.net, the aircraft was withdrawn from use in 2012. Evergreen International Airlines, an airline in Oregon, filed for bankruptcy in December 2013 (here).
VARO VATELPOTO’S
Another image in these allegations shows a man in a plane surrounded by gray tanks. It’s visible on Getty Images here.
According to the description, the photo, dated 6 September 2009, shows the inside of a test aircraft MSN1, an Airbus A380 Superjumbo aircraft, ‘filled with test equipment and kilometers of cable’ at Filton Airport in Bristol in the United Kingdom. Another photo of the inside of the plane can be seen here.
The tanks that can be seen in this image are ballast barrels which, as reported by Wired here, are tanks filled with water used to mimic the weight of cargo or passengers. Images from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer look closely at the tanks of an Airbus A380.
The posts also contain another image of ballast barrels in the test cabin of an Airbus A380 that was originally visible here. The statue was captured on July 31, 2009 at the Wittman Regional Airport in Wisconsin.
Reuters could certainly not confirm the source of the fourth photo, which shows four green larger tanks, but the image has been circulating since at least 2011 (here). According to a Spanish fact check by RTVE, the photo actually shows tanks with oil-dispersing chemicals used to combat oil spills in the sea here.
CHEMTRAILS
The claim refers to old unmasked narratives of ‘chemtrails’ (here, here, here), a conspiracy theory that says ‘governments or other parties are working on a secret program to add toxic chemicals from the plane to the atmosphere’ a way that forms visibly. plumes in the air ”(here).
The US Environmental Protection Agency and NASA explained here that ‘condensation paths’ or ‘contrails’ consist mainly of water in the form of ice particles and ‘do not pose any health risks to humans’. However, contractions can contribute to human climate change. Further reading on this is available here.
VERDICT
Untrue. There is no evidence that Poland, Sweden and Norway are suing the WTO for ‘contamination of Europe’ with chemical pneumonia. Reuters did not report this story, nor any other reliable news source. Reports contain incorrect, old photos of planes and barrels and refer to a debilitating conspiracy theory of ‘chemtrails’.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to actually check social media posts.