US lawmakers have voted to demand the Pentagon disclose whether it conducted experiments to weaponise disease-carrying ticks, and whether any such insects were released outside the laboratory. A bill passed in the House of Representatives requires the Defence Department's inspector general to investigate whether biological warfare tests involving ticks took place between 1950 and 1975.
The tick-related amendment was added to the fiscal 2020 defence authorisation bill by Republican congressman Chris Smith. The New Jersey politician said the inspector general should review whether the Department of Defence experimented with ticks and other insects for use as biological weapons during that period. If experiments did occur, the office must report whether any ticks or insects were released outside of any laboratory by accident or experiment design.
A book released earlier this year, Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons, claims the Defence Department conducted research on biological warfare. Author Kris Newby suggests a possible relationship between the experiments and the spread of Lyme disease, an infectious disease spread by ticks causing fever, headaches and fatigue.
“We need answers and we need them now,” said Mr Smith, a founding co-chairman of the Congressional Lyme Disease Caucus. Pat Smith, president of the Lyme Disease Association, said uncovering past experiments might help with current work tackling the illness. “We need to find out: is there anything in this research that was supposedly done that can help us to find information that is germane to patient health and combating the spread of the disease,” she said.
The defence authorisation bill still needs to pass in the Senate before heading to President Donald Trump for approval.
