A recently unearthed study has ignited a firestorm of outrage after scientists argued it was morally justifiable to infect people with a virus that makes them allergic to meat. Researchers Parker Crutchfield and Blake Hereth from Western Michigan University published a controversial paper in 2025, asserting that society has a moral duty to spread ticks infected with or engineered to carry alpha-gal syndrome (AGS).
Understanding Alpha-Gal Syndrome
AGS is a real medical condition transmitted through tick bites, causing victims to suffer allergic reactions when consuming red meat, including beef, pork, lamb, dairy, and other mammal-derived products. Symptoms range from mild hives or stomach pain to severe, life-threatening anaphylaxis, where blood pressure drops and airways swell, making breathing impossible.
The researchers claimed it is morally wrong to eat meat due to animal suffering and environmental damage allegedly caused by the meat industry. They argued that the only reason not to spread ticks infecting people with AGS today is the lack of an easy, effective large-scale method. However, they added: 'But it is feasible to genetically edit the disease-carrying capacity of ticks. If we are right, then today we have the obligation to research and develop the capacity to proliferate tickborne AGS and, tomorrow, carry out that proliferation.'
Public and Expert Reactions
One critic of the study replied: 'Isn't this biological terrorism? Shouldn't they be thrown in jail?' Another person on social media said: 'Intentionally inflicting a debilitating disease on people is a horribly vicious crime and should get the strongest possible penalty.' The study authors did not conduct medical experiments or new research; their paper is a work of philosophy using ethical reasoning from moral theories and assuming meat-eating is bad. Their main findings were that promoting genetically modified ticks to spread AGS would make the world better and help people become more virtuous by avoiding meat. They also claimed this process would not violate anyone's rights, despite proposing to intentionally infect the population with a life-threatening infection.
Background on AGS and Tick Research
AGS is triggered by a bite from the lone star tick, found throughout the US from Texas to the East Coast. When a tick bites, it injects alpha-gal sugar into the body, causing the immune system to develop antibodies. Between 2017 and 2022, the CDC reported about 90,000 suspected cases of AGS, with new cases increasing by approximately 15,000 each year. The agency estimates as many as half a million Americans have AGS. The condition can complicate medical treatments involving mammal-based ingredients and currently has no cure, requiring lifelong avoidance of meat-based products.
The Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine defended the paper, published in the journal Bioethics, calling it a thought experiment. In a statement to Snopes, the school wrote: 'Thought experiments are a long-established and legitimate philosophical method. Their purpose is to examine the implications of ethical commitments and to surface hidden assumptions so they can be scrutinized. They are neither policy proposals nor clinical recommendations.'
Despite this defense, public reaction has been fierce. Critics blasted the authors for claiming meat eaters should be infected with a disease to prevent meat consumption. 'Anyone who works to spread alpha-gal should be tried for crimes against humanity,' one commenter on X said. 'Who decided it was morally wrong to eat meat? Humans are not herbivores,' another added.
Historical Context: Ticks as Weapons
Dr Robert Malone, who helped lay the groundwork for mRNA vaccine technology, claimed he analyzed declassified government documents from Cold War biological weapons programs linking the spread of Lyme disease to CIA experiments. Malone highlighted experiments in the 1960s that allegedly released more than 282,000 radioactive ticks in Virginia and open-air tick research at Plum Island, a federal laboratory near the Connecticut community where Lyme disease was first identified. Malone’s report argued the research was part of Project 112, a Cold War biological weapons program involving secret tests on using insects to spread pathogens. Operation Mongoose was allegedly carried out by planes from Air America, an airline secretly owned by the CIA.
Meanwhile, Google is facing backlash over plans to release millions of bacteria-infected mosquitoes in two states to reduce mosquito populations. Backed by Alphabet, the proposal seeks federal approval to deploy 32 million modified mosquitoes annually across California and Florida beginning in 2027. If approved, the two-year program would release 64 million mosquitoes. The aim is to reduce disease-carrying mosquito populations using males carrying a naturally occurring bacterium called Wolbachia. Male mosquitoes do not bite. When infected males mate with wild females, the females lay eggs that fail to develop, theoretically killing off new waves of pests.
