Fox and Friends hosts Jedediah Bila and Pete Hegseth discussed the Lyme weaponization investigation amendment written by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) and recently passed by the House of Representatives in July.

  Author Kris Newby, Stanford Medical School science writer and author of the recent book "Bitten," was a guest on the show.

  Smith's amendment was unanimously attached to the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act in a voice vote. The Smith amendment directs the Inspector General (IG) of the Department of Defense to investigate the “possible involvement of DOD biowarfare labs in the weaponization of Lyme disease in ticks and other insects”  from 1950-1975. 

  According to Smith, he was “inspired to write the amendment”—now part of the House-passed 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)—by “a number of books and articles suggesting that significant research had been done at U.S. government facilities including Fort Detrick, Maryland and Plum Island, New York to turn ticks and other insects into bioweapons.”

    During debate on the floor, Smith said that, “The most recent book—Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons—includes interviews with Dr. Willy Burgdorfer—the researcher who is credited with discovering Lyme disease.  The book reveals that Dr. Burgdorfer was a bioweapons specialist. Those interviews combined with access to Dr. Burgdorfer’s lab files suggest that he and other bioweapons specialists stuffed ticks with pathogens to cause severe disability, disease—even death—to potential enemies.”

    Cases of Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases exploding in the United States—with an estimated 300,000 to 437,000 new cases diagnosed each year and 10-20 percent of all patients suffering from chronic Lyme disease—and Smith told his colleagues he believed Americans have a right to know if the allegations were true.

This story aired several times on Fox News Channel on the weekend of July 21-22, 2019, and was posted online at:
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6062378683001/#sp=show-clips