Manowce of science: the German court has proved that the measles virus does not exist

There is so much nonsense that you quickly find them almost everywhere, where there is a discussion on a given topic. The rare one, however, is so bearingy and has such an interesting explanation as the nonsense titled Fri. "The German court ruled that the measles virus does not exist!"

"Attention! Attention! Pass on "- writes the online confidant Jerzy Zięba on the website of" The Secret Vatican Archives ".

It's good, right? And this is just the beginning:

Today, on the basis of the analysis of scientific research, the verdict of the Supreme Court of Germany was published: measles virus DOES NOT EXIST! And what about other viruses? Millions of children around the world have been vaccinated with vaccines against a viral disease that does not exist. No one knows exactly how many children have been permanently damaged or even died due to the use of these vaccines.

Let's pass over the fact that the charlatan unknown to Zięba is confusing the virus with the disease caused by this virus. Searching Google for keywords related to the German court and virus shows that the information has been picked up by all anti-vaccine and more or less popular media. The statement about the "German court ruling that the measles virus is a scam" appears not only in articles but also in an infinite number of comments, most often in the form similar to the classic one:

A lady from the National Institute of Hygiene, I advise you to learn and orientate yourself in the subject. The German court has long ruled that the measles virus was invented on behalf of Big Pharm, so let us not spread ignorance. There was no outbreak of disease, only parasites and acidification of the body.

How was it really? As usual, quite different.

Do you remember people who do not believe in the existence of HIV ? One of them is German "denialist AIDS" and anti-vaccine, Stefan Lanka, a biologist by profession. He announced in 2011 that he would pay 100,000 euro reward to whoever sends him an article proving the existence of a measles virus, along with its diameter. The plant was due to Lanka's belief that measles is actually skin irritation caused by poisoning the body. You know, typical "food cures us" and "poison in water".

Doctor David Bardens (also German) reported at the beginning of 2012, giving six publications proving the existence and description of the physical properties of the virus. The number of publications published by Bardens is important here, because it helped Lance to avoid paying the offered amount.

In 2014, Bardens won at the local court (German Landgericht) in Ravensburg. Of course, Lanka appealed to the higher court. Meanwhile, nice people protecting their babies against autism so harassed Bardens that, as the local newspaper reported , he had to rent protection.

Lanka, scared that he lost, and the time required by the court to pay passes, de facto he paid the money, but at the same time continued the judicial battle. In the regional court in Stuttgart (and therefore not in the highest, as Zięba writes), he finally won - using a legal trick. Thanks to the ambiguity of the eine words in German, he proved that the competition rules required exactly one publication, not six. Eine can mean both a numeral collective and an indefinite article that can be interpreted more or less as any significant or some . The court admitted Lance this time.

What does this mean for measles virus?

The existence of measles virus is not a threat to this judgment. On the contrary - experts who were called before the court in the lower instance stated that the existence and size of the virus are confirmed by the given tests. Of course, the court itself will not be in charge of arguing or doubting the existence of a virus, it only considered the case of the establishment. And he decided that Bardens conditions of the establishment had not fulfilled.

Letters and scientific articles mostly deal with the answer to one specific question. If we are investigating the size of the virus, we do not deal with other matters (although the study of the size of the virus obviously assumes awareness of its existence).

I wonder what Stefan Lanka was hoping for? Probably that his website is read only by his followers with similar views. What did he want to achieve in this way? Perhaps only sowing doubt in science and confusion - if that was the case, he succeeded. An easy-to-write verbal cliché was created, which is now used at every step and has lost any connection with the facts:

Manowce of science: the German court has proved that the measles virus does not exist