CHEMTRAILS: KANTAS/GONTELITSAS

G. Kantas  

Professor, you recently conducted a study on airborne microparticles and you detected arsenic and other heavy metals in the atmosphere of the Athens basin. Have you examined the possibility that they might be attributable to aircraft emissions and in particular those from the aircraft that fill the sky with “white clouds”?

Would something like this be possible if we allow ourselves to think a little “conspiratorially”? Perhaps this hypothesis should be investigated. I enclose for your perusal a number of photographs I myself took and I would like you to tell me if these are natural phenomena.

T. Gontelitsas

Dear Mr. Kantas, I delayed my answer for a little so that I could inform myself on the subject  you touch on  ("chemtrails").  For a start let me emphasize that our research pertained to microparticles in the air of the city (a few metres above the ground) and not in the higher levels of the atmosphere where the so-called  trails of some aircraft appear that are said to contain nanoparticles of certain metals such as aluminium and barium.

Thus, if some such nanoparticles are being dispersed (something I truly do not know, and your e-mail enjoined me to investigate the subject also) or remain high in the atmosphere and do not descend to the earth so that we see them in our samples (we did not see unusually high levels of either aluminium or barium) or are so very tiny (formally nanoparticles) that we cannot detect them despite the extreme sensitivity of the techniques we use here and in Germany. Please note that our study, apart from pertaining, as previously mentioned, to the air of the city, had to do with with microparticles and not with nanoparticles  (1 micrometre  = 1000 nanometres). If there are indeed, apart from microparticles, ALSO nanoparticles, then a much more specialized study is required, which could be carried out by our scientific team in the future if, naturally, funding  were found (from the university or some ministry or other body or even a private individual).  The present study, at least on the subject of microparticles at a low altitude, was covered entirely  (several thousand euros) by a European programme entirely at our own initiative and in collaboration with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.  The University, the state, etc. showed not the slightest interest.  (...). Of course, as I said before, if one wanted to go from microparticles to nanoparticles, the cost would be much higher and in the event that sampling was required from higher levels of the atmosphere, higher still.  You might say that if indeed there is a serious public health problem, as surmised, from the supposed nanoparticles in the “chemtrails”, then it is worth making available not only thousands but tens of thousands of euros. That is presumably a matter for the bodies responsible for matters of atmospheric  pollution, i.e. essentially the Ministry for the Environment and Climate Change and the Ministry of Health. We as university teachers and researches cannot, and indeed are not obliged to, do anything more (if the European programme had not been approved we would not have done even what we HAVE done – essentially out of research curiosity and personal interest).  (in Greek “ευαισθησία”)  When it comes to microparticles, and also nanoparticles, the ball is in the court of the responsible authorities and they should notify citizens accordingly. If they do not have the scientific wherewithal we (in conjunction with our German colleagues) could quite well conduct the research on the proviso that we secure financial support and the project is assigned to us.

What I do not know, also, is whether other research bodies (irrespective of the fact that the responsible body should be the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change) already have programmes and funding for research, with emphasis on heavy metals and other toxic substances, in atmospheric microparticles and indeed nanoparticles, both at lower and higher levels in the atmosphere of Athens. From what I see on the Internet you have communicated with the Athens Observatory (?) as well on this subject. I would be curious to know what their reply was (…)  

I would also be curious to know whether there is a Ministry of Environment and Climate Change position or view, because at least on the subject of the microparticles in the lower layers there was a report in the daily press, based on our study, mentioning arsenic and heavy metals. Nevertheless, I reiterate that we have so far not detected (even on a small scale) particles that would indicate the presence of the aluminium and barium particles that are thought to be dispersed by the “chemtrails”.  As you understand, for particles on the nanoscale, and indeed at higher levels in the atmosphere of Athens , much further work would be needed, in conjunction with the responsible authorities  (...). For you information I link you to the full text of our study as published in the reputable scientific journal of nuclear physics Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. In the introduction to the publication you will see that there is extensive reference to the previous study carried out on the subject of atmospheric microparticles over Athens (from around 1980 and subsequently) from which likewise no evidence emerged of unusual concentrations of the metals that are said  to be attributable to “chemtrails”.  What future research might show, including specialized investigation of nanoparticles, I do not know. Finally, I would like to note that although the matter of “chemtrails” appears very frequently on the internet (around 5,550,000 results in Google), there are not any references to them at all, to date, on purely scientific sites such as the reputable site of the American Chemical Society (http://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&searchText=chemtrails&qsSearchArea=searchText).

So officially the question is not posed, and let us hope that future research on nanoparticles will show, at least for the region of Athens, where we live, that this is the reality of the situation. Until then my advice would be not to worry about the “chemtrails”.  There is enough, and more than enough, to affect your health in the remaining atmospheric particles, which do not come from mysterious sources but are the outcome of the modern Greek’s love of cement, tiles, excessive building density, arson in the forests, driving automobiles and riding motorcycles with defective exhausts (I, for one, rarely get a normal night’s sleep in the suburb of Zografou where I live).

I hope I have been of some help.  

T. Gontelitsas.

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