Sometimes reality turns out to be no less strange than fiction. IFLScience has collected some of the most famous conspiracy theories that happened in reality.
Cruel CIA experiments
The CIA is featured in many conspiracy theories. And there are very real reasons for this agency's dark reputation. The MK-ULTRA project, which took place from 1953 to 1964 and included more than 150 experiments on humans, received publicity.
The goal was to find new ways to "discredit people, obtain information and other forms of mental control," and the researchers were looking for the "perfect drug" that would help extract information from captured spies.
Some of the experiments contradicted the laws and principles of ethics. Some test subjects were immersed in a narcotic coma for up to 88 days, shocked repeatedly, placed in dark chambers, and forced to listen to the same phrases recorded on tape for up to 16-20 hours a day for several weeks.
It is certainly not known how these experiments ended, most of the documents of the program were deliberately destroyed in 1973. Two deaths and one hospitalization of the participants in the experiments were confirmed.
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Tobacco lobby
We now know for sure that smoking increases the risk of stroke, lung disease, cardiovascular disease, infertility and many different cancers.
However, for a long time, tobacco manufacturers have tried to convince everyone that cigarettes do not cause any harm. The advertisements, which ran from the 1920s to the 1960s, smoked both women and children. People in white coats told magazines that certain brands of cigarettes cannot even irritate the throat.
The "tobacco lobby" has featured in a variety of conspiracy theories. Later it turned out that it really existed. In 2006, a seven-year trial ended in the United States. The court concluded that for over 50 years the major cigarette manufacturers "lied, distorted reality and deceived the public."
It follows from the court's decision that cigarette manufacturers "obstructed research and destroyed documents" related to the harm of smoking. In addition, they manipulated the use of nicotine so as to increase the addiction of smokers. They also distorted information about light cigarettes in order to prevent smokers from getting rid of the bad habit.
Sugar lobby
Tobacco makers are not alone in their history of unethical behavior. The sugar industry, too, has hid research results for years and bribed scientists to keep awkward research from making public.
For example, in 1967, sugar producers paid scientists to downplay the link between sugar and the development of cardiovascular disease. They published a study in a reputable journal in which they named fatty foods, not sugar, as the main cause of cardiovascular disease.
One of the scientists who received the money, Mark Hegsted, later became director of nutrition at the USDA and was responsible for developing government dietary guidelines. Another study author, Frederick Steer, later became head of the nutrition department at Harvard University.
From 2011 to 2015, the Coca-Cola and PepsiCo Companies sponsored 95 national healthcare organizations in the United States. The mission of many of them was to contain the obesity epidemic, which is associated with the popularity of soda. In addition, manufacturers opposed 29 bills that were aimed at reducing the consumption of sugary drinks.
US government secretly studied UFOs
On the Internet for a long time there have been tales about the "secret archives of the CIA," where "the whole truth about aliens" is hidden. In early 2017, the US Central Intelligence Agency posted declassified documents from the past half century on the Internet - and there are indeed quite a few UFO sightings reported there.
There were two documents in the archive called "UFO Photo" without detailed text comments. Also, the department kept a detailed report entitled “Evidence of UFOs. Identified Flying Objects”, which was compiled by the National Committee on Aeronautical Events (NICAP) in 1964. Among them are the words of police officers, astronomers, scientists, the military, as well as photographs and radar data - a total of 575 cases over 23 years. There is nothing in the declassified archives about contacts with alien civilizations.
From 2007 to 2012, the Pentagon allocated $ 22 million for the classified Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). According to The New York Times, her goal was also to analyze reports of unidentified flying objects. The program was initiated by several high-ranking officials who were convinced that aliens did exist and that they were visiting Earth. Ultimately, the study went nowhere and the program was closed - at least according to the official version.
Artificial diseases
Fans of conspiracy theories sometimes argue that cures for incurable diseases have been created, but someone restricts access to them. Among similar confirmed cases is a small "Tuskegee study." It began in 1932 and was supposed to provide scientists with data on how syphilis progresses without treatment.
The study recruited 600 poor black peasants from Macon County, Alabama. 399 were already sick with syphilis, 201 did not. For participation in the study, everyone was promised free medical care, food and funeral fees in case of death.
Fifteen years later, by 1947, a remedy for syphilis was found - it became clear that penicillin helped with the disease. However, instead of curing sick volunteers, the scientists simply continued the experiment. Officials insisted that research should not be completed until "all subjects have died and have been dissected."
The study continued for another 25 years. Many patients were prevented from being treated with penicillin so that doctors could watch the development of the fatal disease. During this time, most of the volunteers died: out of 399 men, 28 died from syphilis, 100 from related complications. 40 people infected their wives, 19 of them gave birth to children with a congenital disease.
The experiment was stopped only in 1972 after the story hit the press. Investigations and trials began. Tuskegee's research has been hailed as "the longest non-therapeutic human experiment in the history of medicine." True, the last leader of the experiment claimed to the end that he had not violated moral principles. After the American authorities paid $ 9 million in compensation to the surviving participants in the experiment and their descendants.
A similar experiment took place in the 1940s in Guatemala, when doctors deliberately infected healthy people.
Overpriced
There are theories about collusion of manufacturers who, for their own benefit, agree to support the production of low-quality, short-lived and expensive goods. One large-scale price conspiracy was confirmed in 2008 - the oil companies agreed among themselves.
Then the European Commission fined 9 of the leading oil companies in Europe 676 million euros (955 million dollars) for cartel, calling it a "paraffin mafia".
British-Dutch Shell, French Total, American Exxon Mobil, German RWE, Italian ENI, Spanish Repsol and others agreed among themselves. These companies were found guilty of overpricing paraffin waxes used to make candles, paper cups, chewing gum and product wax coatings.
“There is not a single household in Europe that has not suffered from this cartel, from the 'paraffin mafia', which allowed itself to set high prices through collusion. This is a very flagrant violation of EU antitrust laws, and all companies knew it,”European Commissioner Nili Cruz told Reuters at the time.