27: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons with Kris Newby
In this episode, I spoke with Kris Newby, the author of Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons. You may be skeptical about the premise of this book but I promise there is a lot more here than a baseless conspiracy theory. Kris has top tier technical credentials and spent a large chunk of her career at Stanford. Much of her book is based on primary research, which involved Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and interviews with individuals directly involved in the biological weapons program. Most importantly, her work shows that the tragedy of Lyme disease in our medical system isn’t some movie-like conspiracy but instead, mostly made up of good people operating under bad incentives. I’ve linked to a lot of material in the show notes so check those out if you’re inclined to dig deeper.
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Timestamps
(2:25) How Kris and her family were personally affected by Lyme Disease
(8:30) Overview of Lyme Disease
(10:30) Willy Burgdorfer and his connection with Lyme Disease
(17:26) How the US bug-borne weapons program came about and what they worked on
(25:00) The misaligned incentives in government funding that create opportunity for self-inflicted harmful experiments
(32:00) The strange circumstances surrounding "The Swiss Agent"
(36:58) How a change in patent law complicated the treatment of Lyme Disease
(39:05) Lyme Disease as the prequel to COVID-19
(41:05) Science, especially in Lyme Disease, is a small club that doesn't encourage thinking outside of the established paradigm. Similarities to Alzheimer's Disease research.
(45:54) How the incentive structure of the medical-industrial complex discourages simple treatments. Similarities to COVID-19 vaccination incentive vs possible treatments.
(49:44) The incentive structure that encourages the denial of chronic disease and even penalizes physicians who come up with effective treatments using cheap antibiotics
(52:04) The suppression of Bitten by NIH and other influential groups
Links and Resources
Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons
Lyme Disease Cabal Primary Research Document Cloud (Part 1)