So they 'dropped ticks on Hiroshima from airplanes'!

This summer, news of deaths from ticks and Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) continues to be a recurring theme. Yesterday, İHA (İhlas News Agency) ran a story titled, "They can't go out due to fear of ticks! Nature's eyes have fallen into silence."

If true, the media undoubtedly plays a role in the disproportionate fear people in Sivas have regarding ticks. This is because, in recent years, reports of deaths from CCHF—a disease carried by ticks—have been followed by stories claiming that "ticks could be used as biological weapons."

I am not sure if it was the first, but in 2006, based on a doctor named Fatih Karayandı, news stories titled "Ticks are biological weapons" were published in Hürriyet and several other news sites. By 2008, the rumors had spread so widely that the Ministry of Health was forced to deny the "biological weapon" claims.

However, the denials from the ministry and experts could not prevent the production of various conspiracy theories on the subject, nor the news stories that fueled these theories. In a 2019 report by Türkiye newspaper, Prof. Dr. Ayşen Gargılı Keleş stated, "Ticks can be used as biological weapons, but it is difficult to implement in nature. We cannot predict whether they will hit their target." She also emphasized that they had not encountered any such findings in Turkey, yet the headline of the story was still "Ticks can be used as biological weapons"!

Has biological warfare begun?

Years have passed, but Türkiye newspaper did not back down from its claim this year, publishing a story titled, "The new face of biological warfare: the tick." It is such an assertive story that readers might think a biological war using ticks has already begun in Turkey.

The story began by stating, "The rapid increase in ticks carrying the CCHF virus in Turkey has brought concerns to the agenda. Experts pointed out that infected ticks could be bred in laboratories and turned into biological weapons, saying, 'Regional struggle is essential.'" The report was based on the comments of two academics regarding the idea that "ticks could be used as biological weapons."

However, there was no information in the story indicating that ticks were actually being used as biological weapons. Yet, if ticks are not being used as biological weapons in Turkey, then there is effectively no story.

Furthermore, the experts I consulted pointed out that the "Hyalomma marginatum" tick, which carries CCHF in our country, is a species that has been adapted to this region for centuries; they emphasized that the increase in ticks is primarily due to global warming and climate change. Stating that tick-borne diseases are more prevalent in the US and the Balkans than in Turkey, they said, "Ticks exist all over the world. If ticks could be biological weapons, then all animals could be used. We have no information suggesting that ticks are being used as weapons."

A striking aspect of the story in Türkiye newspaper was the inclusion of the claim that "ticks produced in US laboratories were released from airplanes onto Japanese soldiers as biological weapons before the nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima." This claim was voiced by Assoc. Prof. Dr. İbrahim Akın Temizer, but he provided no source. I searched and researched, but I could not find any incident involving ticks being dropped on Hiroshima from airplanes!

Prof. Dr. Azap responded with a smile

In fact, there have been many rumors and claims for a long time that ticks and similar insects are used as biological weapons. But there is no proven or documented case. Moreover, it is impossible to control ticks after they are dropped somewhere, or to direct them toward a specific place or group of people. It is also impossible to predict their impact.

Prof. Dr. Alpay Azap, President of the Turkish Medical Association and a faculty member at Ankara University's Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, also met my question about "ticks being dropped on Hiroshima from airplanes" with a smile; he replied that there is no information suggesting such an event ever occurred.

Additionally, while the Türkiye newspaper story refers to Temizer as being "from Fırat University," he actually retired from the Faculty of Science's Department of Zoology some time ago. Furthermore, ticks are not his area of expertise.

Let us be clear: the story "The new face of biological warfare: the tick" is the type of report that worries people with conspiracy theories created based on mere possibilities. There is no reason to scare people like this.

A journalist should not believe without questioning

No information provided, even by an academic, should be published without being questioned and passed through a filter of reason. If a journalist does not view even the claim that ticks were dropped from airplanes on Hiroshima before the atomic bomb with skepticism, then their journalistic reflexes have weakened.

The problem is not just the reporter's belief; the editors at Türkiye newspaper did not question this outlandish story at all. In fact, many news sites like Odatv and Muhalif quoted this conspiracy story verbatim without any doubt.

About 10 days before the "The new face of biological warfare: the tick" story, İHA had also run a report where the Sivas Chamber of Agriculture President Hacı Çetindağ said "ticks could be biological weapons." Just like the story in Türkiye newspaper, the İHA report was used by Yeni Akit, Haber Global, and many other news sites without any questioning. There was neither evidence nor research in that story either. The news sites did not care that it was just one person's conspiracy theory.

We are in such a state that whether it is a conspiracy theory, a claim, or gossip—whatever it may be—it is immediately turned into news, quoted, and spread, regardless of who says it. There is no checking, no questioning.

We have no right to scare people like this. A journalist provides information; they do not manufacture conspiracy theories.