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The polio if the animal would get sick. They took brain that all virologists and infectious disease people

story tissue from people who had died or spinal cord agree with, they said, “We can’t prove it’s an
material from people who were paralyzed, and infection; therefore, we’re going to discard the
illustrates a they essentially ground them up in a blender way we prove it.” And they were off to the races.
fork in the and had monkeys drink it. None of the monkeys
road. They got sick. Next they tried injecting the mixture COVID-19 AND THE PCR TEST
subcutaneously in the arms of monkeys. None
Obviously, there’s something happening
said, “We got sick. But these folks were determined—I’ve now, some kind of illness, and it may even be
can’t prove heard that later in the twentieth century scien- something new—some say yes and some say
it’s an tists used over five hundred thousand monkeys no. Let’s say it is new. So again, my first ques-
infection; to try to prove this! tion—the first layer of the story—is whether
In the early 1900s, using two monkeys, there is even an infectious etiology. Someone
therefore, researchers took the diseased spinal cord of a might say, “Well, if it’s not infectious and it’s
we’re going paralyzed child, ground it up, drilled holes in the not a virus, what’s the cause?” However, that
to discard monkeys’ skulls and injected one-quarter cup would be the wrong question to ask.
of this unpurified, diseased spinal material in
Here’s why. Imagine that I go running
the way we the monkeys’ brains. One died, and one became around the track every morning, and the inside
prove it.” paralyzed—and this became the proof that polio of the track is grass. One morning, I show up and
was a transmissible disease. My conclusion is a five-story-high boulder is lying on the grass
that if you’re a monkey and someone wants to covering half the track, but underneath, the
drill a hole in your skull and inject a quarter cup ground and grass is perfectly normal—no hole,
of diseased spinal material in your brain, your no crater, no nothing. I would think, “That’s
best bet is to run away. weird.” Then imagine I hear on the news that a
Interestingly, there’s another poison that meteor fell from the sky and landed on the foot-
affects that same part of the brain called DDT. ball field, and that’s why this boulder is there.
Chemical companies introduced DDT in the I would say to myself, “I don’t believe that, be-
1940s. Subsequently, there was an increase in cause if a meteor fell from the sky, there would
polio, with the biggest outbreak ever occurring be a big hole or at least it would have bothered
in 1952 in Detroit (which happens to be where I the grass.” In other words, my first step would
was growing up in the late 1950s). By this time, be to say, “I don’t believe that story.” Now, it
the electron microscope had been invented. isn’t up to me at that point to think, “Well, Tom,
However, when scientists examined people how do you think the boulder got there?” I don’t
who got polio, only 51 percent had evidence of know. Maybe the fairies put it there, or maybe
a virus while the other 49 percent didn’t. What someone with a forklift put it there. I don’t know
happened to that 49 percent? because I wasn’t there, but I can still tell you that
Obviously, the whole thing is a bit crazy, I don’t believe this story.
yet the same scenario has played out with many There’s another part of the Covid-19 story
other diseases—hepatitis C, SARS, H1N1, that needs to be addressed. People are told
Ebola, Zika and so forth. For none of these have there’s a test and they’re saying, “All right,
scientists carried out the steps for or proved Tom, we didn’t use Koch’s postulates, but we
Koch’s postulates. have a test that proves that Covid-19 is from
The polio story illustrates a fork in the road. this coronavirus.” However, if you ask people
Scientists essentially said: “We know it’s an what the test is, most cannot answer the ques-
infection, but we can’t find it, so we have one tion. The test, called an RT-PCR test, is a “sur-
of two choices. We can either acknowledge that rogate test” (see sidebar, page 45). The PCR
we can’t find it and can’t provide it, or we can test was invented in 1983 by Kary Mullis, who
say that the rules of engagement—that is, those received a Nobel prize in chemistry a decade
postulates—are wrong.” Despite the fact that later for inventing it. To perform the test, you
the postulates provide a very specific technique use a swab to get a piece of DNA or RNA (if it’s
44 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2020