Ultra-resistant, ultra-stable and ultra-conductive, graphene promises to revolutionize the aerospace, energy and medical industries. But because of its novelty and its immense potential, this nanomaterial is also the object in the world of countless messages of disinformation from anti-vaccines.
What is this “miracle” material?
Often referred to as a “miracle material”, graphene is among the lightest discovered to date. Composed of carbon, it was identified in 1947, but isolated only in 2004 by the Dutchman Andre Geim and the Russo-Briton Konstantin Novoselov, which in 2010 earned them the Nobel Prize in physics.
This material has unique chemical and physical properties, which makes it a “Most promising for the technologies of the future”, explains to theAFP the Argentinian researcher Marcelo Mariscal, specialist in nanotechnologies.
Graphene is the subject of research for the manufacture of very high sensitivity sensors, flexible electronic devices, in particular for cars, airplanes and satellites. It stores energy very easily, making it a material of choice for car batteries.
It could also have outlets in construction and medicine, in particular as a vector for gene therapies, molecular medicine and vaccines.
Why is it scary for antivax?
As has already been the case with 5G and microchip technologies, graphene is the subject of many “Trojan Horse” conspiracy theories. According to these theories, governments or personalities would seek to remotely “control” people through materials injected through vaccines against. the Covid-19, or track their movements by GPS.
These rumors arose in the spring of 2021 after Canada withdrew medical masks containing graphene from the market due to possible health risks.
A month later, while anti-virus vaccination campaigns are in full swing in Europe, the United States and progressing in Latin America and elsewhere in the world, users of social networks accuse, without scientific basis, the vaccine of having them ” magnetized ”.
The videos cross borders in order to “demonstrate” that the anticovid vaccines contain supposedly “secret” and harmful ingredients, including graphene, in order, in particular, to, according to them, “control the will” of people thanks to magnetic properties.
Others claim, still without scientific proof, that graphene oxide, a derivative, is present in vaccines and “alters the electromagnetic field” of people, which can cause their death.
Why are these fears unfounded?
None of the anticovid vaccines licensed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the composition of which is publicly available, contains graphene or graphene oxide.
Neither graphene nor graphene oxide has natural magnetic properties, say scientists interviewed by theAFP.
“It is only magnetic under very specific laboratory conditions […] under natural conditions it loses its magnetic properties ”, emphasizes Diego Peña from the Center for Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials Research in Spain.
Graphene and graphene oxide are also the subject of research for biomedical purposes, but “These are model studies in phases of fundamental science, which are still far from being applied”, explain Marcelo Mariscal.
Regarding masks sold in Canada, their sale has resumed after a study showed that “Graphene particles […] are not released by these masks in amounts liable to cause harmful effects on the lungs ”.
Why is this rumor still flourishing?
For Marcelo Mariscal, “All the expectations of the press and the market vis-à-vis a material that promises to revolutionize the industry – as steel or polymer materials did in their time – make it a target” of choice for conspirators.
“Research that raises a lot of hope has a problem: people want to see the effects very quickly”, emphasizes Ester Vazquez Fernandez-Pacheco, from the Regional Institute of Applied Scientific Research (IRICA) of Castile and Mancha, Spain.
Or “Any technological development requires many years […] and this idea unfortunately does not spread effectively ”, she emphasizes.
“The material is known, everyone knows it is real, but not everyone can understand how we work with it”, it is therefore “Very easy to make people believe things without any scientific basis”.
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