Ten per cent of Americans believe the chemtrails conspiracy theory is 'completely true,' with 20 to 30 per cent believing it's 'somewhat true,' a startling new study has found.
The conspiracy theory is the idea that airliners are deliberately spraying a mixture of toxic chemicals into the atmosphere, with undisclosed goals that may have to do with weather modification or mind control, reports the Daily Mail.
However, none of this is true according to scientists, the US Environmental Protection Agency and investigative journalists.
The researchers behind the study say that the belief in the conspiracy theory makes having rational conversations about geoengineering - the deliberate manipulation of an environmental process that affects the Earth's climate in an attempt to counterract the effects of global warming - even more difficult.
According to the study, contrails are actually made up of water vapor and have been a byproduct of aviation ever since humans began to fly using jet engines.