Health Agency Debunks Wild Claim That Fauci Carried Out Experiment to Terrify Monkeys

It turns out that alt-right claims that Anthony Fauci carried out an experiment to terrify some monkeys are—shockingly—not true. The ridiculous claim has gained traction in anti-Fauci online spaces in recent months. The most high-profile pusher of the conspiracy, Candace Owens, wrote on Twitter in October: “Reading through Fauci’s experiments and the one I find most alarming is the use of an acid to destroy a region of monkeys’ brains to magnify terror. They then simulated images of spiders and tormented them with fear.” Fact-checkers at Reuters reported that controversial research aimed at “eliciting and magnifying fear in monkeys” has taken place, but Fauci had nothing to do with it. The National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH] told Reuters the study was carried out by their organization, not Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases [NIAID.] A spokesperson for the NIMH said Fauci “is not involved and has never been involved in this study,” and confirmed that the controversial study “was not funded by NIAID.”