It has an annual budget of well over $11 billion. It is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is the main national public health institute of the United States of America. It is a federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services. It has its base in Atlanta, Georgia. The CDC has been the center of several controversies. One of these is that it has a self-destruct mode that allows it to annihilate itself if the condition calls for it.
But is this true? Does the CDC have a self-destruct mode? Well, the answer to that question is no. As a matter of fact, the CDC does not have anything of that nature. This may not be the answer that many conspiracy theorists will like but that is the truth.
What Is The CDC?
Now is the time to talk about the reaction of the CDC to the news of its having a self-destruct mode. But it will be good to give more details on the CDC itself. Established on the 1st of July 1946, the CDC was preceded by several health agencies. These are the Office of National Defense Malaria Control and National Communicable Disease Center. Others are the Center for Disease Control and the Office of Malaria Control in War.
As stated earlier, it is a very massive institution. It has almost 11,000 employees and its yearly budget for the financial year 2018 alone stood at over $11 billion. The CDC has a primary purpose. This is to ensure there is the protection of the public from all sorts of health challenges. This it does by making use of many strategies.
These strategies include the control and prevention of disease, injury, and disability. This it does not only in the United States of America but all over the globe actually.
As a body, the CDC sets its eyes on letting everyone in the country know more about many things. These include how to control and prevent diseases. This is why it spends a lot of resources on microorganisms and infectious diseases. Others are environmental health, health promotion, occupational safety, and health.
Others include working on the prevention of injuries and the promotion of health. Countless educational and information-driven programs and strategies are rolled out by the CDC. They are all geared towards making life better for all the citizens of the United States of America.
There is more apart from all that have been mentioned earlier. The CDC is also into the research of diseases that are not infectious. These are especially medical conditions like diabetes and obesity.
How Did The CDC React To The Self-Destruct News?
As a public agency, the CDC was very swift in reacting to the news that it has a secret self-destruct plan. The denial came from Karen Hunter. She is the spokeswoman for the CDC. She explained that it is true that the agency has put some safeguards in place. But an explosive technique is definitely not one of them.
She explained further that the safeguards have been put in place for good reason. This is to ensure that the agency could swing into action during emergencies. She said the safeguards were not in any way to prepare for the end of the planet and humanity.
Where Did The Idea Of CDC Having A Self-Destruct Come From?
The CDC has come out to deny the existence of any self-destruct plan. But that has not stopped the murmurs. It is also interesting to know where the rumor all came from in the first place. The whole idea of the CDC having a self-destruct strategy has an interesting source. It is the AMC hit series named ‘The Walking Dead’.
In the series, zombies that lived on human flesh overran the city of Atlanta. In one of the scenes, those who survived the zombie onslaught decided to seek protection at the CDC. It was at that point that they got the shock of their lives. They discovered that the CDC was on total lockdown and primed for explosion.
The depiction was that if the backup generators finally ended up failing, the next step would pop up. That is the activation of a device that worked like a hydrogen bomb. This explosive device that was to be at the heart of the self-destruct plan for the CDC. Although it sounds horrible, many viewers found the idea fascinating. Many others decided to run with the idea. They believed that the CDC has a real-life plan to annihilate itself.
The show is a very popular one. It has millions of viewers dedicated to it. Hence, it is no surprise at all that many people came to believe that the CDC had some sinister plans. This also led to some curious minds to actually decide to find out if it was existing for real.
If Cdc Has No Self-Destruct Mode, What Does It Have?
According to the spokeswoman of the CDC, it does have some safeguards in place. But the agency does not have any self-destruct mode in place. For instance, there are plans in place to evacuate some of its selected workers. That is if the CDC faces serious problems. They are then taken to a new venue from where they can continue their operations.
There have been cases where the generators meant for backup stopped working. This happened on at least two occasions. The first was when lightning struck and wreaked havoc in the middle of 2007. Another was in the middle of 2008. A bird attack ended up disrupting all power supply to some of the CDC facilities.
Are There Other Controversies Surrounding The CDC?
Well, it will interest you to know that the self-destruct news is one of many. There are other controversies that have been linked to the CDC. In the section below are some of the most prominent controversies in relation to the CDC.
1. Untreated Syphilis Experiment in Black Men
This particular controversy is now called the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. In it, the accusation was that the CDC used black men as guinea pigs.
The so-called research started in 1932 and went on for 40 years. Almost 400 black men who had syphilis were reportedly used for the experiment. In this experiment, the men were not given treatment for their condition. To make things worse, they did not give any consent to be used as guinea pigs. That means that they did not even know that they were being used as guinea pigs for the nefarious study.
The Tuskegee Study commenced in 1932. Then the launch was as an initiative of the Public Health Service. By the year 1957, the CDC was in charge of it.
2. Lead In Drinking Water
In the year 2001, the shocking news went out. Thousands of children were affected by the contamination of drinking water with lead. This happened in Washington DC. It was very shocking indeed. Professor Marc Edwards reported real tragedy. The level of lead found in the corroded pipes was at least 83 times more. That was more than what was accepted as a safe limit by the authorities.
It was later discovered that it was the switch from chlorine to chloramine that led to the astronomical rise in the level of lead. These chemicals are used for the treatment of water.
As expected, the CDC came under intense pressure and fire from the public. The United States House of Representatives commenced an investigation. It did not turn out well for the CDC. The discovery showed that the CDC had misbehaved over the matter. The agency had stated earlier that there was nothing to worry about the very high levels of lead in the water.
This issue was sorted in 2004 as extra treatments were added to the drinking water. This ensured that chloramine did not break down the lead in water pipes and other plumbing parts. The CDC would later make more revelations. About 15,000 homes in the region could still be having harmful levels of lead in their drinking water. This issue has brought nothing but constant bashing and controversy to the CDC.
3. Zombie Controversy
Another issue that the CDC has been engulfed in is the case of a zombie invasion. This happened way back in the middle of 2011. That year, a blog that belonged to the CDC released an explosive piece. The piece was on tips on how the public should react if there was ever a scenario where zombies invaded. The piece itself did not even say that there was going to be an invasion of the living dead. But that did not stop it from going viral in a short period of time. And as it went viral, more questions were raised.
An official said that the concept came up when they were talking about natural disasters. It was during the discussion that they decided to throw in the idea of the zombie apocalypse too.
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