Pentagon Blasts Ferrets With ‘Havana Syndrome’ Waves

The US Defense Department is funding experiments on ferrets to determine if exposure to radio frequency waves could be the cause of “Havana Syndrome,” a mysterious suite of symptoms that affected hundreds of government personnel in recent years.

In September the US Army awarded Wayne State University in Michigan a $750,000 grant to conduct a year-long study of the effects of RV waves, according to a Politico report. Bad news for the subject of the experiments, ferrets, which have brains similar to humans.

Havana Syndrome – a set of symptoms described as severe headaches, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, anxiety, cognitive difficulties such as memory loss – was first experienced by State Department personnel stationed in Cuba in late 2016. Since then about 200 US diplomats, intelligence and military officers, and other government workers based around the world have reported the strange symptoms.

News of the experiments on ferrets comes at a very strange time, because this month the Director of National Intelligence said it had found no credible evidence that a foreign adversary was using anything – like radio waves – to cause the symptoms. The government instead concluded that pre-existing medical conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors were behind the symptoms.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are in the ferrets’ corner. This week PETA sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Army Secretary Christine Wormuth calling on the Army to ban tests on animals for medical research. PETA’s science policy adviser Maggie Wiśniewska wrote that the Wayne University experiment, “is not only cruel and wasteful but also, frankly, futile.

It’s all those things, and will no doubt continue unabated at least until September when that grant runs out.

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