German Biologist Who Denied Measles Exists Ordered To Pay More Than $100,000

Authored by time.com and submitted by shampoo_and_dick

Four years ago, German biologist Stefan Lanka announced on his website that he would pay 100,000 euros ($106,000) to anyone who could prove measles is a virus. This week, a German court told Lanka he must now hand over the money as promised.

After Lanka posted the website announcement, fellow German doctor David Barden came forward with evidence from various different studies, proving measles is a virus. Lanka remained skeptical, saying Barden’s information proved nothing.

According to an interview with German paper Suedkurier, Lanka believes measles are “a psychosomatic illness”, causing people to fall ill “after traumatic separations.”

A court in Ravensburg ruled otherwise, saying Barden’s proof was satisfactory and ordering Lanka to pay the reward. Lanka has maintained his stance and said he plans to appeal.

Like the U.S. and many other European countries, Germany has suffered a recent outbreak of measles. The World Health Organization has called for Europe to step up vaccinations following an outbreak of 22,000 cases in the past year. The disease is highly contagious and can be fatal in severe cases, as seen with the death of an infant in Berlin last month.

Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. Choose your country United States of America Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, Democratic Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote d'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Holy See Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Monaco Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of Korea Republic of Moldova Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Virgin Islands (U.S.) Virgin Islands (British) Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Please enter a valid email address. Please select your country. I can confirm I have read and accept the Terms Of Use. Please check to proceed. Sign Up Now You may unsubscribe from email communication at any time. See our Privacy Policy for further details. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.

Write to Naina Bajekal at [email protected].

wilhelm-cruel on March 15th, 2020 at 09:09 UTC »

The article is missinformation, Lanka lost in front of the LG Ravensburg but later won after appealing on points of law infront of the OLG Stuttgart.

Whilst the LG Ravensburg ordered Lanka to pay the money he promised to Barden, the OLG dissmissed the case as Barden needed to find ONE cumulative study instead of several studies in conjunction to prove measels to be a virus as part of the bet.

Barden tried to appeal to the BGH(a higher court) but the BGH rejected the case as it wasn’t suited for its courts.

Barden is obligated to pay the cost of the trial and didn’t get the money as all the studies by their own weren’t suited to prove measels to be a virus whilst the bet was explicitly stating it needs to be proven by ONE study alone.

Lanka since then went around and used his win to further antivax propaganda telling people that there is no measels virus since the OLG decided for his side.

It is a really sad story especially because Barden has to pay for the trials and lanka makes it seem as if the courts had ruled measels to not be a virus whilst the courts ruling is based on the formalities of the bet itsself.

RunDNA on March 15th, 2020 at 04:53 UTC »

And that decision was later reversed according to Wikipedia:

This award was however overturned by the Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht) Stuttgart in 2016 as Bardens submitted several publications instead of just one as requested by Lanka.

BrokenEye3 on March 15th, 2020 at 03:46 UTC »

Fucking antivaxxers, man