Masters of Health Magazine November 2025 | Page 81

Lyme disease is not simply an infection.  It is a lens into the consequences of manipulating biology without accountability. As we confront the obfuscated crisis of Lyme and other chronic infections, it becomes evident that bioengineering in pathogens and genetic engineering in food are part of the same continuum of unregulated biotechnology. Both alter life’s blueprints, both evade oversight, and both are creating a legacy of ecological and human suffering.

In her groundbreaking book, Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons, science journalist Kris Newby details how US biowarfare research programs, including work at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana, experimented with spirochetes to alter virulence and transmission. The intention of these manipulations, although unclear, likely spawned Borrelia burgdorferi, the stealth pathogen now linked to millions of chronic infections worldwide. The same recombinant DNA methods used in agricultural GMOs were being applied in microbial genetics at the time.

“When we manipulate genes for profit or power, the consequences ripple through ecosystems, our children, and future generations.”

Lyme rarely acts alone. It often coexists with Bartonella, Babesia, Ehrlichia, Mycoplasma, Rickettsiae, and viruses such as Powassan, all of which exacerbate inflammation and neuroimmune dysfunction. These infections disrupt the immune system through biofilm formation, cytokine storms, and molecular mimicry, while simultaneously impairing gut barrier integrity; a condition known as ‘leaky gut.’ This state of immune chaos parallels the chronic inflammation seen in individuals exposed to genetically engineered foods and glyphosate residues.

Despite their shared roots in biotechnology, genetically modified foods and engineered pathogens are regulated separately by the USDA, EPA, FDA, NIH, and DOD, none of which coordinate holistic biosafety. This fragmented oversight allows both agricultural and biomedical engineering to advance without unified accountability.

The same regulatory capture that shields agri-tech corporations has also protected infectious disease gatekeepers, such as the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA), whose restrictive guidelines have left millions of chronic Lyme patients untreated.

Just as the FDA dismisses independent research on GMO toxicity, the IDSA dismisses clinicians and patients suffering from persistent Lyme. Both systems denied chronic exposure or chronic infection, labelled dissenting experts as “fringe,” protecting corporate and institutional interests over public health.  The pattern created is systemic and taken directly from the GMO playbook: create complexity, deny chronicity, and suppress those questioning the government/corporate narrative.

Lyme Disease is the modern plague that never shouldn’t have been. It is now one of the fastest-growing infectious diseases in the United States, with the CDC estimating up to 3 million cases annually when underreporting is considered.

Although black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis and I. pacificus) are the best-known carriers, Borrelia DNA has been detected in a variety of other insects, suggesting other forms of transmission.  This fact is little known in mainstream medicine and leaves those with Lyme disease unclear as to how they were infected when consulting with their physicians who just believe that the tick is the only vector of Lyme.

The following graph demonstrates that there are many other potential vectors of Lyme disease which should increase our awareness when facing those with multi- system complaints and health challenges.