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PCR tests aren't about testing for Covid-19, they are cloning devices. PCR testing works by creating copies of a particular section of DNA, but there’s no evidence that PCR tests are being used or would be used to clone entire humans. PCR tests are effective at testing for Covid-19. A video shared to Facebook falsely claims that PCR tests are being used for human cloning rather than for testing for Covid-19. The video claims that PCR kits have never been about testing for Covid ... they are cloning devices. It also states: This has been admitted to by the NIH [National Institutes for Health]. It’s on their website in a study entitled 'molecular cloning polymerase chain reaction: an educational guide for cellular engineering’. The study in question is a real paper published in 2015, but it does not show that PCR tests are used as cloning devices for human cloning. The video also makes a number of unevidenced claims and suggests PCR tests are used to edit DNA and transplant insect DNA into humans who have taken the tests. This is not true. Stay informed Be first in line for the facts – get our free weekly email Subscribe PCR stands for polymerase chain reaction - a laboratory technique which works by producing billions of copies of a specific genetic fragment, allowing it to be analysed in greater detail. The NHS explains how this process is used in Covid-19 testing. It says: The PCR test detects the genetic material in the [Covid-19] virus called RNA. When the sample reaches the lab, a solution known as a ‘reagent’ is added to it. If there is virus present this reagent starts a ‘chain reaction’ and creates billions of copies of the genetic material in the virus so that there is enough that it can be detected and analysed by scientists to provide a positive result. PCR is the gold standard test for SARS-CoV-2 as mandated by the World Health Organisation and UK Health Security Agency (formerly Public Health England). Like all tests, there are some false negatives and false positive results associated with PCR testing, however overall it is thought to be very effective. We have previously written about how PCR tests work, and how effective they are. The video refers to a paper published in the Journal of Biological Engineering in 2015. This paper looked at how the PCR method could be used for gene cloning—making copies of pieces of DNA—but did not explore reproductive cloning, which concerns the production of genetically identical beings. Sayed Shahabuddin Hoseini, who co-authored the paper, told Reuters that the gene cloning explored in the paper, and reproductive cloning, were two completely different concepts. Reproductive cloning works by taking a cell from an animal and implanting it into an empty egg, to then develop into an embryo with the same genetic code as the original animal. While scientists have carried out successful animal cloning, there’s no evidence that a human has ever been successfully cloned, and human cloning is banned in some countries, including the UK. The video claims that DNA from microorganisms contained in PCR tests is used to change humans, and that the testing process is actually being done to carry out genetic sequencing to assess how far along people are in the cloning process. There’s no evidence that this is happening, and even if it was, the process described here is not a process through which reproductive cloning could be achieved. The video goes on to claim that the tests are attempting to genetically modify humans and that they are turning people into hybridised humans with insect DNA. Genetic modification is not the same as cloning and there’s no evidence that gene modification is taking place through PCR testing. The video specifically refers to a green fluorescent protein found in fireflies being in PCR tests and responsible for turning people part-insect. Putting aside the fact that being swabbed with a firefly extract would not turn you part-insect, firefly extract is not present on PCR swabs. Fireflies glow by a chemical reaction involving substances called luciferin and luciferase, which, have prompted misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines which we have covered before, partly due to their names, from which some have drawn satanic links. The mention of fluorescence may tangentially refer to the fact that other fluorescent dyes are used in the PCR process to detect Covid-19. But these dyes are added in the laboratory at the point of analysis, not to the swab itself. Image courtesy of Prasesh Shiwakoti This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because PCR testing works by creating copies of a particular section of DNA, but there’s no evidence that PCR tests would be used to clone entire humans.
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