A Jan. 2 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) features a meme showing Marge Simpson, a character from the animated sitcom "The Simpsons," staring at an airplane in the sky surrounded by contrails.
"I see respiratory illness is on the rise again!" reads text attributed to Simpson in the image.
The post was shared more than 13,000 times in four days.
Some commenters posted about their belief that contrails were connected to illnesses.
"I always tell people the air is poisonous to me and my kids," one social media user wrote. "We always have the worst sinus infections."
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The implied claim here is wrong. There is no evidence to suggest contrails are harmful to humans, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which constantly studies their air quality impact.
Contrails are the white streaks of condensed water vapor left in the sky in the wake of an aircraft or rocket.
The meme implies contrails cause respiratory illnesses, but they are "absolutely not" dangerous for humans, according to the Federal Aviation Administration's website.
The site says:
"A major portion of the water to form these particles comes from the atmosphere itself, and a small portion is from the engine exhaust. The engine exhaust contains products of...
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