Virus Denier Ordered to Pay Up

A biologist who offered €100,000 to anyone who could prove that measles is a virus must pony up, a German court says.

Written byBob Grant

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A single virion of measles virus is about 100-200 nm in diameter.WIKIMEDIA, CYNTHIA S. GOLDSMITH, CDCStefan Lanka cannot welch on his pledge to pay €100,000 (about $106,300) to anyone who can prove that measles is a virus. Lanka, a biologist who is against vaccines, made the offer on his website in 2011. German doctor David Barden took him up on it, emailing Lanka studies showing that measles is indeed a virus. But Lanka refused to pay, and Thursday (March 12) a regional court in southern Germany sided with Barden, ordering Lanka to pay up. Lanka told BBC News that he plans to appeal the ruling.

The courtroom drama unfolded as Germany grapples with a measles outbreak that has sickened more than 22,000 across Europe since 2014, according to the World Health Organization. Last month, an 18-month-old boy died of the disease in Berlin.

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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