Fact check: 'Adrenochrome' keg shown in post is art, not product of Heineken and Shell
The claim: Heineken and Shell transported kegs of ‘adrenochrome’
A Feb. 25 Facebook post (direct link, archived link) features an image of a metal keg marked with a red stripe and the word “ADRENOCHROME.”
“Nqthing tq see here (sic),” reads the post’s caption. “Adrenochrome was transported worldwide in the barrels of the Dutch company Heineken. The barrels were transported by the Dutch oil company Shell.”
The post was shared more than 700 times in a month. Other versions of the claim using the same image are circulating on Twitter and Telegram.
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Our rating: False
The kegs pictured in the posts were created by artist Natalie Lambert as part of an installation exhibited at the University of Arts London in 2018. Representatives for Shell and Heineken told USA TODAY neither company has ever produced or transported adrenochrome.
Posts show kegs created for art installation
Adrenochrome is a chemical compound produced from adrenaline, a hormone secreted by the body's adrenal glands that initiates the fight-or-flight response.
The image of the adrenochrome kegs circulated on multiple Telegram channels used by followers of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, which claims there is a satanic cabal of global elites taking part in an international child sex trafficking ring.
Fact check: Sculpture is evidence of antisemitic 'blood libel,' not false QAnon theory
Many QAnon followers erroneously believe powerful people in government, media and Hollywood harvest and consume adrenochrome from children’s blood. But that claim is baseless and has been repeatedly debunked by USA TODAY and other outlets.
Lambert previously told Reuters the images used in the posts show her artwork. Images of the kegs and Lambert’s entire adrenochrome project are available on Instagram accounts for both the artist and the University's Central Saint Martins fine art program alumni.
Neither Lambert nor the University of the Arts London responded to a request for comment.
Pictures of Lambert’s project have previously been misused to promote false claims about the harvest of adrenochrome from children.
Anna Arata, a spokesperson for Shell, confirmed the company does not manufacture or transport adrenochrome.
“This substance is not and has never been a product in Shell’s chemicals portfolio,” Arata said in an email. “Heineken is not and has never been a customer of Shell Trading and supply.”
A spokesperson for Heineken told USA TODAY in an email that the company has “never been involved in the production, transport or shipment of adrenochrome.”
USA TODAY reached out to the social media users who shared the post for comment.
Our fact-check sources:
- Anna Arata, March 28, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- Heineken Company spokesperson, March 29, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- Central Saint Martins fine arts alumni, May 27, 2018, Instagram post
- USA TODAY, Feb. 3, 2022, Fact check: Sculpture is evidence of antisemitic 'blood libel,' not false QAnon theory
- USA TODAY, Feb. 4, 2021, What is QAnon? What to know about the baseless, far-right conspiracy theory connected to Marjorie Taylor Greene
- USA TODAY, Dec. 29, 2021, Fact check: Video altered to show Kentucky governor's son handing Biden a vial of blood
- USA TODAY, June 6, 2021, Fact check: Video falsely presents joke as confession to QAnon blood-harvesting conspiracy theory
- USA TODAY, March 19, 2021, Fact check: No, Oprah did not wear an ankle monitor during interview with Harry and Meghan
- USA TODAY, June 18, 2020, Fact check: Ellen, Oprah, many others are not under house arrest for child sex trafficking
- USA TODAY, Aug. 31, 2020, How QAnon and other dark forces are radicalizing Americans as the COVID-19 pandemic rages and election looms
- USA TODAY, Aug. 13, 2020, Fact check: Tom Hanks is now a Greek citizen, but pedophilia has nothing to do with it
- How Stuff Works, April 14, 2021, Untangling the Medical Misinformation Around Adrenochrome
- McGill University Office for Science and Society, Feb. 10, 2022, QAnon’s Adrenochrome Quackery
- PubChem, accessed March 28, Adrenochrome
- The New Republic, Sept. 29, 2020, QAnon, Blood Libel, and the Satanic Panic
- Wired, July 31, 2020, The Dark Virality of a Hollywood Blood-Harvesting Conspiracy
- Reuters, March 20, Fact Check-‘Adrenochrome’ keg is an art project, not a Heineken barrel transported by Shell
- Australian Associated Press, Sept. 1, 2021, Adrenochrome ‘lab’ photos are a case of artistic licence
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