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Discussion: Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Wuhan has been working with bats and coronavirus for many years - DNA manipulations, cloning....

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  • OPINION COMMENTARY

    The World Needs to Know What Happened at the Wuhan Lab
    Was the coronavirus manipulated to infect humans? If so, that will inform our response.


    By Robert Redfield and Marc Siegel
    Aug. 15, 2021 3:34 pm ET

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wasn’t allowed to visit the city of Wuhan, China, or the Wuhan Institute of Virology in early 2020. We’ve been trying to find out why ever since. Had we encountered transparency rather than stonewalling, it wouldn’t have been necessary to put together the circumstantial pieces of the puzzle on our own.

    On Sept. 12, 2019, coronavirus bat sequences were deleted from the institute’s database. Why? It changed the security protocols for the lab. Why? It put out requests for more than $600 million for a new ventilation system. What prompted this new need?

    In January 2020 two hypotheses emerged about the origin of the novel coronavirus: that it began in a bat, then infected another animal before spreading to humans in a Wuhan “wet market,” where wild animals are sold for meat; or that it emerged from the Wuhan laboratory. The wet-market story was pushed by the Chinese CDC and the World Health Organization. Public-health leaders argued that Covid-19 was like SARS and MERS, earlier coronaviruses that emerged from bats and spread through an intermediate animal.

    But neither of those viruses has ever evolved to the point where it can transmit efficiently from one human to the next. There have been fewer than 10,000 cases of each virus world-wide since SARS was discovered in 2003 and MERS in 2012. What virus comes out of a bat cave and infects humans by the millions? It’s not biologically plausible. If instead it evolved slowly over many years in nature, how come no one knew of it?

    One of the lab theories hypothesizes that SARS-CoV-2 was manipulated or “taught” to infect humans. Imagine several viruses being run through humanized mice (grafted with human tissue and immune cells) to test their ability to infect human tissue. Notably, SARS-CoV-2 includes a kind of cleavage site that allows its spike protein to change its orientation and dock more easily with a human cell.
    ...
    A virus with a head start in becoming acclimated to humans likely has an easier time evolving to increase transmission. Hence the variants, which seem more effective than anything nature usually delivers on its own. In the months ahead we may have another variant that is even more contagious than Delta, that makes people sicker and—in the worst-case scenario—that eludes vaccines.
    ...
    Beyond the responsibility to tell the truth, there is the global need to know what we are dealing with because it affects how we approach the problem. Physicians on the front lines were ambushed from the beginning as the novel pathogen was spreading through communities asymptomatically and causing an unexpected inflammatory response in blood vessels and major organs. Now variants are emerging rapidly that continue to change the game. All this is in keeping with a virus that more likely jumped from a bat to a lab, not to a rat or a rabbit.
    ...

    Dr. Redfield, a virologist, served as CDC director, 2018-21. Dr. Siegel is a clinical professor of medicine and medical director of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Health, a Fox News medical correspondent, and author of “COVID: The Politics of Fear and the Power of Science.”

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/wuhan-v...us-11629037765
    "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
    -Nelson Mandela

    Comment


    • WHO issues call for experts to help with COVID origins probe

      yesterday

      GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization has issued a call for experts to join a new advisory group it’s forming, in part to address the agency’s fraught attempts to investigate how the coronavirus pandemic started.
      ...
      WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged last month it was “ premature ” to rule out the lab leak theory, describing lab accidents as “common.”

      In a Danish documentary released earlier this month, the WHO’s team leader said during a trip to China that he was worried about safety standards at a facility close to where the first human COVID-19 cases were detected in Wuhan — concerns that were not previously disclosed by the WHO.

      Numerous health experts and scientists have called for an independent investigation to be conducted beyond the WHO, pointing out that the agency has no authority to compel countries, including China, to co-operate.
      ...
      The WHO will retain full control over any reports, including whether or not they will be published.

      https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden...eb0f8420f30ff2


      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Call for experts to join Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens

      20 August 2021
      News release

      Reading time: 2 min (561 words)
      Issued on: 20 August

      Deadline: 10 September

      The World Health Organization (WHO) today issued an open call for experts to serve as members of the new WHO Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO).


      The SAGO will advise WHO on technical and scientific considerations regarding the origins of emerging and re-emerging pathogens of epidemic and pandemic potential, and will be composed of a wide range of experts acting in their personal capacity. SAGO will also guide WHO on next steps for understanding the SARS-CoV-2 origins.


      There have been an increasing number of high threat pathogens emerging and re-emerging in recent years with, for example, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, Lassa, Marburg, Ebola, Nipah, avian influenza, the latest being SARS-CoV-2. There is a clear need for robust surveillance and early actions for rapid detection and mitigation efforts, as well as systematic processes to study the emergence of these pathogens and routes of transmission from their natural reservoirs to humans. This is critical to helping WHO, Member States and partner institutions to prepare for future spillover threats and to minimize the risk of a disease outbreak growing into a pandemic.


      From SARS-CoV-2, which continues to wreak havoc around the world, to the next "Disease X", this global framework to study the emergence of new and known high threat pathogens needs to be comprehensive and coordinated based on a One Health approach. It should also encompass biosafety and biosecurity. And it needs to be scientific, transparent, comprehensive, rapid and inclusive.

      Functions of SAGO


      In its capacity as an advisory body to WHO, the SAGO will have the following functions:
      1. To advise WHO on the development of a WHO global framework to define and guide studies into the origins of emerging and re-emerging pathogens of epidemic and pandemic potential;
      2. To advise WHO on prioritizing studies and field investigations into the origins of emerging and re-emerging pathogens of epidemic and pandemic potential, in accordance with the WHO global framework described in point (1) above;
      3. To provide information and views to assist the WHO Secretariat in the development of a detailed work plan of the SAGO;
      4. In the context of SARS-CoV-2 origins:
        • To provide the WHO Secretariat with an independent evaluation of all available scientific and technical findings from global studies on the origins of SARS-CoV-2;
        • To advise the WHO Secretariat regarding developing, monitoring and supporting the next series of studies into the origins of SARS-CoV-2, including rapid advice on WHO's operational plans to implement the next series of global studies into the origins of SARS-CoV-2, as outlined in the ‘Joint WHO-China Global Study of Origins of SARS-CoV-2: China Part’ report published on 30 March 2021 and advise on additional studies as needed; and
      5. To provide additional advice and support to WHO, as requested by the WHO SAGO Secretariat, which may include participation in future WHO-international missions to study the origins of SARS-CoV-2 or for other emerging pathogens.

      More information can be found on the Terms of Reference of the SAGO.

      Who can express interest?


      The SAGO will be multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, field experience, skills and experience relevant to emerging and re-emerging pathogens. Up to 25 experts may be selected.

      WHO welcomes expressions of interest from individuals with significant expertise in one or more technical disciplines outlined in the call for experts in order to ensure a One Health approach.


      https://www.who.int/news/item/20-08-...ovel-pathogens
      "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
      -Nelson Mandela

      Comment


      • Wuhan ‘lab leak’: Explosive Channel 4 documentary provides compelling evidence supporting Covid origin theory

        By Jane Merrick
        Policy Editor
        August 21, 2021 7:00 am(Updated 8:26 am)
        ...
        Next week, a crucial report ordered by President Joe Biden into the lab leak theory is due to land on his Oval Office desk.

        Should the report find conclusive evidence of an escape by human error, it would be the “biological equivalent of Chernobyl or a Hiroshima moment for the life science community”, according to Dr Filippa Lentzos, a biosecurity expert.
        ...

        Using computer modelling to try to identify an intermediate species, Professor Petrovsky discovered that the species Sars-Cov2 bound to the most was humans.

        Because the virus could not have originated in humans, the modelling pointed to the humanised mice, or lab-grown human cells.

        Professor Petrovsky says: “Just the tiniest single viral particle in the air is enough to infect the first human and then rapidly transmit, because now it doesn’t need to adapt.

        You have the perfect human virus already at the time you have the very first case. That would explain this rapid transmission, the lack of need of the virus to adapt… And that is that is simply not normal of any pandemic virus that we’ve seen before.”

        ...


        ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Scientists created false narrative over suspected Covid leak from Wuhan lab, say experts

        Sarah Knapton 16 hrs ago
        ...
        Last February, a group of 27 scientists, including Sir Jeremy Farrar, president of the Wellcome Trust, wrote a letter in The Lancet stating: “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that Covid-19 does not have a natural origin.”

        However, it later emerged that one of the key people behind the letter was Peter Daszak, who had worked closely with Wuhan scientists researching Sars-related coronaviruses in bats. An addendum to The Lancet letter setting out his links to the Chinese lab was not published until June this year.

        A further article published in Nature Medicine also claimed there was no evidence to suggest that the virus had been manipulated. But scientists told filmmakers it was wrong to draw such conclusions based on the available evidence.

        David Relman, professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University, a member of President Joe Biden’s intelligence team, said: “I was a little perplexed and a little bit upset with five very good scientists, some of whom I know well, who I thought stepped way out beyond what they should have been saying, based on the data available to all of us.”

        Richard Ebright, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University, added: “These were not scientific papers, they did not present scientific evidence, they did not analyse and support scientific data, they were presenting opinion, they did not belong in scientific journals.

        “A small group of scientists, aided by journalists, established and enforced a false narrative that science showed Sars-Cov-2 was a natural zoonotic spillover and a further false narrative that this was the scientific consensus.”
        ...
        "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
        -Nelson Mandela

        Comment


        • Originally posted by Pathfinder View Post
          Wuhan ‘lab leak’: Explosive Channel 4 documentary provides compelling evidence supporting Covid origin theory



          “A small group of scientists, aided by journalists, established and enforced a false narrative that science showed Sars-Cov-2 was a natural zoonotic spillover and a further false narrative that this was the scientific consensus.”
          The main virologist in the world aren't a "small group"

          Comment


          • How COVID-19’s origins were obscured, by the East and the West

            By Nicholas Wade | August 17, 2021

            Some 20 months after the Covid-19 pandemic first broke out, its origins remain obscure. A vigorous campaign of concealment by the Chinese authorities is the principal reason. But China received considerable help, strange to say, from senior medical research officials in the United Kingdom and United States who mishandled and effectively derailed the initial inquiry into the virus’s origins.

            The mishandling began at a pivotal teleconference held on February 1, 2020. The organizer was Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, a large medical research charity in London.
            ...
            The conference was held to discuss the unanimous view of a group of virologists that the SARS2 virus had been manipulated in a lab. Yet within a few days of the meeting, the virologists abruptly reversed their conclusion. The meeting’s participants were later involved in two letters to scientific journals that stated the virus must have emerged naturally and that condemned any suggestion of manipulation as a conspiracy theory. These two letters, to The Lancet and Nature Medicine, shaped the views of the mainstream media for more than a year.

            Even today, no one can say for sure whether the SARS2 virus emerged naturally or escaped from a lab. Much less could anyone have been sure back then. If the conferees had stuck to known facts, they would have left the question open to the two hypotheses, and the full exploration of the virus’s origins might not have been sidetracked for over a year.

            More significant, the Chinese government would have found it much harder, if not impossible, to manipulate the World Health Organization (WHO) into setting terms of reference that favored China’s obstructive goals and kept WHO inspectors who visited China this February from accessing records vital to understanding the origin of the pandemic. China now insists those terms of reference cannot be changed, blocking further investigation into the origin of the SARS2 virus. “The two groups that produced the infamous letters in The Lancet and Nature Medicine paved the way for the Chinese government and helped enormously to facilitate all of that,” says Milton Leitenberg, an arms control expert at the University of Maryland. The reversal of the virologists’ conclusion about SARS2’s artificial origin is thus a matter of some significance.

            more...

            The origins of the Covid-19 pandemic remain obscure. The reasons include a vigorous campaign of concealment by the Chinese authorities and missteps by senior medical research officials in the United Kingdom and United States who mishandled the initial inquiry into the virus’s origins.
            "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
            -Nelson Mandela

            Comment


            • Wuhan lab leak theory: How Fort Detrick became a centre for Chinese conspiracies

              1 day ago
              BBC

              A disinformation campaign claiming that the Covid-19 virus originated from an American military base in Maryland has gained popularity in China ahead of the release of a US intelligence report on the virus origins.

              ... Most Americans may have never heard of Fort Detrick, but it is becoming a household name in China.

              Chinese propagandists have pushed a conspiracy suggesting that the Covid-19 coronavirus was made and leaked from the military installation in Frederick, Maryland, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Washington DC.

              Once the centre of the US biological weapons programme, it currently houses biomedical labs researching viruses including Ebola and smallpox. Its complicated history has sparked speculation in China.

              Apparent Chinese propaganda efforts are spreading ahead of a US report on Covid-19 origins.

              Comment



              • Early COVID Patient Samples From Wuhan Had Genetically Modified Virus Similar To Canadian Lab's: Report


                by Tyler Durden


                Wednesday, Aug 25, 2021 - 05:40 PM

                By Omid Ghoreishi of Epoch Times,
                Samples from early Wuhan COVID-19 patients show the presence of genetically modified Henipah virus, an American scientist has found.
                Henipah was one of the two types of viruses sent to China by Chinese-born scientists from a Canadian laboratory at the center of a controversy over the firing of the scientists and collaboration with Chinese military researchers. It is not clear whether the virus found in the Chinese samples is related to the virus samples sent by the Canadian lab, which were shipped in late March 2019.

                The finding was confirmed for The Epoch Times by another qualified scientist.

                The evidence was first found by Dr. Steven Quay, a Seattle-based physician-scientist and former faculty member at the Stanford University School of Medicine, who looked at early COVID-19 samples uploaded by scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology shortly after China informed the World Health Organization about the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.
                The samples from the patients, who reportedly were found to have the “unknown pneumonia” in December 2019, were uploaded to the genetic sequence database, GenBank, on the website of the U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH). Quay says that while other scientists around the world were mostly interested in examining the genome of SARS-CoV-2 in the samples uploaded by the WIV scientists, he wanted to see what else was in the samples collected from the patients.

                So he collaborated with a few other scientists to analyze sequences from the samples.

                “We started fishing inside for weird things,” Quay told The Epoch Times.

                What they found, he says, are the results of what could likely be contamination from different experiments in the lab making their way into the samples, as well as evidence of Henipah virus.
                “We found genetic manipulation of the Nipah virus, which is more lethal than Ebola.” Nipah is a type of Henipah virus.

                The Epoch Times asked Joe Wang, PhD, who formerly spearheaded a vaccine development program for SARS in Canada with one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, to verify the finding. Wang is currently the president of NTD Television Canada, the sister company of The Epoch Times in Canada.

                After examining the evidence, Wang said he was able to replicate Quay’s findings on the Henipah virus. He explains that the genetic manipulation of the virus was likely for the purposes of vaccine development...


                _____________________________________________

                Ask Congress to Investigate COVID Origins and Government Response to Pandemic.

                i love myself. the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution ever. ---- nayyirah waheed

                "...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party

                (My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.)
                Never forget Excalibur.

                Comment


                • Pathfinder
                  Pathfinder commented
                  Editing a comment
                  See also:

                  Scientists let go from National Microbiology Laboratory amid RCMP investigation and internal review


                • alert
                  alert commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Can we get confirmation of this from any other source? This is the Epoch Times, an anti-government source in China with a history of false or otherwise botched reports. China has not EVER reported a single human Nipah case. The detection of a Nipah virus, yet alone an intentionally mutated one in any human sample in Wuhan, would be massive news and a huge red flag.

                • Emily
                  Emily commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Alert, do you have any proof of Epoch Times printing false or botched stores? I wouldn't consider China's government a credible source on that. I'm not defending Epoch Times but would just be interested in the backstory.

                  I'll keep an eye out for support on the story, but I have seen evidence of poor handling of pathogens in Wuhan.

                  In this study we document the unexpected discovery of multiple coronaviruses and a BSL-3 pathogen in agricultural cotton and rice sequencing datasets. In particular, we have identified a novel HKU5-related Merbecovirus in a cotton dataset sequenced by the Huazhong Agricultural University in 2017. We have also found an infectious clone sequence containing a novel HKU4-related Merbecovirus related to MERS coronavirus in a rice dataset sequenced by the Huazhong Agricultural University in early 2020. Another HKU5-related Merbecovirus, as well as Japanese encephalitis virus, were identified in a cotton dataset sequenced by the Huazhong Agricultural University in 2018. An HKU3-related Betacoronavirus was found in a Mus musculus sequencing dataset from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2017. Finally, a SARS-WIV1-like Betacoronavirus was found in a rice dataset sequenced by the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in 2017. Using the contaminating reads we have extracted from the above datasets, we were able to assemble complete genomes of two novel coronaviruses which we disclose herein. In light of our findings, we raise concerns about biosafety protocol breaches, as indicated by our discovery of multiple dangerous human pathogens in agricultural sequencing laboratories in Wuhan and Fouzou City, China.

              • I'm assuming it's OK to print a press release. The bird flu sequences might be more worrisome than the nipah. I, for one, won't fall for the zoonotic spin if that gets loose.


                Press release content from PR Newswire. The AP news staff was not involved in its creation.

                PRESS RELEASE: Paid content from PR Newswire
                Physician-Scientist Steven Quay: Forensic examination of Wuhan Institute of Virology COVID-19 patient specimens from December 2019 reveals extensive laboratory contamination, including evidence of genetic manipulation of the Nipah Virus, a BSL-4 pathogen more lethal than Ebola

                July 26, 2021

                SEATTLE, July 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Physician-Scientist Steven Quay and a group of international scientists have published a pre-print, available here, entitled, “CONTAMINATION OR VACCINE RESEARCH? RNA Sequencing data of early COVID-19 patient samples show abnormal presence of vectorized H7N9 hemagglutinin segment.” In the paper, a forensic examination of the sequencing data from five COVID-19 bronchial lavage patient specimens reveals that the laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) was contaminated with a wide range of viruses, including Nipah virus genes in a cloning vector. Nipah is a BSL-4 pathogen with a lethality of 50% to 92%. A video summary of the paper can be found here.
                The highlights of the paper are:
                • Five patient specimens were sequenced by the WIV in December 2019 and were part of an early report on SARS-CoV-2 published by Dr. Zhengli Shi and colleagues (Nature 579, 270–273 (2020). This paper has been viewed over one million times, making it one of the most highly read papers on the pandemic virus.
                • The most abundant contaminant is an undisclosed H7N9 influenza vaccine, which in one specimen is over six-times as abundant as SARS-CoV-2.
                • The Nipah virus gene sequences were found in infectious cloning vectors of the type used for genetic manipulation.
                • Nineteen other contaminants, including Japanese Encephalitis virus, HIV, human T-cell leukemia virus, and hepatitis delta virus were found.
                “It was surprising to find a menagerie of deadly viruses, strange pathogens, and even honeysuckle, plant genes in patient specimens sequenced at the WIV in December 2019, especially since this patient sequencing data has been publicly available to the entire scientific community inside of the US NIH GenBank database since February 2020,” stated Dr. Steven Quay, MD, PhD. “The apparent widespread contamination of the laboratory at the very time the pandemic was just beginning is of course worrisome. But more important is getting answers to these questions: Why do these patient specimens contain an unreported influenza vaccine? What was the purpose of creating an undisclosed, apparently infectious clone of the deadly Nipah virus? Is this Nipah research part of another gain-of-function research project at the Wuhan Institute of Virology?”
                About the Nipah Virus
                Nipah virus, scientific name Nipah henipavirus, is a bat-borne virus that causes an infection in humans and other animals, with a high mortality rate. Numerous disease outbreaks caused by Nipah virus have occurred in South and Southeast Asia. Symptoms from infection vary from none to fever, cough, headache, shortness of breath, and confusion. This may worsen into a coma over a day or two, and 50% to 92% of those infected die. Complications can include inflammation of the brain and seizures following recovery. At this time there is no specific treatment for Nipah virus infection nor is there a vaccine..
                About Steven Quay, M.D., Ph.D.
                Dr. Steven Quay has over 360 published contributions to medicine and has been cited over 10,500 times, placing him in the top 1% of scientists worldwide. He holds 87 US patents and has invented seven FDA-approved pharmaceuticals which have been prescribed to over 80 million people. He is the author of the best-selling book on surviving the pandemic, Stay Safe: A Physician’s Guide to Survive Coronavirus. He is the CEO of Atossa Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ATOS), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics for oncology and infectious diseases.
                He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from The University of Michigan, was a postdoctoral fellow in the Chemistry Department at MIT with Nobel Laureate H. Gobind Khorana, a resident at the Harvard-MGH Hospital, and spent almost a decade on the faculty of Stanford University School of Medicine. A TEDx talk he delivered on breast cancer prevention has been viewed over 220,000 times. His scientific manuscript entitled, ” A Bayesian analysis concludes beyond a reasonable doubt that SARS-CoV-2 is not a natural zoonosis but instead is laboratory derived,” has been viewed over 175,000-times. For more information, visit www.DrQuay.com
                Public Relations Contact:
                Dunn Pellier Media| t: 323.481.2307
                11620 Wilshire Blvd., 9th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90025
                Jenn@dunnpelliermedia.com
                nicole@dunnpelliermedia.com
                View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...301340705.html
                SOURCE Dr. Steven Quay

                _____________________________________________

                Ask Congress to Investigate COVID Origins and Government Response to Pandemic.

                i love myself. the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution ever. ---- nayyirah waheed

                "...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party

                (My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.)
                Never forget Excalibur.

                Comment



                • UNCLASSIFIED SUMMARY OF ASSESSMENT ON COVID-19 ORIGINS - Office of the Director of National Intelligence

                  Comment


                  • Why many scientists say it’s unlikely that SARS-CoV-2 originated from a “lab leak”



                    During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the “lab leak” theory gained little traction. Sure, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested SARS-CoV-2 originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China—and called it “the China virus”—but he never presented evidence, and few in the scientific community took him seriously. In fact, early in the pandemic, a group of prominent researchers dismissed lab-origin notions as “conspiracy theories” in a letter in The Lancet. A report from a World Health Organization (WHO) “joint mission,” which sent a scientific team to China in January to explore possible origins with Chinese colleagues, described a lab accident as “extremely unlikely.”

                    But this spring, views began to shift. Suddenly it seemed that the lab-leak hypothesis had been too blithely dismissed. In a widely read piece, fueled by a “smoking gun” quote from a Nobel laureate, a veteran science journalist accused scientists and the mainstream media of ignoring “substantial evidence” for the scenario. The head of WHO openly pushed back against the joint mission’s conclusion, and U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the intelligence community to reassess the lab-leak possibility. Eighteen scientists, including leaders in virology and evolutionary biology, signed a letter published in Sciencein May that called for a more balanced appraisal of the “laboratory incident” hypothesis.

                    Yet behind the clamor, little had changed. No breakthrough studies have been published. The highly anticipated U.S. intelligence review, delivered to Biden on 24 August, reached no firm conclusions, but leaned toward the theory that the virus has a natural origin.

                    ...

                    https://www.science.org/content/arti...n82AriD47RBds&

                    Comment


                    • Source: https://news.yahoo.com/internal-docu...142902303.html

                      Internal Documents Further Contradict Fauci’s ‘Gain-of-Function’ Research Denials
                      Caroline Downey
                      Tue, September 7, 2021, 10:29 AM·3 min read

                      Newly released documents appear to contradict Dr. Anthony Fauci’s repeated claims that the NIH did not fund gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).

                      The internal documents detail the work of EcoHealth Alliance, an American research non-profit which used NIH funding to research novel bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan lab. Among the documents, which were obtained by The Intercept through a Freedom of Information Act request, is a previously unpublished EcoHealth Alliance grant proposal filed with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, which is run by Fauci.

                      The proposal requests $3.1 million for a project titled “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence,” which involved screening thousands of lab workers for novel bat coronaviruses. The grant was awarded for five years, from 2014 to 2019, and was subsequently renewed before being suspended by the Trump administration. The proposal directs $599,000 of the total grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for research designed to make the viruses more dangerous and/or infectious — and its author acknowledged the danger associated with such work.

                      “Fieldwork involves the highest risk of exposure to SARS or other CoVs, while working in caves with high bat density overhead and the potential for fecal dust to be inhaled,” it read.

                      After reviewing the documents, Gary Ruskin, executive director of a group probing COVID’s origins called U.S. Right to Know, told the Intercept that the grant was a “road map to the high-risk research that could have led to the current pandemic.”

                      Fauci has repeatedly insisted during his Senate testimony that the research being funded by the NIH at the WIV did not qualify as “gain-of-function” under the NIH’s current definition. ...

                      Comment



                      • Thread
                        Conversation



                        Richard H. Ebright
                        Sep 6 Replying to @R_H_Ebright
                        The materials show that the 2014 and 2019 NIH grants to EcoHealth with subcontracts to WIV funded gain-of-function research as defined in federal policies in effect in 2014-2017 and potential pandemic pathogen enhancement as defined in federal policies in effect in 2017-present.

                        Richard H. Ebright
                        Sep 6 Replying to @R_H_Ebright
                        (This had been evident previously from published research papers that credited the 2014 grant and from the publicly available summary of the 2019 grant. But this now can be stated definitively from progress reports of the 2014 grant and the full proposal of the 2017 grant.)

                        Richard H. Ebright
                        @R_H_Ebright
                        Sep 6
                        The materials confirm the grants supported the construction--in Wuhan--of novel chimeric SARS-related coronaviruses that combined a spike gene from one coronavirus with genetic information from another coronavirus, and confirmed the resulting viruses could infect human cells.

                        Richard H. Ebright
                        @R_H_Ebright
                        Sep 6
                        The materials reveal that the resulting novel, laboratory-generated SARS-related coronaviruses also could infect mice engineered to display human receptors on cells ("humanized mice").


                        Richard H. Ebright
                        @R_H_Ebright
                        Sep 6
                        The materials further reveal for the first time that one of the resulting novel, laboratory-generated SARS-related coronaviruses--one not been previously disclosed publicly--was more pathogenic to humanized mice than the starting virus from which it was constructed...

                        Richard H. Ebright
                        @R_H_Ebright
                        Sep 6
                        ...and thus not only was reasonably anticipated to exhibit enhanced pathogenicity, but, indeed, was *demonstrated* to exhibit enhanced pathogenicity.

                        Richard H. Ebright
                        @R_H_Ebright
                        Sep 6
                        The materials further reveal that the the grants also supported the construction--in Wuhan--of novel chimeric MERS-related coronaviruses that combined spike genes from one MERS-related coronavirus with genetic information from another MERS-related coronavirus.

                        Richard H. Ebright
                        @R_H_Ebright
                        Sep 6
                        The documents make it clear that assertions by the NIH Director, Francis Collins, and the NIAID Director, Anthony Fauci, that the NIH did not support gain-of-function research or potential pandemic pathogen enhancement at WIV are untruthful




                        Happy Jack Ranch
                        @NickDangerPI
                        22h
                        Replying to @R_H_Ebright
                        And where does one see these documents?



                        Richard H. Ebright

                        @R_H_Ebright
                        22h
                        At the links in the cited article: https://documentcloud.org/documents/21055989-understanding-risk-bat-coronavirus-emergence-grant-notice
                        https://documentcloud.org/documents/21055989-understanding-risk-bat-coronavirus-emergence-grant-notice


                        _____________________________________________

                        Ask Congress to Investigate COVID Origins and Government Response to Pandemic.

                        i love myself. the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution ever. ---- nayyirah waheed

                        "...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party

                        (My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.)
                        Never forget Excalibur.

                        Comment


                        • Revealed: How scientists who dismissed Wuhan lab theory are linked to Chinese researchers

                          Cover-up alleged over Lancet letter that effectively shut down scientific debate into whether coronavirus was manipulated or leaked from lab

                          By
                          Sarah Knapton,
                          SCIENCE EDITOR
                          10 September 2021 • 9:00pm
                          ...
                          The influential journal published a letter on March 7 last year from 27 scientists in which they stated that they “strongly condemned conspiracy theories” surrounding Covid-19.
                          ...
                          Despite declaring no conflicts of interest at the time, it has since emerged that the letter was orchestrated by British zoologist Peter Daszak, president of the US-based EcoHealth Alliance, which funded research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where the leak was suspected.

                          However, The Telegraph can disclose that 26 of the 27 scientists listed in the letter had connections to the Chinese lab, through researchers and funders closely linked to Wuhan.
                          ...

                          Cover-up alleged over Lancet letter that effectively shut down scientific debate into whether coronavirus was manipulated or leaked from lab
                          "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
                          -Nelson Mandela

                          Comment


                          • From May 20, 2020, post #111

                            Originally posted by sharon sanders View Post
                            The problem is that the China government has its hands into a lot of research now. Follow the money I say.

                            Even Harvard is affected:



                            FBI arrests Harvard chemist; two others charged in Chinese research cases

                            Jan. 28, 2020 at 4:55 p.m. EST

                            The FBI has arrested the chair of Harvard University’s chemistry department, accusing him of lying about his work for a Chinese university, and charged two others who worked in the Boston area with aiding China’s efforts to steal scientific research, officials announced Tuesday.

                            “All of the individuals charged today were either directly or indirectly working for the Chinese government at our country’s expense,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Joseph Bonavolonta. U.S. officials said the activity they uncovered is part of an ambitious, years-long effort by the Chinese government to steal intellectual property and technology to better compete in the global marketplace.

                            https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...e99_story.html
                            This leads to that.

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                            • The lab leak, the missing scientists, the cover-up: Piecing together 'What Really Happened in Wuhan'
                              ...
                              Bryant Hevesi
                              Digital Reporter

                              September 20, 2021 - 9:00PM
                              ...
                              "Listen the people that had the most access to the most intelligence, are telling you that the most likely origin of COVID-19, of the Wuhan virus was what happened... was a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology," John Ratcliffe, former United States Director of National Intelligence, said.

                              "This is really most likely what happened and it's more than just a possibility, it's certainly a probability and it's probably a certainty."
                              ...
                              "In late 2019 we have intelligence from both human intelligence sources and signals intelligence sources and other intelligence sources that were telling us that there was some sort of a problem in Wuhan," he said.
                              ...
                              "There is more intelligence out there and I'd like to see it declassified because it will create additional pressure not just on Chinese Communist Party officials but others that still continue to deny that China is the bad actor here."
                              ...
                              A month after the evidence suggests the virus leaked from the institute, Wuhan hosted the Military Games, with more than 9,000 athletes from around the world in attendance.

                              The opening ceremony was held on October 18, 2019 and two weeks later, athletes begun returning home to more than 100 countries.

                              "I didn't even know about the Military Games until someone from the army called me in December of 2020 and asked me if I could explain what happened at the Wuhan Military Games, and whether these people had fallen sick with an early strain, emerging strain of COVID," David Asher, former COVID-19 investigator at the US State Department, said.
                              ...

                              "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
                              -Nelson Mandela

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