The Times of London expose is reverberating through the Internet. “It has become increasingly clear that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was involved in the creation, promulgation, and cover-up of the Covid-19 pandemic.” Although the story itself is behind a paywall, enough details are available in the editor’s tweet to piece together the gist of it.
The microbiologist Professor Richard Ebright told us this work was “by far the most reckless and dangerous research on coronaviruses – or indeed on any viruses – known to have been undertaken at any time in any location”. We talked to experts in the US who had been tasked with investigating how the Covid-19 virus emerged in Wuhan. They were given privileged access to top secret intelligence.
They allege that the People’s Liberation Army was running a secret project alongside the publicly declared work of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This included experiments on a small number of coronaviruses with a close genetic likeness to Covid-19.
Ben Hu, Covid patient zero, was actually the lead researcher of the Chinese team in the game of function race.
According to multiple U.S. government officials interviewed as part of a lengthy investigation by Public and Racket, the first people infected by the virus, “patients zero,” included Ben Hu, a researcher who led the WIV’s “gain-of-function” research on SARS-like coronaviruses, which increases the infectiousness of viruses. Sources within the US government say that three of the earliest people to become infected with SARS-CoV-2 were Ben Hu, Yu Ping, and Yan Zhu.
All were members of the Wuhan lab suspected to have leaked the pandemic virus. … When a source was asked how certain they were that these were the identities of the three WIV scientists who developed symptoms consistent with COVID-19 in the fall of 2019, we were told, “100%” … On Dec. 29, 2017, two years before the pandemic began, Chinese state-run television aired a video that includes a scene of Ben Hu watching a lab worker handle specimens. Neither are wearing protective gear.
The news was bound to break into the public imagination. The Wuhan connection was long known. Public Law 118-2, passed this year and signed by Joe Biden, specifically called for the release of the names and roles of the sick researchers at the WIV. However it’s disturbing that what were conspiracy theories zealously persecuted by fact checkers only a few months ago should turn out to be official US government vetted facts in the end.
Even with the cat out of the bag, Forbes notes that, shockingly, laboratories are still performing gain-of-function research on viruses more dangerous than Covid-19. “Whatever rationales proponents come up with for this kind of activity—Dr. Anthony Fauci has long been a powerful supporter—enhancing viruses in such ways is a mortal threat to humanity. Accidents are inevitable, yet gain-of-function research is growing with little effective oversight.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the prominent medical figures at the center of the gain-of-function research controversy, said, “if you look at the whole array of virologists and scientists that do research that’s absolutely critical for the health of the country, some of that involves manipulating organisms that you can call ‘gain-of-function.’ When it is [gain of function], it needs to be regulated.” By the official agencies like the one he used to head, perhaps. But it may prove difficult to regulate. There’s too much money in gain of function to stop it cold now, like AI or climate geoengineering. The juggernaut of rice bowls will overwhelm all caution.
The biggest potential threats to human survival are now emerging from science itself. Nuclear weapons, engineered plagues, geoengineering, artificial intelligence. Perhaps we should heed the warning of science fiction.
Professor Barnhardt : There must be alternatives. You must have some technology that could solve our problem.
Klaatu : Your problem is not technology. The problem is you. — The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
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