Gain of function research did not cause Covid-19

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/gain-of-function-research-covid-19/

by leephillips • 2 years ago

12 30 2 years ago

bigthink.com

musicale• 2 years ago

Well that settles it, doesn't it?

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/the-wuhan-lab-leak-h...

jmakov• 2 years ago

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/06/03/opinion/covid...

ggm2• 2 years ago

As the NY times notes in the URL its under /opinion/

The author of an NY times article is on record thusly:

In 2021, the same Alina Chan who penned the NYT op-ed said the following:

“I have days where I think this could be natural. And if it’s natural, then I’ve done a terrible thing because I’ve put a lot of scientists in a very dangerous spot by saying that they could be the source of an accident that resulted in millions of people dying. I would feel terrible if it’s natural and I did all this.”

ZeroGravitas• 2 years ago

She also wrote a book with a famous climate change denier, which is a bad move if you're trying to convince scientists, but a great move if you want to reach an audience of conspiracy theorists.

ggm2• 2 years ago

This in a sidebar in the article:

The central idea of the lab leak hypothesis, that the virus spilled over from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, is only possible if the virus from which SARS-CoV-2 originated was actually ever inside the institute itself. If the virus originated naturally, with parts of it found in animals that were located in a wild population in Laos, which genetic sequencing uncovered in 2021 indicates, the lab leak hypothesis is ruled out as a possibility. You cannot create something through gain-of-function research that will have an identical genetic code to something that came about in the wild through natural processes such as recombination.

jmpman9• 2 years ago

Why can’t they simply have that virus in the lab, collected from that wild population in Laos, and it was accidentally released? Still a lab leak. Just an accident.

jmpman9• 2 years ago

Ok, I’ve always expected that a natural virus was accidentally released by a scientist from the virus lab. Not necessarily gain of function, but simply this is the place where all the weird Covid viruses are brought to when gathered from across the world. It’s the place which would have ALL the possible Covid viruses, from the least concerning to the one which escaped.

Every article countering that angle just feels light gaslighting.

kelseyfrog8• 2 years ago

Trapped prior?

jmpman9• 2 years ago

Sure, collected in the wild. Probably from a bat in some remote part of the world.

DemocracyFTW2• 2 years ago

That IMHO is a likely scenario, not that the outbreak was intentional (reptiles!) or engineered (secret technology!), but escaped from a lab that had been previously criticized for lax security.

One has to take into account that a global pandemic started just 800 meters away in a wet market in the heart of an 11-million metropolis. It could've been anywhere but it happened right next to the facility that was set up to collect and study viruses that could be dangerous to people.

One strange coincidence that is hard to assess is that the physician who first reported unusual cases of pneumonia-like infections, Li Wenliang, was an ophthalmologist; it just so happens that in the 2nd story of the Wuhan Huanan wet market (武汉华南海鲜批发市场) is a wholesale opticians' market (Huanan Glasses Wholesale City, 华南眼镜批发城).

[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Wenliang) [2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huanan_Seafood_Wholesale_Marke...)

monsecchris• 2 years ago

The natural origin is a dangerous conspiracy theory.

randm_sequence• 2 years ago

This article does not cast itself in a strong light by immediately calling the lab leak hypothesis a conspiracy theory. The lab leak hypothesis is another valid and plausible theory that could explain the origins of the pandemic. One must question the motives and obvious bias of anyone who feels compelled to call a scientific theory or hypothesis a conspiracy theory.

Gain of function research did not cause Covid-19

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