NIH suspends pathogen studies over 'gain-of-function' concerns

https://www.science.org/content/article/exclusive-nih-suspends-dozens-pathogen-studies-over-gain-function-concerns

by bustadjustme • 1 year ago

28 17 1 year ago

yieldcrv• 1 year ago

don't worry dismayed scientists, there are other paths of viral and microbial research you can focus on that can help humanity just as much if not more

feoren• 1 year ago

Yes, let's all just change our career specialty every time the fascist cultists set their goldfish-level attention on another anti-intellectual "evil" that some lead-poisoned radio personality told them to get their anger fix from while shelling out supplements. A perfectly reasonable way to do science.

conception• 1 year ago

You mean miasma research?

Cornbilly• 1 year ago

These chuckleheads probably don’t even know what this research entails but banning it makes their dimwitted followers excited. The state of the US right now is shameful.

devwastaken4• 1 year ago

thats the point. nobody knows how it all works, and by the time you think you do you youve killed people with it.

these attempts to play god always fall prey to the most basic sins. just because someone says they “want to do good” doesnt mean they effecticely can. humans cannot handle the power.

i dont believe in trading lives just so we can fund research grants.

Llamamoe3• 1 year ago

We know enough about how it works to make it safe, and everything else that we don't know, we learn through the process, to the benefit of our future as a species.

dyauspitr• 1 year ago

I wish the Democrats did borderline evil things like deny healthcare to people that supported a party that is anti science.

SapporoChris2• 1 year ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gain-of-function_research

A good reference article.

thro1• 1 year ago

Federal officials in 2014 paused 18 projects before releasing 2017 guidelines that allowed work to move forward. But the debate flared again during the COVID-19 pandemic, when some scientists and Republican politicians, including Trump, alleged that the

coronavirus responsible came from GOF work at a lab in Wuhan, China,

that had received NIH funding.

SapporoChris2• 1 year ago

Regarding: "coronavirus responsible came from GOF work at a lab in Wuhan, China,", Please do not post opinion as fact.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_SARS-CoV-2 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8373617/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11406950/

jMyles• 1 year ago

The name-calling and derogating in this thread is surprising and disappointing.

For more than a decade, a substantial chorus of the world's foremost experts in the relevant disciplines have been calling for an end to gain-of-function research. This isn't some sudden trend, or a misinformed knee-jerk reaction.

This is the result of patient deliberation and research building an irrefutable case, which has made convincing empirical inroads unto near academic consensus.

To refer to organizations like Cambridge WG as "chuckleheads" is really beneath what I hope is our standard on HN.

If you haven't already, I suggest thumbing through this abbreviated list of publications and reports, and look at the pre-COVID19 warnings issued by researchers at every elite institution of medical research in the world:

https://www.cambridgeworkinggroup.org/pubs.html

NIH suspends pathogen studies over 'gain-of-function' concerns

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