zlacker

>>lazycr+(OP)
If anyone is tempted to associate 'lab leak' with xenophobia or anti-Chinese sentiment, please remember the WIV lab was in partnership with the U.S. NIH (National Institutes of Health).

https://www.biospace.com/article/1nih-awards-ecohealth-allia...

>>mgamac+Ce
Also noteworthy is Dr. Fauci has been a long time proponent and sponsor of gain of function experiments as head of the NIAID, the infectious diseases arm of the NIH.[1]

After a few different US lab leaks involving anthrax, smallpox, and avian flu in 2014 the Obama administration put a ban on the fuding of gain of function research.[2]

The ban was eventually overturned in 2018.[3]

[1]https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-flu-virus-risk-wor...

[2]https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-anthrax-labs-analysis...

[3]https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3...

>>loveis+bh
I'm assuming justification for GoF research wasn't "we want to make a bioweapon". What are the arguments in favor of this type of research?

>>shireb+HP
The specific thing that they said they were trying to do was predict emerging pathogens and develop treatments and potentially vaccines for them in advance of them actually making a zoonotic jump. They were creating chimeric Coronaviruses to simulate natural recombination events, then infecting humanized mice with them to assess their potential for human emergence.

>>cameld+5R
Right, playing with fire, by creating an environment that would hyper-evolve virus better than random natural species interactions.

>>mgamac+wd1
SARS-CoV-2 is a really contagious virus, but as long as the biosecurity is perfect, there is no risk.

>>cameld+fp1
>long as the biosecurity is perfect

There is no such thing as 100% security.