Funding the Virus Lab

[George K]

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/05/us-funded-wuhan-labs-virus-research.php
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US FUNDED WUHAN LAB’S VIRUS RESEARCH

This is a huge story that has not been widely followed up on. Has any reporter asked Dr. Fauci about it? If not, why not? Just kidding, we all know the answer. Many links in the original:

Back in October 2014, the US government had placed a federal moratorium on gain-of-function (GOF) research – altering natural pathogens to make them more deadly and infectious – as a result of rising fears about a possible pandemic caused by an accidental or deliberate release of these genetically engineered monster germs.

This was in part due to lab accidents at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in July 2014 that raised questions about biosafety at US high-containment labs.

CDC is a typical federal agency. Why do so many people assume that it is competent?

As such in October 2014, because of public health concerns, the US government banned all federal funding on efforts to weaponize three viruses – influenza, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Seems like a good idea! I’m not sure why we were weaponizing viruses in the first place.

In the face of a moratorium in the US, Dr Anthony Fauci – the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and currently the leading doctor in the US Coronavirus Task Force – outsourced in 2015 the GOF research to China’s Wuhan lab and licensed the lab to continue receiving US government funding.

Emphasis added. Apparently Fauci’s thinking was that his own agency couldn’t safely carry out this research, but a Chinese laboratory could.

For now, President Donald Trump’s administration is investigating the $3.7 million in taxpayer money that went to the Wuhan lab, while Republican Representative Matt Gaetz called for an immediate end to NIH funding of Chinese research. Since the federal ban on GOF research has been lifted, US labs can continue creating these monster germs domestically and would no longer need to outsource to China.

How about if we don’t do either?

Wouldn’t it be great if we had a free press that might ask questions about reports like this one? The problem, of course, is that Dr. Fauci would be the guy on the hot seat, and he is a revered “expert” in the press’s narrative. Even more important, Fauci’s enlistment of the Wuhan lab to do research banned in the U.S. happened in 2015–that is to say, during the Obama administration. If it had occurred during the Trump administration, there would be nothing else on the front pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post.

[jon-nyc]

That's fucked up.

[George K]

@jon-nyc said in Funding the Virus Lab:

That's fucked up.

Yeah. Especially the "We're not good enough, but we'll trust China" part.

Not saying that Fauci is part of this, at all, but I'm seeing so many stories of various university profs getting payments and contracts from China.

[jon-nyc]

Yeah I'd love to know the details. Is this still a townhall-powerline-daily caller thing or has FoxNews or the NYPost picked it up?

[Rainman]

It's insane.
There should be NO research on how to weaponize, period. If this kind of research is allowed to continue, it's another "not if but when" scenario.

Research to cure the common cold? GoForIt.
Any sinister dictator or nut with malevolent intent known to have labs pursuing weaponization should be dragged into the World Court for crimes against humanity.

The ineptitude of government funding and/or running such labs. Really, what could go wrong (or right)?

[George K]

@jon-nyc said in Funding the Virus Lab:

Yeah I'd love to know the details. Is this still a townhall-powerline-daily caller thing or has FoxNews or the NYPost picked it up?

The quoted story appears in Asia Times.

I have no knowledge of their credibility or political leanings, if any.

[Mik]

This thing could quite conceivably escalate into a major war. The opportunities for miscalculation are rampant.

[Loki]

@jon-nyc said in Funding the Virus Lab:

Yeah I'd love to know the details. Is this still a townhall-powerline-daily caller thing or has FoxNews or the NYPost picked it up?

That’s a good point, not that the FoxNews or NYPost makes it legit but at least puts pressure on the rest to look into and see if they can safely duck it.

[A Former User]

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