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Experts disagree on whether Covid-19 could have leaked from a research lab

3 pointsby 6y agothebulletin.org
6 comments
6y agoHN ↗

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9

If you review the links in this article the only scientific paper that is linked says, no, there is no evidence it came from a lab. Every source except the paper linked is from other articles that are not science journals and are often opinion pieces. I call bullshit. Science Journal or GTFO.

6y agoHN ↗

A study that shows lab research on a virus does not mean that a virus has escaped from a lab. That's as ignorant and stupid as saying flu shots spread flu.

6y agoHN ↗

Quite the coincidence that out of all places on earth studying this specific viral mutation, it was in Wuhan, which is where the initial outbreak occurred.

Not every lab on the planet is studying this particular virus strain.

6y agoHN ↗

That says very little. It says that we have not been able to find anything in the genome that proves modern gene editing technology was used.

Well, so what? People aren't generally making that claim. It's a straw man.

Nothing in your article rules out the possibility of a lab creating the virus via conventional breeding, by passing the virus through human cells and/or by infecting cells simultaneously with human viruses. Nothing in your article rules out the possibility of a lab accident; indeed there have been several lab accidents in China that released dangerous viruses.

Look at this research:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18077725

It is 2008 research from the lab in Wuhan. They created a virus by combining SARS-CoV with HIV, targeting the human ACE2 molecule as receptor. These features match those of our current pandemic. (India reported the HIV link, and the use of ACE2 is widely known)

We shouldn't be so quick to dismiss the possibility. Note also that China is actively trying to point people away from this line of inquiry. We should resist that effort.

6y agoHN ↗

Because everyone knows it's much more likely that people got it from bats being sold at a fish market, then from the level 4 lab across the street...