US Probes University of Texas Links To Chinese Lab Scrutinized Over Coronavirus (wsj.com) 131
The Education Department has asked the University of Texas System to provide documentation of its dealings with the Chinese laboratory that U.S. officials are investigating as a potential source of the coronavirus pandemic. From a report: The request for records of gifts or contracts from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and its researcher Shi Zhengli, known for her work on bats, is part of a broader department investigation into possible faulty financial disclosures of foreign money by the Texas group of universities. The Education Department's letter, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, also asks the UT System to share documents regarding potential ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party and some two dozen Chinese universities and companies, including Huawei Technologies Co. and a unit of China National Petroleum Corp. The department is also seeking documents related to any university system contracts or gifts from Eric Yuan, a U.S. citizen who is the chief executive officer of Zoom Video Communications.
Haha not it! (Score:5, Funny)
"Which government officials shall we investigate next for corruption?"
(Every single politician and official cowers and looks away...)
(Dice roll...University of Texas!)
(All other politicians and officials go whew.)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
The department is also seeking documents related to any university system contracts or gifts from Eric Yuan, a U.S. citizen who is the chief executive officer of Zoom Video Communications.
It's like, "oh, yeah, and by the way, BizX is paid $500 every time anti-Zoom FUD is brought up, so we are going to throw this in as well."
Re:Haha not it! (Score:4, Insightful)
It is a University so the GOP hates them.
It is in Texas so the Liberals hates them.
It is a political Win-Win!
Re: (Score:2)
Recently we all learned "NYU Shanghai" is a thing when the establishment needed experts to exonerate Chinese laboratories for a news cycle. Does UT have "branches" in mainland China? Seem like if you're looking for "ties" you might want to start there.
Long before Corona Theater got going in late 2019 UT Austin made headlines be rejecting Chinese money [insidehighered.com]. Some former State Department grifter at UT named David Firestein tried to sell out to China [washingtonpost.com] and Ted Cruz shut it down.
Seems like the problem here is U
Re: (Score:2)
It's in Austin so liberals like them and Republicans hate them even more.
I hope... (Score:2)
I hope somewhere in the Government there are some honorable men watching the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Watching them like a hawk...
Re:Haha not it! (Score:4, Insightful)
It's good that the thought police are considered essential and go about their business of harassing honest people and let them know that Dear Leader shall not be embarrassed again.
Witchhunt. (Score:5, Informative)
Some gain of function research was banned in the US in ~2015. American academia outsourced some research as a result of this, it is unclear whether the China research was because of this. Despite this information it is still true that the virus came from recombination in bats and not from research because there is no evidence that research has anything to do with this virus. There is plenty of evidence that it did come from bats. https://www.biorxiv.org/conten... [biorxiv.org] I note that gain of function research is difficult to describe, it is used frequently in research into treatments for human diseases https://www.nhs.uk/news/cancer... [www.nhs.uk]
Re:Witchhunt. (Score:4, Insightful)
Despite this information it is still true that the virus came from recombination in bats and not from research because there is no evidence that research has anything to do with this virus. There is plenty of evidence that it did come from bats.
You're convoluting two things. No one (except the usual fringe conspiracy theorists) are saying this virus was manufactured or modified. It is pretty clear it is a natural virus from bats. What is being said is that this virus was being isolated and studied in that lab (which is a known fact), and there is some degree of evidence, circumstantial or otherwise, that it escaped from the lab. A worker accidentally got infected, it was released into the environment due to poor practices, it was purposefully released by a disgruntled worker... something along those lines. That can't be determined one way or another except by investigation of the researchers and facility itself, or perhaps by knowing who "patient zero" was. The fact that the virus is natural has no bearing on whether or not it was released from a lab.
Re:Witchhunt. (Score:5, Informative)
" there is some degree of evidence, circumstantial or otherwise",
No, there isn't.
Re:Witchhunt. (Score:5, Insightful)
On the other hand, there is ample direct evidence that the US DOJ is being deputized to perform politically-motivated investigations of whacko conspiracy theories that dear leader hopes can be used to distract from his otherwise negative press.
Re: (Score:2)
" there is some degree of evidence, circumstantial or otherwise",
No, there isn't.
Yes there is:
http://www.whiov.cas.cn/105341... [whiov.cas.cn]
https://translate.google.com/t... [google.com]
Re: (Score:3)
What you linked to certainly wasn't evidence that SARS2-CoVID-19 came about because of the research.
Re: (Score:1)
" there is some degree of evidence, circumstantial or otherwise",
No, there isn't.
Yes there is:
http://www.whiov.cas.cn/105341... [whiov.cas.cn]
https://translate.google.com/t... [google.com]
It just says that they do virology research on bats. What part of that is evidence that COVID-19 escaped from the lab? It doesn't even say that this particular virus was studied there.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
(A) is a high hazard environment, while (B) is a low hazard environment. This is because in (A) you have a single location where rather nasty viruses are stored and studied while (B) is a place where zoonotic transfer could theoretically take place should an infected animal come into contact with a susceptible human. Hazard is not risk. Hazard is the danger an untoward situation would result in. Risk is the chance of it happening. (A) should be a low-medium risk environment if the containment protocols
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You've left out a step. The virus mutated considerably between the time that it resided in bats and it was able to infect humans, there was definitely an intermediary host. University of Ottawa research indicates feral dogs as the intermediaries, probably after having eaten sick/dead bats.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Witchhunt. (Score:5, Insightful)
It's a conspiracy theory quality hand-waving which of course isn't impossible but extremely unlikely.
There would have been extreme and systemic disregard for safety protocols in a country that have experienced the spread of related virus. You are probably underestimating the difficulty of intentional release too assuming normal safety protocols, it would have been injected on purpose to bypass decontamination required to exit the laboratory without this being detected later. Governmental response would have been faster as the virus would be known and the pattern of release easier to determine.
Not impossible but the corruption and incompetence required would be almost unimaginable.
Re: (Score:3)
> You are probably underestimating the difficulty of intentional release too assuming normal safety protocols, it would have been injected on purpose to bypass decontamination required to exit the laboratory without this being detected later.
I'm afraid this is nonsense. It wouldn't require "injection on purpose". There's no need to assume it requires nefarious intent and deliberate action.
The safety protocols in this type of environment should be rigorous. However, they aren't a silver bullet. A sing
Re: (Score:3)
I've worked with plenty of Chinese researchers in the similarly safety-oriented field of radiochemistry and regularly swept the lab after they left (before I started working) with a survey meter. Despite having rigorous protocols in place and tons of training, we'd often find various hot surfaces including the doorknob, the lab phone, etc.
I'm only calling out the Chinese researchers here because they were the worst (and repeat) offenders. Anyone could do it. They would never admit to not following protocol,
Re: (Score:2)
Anyway, my point is that sloppy handing of materials, disregard to protocol, and a complete inability to own up to mistakes is the perfect recipe for release of something like this.
Re: (Score:1)
> It is pretty clear it is a natural virus from bats.
Scientists take natural viruses from bats and modify them.
That's not a conspiracy theory or fringe observation but the fact of the matter.
It's also that the case that all papers looking at the genome and saying it has not been modified are false.
That might seem like a bo
Re: (Score:2)
I note that this American paper says that it could have arisen naturaly as a result of recombination in bats. https://www.biorxiv.org/conten... [biorxiv.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
This particular investigation has nothing whatsoever to do with discovering the facts about the virus. This investigation is about there being financial ties to Chinese companies (ie, grants). It's a political investigation, not a public health investigation.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
**sigh** This again.
The SARS2-COVID virus is not identical to the bat version. It passed through some other animal between bats and humans where it evolved into its current form. University of Ottawa research indicates feral dogs to be the likely intermediary.
https://medicalxpress.com/news... [medicalxpress.com]
"Our observations have allowed the formation of a new hypothesis for the origin and initial transmission of SARS-CoV-2," said Xia. "The ancestor of SARS-CoV-2 and its nearest relative, a bat coronavirus, infected the
Re:Witchhunt. (Score:4, Insightful)
It is really creepy that China is so paranoid that it has to astroturf even minor sites such as slashdot.
Sure there is no proof the COVID-19 was studied in the two Wuhan viral lab, but there is a ton of proof that these labs studied corona viruses in bat; they published articles about it. Even their gain of function work was well document.
But you (i.e. the Chinese Communist Party) would have us believe that of all the thousands of wet markets in China, the one next to the labs is where the virus magically mutated.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
I'm seeing three pro-China comments (each saying false things) that are coming from low-UID /. accounts that I haven't noticed posting here before. Those three are within one page of what I'm responding to. Maybe they're accounts that have been hacked or something. They're definitely spreading propaganda.
Re: Witchhunt. (Score:2)
There's far too much importance being placed on IDs on slashdot.
What gives anyone the impression that low ID equates to high trustworthiness ?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Pro-China, or just not sufficiently spiteful about China?
Re: (Score:2)
No Chinese association here, I dislike the Chinese governments suppression of dissidents as much as anyone else in the West. I just find it disturbing that the newscycle is being stuffed with attacks on the area of research that is working long term on defending the population of your country and mine against pandemics. There is no evidence anywhere in the world that this virus had been seen before. There is evidence that Chiinese villagers have antibodies to a variety of bat viruses though. Zoonotic diseas
Re: (Score:3)
What is being said is that this virus was being isolated and studied in that lab (which is a known fact)
No, it is not a known fact that COVID-19 was studied in a lab in Wuhan.
Go on, prove that it is.
With pleasure jack ass:
https://translate.google.com/t... [google.com]
http://www.whiov.cas.cn/105341... [whiov.cas.cn]
Re: (Score:2)
Recruiting staff to study bat viruses and a web site that comes up with a 404 error is not proof of anything.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Somehow your reading comprehension is high enough to understand that yet is low enough to conflate conspiracy theories with legitimate investigations.
No sane person is accusing China of engineering the virus. However it was being studied at that lab and there is reason enough to investigate whether it somehow got out and caused the pandemic.
To continue to conflate the two means you are either stupid or have an agenda.
Re: (Score:2)
No sane person is accusing China of engineering the virus.
It's an election year - sane people aren't really going to be the ones paying for most of the messaging.
Re: (Score:2)
The lab that specifically studied coronaviruses, and bat coronaviruses in particular?
This is internationally known and not in any way secret. We even know the names of the researchers involved and can look at their publication record. There are several laboratories in Wuhan which work on coronaviruses. Seriously, take a look on PubMed. Here's several I found in just one minute: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov] and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov] and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov] and https://www.n [nih.gov]
Re: (Score:2)
I note that these studies are in animals such as mice. They are done in mice so that they are not capable of infecting people. Similar work is done all over the world on Corona viruses by people like this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] an example being https://elifesciences.org/arti... [elifesciences.org]
Re: (Score:2)
> "They are done in mice so that they are not capable of infecting people"
I honestly don't get the comments in these coronavirus threads. They are either being made by utterly clueless people, or people with a subversive agenda.
Given that mice are used as models for human infection, and that as mammals are susceptible to most of the infectious agents which humans are, I seriously doubt that your statement is even remotely true. What is the basis for this extremely dubious assertion? I'm trying to be c
Re: (Score:2)
If you have reason to ask about it, it went missing. China.
Re: (Score:2)
COVID-19 isn't a virus,its the disease. SAR-CoV-2 is the virus. Stop strawmanning me and debate like an adult.
The lab studied coronaviruses, this information is easy to look up and verify. rl117 even replied with links so you didn't have to expend any energy verifying it yourself.
Like I said before, denying this means you guys are either stupid or have an agenda. I doubt you'll admit to being dumb. So will you admit to your PRC affiliation?
Re: (Score:2)
Very well, let me fix that:
"No, SAR-CoV-2 was not being studied at "that lab". You are making things up."
There is zero evidence that SAR-CoV-2 was being studied at "that lab". It is a complete fabrication. We are back to Saddam Hussein hiding WMDs and supporting Al Qaeda.
Re: (Score:2)
Generally in science, cooperation, collaboration, and discussions with other scientists around the world is normal. This includes scientists in China. This is vital to helping prepare for future viruses, because if you put a great wall around China then you are putting a serious damper on science. Many viruses are crossing into human populations in that area and a black hole of knowlege and data will not help.
Does China lie? Yes. Is every sentence that comes from China a lie? No. Chinese scientists ar
You Mean... (Score:1, Troll)
You mean, made up claim that COVID-19 is man-made so a President up for re-election can try to deflect blame. There isn't an epidemiologist I've heard of that has analyzed the virus's genome who thinks it's manmade. Viruses make inter-species links with enough frequency that there's no need for conspiracy theories.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It still doesn't explain why the US fared worse than the rest of the world.
For all past presidents when there is a disaster they will often use it for their own political advantage.
It gives them a podium to give prepared speeches, that comforts the nations, encourages communities to set aside their petty differences and work for a common goal.
No matter the cause or the level of responsibility they have, this gives them a time to shine, show that they a leader who is in control and will work for the nations
Re: (Score:2)
Are basic statistics hard for you? USA has less percentage of infected than many places, less percentage death than other places (Italy, Spain, UK, Belgium)
How has USA "fared worse"?
Rate per million population [Re:You Mean...] (Score:5, Informative)
It still doesn't explain why the US fared worse than the rest of the world.
Are basic statistics hard for you? USA has less percentage of infected than many places, less percentage death than other places (Italy, Spain, UK, Belgium) How has USA "fared worse"?
Nice charts here that include case rate normalized by population. In this one I've chosen a linear scale and highlighted, Germany, France, and the UK to compare to the U.S:
https://91-divoc.com/pages/cov... [91-divoc.com]
(you may have to scroll down to the normalized by population graph)
Yes, the U.S. has a higher rate of cases per million population than Germany, France, or the UK.
Nice site to play with, by the way. You can chose the scale and the countries highlighted, and you can graph different numbers (like number of deaths per million population).
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
"Yes, the U.S. has a higher rate of cases per million population than Germany, France, or the UK."
And, it has a lower rate than a bunch of other countries. You're not refuting the point.
If we remove New York City (which has incompetent leadership) then the US as a whole is really far down on the list of infections. Even with NYC I think the US is #10. That's not terribly high, especially given the amount of international travel into the US.
Re: (Score:2)
"And, it has a lower rate than a bunch of other countries. You're not refuting the point."
When I was a Kid I failed a spelling test in school. When my parents scolded me for that grade, I noted the other kids in my class who did worse then I did, as my 8 year old brain was just happy I wasn't last. Needless to say my parents didn't like that statement, and still was scolded.
The United States has the world largest economy, a strong infrastructure, low population density. It has a lot of features that woul
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Stop trying to relitigate the Civil War. You lost. Get over it.
The US has 4% of the world's population, but 27% of the COVID-19 cases. And that's with states like Texas suppressing testing.
Re: (Score:3)
All of which is meaningless since different countries are using different standards for how they are counting deaths. The US literally changed their standard weeks before the pandemic ramped up with an associated drop in deaths like pneumonia. Doctors have been politically pressured to assign deaths to Covid19 for things such as drug overdoses. Your comparing apples to oranges, the data has no functional value other than political usage.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I would hardly call my statements a conspiracy theory when they are based on published US government data that you readily review. For example the updated guidance on how to count deaths was dated March 4th 2020. I will quote the relevant part for you:
It is important to emphasize that Coronavirus Disease 2019 or COVID-19 should be reported on the death certificate for all decedents where the disease caused or is assumed to have caused or contributed to death.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/... [cdc.gov]
https://www.cdc. [cdc.gov]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
It still doesn't explain why the US fared worse than the rest of the world.
The fact that the CDC screwed up the test explains that.
It was covered on slashdot. Twice.
https://science.slashdot.org/s... [slashdot.org]
https://science.slashdot.org/s... [slashdot.org]
Re: (Score:3)
I'm sure none of that has anything to do with repeated budget cuts for the CDC in the last several years, including dissolving the Pandemic Response team in the last year. Can't be held responsible for any of that, nope.
Re: (Score:3)
To be fair, the CDC's budget was not cut. The administration tried to cut it, but we have an incompetent administration and congress restored it.
Merging the Pandemic team into another, differently-focused team was a major mistake. Did I mention an incompetent administration? Also, administration officials should have reacted much faster, rather than reassuring us that it would probably be gone in a week or two. More incompetence.
Re: (Score:1)
"...US fared worse..."
Facts which require:
1. You believe the ChiCom numbers
2. You believe Russia's numbers
3. You ignore India altogether because no one knows what's going on there, not even the Indians.
4. Think in terms of total infections and deaths instead of per million.
5. Have an irrational hatred of Trump
Re: (Score:2)
Items 1,2, and 3. I don't have any additional facts to let me know if these countries numbers are accurate or not. However being these are the official numbers we will need to take them into account. Just because I don't trust the nations, politically doesn't necessarily prove that they are lying or not. So I will have to go with these numbers until something else changes.
Item 4 because I still have to got with 1,2,3 numbers puts us much higher rate per million than most nations. US also has low popul
Re: (Score:2)
Re:You Mean... (Score:4, Informative)
Oh? Last I checked, we have had fewer deaths per capita than the major EU nations managed (with the notable exception of Germany).
Now, China has fewer covid-19 deaths than pretty much anyone, but since they've updated their count (by exactly 50%) not so commanding a lead. Mind you, I don't actually believe China's numbers, what with the "update" being exactly 50% higher than the previous number....
Re: (Score:2)
There are European nations that have worse death rates than the US, but the US has a higher death rate than the majority of European nations have.
Re: (Score:3)
The US fared worse than the rest of the world for a couple of reasons.
First of all, there's a lot of people in the USA.... so there's going to be a lot of opportunity for the virus to spread. Per capita the number of cases currently in the USA is actually approximately the same as that of Italy at the time that I'm writing this, for instance.
However, there's other reasons why it's doing so much worse than many other countries, despite having had far more warning about this virus than Italy did before
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah. How could the US, with it's "stable genius" President, whose “uncle went to MIT who is a top professor, Dr. John Trump, a genius; it's in my blood; I'm smart; great marks!"
Put a lazy, incompetent moron in charge of the executive branch, and then wonder why the US fared worse than the rest of the world.
Tough question. I really have no possible idea what could have gone wrong.
Re:You Mean... (Score:4, Insightful)
Trying to glom on a very low-probability conspiracy theory to the possibility of the virus originating in a lab in order to dismiss it is just being dishonest. I can't really see any government coming out publicly and taking responsibility if this were what actually happened and it happened within their own country, but I don't think I'm alone in thinking that China would definitely want to deflect blame.
Re: (Score:3)
Moving the goal posts doesn't help your argument.
Viruses make interspecies leaps all the time, probably hundreds or even thousands of times a year (though most jumps aren't going to involve humans, or even mammals). The conditions of the wet market seem the perfect place for that to happen; close quarters between animals and humans have been the vector for opportunistic viruses since the beginning of animal husbandry. All it takes is a single even fairly low grade infection and the evolutionary forces that
Re: (Score:2)
I stop talking to anyone who uses the term "moving the goal posts".
Re: (Score:2)
I'm sure you do. Makes sitting in your epistemological bubble easier.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I also fail to see how I've
Re: (Score:2)
So you're not a Bayesian, then?
Re: (Score:2)
Right. It was just a coincidence that out of thousands of wet markets in Asia, it happened at the wet market that's a few hundred meters from the virus lab where coronaviruses and the specific species of bat where this one originated are studied.
Re: (Score:2)
*sigh* you arrogant moron. That lab was actively studying coronaviruses in bats https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov]
It isn't a conspiracy theory to question whether or not they were negligent in their practices.
And it isn't moving the goalposts, the conspiracy theory that it was an intentionally engineered disease and the sensible calls for investigation into a negligent lab do not come from the same place. You are simply conflating them because you don't China to take any blame.
I've got news for you, even if
Re: (Score:2)
The virus didn't "jump to humans from a bat", there was an intermediary species in which it resided and evolved for quite some time before becoming infectious to humans. People spout out that it's "96% genetically identical" to the original virus, without realizing that chimps and humans are 99% genetically identical. There's a **LOT** of difference between this version of the virus and the original bat virus, and the lab only studied the original bat version.
Research at the University of Ottawa indicates
Re: (Score:3)
It is possible that COVID-19 escaped from a lab in Wuhan. It is also possible that the Flying Spaghetti Monster woke up and decided to inflict COVID-19 on mankind.
Both theories have equal amounts of evidence so far.
Re: (Score:2)
Equal ?
There at least is evidence that there IS a lab in Wuhan.
Don't think there is evidence of the FSM, afaik.
So while I think at least checking into the lab in Wuhan is a good idea, it doesn't seem like checking into the FSM is worthwhile.
Re: You Mean... (Score:2)
It generally far from convincing "man made" theory 4 aminoacids of furin site are the most suspicious element.
Right place, right time? RANDOMLY?
Re: (Score:2)
"originating in a lab" != "spreading from a lab". There's no need to be obtuse. It could have been acquired from a natural source and then samples of that studied and propagated in the lab, which later got accidentally released. That's pretty much how every biological sample originates, whether it's bacteria, fungi, mammalian cells, plants or anything else.
I used to work in a lab studying tropical parasites. The samples were all acquired in Africa, South America, and other places, and shipped over. Fro
Re: (Score:1)
2008 Nobel Prize winner Luc Montagnier said that COVID-19 coronavirus disease was artificially created in a lab by biologists working on an AIDS vaccine.
Fact checked! [snopes.com]
Re: (Score:1)
It is so creepy that China is so paranoid that they have to astroturf Slashdot with this propaganda. Just creepy. The more you astroturf, the more creepy you get.
The evidence is overwhelming the the virus came from a lab in Wuhan. And there is plenty of evidence that it is a result of a gain-of-function experiment (i.e. the virus was engineered to infect humans) gone out of control.
Trump discovers new element (Score:2, Offtopic)
Madeupium.
Re: (Score:2)
Is it injectable or merely sarcastic?
If it kills you, it was sarcasm. No blame must ever attach to the First Orangutan.
Do I have this right? (Score:2)
Do I have it correct that the Trump FBIâ(TM)s latest theory is that Zoom created the virus to increase videoconferencing subscriptions?
Liars Claiming No Lab Link (Score:2)
Sorry, the evidence is as clear as day. From the Wuhan Virology institute.
https://translate.google.com/t... [google.com]
http://www.whiov.cas.cn/105341... [whiov.cas.cn]
Note the line:
The main research directions of the research group:
Taking bat as the research object, answer the molecular mechanism that can coexist with Ebola and SARS- related coronavirus for a long time without disease, and its relationship with flight and longevity. Virology, immunology, cell biology and multiple omics are used to compare the differences between humans and other mammals.
Re: (Score:2)
But the virus infecting humans **ISN'T** the bat virus studied in the lab. There has to have been an intermediary species in which it resided and evolved for quite some time, there is a 4% difference genetically between the bat version and the human version. Four percent is enormous, no virus could change its genome that much in a single generation and remain viable. There's less than one percent difference between humans and chimpanzees. Dogs are the most likely culprit, probably feral dogs that ate si
Re: (Score:2)
Prefer to believe incorrect information if you want. Since you apparently aren't bright enough to figure out how to register for an account then you're likely dumb enough to ignore evidence that doesn't agree with your preconceived conclusion.
University of Texas system (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm so glad that jingoistic McCarthyism [wikipedia.org] is back.
Added a link for those too young and/or uneducated to know that shameful time in US history. And I agree, this reeks of just that sort of witchhunt. From investigating claims the virus came from that Wuhan institute, when American scientists say those claims are unfounded [slashdot.org], to asking about any contact with the CEO of Zoom, this looks like a fishing expedition riddled with hints of accusations that shouldn't be condoned in a free socienty.
Re: (Score:2)
Just like other users you are conflating what is actually happening with a fringe conspiracy theory. To do so when evidence to the contrary is available implies you are either not all that smart or you are being willfully ignorant and have an agenda.
Nobody is seriously claiming the virus was engineered. And the scientists quoted in the article you linked are correct. There is no evidence that it was engineered. But that's not what this is about.
It is well known and documented that the lab in question studie
Re: (Score:2)
Also, McCarthy was right,
I can see why you post AC, no need to get your actual name associated with stupidity that extreme.