The Great Escape

[Paddy]

Next: an article in the Neasden Advertiser on how the election was stolen from Trump.

https://www.ft.com/content/ab90cdfd-...c-7aa93f6176fe

Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser has called on China to release the medical records of nine people whose illnesses might provide vital clues into whether Covid-19 first emerged as the result of a lab leak. Dr Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID, told the Financial Times that the records could help resolve the debate over the origins of a disease that has killed more than 3.5m people worldwide.

The records in question concern three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology who reportedly became sick in November 2019, and six miners who fell ill after entering a bat cave in 2012. Scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology subsequently visited the cave to take samples from the bats. Three of the miners died. Shi Zhengli, the institute’s leading expert on coronaviruses, has previously denied there were any infections at the lab — a claim Fauci did not dispute, but said should be investigated further. “I would like to see the medical records of the three people who are reported to have got sick in 2019,” Fauci said. “Did they really get sick, and if so, what did they get sick with? “The same with the miners who got ill years ago . . . What do the medical records of those people say? Was there [a] virus in those people? What was it? It is entirely conceivable that the origins of Sars-Cov-2 was in that cave and either started spreading naturally or went through the lab.” The state department did not immediately respond to a question about whether the Biden administration had asked China for the medical records. China’s foreign ministry declined to say whether it would consider releasing the medical records of the nine individuals at a press briefing on Friday. But Wang Wenbin, a spokesman, repeated a statement made by the institute in March that none of its staff had ever been infected with Covid-19. I have always felt that the overwhelming likelihood . . . was that the virus jumped species. But we need to keep on investigating until a possibility is proven Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

The origins of Covid-19 have become one of the most contentious questions of the pandemic. Donald Trump, the former US president, said last year he thought the coronavirus had leaked from the Wuhan lab, but he was widely dismissed by most of the scientific community, who argued it was far more likely to have naturally jumped from animals to humans. However, the lab leak theory has gained traction in recent weeks after a group of prominent scientists signed a letter arguing it should be taken seriously. There has also been a renewed focus on the Wuhan researchers who were sent to hospital weeks before the first case of Covid-19 was officially recorded. Biden last week ordered US intelligence services to come to a conclusion within 90 days about what started the pandemic.

The White House said two branches of the intelligence community believe the Sars-Cov-2 virus was transmitted naturally, but a third believes it came from the Wuhan Institute. None of the branches have a high level of confidence in their conclusion. Fauci has been accused, especially by conservatives, of playing down the lab leak theory, in part to protect the reputation of NIAID, which helped to fund controversial bat research at Wuhan. David Asher, former head of the state department’s Covid-19 origins investigation, questioned why Fauci was only seeking the medical records now. He pointed out that the Trump administration said publicly in January that US intelligence believed the Wuhan scientists had fallen sick with symptoms of the virus. “I’m stunned that Fauci would now ask this question,” said Asher, who is now at the Hudson Institute, a conservative Washington-based think-tank. Asher added that while he respected Fauci, he was frustrated at what he perceived as a lack of interest at NIAID and its parent agency, the National Institutes of Health, into pursuing the possibility that the virus had leaked from the lab.

[Paddy]

https://www.theguardian.com/australi...ab-leak-theory
An interesting half-hour podcast from Australia News

[LondonManc]

Nobody wanted a leak from a lab in Hicksville, USA, so they happily funded one in an expendable city in China.

What next, asking ISIS to mind the nukes?

[OwlHoot]

:::

Those arguing it was a synthetic virus base their argument on the fact that the virus became infectious quickly, but the UK Kent and Indian variant are proof that the virus doesn't need a lab technician to become more infectious.

No, they don't just base their argument on that. Some researchers have pointed out that the virus has certain genetic additions and modifications not found in naturally occurring similar viruses and not likely to arise by chance.

To be fair, other research groups, mostly in early 2020, when the pandemic started, disagreed. But more recently the theory is gaining credibility:

2021-05-27 Facebook lifts ban on posts claiming Covid-19 was man-made

Facebook has lifted a ban on posts claiming Covid-19 was man-made, following a resurgence of interest in the “lab leak” theory of the disease’s onset.

The social network says its new policy comes “in light of ongoing investigations into the origin”. ..

[Paddy]

No, they don't just base their argument on that. Some researchers have pointed out that the virus has certain genetic additions and modifications not found in naturally occurring similar viruses and not likely to arise by chance.

To be fair, other research groups, mostly in early 2020, when the pandemic started, disagreed. But more recently the theory is gaining credibility:

2021-05-27 Facebook lifts ban on posts claiming Covid-19 was man-made

"In an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal published on Sunday, US scientists Dr Steven Quay and Richard Muller noted two crucial pieces of evidence which brought them to the conclusion that SARS-CoV-2 was more likely to have been created in a lab.

Firstly, they claim that the Covid-19 pathogen has a genetic footprint that has never been observed in a natural coronavirus before. To put this in its simplest form, Covid-19 has the genome sequencing CGC-CGG or "double CGG" which is one of the 36 sequencing patterns. They said CGC is rarely used in the class of coronaviruses that can recombine with CoV-2 which is a "damning fact".

Dr Quay, the founder of US-based biopharmaceutical company Atossa, wrote: "The insertion sequence of choice is the double CGG. That's because it is readily available and convenient, and scientists have a great deal of experience inserting it. An additional advantage of the double CGG sequence compared with the other 35 possible choices: It creates a useful beacon that permits the scientists to track the insertion in the laboratory."

The experts added: "In fact, in the entire class of coronaviruses that includes CoV-2, the CGG-CGG combination has never been found naturally. That means the common method of viruses picking up new skills, called recombination, cannot operate here."

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/h...mments-section

[NotAllThere]

Two scientists, no matter how distinguished, giving their opinion, isn't proof. They are claiming it is evidence that the man-made theory is the most likely. For all we know, two other equally distinguished scientists may say - "don't be daft, that sequence appears loads of time.".

Until it's published in a peer reviewed journal, the best we non-virologists can do is hold uninformed opinions. It ain't fact yet.

[Paddy]

Two scientists, no matter how distinguished, giving their opinion, isn't proof. They are claiming it is evidence that the man-made theory is the most likely. For all we know, two other equally distinguished scientists may say - "don't be daft, that sequence appears loads of time.".

Until it's published in a peer reviewed journal, the best we non-virologists can do is hold uninformed opinions. It ain't fact yet.

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

[Paralytic]

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

Are you suggesting the opinion of these two scientists has eliminated an impossible? If so, what? If not, what are you suggesting?

[NotAllThere]

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

If you actually have eliminated the impossible. But keep the faith! That's the spirit! (As someone here used to say).

Are you suggesting the opinion of these two scientists has eliminated an impossible?

Yes, that is what he's suggesting, as someone without the necessary scientific knowledge to know if they're true. They support his beliefs, therefore they must be right.

They may be correct as well. They should check the viral genetic code for a message that says "This virus has escaped from a lab in Wuhan. if found, please present yourself, in person, with the virus, for a small reward".

[BlasterBates]

If you actually have eliminated the impossible. But keep the faith! That's the spirit! (As someone here used to say).


Yes, that is what he's suggesting, as someone without the necessary scientific knowledge to know if they're true. They support his beliefs, therefore they must be right.

They may be correct as well. They should check the viral genetic code for a message that says "This virus has escaped from a lab in Wuhan. if found, please present yourself, in person, with the virus, for a small reward".

It's beginning to remind me of the 19th century astronomers who discovered canals on Mars. This was clear evidence of intelligent life.