4 ms·

Isn’t the lab leak hypothesis saying nature did this make this, but scientists who were studying (and allowing) the natural processes accidentally leaked it? W

Isn’t the lab leak hypothesis saying nature did this make this, but scientists who were studying (and allowing) the natural processes accidentally leaked it? Which is the main argument against this kind of function research - there’s little gain compared to the risk.

roamerz 4y ago
In the end are we not all a product of nature including the scientists?
oofbey 4y ago
The term "lab leak" is ambiguous (deliberately I guess) as to whether the virus was modified in the lab before it leaked, or if the lab leaked an unmodified virus. But the preponderance of evidence is that the leaked virus was modified before it was leaked. The critical spike protein in SARS_CoV2 is coded uses a sequence of amino acids that has never been seen before in any other coronavirus. I forget the names, but there are certain common amino acids that can be coded using several different functionally-identical DNA (RNA) sequences, and the SARS-CoV2 one looks like the sequences used in labs and humans, and never seen before in natural viruses. One nobel laureate in biology described this as a "smoking gun" that this was a lab leak when they first heard about it.
rasz 4y ago
Wuhan scientist working with EcoHealth alliance specifically wrote a grant proposal with intent to: “We will introduce appropriate human-specific cleavage sites and evaluate growth potential in [a type of mammalian cell commonly used in microbiology] and HAE cultures,” They were denied over Gain of Function concerns, and bam a year later the only Sars virus to be ever observed with those exact human-specific cleavage sites at the S1 S2 junction ravages the planet starting 500m from WIV. https://theintercept.com/2021/09/23/coronavirus-research-grant-darpa/ https://theintercept.com/2021/09/23/coronavirus-research-gra...
ix101 4y ago
The question is whether in the process of studying it they intentionally created modified viruses, and that was what leaked.

roamerz 4y ago

In the end are we not all a product of nature including the scientists?

oofbey 4y ago

The term "lab leak" is ambiguous (deliberately I guess) as to whether the virus was modified in the lab before it leaked, or if the lab leaked an unmodified virus. But the preponderance of evidence is that the leaked virus was modified before it was leaked. The critical spike protein in SARS_CoV2 is coded uses a sequence of amino acids that has never been seen before in any other coronavirus. I forget the names, but there are certain common amino acids that can be coded using several different functionally-identical DNA (RNA) sequences, and the SARS-CoV2 one looks like the sequences used in labs and humans, and never seen before in natural viruses. One nobel laureate in biology described this as a "smoking gun" that this was a lab leak when they first heard about it.

rasz 4y ago

Wuhan scientist working with EcoHealth alliance specifically wrote a grant proposal with intent to: “We will introduce appropriate human-specific cleavage sites and evaluate growth potential in [a type of mammalian cell commonly used in microbiology] and HAE cultures,” They were denied over Gain of Function concerns, and bam a year later the only Sars virus to be ever observed with those exact human-specific cleavage sites at the S1 S2 junction ravages the planet starting 500m from WIV. https://theintercept.com/2021/09/23/coronavirus-research-grant-darpa/ https://theintercept.com/2021/09/23/coronavirus-research-gra...

ix101 4y ago

The question is whether in the process of studying it they intentionally created modified viruses, and that was what leaked.