International Did COVID come from a Lab in China? US Energy Dept asserts it was a lab leak [megathread]

[The Audience]

Fake news????

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/07/16/...-origins/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

Little new evidence has emerged to move the needle in one direction or another, these people said. But the fact that the lab leak theory is being seriously considered by top Biden officials is noteworthy and comes amid a growing openness to the idea even though most scientists who study coronaviruses and who have investigated the origins of the pandemic say the evidence strongly supports a natural origin.

Current intelligence reinforces the belief that the virus most likely originated naturally, from animal-human contact and was not deliberately engineered, the sources said. But that does not preclude the possibility that the virus was the result of an accidental leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where coronavirus research was being conducted on bats -- although many scientists familiar with the research say such a leak is unlikely.

id say so; seems more like political posturing from the administration.
Recently published review of the current scientific evidence for covid origin: [zoonotic emergence much more likely]

The Origins of SARS-CoV-2: A Critical Review

 

[PhitePhan]

Fake news????

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/07/16/...-origins/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

Little new evidence has emerged to move the needle in one direction or another, these people said. But the fact that the lab leak theory is being seriously considered by top Biden officials is noteworthy and comes amid a growing openness to the idea even though most scientists who study coronaviruses and who have investigated the origins of the pandemic say the evidence strongly supports a natural origin.

Current intelligence reinforces the belief that the virus most likely originated naturally, from animal-human contact and was not deliberately engineered, the sources said. But that does not preclude the possibility that the virus was the result of an accidental leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where coronavirus research was being conducted on bats -- although many scientists familiar with the research say such a leak is unlikely.

“The very people implicated in the crime said it’s highly unlikely that a crime was committed...”

Case closed, I’d say!

 

[MicroBrew]

So China's shill Tedros is actually being reasonable. One wonders if there was a secret falling out or he is trying to give the impression he is unbiased so that later when he says there was no lab leak he can point to this moment as proof of no bias.


------

WHO chief says it was ‘premature’ to rule out COVID lab leak

In a rare departure from his usual deference to powerful member countries, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said getting access to raw data had been a challenge for the international team that traveled to China earlier this year to investigate the source of COVID-19. The first human cases were identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Tedros told reporters that the U.N. health agency based in Geneva is “asking actually China to be transparent, open and cooperate, especially on the information, raw data that we asked for at the early days of the pandemic.”

He said there had been a “premature push” to rule out the theory that the virus might have escaped from a Chinese government lab in Wuhan - undermining WHO’s own March report, which concluded that a laboratory leak was “extremely unlikely.”

“I was a lab technician myself, I’m an immunologist, and I have worked in the lab, and lab accidents happen,” Tedros said. “It’s common.”

https://apnews.com/article/joe-bide...rus-pandemic-c0c594f9060f676c0ea48c2d1c69daec

 

[HereticBD]

I love how you can practically taste the nervous fear in Colbert's voice, as he desperately tries to downplay Stewart's common sense.

"Wh-what's your proof?"

"Uhh, you could be right, but..."

"Well, there are lots of coronaviruses in China, so maybe that's why the lab is there, smart guy!"


So pathetic. Even the playful quip of "You know we stopped filming a while ago, lulz", is to suggest that Stewart is saying anything remotely controversial and he's acting crazy. It's so disturbing at just how deep into Chinese pockets Hollywood is. Colbert was genuinely terrified during that entire interview, and for what reason exactly? What is he so nervous about?

 

[MicroBrew]

UPDATE

Recent article from The Hill, sourcing the NYT (NYT article is behind a paywall).

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthc...erspective-on-gain-of-function-virus-research


TL : DR
Lab Leaks are not uncommon

---
First, it turns out that lab accidents are actually quite common, even in supposedly safe facilities. Here’s Zeynep Tufekci in the New York Times:

“Nearly every SARS case since the original epidemic has been due to lab leaks — six incidents in three countries, including twice in a single month from a lab in Beijing. In one instance, the mother of a lab worker died.

--

“In 2007, foot-and-mouth disease, which can devastate livestock and caused a massive crisis in Britain in 2001, escaped from a drainage pipe leak at an English lab with the highest biosafety rating, BSL-4.

--

“Even the last known person who died of smallpox was someone infected because of a lab incident in Britain in 1978.”

--

In addition, it is highly likely that the global H1N1 flu epidemic of 1977, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, was caused by a lab leak.

 

[machidafan99]

Nah, it has nothing to do with that. It's not a conspiracy. It's just the now endemic "we already decided what the truth is, let no one disagree" animal rearing its ugly head as usual. It's the thought police hard at work.. Do you think it was the CCP that made moderators on this very forum remove posts on the topic? I remember posting Luc Montagnier's comments etc, including an interview from youtube, over a year ago here, and some dimwit mod decided it was a "conspiracy theory" and deleted the posts. And the reason I remember it is that it was so recognizable. We see it all the time nowadays. No one should ever question what the community has decided is the truth. Send them to Gulag if they do, basically. The discussion must be silenced.

We don't need the CCP for this to be a very sick world. Here in the West we're doing quite well on our own at the moment.

^^Very good post.

 

[TheRealHNIC]

Nah, it has nothing to do with that. It's not a conspiracy. It's just the now endemic "we already decided what the truth is, let no one disagree" animal rearing its ugly head as usual. It's the thought police hard at work.. Do you think it was the CCP that made moderators on this very forum remove posts on the topic? I remember posting Luc Montagnier's comments etc, including an interview from youtube, over a year ago here, and some dimwit mod decided it was a "conspiracy theory" and deleted the posts. And the reason I remember it is that it was so recognizable. We see it all the time nowadays. No one should ever question what the community has decided is the truth. Send them to Gulag if they do, basically. The discussion must be silenced.

We don't need the CCP for this to be a very sick world. Here in the West we're doing quite well on our own at the moment.

Like

 

[Hadron90]

Has Biden given updates on this? Hasn't it been months since asked the IC to redouble their efforts? Rand Paul found documentation showing that the Wuhan lab was doing gain-of-function by modifying bat coronaviruses to more efficiently bind to human ACE2 receptors. That seems relevant. Has Rand Paul done more investigating the intelligence community?

 

[Natural Order]

UPDATE

Recent article from The Hill, sourcing the NYT (NYT article is behind a paywall).

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthc...erspective-on-gain-of-function-virus-research


TL : DR
Lab Leaks are not uncommon

---
First, it turns out that lab accidents are actually quite common, even in supposedly safe facilities. Here’s Zeynep Tufekci in the New York Times:

“Nearly every SARS case since the original epidemic has been due to lab leaks — six incidents in three countries, including twice in a single month from a lab in Beijing. In one instance, the mother of a lab worker died.

--

“In 2007, foot-and-mouth disease, which can devastate livestock and caused a massive crisis in Britain in 2001, escaped from a drainage pipe leak at an English lab with the highest biosafety rating, BSL-4.

--

“Even the last known person who died of smallpox was someone infected because of a lab incident in Britain in 1978.”

--

In addition, it is highly likely that the global H1N1 flu epidemic of 1977, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, was caused by a lab leak.

All this. Good lord most of the people on this planet are stupid fucks...

 

[Hadron90]

https://thehill.com/policy/internat...-covid-19-origins-hones-in-on-lab-leak-theory

Its looking like the GOP report is going to push pretty hard on the lab leak scenario. Looks like the CIA is saying China is not cooperative with our intel community.

 

[King in the North]

I love how you can practically taste the nervous fear in Colbert's voice, as he desperately tries to downplay Stewart's common sense.

"Wh-what's your proof?"

"Uhh, you could be right, but..."

"Well, there are lots of coronaviruses in China, so maybe that's why the lab is there, smart guy!"


So pathetic. Even the playful quip of "You know we stopped filming a while ago, lulz", is to suggest that Stewart is saying anything remotely controversial and he's acting crazy. It's so disturbing at just how deep into Chinese pockets Hollywood is. Colbert was genuinely terrified during that entire interview, and for what reason exactly? What is he so nervous about?

You’re obviously mentally ill (but we all knew that). Colbert is having a good time.


Imagine coming up with all this shit in your head. Get back on your meds and maybe they’ll let you in the country.

 

[SuperHoss]

It is common sense that there was a good chance if came from the Wuhan lab. I never doubted that there was a reasonable likelihood of it.

Though, I doubt we will ever know for sure or be able to prove it.

 

[PrinceOfPain]

It's not just the coverup. It is what has been revealed about the covered up sequences. If those tweets in post #903 are correct then people may have been getting sick from COVID-19 in China as early as 2018.

And this would mean that the lockdowns were in fact an active act of global economic sabotage.

 

[GtehMVP]

Correct if I'm wrong but by this point in all the fairly recent dangerous outbreaks (sars, Ebola etc...) they had identified the source of it?

 

[The Audience]

Correct if I'm wrong but by this point in all the fairly recent dangerous outbreaks (sars, Ebola etc...) they had identified the source of it?

Dont think they really know for Ebola yet. With SARS they got extremely lucky; a few weeks later and they probably wouldnt have figured out the civet connection.

 

[ElKarlo]

You’re obviously mentally ill (but we all knew that). Colbert is having a good time.


Imagine coming up with all this shit in your head. Get back on your meds and maybe they’ll let you in the country.

Wow you are a shill’s shill. Congratulations, and wonder how much lower you’ll go? Can’t be much lower. Shill

 

[86'd]

UPDATE

Recent article from The Hill, sourcing the NYT (NYT article is behind a paywall).

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthc...erspective-on-gain-of-function-virus-research


TL : DR
Lab Leaks are not uncommon

---
First, it turns out that lab accidents are actually quite common, even in supposedly safe facilities. Here’s Zeynep Tufekci in the New York Times:

“Nearly every SARS case since the original epidemic has been due to lab leaks — six incidents in three countries, including twice in a single month from a lab in Beijing. In one instance, the mother of a lab worker died.

--

“In 2007, foot-and-mouth disease, which can devastate livestock and caused a massive crisis in Britain in 2001, escaped from a drainage pipe leak at an English lab with the highest biosafety rating, BSL-4.

--

“Even the last known person who died of smallpox was someone infected because of a lab incident in Britain in 1978.”

--

In addition, it is highly likely that the global H1N1 flu epidemic of 1977, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, was caused by a lab leak.

Add lyme disease to that as well. MSM still won't admit to that one either

 

[gatchaman]

I think Jesse D Bloom just published the deleted sequences here:
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.18.449051v1.full.pdf


This tweet led me to Dr Bloom

It's not just the coverup. It is what has been revealed about the covered up sequences. If those tweets in post #903 are correct then people may have been getting sick from COVID-19 in China as early as 2018.

Jesse Bloom's discovery of deleted sequences is now being reported in the New York Times.

From: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/30/science/coronavirus-sequences-lab-leak.html
...
In June, an American scientist discovered that more than 200 genetic sequences from Covid-19 patient samples isolated in China early in the pandemic had puzzlingly been removed from an online database. With some digital sleuthing, Jesse Bloom, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, managed to track down 13 of the sequences on Google Cloud.
...

 

[SurferH2O]

but... but... the NY Times and CNN said that is a fringe theory! They refused to even investigate it. Now we are more than a year removed and they cannot identify the animal it came from, which is really atypical to say the least. For example with SARS and H1N1, we knew in a few quick months exactly what animals they each came from.

Clearly it came from the Wuhan Lab... and should now be called the Wuhan Flu. The problem is it looks like we funded it through Fauci who is likely the God Father of the virus.

The U.S.A. and China likely fucked the world on this one.

 

[gatchaman]

From: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/...vidence-shows-covid-19-leaked-from-wuhan-lab/
House Republican Report: ‘Preponderance of Evidence’ Shows COVID-19 Leaked from Wuhan Lab
Written by House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Michael McCaul (R-TX), the report said based on material collected and analyzed, the preponderance of evidence suggests the SARS-CoV-2 virus was “accidentally released from a Wuhan Institute of Virology laboratory sometime prior to September 12, 2019.” The report added:
"The virus, or the viral sequence that was genetically manipulated, was likely collected in a cave in Yunnan province, PRC, between 2012 and 2015. Researchers at the WIV, officials within the CCP, and potentially American citizens directly engaged in efforts to obfuscate information related to the origins of the virus and to suppress public debate of a possible lab leak."
...
As part of that evidence, the report outlined:
— The sudden removal of the WIV’s virus and sample database in the middle of the night on September 12, 2019 and without explanation;

— Safety concerns expressed by top PRC scientists in 2019 and unusually scheduled maintenance at the WIV;

— Athletes at the Military World Games held in Wuhan in October 2019 who became sick with symptoms similar to COVID-19 both while in Wuhan and also shortly after returning to their home countries;

— Satellite imagery of Wuhan in September and October 2019 that showed a significant uptick in the number of people at local hospitals surrounding the WIV’s headquarters, coupled with an unusually high number of patients with symptoms similar to COVID-19;

— The installation of a People’s Liberation Army’s bioweapons expert as the head of the WIV’s Biosafety Level 4 lab (BSL-4), possibly as early as late 2019;

— and Actions by the Chinese Communist Party and scientists working at or affiliated with the WIV to hide or cover up the type of research being conducted at there.
...
The report also lays out the involvement of American scientist Peter Daszak, the CEO of EcoHealth Alliance, who has publicly denied he funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan. The report said Daszak met Shi Zhengli, director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the WIV, in 2004 and has used U.S. government grants to fund bat coronavirus and gain-of-function research in Wuhan. The report said:
"Beginning in 2005, and continuing over the next 16 years, Shi and Daszak have collaborated on coronavirus research. Together, they ‘led dozens of expeditions to caves full of bats, to collect samples and analyze them.’ They have identified more than 500 novel coronaviruses, including roughly 50 related to SARS or MERS, and they have repeatedly engaged in gain-of-function research on coronaviruses designed to make them more infectious in humans."

The report also showed the role Daszak and colleague Ralph Baric played in trying to distance themselves and steer the U.S. government away from the idea that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a lab.
...
Read the full report here: https://gop-foreignaffairs.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/ORIGINS-OF-COVID-19-REPORT.pdf