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Was Coronavirus an escaped Chinese Bioweapon?

There have been various theories that Covid-19 is a disease developed by China.  The epicentre of the Coronovirus outbreak was in Wuhan which happens to be the home of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a major centre of Chinese virus research.  Given that all Chinese academic and business activity is also Chinese State activity it is easy to join the dots and assume that Coronavirus was a bioweapons programme that escaped.
The main reason for denying that Covid-19 is a bioweapon is that those working on coronaviruses in China have been quite public about what they are doing as have those outside China - see for instance Lab Made Coronavirus Triggers Debate (2015).  What they have been doing is "gain of function" studies in which they mutate viruses to investigate what changes are needed to make them more lethal.  When I first read about such experiments several years ago my jaw dropped, I thought "what if the virus escapes"?  This was my first thought and also the first thought of many others, virologists included - see Nature article for details of action being taken to limit gain of function experimentation.

There has been one study, by the Scripps Institute, where the authors state clearly that the virus was not genetically engineered although the arguments are confused.  This article was given considerable publicity by Science Daily and has been widely circulated.  The following argument is given for Sars-CoV-2 not being genetically engineered: "It is improbable that SARS-CoV-2 emerged through laboratory manipulation of a related SARS-CoV-like coronavirus. As noted above, the RBD (receptor binding) of SARS-CoV-2 is optimized for binding to human ACE2 with an efficient solution different from those previously predicted." This argument is not convincing because it could also be used to suggest human genetic manipulation, the mutations being applied directly to the genes that specify binding to human cells.  The fact that the argument against human intervention on Sars-CoV-2 is the same as might have been used to suggest human intervention makes one wonder; words like "whitewash" spring to mind because this technique can also be used for disinformation. However, personally I think Sars-CoV-2 is probably natural. (11/04/2020: I have since changed this view and believe SARS-CoV2 was a lab escape - Scripps is almost the only source of a clear statement that the virus is natural and did not mention its Chinese connection in its declaration of interests:

The huge publicity given to the absurd theory about 5G and Covid-19 also smacks of a determined effort to brand those who speculate on the source of the virus as lunatics).

We will never know whether Sars-CoV-2 virus is a laboratory escape and at this moment we certainly do not want to hunt down virologists who are experts on the virus to "bring them to justice".  But we do need politicians to work together with international virology bodies to regulate "gain of function" experiments even if they are entirely unrelated to the coronavirus pandemic.

Of course, in a state run nation like China any gain of function experiment that might yield a bioweapon stands a good chance of being developed as a bioweapon.  China is a real problem and the West is being astonishingly negligent of its own security in its soft treatment of this National Socialist state.  Trade does not and has not brought liberty to China, it has just given it the resources to be a first rank enemy.

Image result for chinese quarantine enforcement
Quarantine in China



18/3/2020

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