Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Coronavirus: Lab Leak Part 16 - The Intercept Article

The Intercept (Sep 6) was able to obtain 900 pages of materials via a FOIA lawsuit regarding U.S. funding of virus research in China.

The documents contain several critical details about the research in Wuhan, including the fact that key experimental work with humanized mice was conducted at a biosafety level 3 lab at Wuhan University Center for Animal Experiment — and not at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, as was previously assumed.

. . . The bat coronavirus grant provided EcoHealth Alliance with a total of $3.1 million, including $599,000 that the Wuhan Institute of Virology used in part to identify and alter bat coronaviruses likely to infect humans.


The article has a couple quotes from Alina Chan, a molecular biologist at the Broad Institute. In Part 15 of my Lab Leak series, I wrote about her and the fact that her May 2020 paper on the possibility of a lab leak was dismissed by the scientific community.

One interesting note to me from the above quote is that research was being done at a biosafety level 3 lab and not a level 4 lab. What exactly is the difference between a level 3 and a level 4 -- I don't know. But from what I've read, this type of research should be done at a level 4 lab so this doesn't look good for China.

MSN (Sep 7) had this to add about The Intercept's article:

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., says newly public documents revealing the extent of U.S. funding of coronavirus research in Wuhan, China, show that National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) head Dr. Anthony Fauci lied during his previous testimony to Congress.

Did Dr Fauci lie during his testimony before Congress? I'm sure this will come down to the definition of "is." 

What is the possibility that in 3 months, Dr. Fauci will be announcing his retirement? It'll be due to the fact that we've gotten COVID-19 under-control, but we'll all know that isn't true. 

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