I cannot think
The UK is blinding itself to the truth about Covid's origins
As a US Senate committee's full, 300-page report on the origin of Covid
now
makes clear, a whole string of clues points towards a laboratory accident
as the probable cause of the pandemic.
For example, there is: evidence of biosafety concerns at the lab in the autumn of 2019; the Chinese authorities' refusal to share details of early human cases of the disease in November 2019; persistent reports from US intelligence that these early cases include lab workers; the apparent
start
of vaccine development in China before the outbreak was even declared; and the astonishingly uncooperative attitude of the Chinese authorities to investigating the origin.
Add to these: the failure to find infected animals in markets or on farms; the revelation that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) brought about
200
kinds of bat coronavirus to Wuhan; the risky nature of the research they
did to combine the genes of new viruses with existing ones and test them
on
human cells and humanised mice; the surprising finding that the virus
which
causes Covid has a unique genetic feature that happens to be of the kind
that the Institute had been inserting into other viruses; and the blank refusal of the WIV to share its database of viruses it was working on with the outside world after taking it offline in late 2019.
Despite the best efforts of a small group of Western virologists who collaborated with the WIV to shut down the debate in the West and label a
lab leak a conspiracy theory, the matter will not go away. Yet the British science establishment and Government, normally so ready to boast of our reputation as a biomedical research hub second only to the US, has done nothing to contribute to this debate.
I cannot think of a single significant addition from our universities and institutes, except the strange role that the Wellcome Trust played in convening a meeting in February 2020, where attendees appeared to agree to mislead the public about the plausibility of a lab leak.
With the US government arguably compromised by allegations that it funded
the very work in the very lab in Wuhan that is under suspicion, there was
a
golden opportunity for British scientists and spies to step in as honest brokers and weigh the evidence. Yet they refused to do so.
When I urged one leading scientific body at least to debate the matter, it politely declined. When I urged another to investigate, it told me the
topic was "too controversial". Nature, Britain's and the world's premier science journal, has confined its reporting to condescending dismissal of
all discussion of lab leaks.
When I asked a senior scientist to help wake the establishment up to the biggest enigma science has faced in decades, he said he thought it was
vital we do not find out what happened lest it annoy the Chinese
government.
This is not the stance anybody would take over an accident to an airliner,
a chemical plant or a nuclear reactor. Yet unlike such accidents, the pandemic killed millions.
Of course he is right about the reason for our reticence. The Foreign
Office is in permanent kow-tow. Our universities and science journals are directly or indirectly dependent on Chinese funds and infested with people who seem to admire authoritarian communism. Senior scientists are worried that admitting a lab leak is plausible would damage the reputation of science. To which I say: not half as much as trying to cover it up.
Matt Ridley is the author of 'Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19'
<https://digitaleditions.telegraph.co.uk/data/1268/reader/reader.html?#!preferred/0/package/1268/pub/1268/page/70/article/NaN>
--
Spike
The UK is blinding itself to the truth about Covid's origins
As a US Senate committee's full, 300-page report on the origin of Covid
now
makes clear, a whole string of clues points towards a laboratory accident
as the probable cause of the pandemic.
For example, there is: evidence of biosafety concerns at the lab in the autumn of 2019; the Chinese authorities' refusal to share details of early human cases of the disease in November 2019; persistent reports from US intelligence that these early cases include lab workers; the apparent
start
of vaccine development in China before the outbreak was even declared; and the astonishingly uncooperative attitude of the Chinese authorities to investigating the origin.
Add to these: the failure to find infected animals in markets or on farms; the revelation that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) brought about
200
kinds of bat coronavirus to Wuhan; the risky nature of the research they
did to combine the genes of new viruses with existing ones and test them
on
human cells and humanised mice; the surprising finding that the virus
which
causes Covid has a unique genetic feature that happens to be of the kind
that the Institute had been inserting into other viruses; and the blank refusal of the WIV to share its database of viruses it was working on with the outside world after taking it offline in late 2019.
Despite the best efforts of a small group of Western virologists who collaborated with the WIV to shut down the debate in the West and label a
lab leak a conspiracy theory, the matter will not go away. Yet the British science establishment and Government, normally so ready to boast of our reputation as a biomedical research hub second only to the US, has done nothing to contribute to this debate.
I cannot think of a single significant addition from our universities and institutes, except the strange role that the Wellcome Trust played in convening a meeting in February 2020, where attendees appeared to agree to mislead the public about the plausibility of a lab leak.
With the US government arguably compromised by allegations that it funded
the very work in the very lab in Wuhan that is under suspicion, there was
a
golden opportunity for British scientists and spies to step in as honest brokers and weigh the evidence. Yet they refused to do so.
When I urged one leading scientific body at least to debate the matter, it politely declined. When I urged another to investigate, it told me the
topic was "too controversial". Nature, Britain's and the world's premier science journal, has confined its reporting to condescending dismissal of
all discussion of lab leaks.
When I asked a senior scientist to help wake the establishment up to the biggest enigma science has faced in decades, he said he thought it was
vital we do not find out what happened lest it annoy the Chinese
government.
This is not the stance anybody would take over an accident to an airliner,
a chemical plant or a nuclear reactor. Yet unlike such accidents, the pandemic killed millions.
Of course he is right about the reason for our reticence. The Foreign
Office is in permanent kow-tow. Our universities and science journals are directly or indirectly dependent on Chinese funds and infested with people who seem to admire authoritarian communism. Senior scientists are worried that admitting a lab leak is plausible would damage the reputation of science. To which I say: not half as much as trying to cover it up.
Matt Ridley is the author of 'Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19'
<https://digitaleditions.telegraph.co.uk/data/1268/reader/reader.html?#!preferred/0/package/1268/pub/1268/page/70/article/NaN>
--
Spike
The UK is blinding itself to the truth about Covid’s originspreferred/0/package/1268/pub/1268/page/70/article/NaN>
As a US Senate committee’s full, 300-page report on the origin of Covid
now makes clear, a whole string of clues points towards a laboratory
accident as the probable cause of the pandemic.
For example, there is: evidence of biosafety concerns at the lab in the autumn of 2019; the Chinese authorities’ refusal to share details of
early human cases of the disease in November 2019; persistent reports
from US intelligence that these early cases include lab workers; the
apparent start of vaccine development in China before the outbreak was
even declared; and the astonishingly uncooperative attitude of the
Chinese authorities to investigating the origin.
Add to these: the failure to find infected animals in markets or on
farms;
the revelation that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) brought about
200 kinds of bat coronavirus to Wuhan; the risky nature of the research
they did to combine the genes of new viruses with existing ones and test
them on human cells and humanised mice; the surprising finding that the
virus which causes Covid has a unique genetic feature that happens to be
of the kind that the Institute had been inserting into other viruses;
and the blank refusal of the WIV to share its database of viruses it was working on with the outside world after taking it offline in late 2019.
Despite the best efforts of a small group of Western virologists who collaborated with the WIV to shut down the debate in the West and label
a lab leak a conspiracy theory, the matter will not go away. Yet the
British science establishment and Government, normally so ready to boast
of our reputation as a biomedical research hub second only to the US,
has done nothing to contribute to this debate.
I cannot think of a single significant addition from our universities
and institutes, except the strange role that the Wellcome Trust played
in convening a meeting in February 2020, where attendees appeared to
agree to mislead the public about the plausibility of a lab leak.
With the US government arguably compromised by allegations that it
funded the very work in the very lab in Wuhan that is under suspicion,
there was a golden opportunity for British scientists and spies to step
in as honest brokers and weigh the evidence. Yet they refused to do so.
When I urged one leading scientific body at least to debate the matter,
it politely declined. When I urged another to investigate, it told me
the topic was “too controversial”. Nature, Britain’s and the world’s premier science journal, has confined its reporting to condescending dismissal of all discussion of lab leaks.
When I asked a senior scientist to help wake the establishment up to the biggest enigma science has faced in decades, he said he thought it was
vital we do not find out what happened lest it annoy the Chinese
government.
This is not the stance anybody would take over an accident to an
airliner,
a chemical plant or a nuclear reactor. Yet unlike such accidents, the pandemic killed millions.
Of course he is right about the reason for our reticence. The Foreign
Office is in permanent kow-tow. Our universities and science journals
are directly or indirectly dependent on Chinese funds and infested with people who seem to admire authoritarian communism. Senior scientists are worried that admitting a lab leak is plausible would damage the
reputation of science. To which I say: not half as much as trying to
cover it up.
Matt Ridley is the author of ‘Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19’
<https://digitaleditions.telegraph.co.uk/data/1268/reader/reader.html?#!
On 19 Apr 2023 08:25:21 GMT, Spike wrote:
The UK is blinding itself to the truth about Covid’s origins
As a US Senate committee’s full, 300-page report on the origin of Covid
now makes clear, a whole string of clues points towards a laboratory
accident as the probable cause of the pandemic.
A report released by Republican lawmakers cites "ample evidence" that the
lab was working to modify corona viruses to infect humans and calls for a bipartisan investigation into its origins.
Republican Senator Rand Paul also alleges that US money was used to fund research there that made some viruses more infectious and more deadly, a process known as "gain-of-function".
Matt Ridley is the author of ‘Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19’
On 19/04/2023 09:25, Spike wrote:
Matt Ridley is the author of 'Viral: The Search for the Origin of
Covid-19'
He was also the Chairman of Northern Rock which precipitated the worst banking crisis in UK history. Time for an investigation of his role in the origin of that crisis.
--
Lew
A report released by Republican lawmakers cites "ample evidence" that
the lab was working to modify corona viruses to infect humans and calls
for a bipartisan investigation into its origins.
Republican Senator Rand Paul also alleges that US money was used to fund research there that made some viruses more infectious and more deadly,
a process known as "gain-of-function".
But this has been firmly rejected by Dr Anthony Fauci, the US infectious diseases chief.
| Sysop: | Keyop |
|---|---|
| Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
| Users: | 297 |
| Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
| Uptime: | 11:29:29 |
| Calls: | 6,666 |
| Files: | 12,213 |
| Messages: | 5,336,376 |