Creation of a chimaera

[Andrew Reid]

I should be editing my footage from the F1

However I can't get this out of my head... It's extraordinary...

In 2004 Chinese researchers in a lab working on SARS coronaviruses became ill. They had become effected with the very viruses they were researching. Suddenly SARS was back out in the community. Big scandal at the time but thankfully these workers were isolated immediately and SARS doesn't have a very big contagion vector. https://www.the-scientist.com/news-analysis/sars-escaped-beijing-lab-twice-50137

In 2013 researchers in China showed that one of the coronaviruses circulating in horseshoe bats could bind to human lung cells. The Chinese government didn't really do much to stop the trade in bat meat and kept it on sale at markets.

In 2015 researchers in Wuhan went further...

Creation of a chimaera

From the scientific journal Nature, November 2015:

https://www.nature.com/news/engineered-bat-virus-stirs-debate-over-risky-research-1.18787?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews

 

"An experiment that created a hybrid version of a bat coronavirus — one related to the virus that causes SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) — has triggered renewed debate over whether engineering lab variants of viruses with possible pandemic potential is worth the risks.

"In an article published in Nature Medicine on 9th November, scientists investigated a virus called SHC014, which is found in horseshoe bats in China. The researchers created a chimaeric virus, made up of a surface protein of SHC014 and the backbone of a SARS virus that had been adapted to grow in mice and to mimic human disease. The chimaera infected human airway cells — proving that the surface protein of SHC014 has the necessary structure to bind to a key receptor on the cells and to infect them. It also caused disease in mice, but did not kill them."

"The findings reinforce suspicions that bat coronaviruses capable of directly infecting humans (rather than first needing to evolve in an intermediate animal host) may be more common than previously thought, the researchers say.

"But other virologists question whether the information gleaned from the experiment justifies the potential risk. Although the extent of any risk is difficult to assess, Simon Wain-Hobson, a virologist at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, points out that the researchers have created a novel virus that “grows remarkably well” in human cells. “If the virus escaped, nobody could predict the trajectory,” he says."

Some of my thoughts...

1. The reputable journal Nature has added a disclaimer to the original article, saying there's no proof the current coronavirus is engineered

2. However I find it an incredible coincidence that the ONLY level 4 microbiology research lab in China handling deadly coronaviruses is in Wuhan, of all places.

3. Then there's the strange reaction of the Chinese government in December and January, including towards doctors who reported the initial cases of what we now know of COVID-19. Intimidation, cover-ups, you name it.

4. Maj. Gen. Chen Wei, China's top bioweapons expert and others were dispatched to the Wuhan lab in January (According to - https://nypost.com/2020/02/22/dont-buy-chinas-story-the-coronavirus-may-have-leaked-from-a-lab/)

5. As early as 2013, the Chinese government researchers knew SHC014 and similar coronaviruses could bind to key receptor ACE2 in human lungs... But the wild animal markets stayed open. Why did China not open up about what they knew and take action on the markets? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26552008

6. Many in the scientific community questioned the grave risks of such research at the time but China pressed on. Their government clearly wished to know if SHC014 could bind to ACE2 if it made the leap to humans. I am not suggesting they were searching for biological weapon ingredients... But damn, did they find one. From Nature: "[The study findings] move this virus from a candidate emerging pathogen to a clear and present danger”. Useful to know, but it didn't stop certain people eating the hosts of such pathogens... or potentially trading ex-lab animals on the black market. In fact some Chinese researchers have been previously jailed for doing exactly that.

7. Going so far as to make this chimera virus, an engineered bat virus tested on mice, strikes me as incredibly dangerous research, open to all sorts of abuse and accidents.

8. In Wuhan, the "gain-of-function" research on viruses seeks to understand the genetic makeup and specifics of virus-host interaction... In other words, how can we gain the function to effect other hosts like humans, and what can we learn from it? Risky science, or purposefully malign?

Either way, the Chinese government owes the world a massive apology.

The bat meat and wild animal markets selling bats should have stopped at least 5 years ago.

The Wuhan research lab safety standards need to be transparent and any cases of corruption made public.

And an agreement with the rest of the world should be signed by the Chinese military, promising never to conduct research for the production of bioweapons.

Harry Patch, the last surviving British soldier of World War I said before he died - "the next war will be chemical, and they will never learn". Guess he was right.

[Andrew Reid]

Even in the safest labs in the US, there have also been mishaps.

https://www.nature.com/news/biosafety-in-the-balance-1.15447

"Anthrax is contracted by direct exposure to spores, and does not spread between people. Much more potentially dangerous are lab accidents involving agents that do. It is impossible to read about the CDC incident and not breathe a large sigh of relief that it did not involve a novel engineered pandemic influenza strain."

[Andrew Reid]

There is a rebuttal which appears to be published on behalf of the Chinese government, and "shell" company Shanghai Shangyixun Cultural Communications...

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/22221751.2020.1733440

All part of a continued cover-up exercise? Or genuine science?

[heart0less]

4 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

In 2013 researchers in China showed that one of the coronaviruses circulating in horseshoe bats could bind to human lung cells. The Chinese government didn't really do much to stop the trade in bat meat and kept it on sale at markets.

In 2015 researchers in Wuhan went further...

It's quite funny, because a simple Hollywood movie "Contagion" (dir. by Steven Soderbergh) already showed it in 2011.

 

SPOILERS AHEAD

A single bat captured in a remote Chinese village, killed by some Hong Kong cook, who didn't wash his hands after preparing a dish with it - that's how the whole plot starts (actually ends, since its revealed at the end of the movie).

SPOILERS END

 

They didn't get the symptoms right, but it's very unsettling to see how many things about 21st century pandemic were actually spot-on..

[User]

Interesting read. Thanks. 

I had just commented to a friend on how a global enforcement body absolutely has to see to it that people stop handling/ eating dangerous forms of bush meat.

Engineering viruses may have uses beyond my comprehension... but the risk are certainly making themselves apparent. Only in China could one conduct a level 4 virology experiment on an animal, then sell it off in a meat market at the end of the day.

Last time I was in Beijing - sitting in a restaurant waiting for a bowl of duck soup - I read a press report that a fair number of pigs had contracted tuberculosis in a small southern region. They hit the pigs with a massive round of antibiotics to keep their weight up until slaughter but with not enough time for the antibiotics to flush out. 400 people wound in the hospital.

A BBC food critic has said, eating meat in China is taking your life in your hands.

[Inazuma]

Wow I never thought I'd learn something non camera related on this forum, especially as I go to Reddit everyday. I had no idea about this research lab and the other stuff. I just assumed someone fucked a wild animal and caught their flu. Based on the research you've done it sounds like the most obvious answer is that it leaked from the lab. My question is - knowing the potential dangers, why wouldn't this lab concurrently work on a vaccine?

[BTM_Pix]

[heart0less]

3 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

Are we going to start every single day this way now?
( :

[BTM_Pix]

9 minutes ago, heart0less said:

Are we going to start every single day this way now?
( :

No, I have other gifs

The info in this post was definitely a tea sipping shocker though.

[leslie]

china is already slaughtering pigs in untold numbers which is another issue altogether its now spread to asia and other areas no doubt it will be a big issue if it or when it gets into australia.  I think china's mentality has to change, its no longer cool to raise a bunch of pigs or other animals under the house where you live. While i am sure there are lots of serious farm endevours, there are many backyards that you could reach out the window and scratch a pigs back, that aint good for hygiene. landline a popular tv show here in aus had footage of pigs dead or dying being dragged out from under houses into the street and people wonder why diseases are spreading. I do think they need to lift their animal hygiene standard several levels at least. The only good thing that may come out of this is that the government and industry recognizing that sending everything off shore to be manufactured is no as bright as they thought as it leaves us open to all sorts of problems.

No idea if corona virus is accidental or intentional. But i do think if there are any more "outbreaks"  from there we should ban them from playing with the rest of us for twenty years or so. we did alright before china came along we can do alright without them.

[Adam Kuźniar]

Your data is correct but your conclusions are wrong

 

8 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

1. The reputable journal Nature has added a disclaimer to the original article, saying there's no proof the current coronavirus is engineered

 

Yes, it has been proven that there's no credible evidence to support that the current strain of SARS-COV-2 is - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/22221751.2020.1733440

 

8 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

2. However I find it an incredible coincidence that the ONLY level 4 microbiology research lab in China handling deadly coronaviruses is in Wuhan, of all places.

 

There were multiple labs all over the world studying and researching coronaviruses. They have been known for years. Sure, it's interesting that the outbreak happened in the same city but it's just that, interesting. No causation proven.

8 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

3. Then there's the strange reaction of the Chinese government in December and January, including towards doctors who reported the initial cases of what we now know of COVID-19. Intimidation, cover-ups, you name it.

 

It's just what a government like China does, nothing new, nothing extraordinary. 

 

8 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

4. Maj. Gen. Chen Wei, China's top bioweapons expert and others were dispatched to the Wuhan lab in January (According to - https://nypost.com/2020/02/22/dont-buy-chinas-story-the-coronavirus-may-have-leaked-from-a-lab/)

 

Uhh.. yeah, to study and research the virus? That's good.. right ? 

 

8 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

5. As early as 2013, the Chinese government researchers knew SHC014 and similar coronaviruses could bind to key receptor ACE2 in human lungs... But the wild animal markets stayed open. Why did China not open up about what they knew and take action on the markets? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26552008

 

There are multiple societal and economical reasons why nothing has been done at that time. You can pose the same question right now - why didn't EU/USA countries react sooner when first cases were known in China? Same reasons.

 

8 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

6. Many in the scientific community questioned the grave risks of such research at the time but China pressed on. Their government clearly wished to know if SHC014 could bind to ACE2 if it made the leap to humans. I am not suggesting they were searching for biological weapon ingredients...

You're clearly suggesting just that and once again, there's no proof that SARS-COV-2 has been engineered. 

 

 

I'm not going to comment on the rest of your post since I don't have the time but maybe, just maybe we should talk about stuff we know, like I don't know, cameras; instead of stuff we have no idea and spewing mis-information. Your post is just adding to that pile.

[1Ale82]

The covid-19 coming out of a lab due to a conspiracy is a fake news. Artificial virus exist and are created for research purposes but they have in their RNA codes a footprint easily recognizable as human by other scientists, since they have long chains in their RNA code originating from the human intervention. Virus deriving from natural mutations instead have small mutations spread out all over their RNA code. This is what said a prominent scientist in a tv show in Italy. This tv show is know for being a serious one.

[Andrew Reid]

4 hours ago, Adam Kuźniar said:

It's just what a government like China does, nothing new, nothing extraordinary.

Ah it's that age old argument again... if it doesn't shock you, it must be ok!

4 hours ago, Adam Kuźniar said:

Uhh.. yeah, to study and research the virus? That's good.. right ?

It seems we have found a man so apt at missing the point, that if the point was the size of Matterhorn he would still miss it.

4 hours ago, Adam Kuźniar said:

instead of stuff we have no idea and spewing mis-information. Your post is just adding to that pile.

The lab in Wuhan had a range of natural viruses and the animals carrying natural pathogens. If scientists believe SARS-CoV-2 to be of natural origins, that still does not disprove the theory it spread from a lab accident or corrupt trade in exotic animals.

Pangolins smuggled into China illegally have been found to contain viruses similar to the one now sweeping the world.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52048195?fbclid=IwAR09mfAnXmBjClzGsLDiKh6PmdXJvMKSYbO4bpw_CtKYXRICw2l-jWDifwg

Are you still insisting the Chinese government doesn't owe us an apology?

Should this kind of thing continue after 2020?

[User]

4 hours ago, Adam Kuźniar said:

As early as 2013, the Chinese government researchers knew SHC014 and similar coronaviruses could bind to key receptor ACE2 in human lungs...

If someone could just get a super version of the virus to bind to the dick of every Chinese government official, I'd rest a lot easier. 

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

8 hours ago, Inazuma said:

Wow I never thought I'd learn something non camera related on this forum, especially as I go to Reddit everyday. I had no idea about this research lab and the other stuff. I just assumed someone fucked a wild animal and caught their flu. 

I guess that fucking a bat is not the easiest task in the world. :)

[User]

6 minutes ago, Márcio Kabke Pinheiro said:

I guess that fucking a bat is not the easiest task in the world.

If you can think it, there is certainly someone out there doing it. Desperation makes for strange bed partners.

[User]

I remember hearing Hunter Thompson say something like "Whenever something fucked up happens, one has to ask, who stands to profit?"

So if the Chinese purposely launched this, who is going to benefit and how? And if they didn't 'purposely' launch this, then who is going to take advantage of this and how?

The climate activists are saying that this is a wake up call and will cause people to take a look at how we are living on the planet... but 99% of the population could give a shit about that. "Hey look... a sale on SUVs! Now I can drive further into the forrest and get my own bat to fuck."

[sanveer]

.

[sanveer]

12 minutes ago, User said:

I remember hearing Hunter Thompson say something like "Whenever something fucked up happens, one has to ask, who stands to profit?"

Almost 90% of deaths due to the Corona Virus are in the G20.

What do you think this means?

 

[User]

1 hour ago, sanveer said:

Almost 90% of deaths due to the Corona Virus are in the G20.

What do you think this means? 

Well... I'm no scientist but.
Looking at the reports coming out of India (for example) - which by the way has the largest amount of young people on the planet by far (less prone to die by this virus) - the country is teetering on the very edge of a MASSIVE outbreak the likes of which is going to make everything else look insignificant. The government totally bungled the situation.... at one point they grabbed some suspected cases out of the airport in Delhi, put them on a bus to a fucked up and filthy building still under construction in a northern suburb, then brought in a photographer to shoot a few propaganda pics so the government could claim that the country had a quarantine program. The whole thing was staged. Then they immediately released everyone who was by that point sicker with other illnesses. Also, India refused to test people. No test, no virus. Chalega. I imagine it's the same for other countries with substandard reporting practices. Iran?
Now the virus is moving hard and fast through the country in its incubation period... so we are going to see the numbers in a few weeks. Also, because developing countries often lack the facilities to know who died from 'exactly' what, it could be hard to know. Temperature (heat) could also be keeping the numbers down as well.
Also... my feeling is that folks in developing countries are more resilient to disease than their hyper clean white glove wearing Western counterparts. I've passed 11 years in South Asia and haven't so much as had a cold/ flu in over 4 years. But the first few years were rough.