Fauci and gain-of-function research thread.

[BacktoCricaddict]

This news is spread over multiple threads, but deserves its own.  If mods think otherwise, please merge with one of the others.

 

https://blog.independent.org/2020/11/04/was-dr-fauci-right-about-dangerous-gain-of-function-research/

 

2014 - Under Obama, NIH banned GOF research.

2017 - Under Trump, NIH reinstated it.

 

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(18)30006-9/fulltext

 

At no point did Fauci or NIH or anyone else sanction GOF research to be done under low biosafety conditions.  It was supposed to be done in BSL-4 labs, but Wuhan Instt of Virology apparently did it under BSL-2 labs (that's the kind of lab I work in at my university).  Most importantly, his comments were specifically with regard to H5N1 Influenza and not Coronavirus research.  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's what Fauci said (https://mbio.asm.org/content/3/5/e00359-12 - actual publication link)

 

“We need to be certain that the fundamental purposes of this work, together with its risks and benefits, are understood by multiple stakeholders, including the general public, and that decisions are made in a transparent manner,” wrote Fauci, who wondered, “what if that scientist becomes infected with the virus, which leads to an outbreak and ultimately triggers a pandemic?” Given the possibility of such a scenario, “should the initial experiments have been performed and/or published in the first place, and what were the processes involved in this decision?”

...

The game has changed for influenza virus scientists and the agencies that support them. As researchers, we must realize that we are critical players in the process of policy and decision making related to DURC, but we are not the only players. Before embarking on certain types of research, we must ask ourselves critical questions about whether there are alternative ways to answer the research questions at hand. When no reasonable alternatives exist, we must take the scientific approach to making the argument for conducting such experiments before they are performed. The voluntary moratorium on the controversial issue of gain-of-function research related to the transmissibility of highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza virus is providing us the time and space we all need to work together and get this right, and it should be continued until we do so (5).

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Finally, the original strain was more transmissible than the other coronaviruses.  Variants developed according to normal evolutionary principles.  

Edited May 29, 2021 by BacktoCricaddict

[BacktoCricaddict]

As usual, Trump distorted everything:

https://www.factcheck.org/2020/05/trump-spreads-distorted-claim-on-wuhan-lab-funding/

 

NIH/NIAID did not fund GOF research at WIV.  

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/05/the-wuhan-lab-and-the-gain-of-function-disagreement/

 

Fauci told Paul at the hearing: “Dr. Baric does not do gain-of-function research, and if it is, it’s according to the guidelines and it is being conducted in North Carolina, not in China.” In a statement to us, Baric said: “Our work was approved by the NIH, was peer reviewed, and P3CO reviewed,” meaning reviewed under the HHS 2017 framework. “We followed all safety protocols, and our work was considered low risk because of the strain of coronaviruses being studied. It is because of our early work that the United States was in a position to quickly find the first successful treatment for SARS-CoV-2 and an effective COVID-19 vaccine.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

[vvvslaxman]

Guy who served under 6 presidents suddenly is a villain thanks to that newyork philandering f***tard trump

[rkt.india]

2 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

Guy who served under 6 presidents suddenly is a villain thanks to that newyork philandering f***tard trump

from the horse's mouth. He knew it already. They were all involved, maybe Trump too knew about it. 

 

 

 

[BacktoCricaddict]

10 hours ago, rkt.india said:

from the horse's mouth. He knew it already. They were all involved, maybe Trump too knew about it. 

 

 

 

 

People are connecting unconnected dots.  This is the kind of conversation that microbiologists, virologists and others who are steeped in biology have on a daily basis.  But no one will care or listen until something actually happens.  These scientists talk about it with the purpose of raising awareness in public and politicians that we must be prepared for a pandemic.  They've been saying it for multiple decades, possibly a century (since the Spanish flu).  Whether a pathogen escapes from a lab or jumps from a zoonotic source, it is something that we must be ready for.  Often, these people get carried away while speaking in public and exaggerate possibilities just to get people's attention.  Heck, I discuss this kind of thing in a General Biology class for undergraduates and we go over how the world must prepare.  We discuss all possibilities - zoonotic to bioterrorism.  That doesn't mean I know or I sponsored someone who planted a virus.  

 

Naomi Wolf also claimed that the US Military was going to West Africa to bring Ebola to the US population so as to control them.  I guess when that failed they went with Covid?  And of course whoever posted the video cut it off at "surprise outbreak" and not what came after that.  WADR,  Wolf's paranoid interpretations are not worth anything.  But I can see how this is such an attractive hypothesis to cover up in our minds our own failures or the failures of people/groups/politicians we already admire.  

 

Added in edit:  Regardless of everything else, if he was involved in trying cause a surprise disaster, why would he go around talking about it in multiple settings over the decades?  Wouldn't you be all hush-hush?

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by BacktoCricaddict

[vvvslaxman]

21 hours ago, rkt.india said:

from the horse's mouth. He knew it already. They were all involved, maybe Trump too knew about it. 

 

 

 

 

Heard enough of right wing making  a big deal out of nothing lol THis is one of those stupid thing.

[vvvslaxman]

11 hours ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

 

People are connecting unconnected dots.  This is the kind of conversation that microbiologists, virologists and others who are steeped in biology have on a daily basis.  But no one will care or listen until something actually happens.  These scientists talk about it with the purpose of raising awareness in public and politicians that we must be prepared for a pandemic.  They've been saying it for multiple decades, possibly a century (since the Spanish flu).  Whether a pathogen escapes from a lab or jumps from a zoonotic source, it is something that we must be ready for.  Often, these people get carried away while speaking in public and exaggerate possibilities just to get people's attention.  Heck, I discuss this kind of thing in a General Biology class for undergraduates and we go over how the world must prepare.  We discuss all possibilities - zoonotic to bioterrorism.  That doesn't mean I know or I sponsored someone who planted a virus.  

 

Naomi Wolf also claimed that the US Military was going to West Africa to bring Ebola to the US population so as to control them.  I guess when that failed they went with Covid?  And of course whoever posted the video cut it off at "surprise outbreak" and not what came after that.  WADR,  Wolf's paranoid interpretations are not worth anything.  But I can see how this is such an attractive hypothesis to cover up in our minds our own failures or the failures of people/groups/politicians we already admire.  

 

Added in edit:  Regardless of everything else, if he was involved in trying cause a surprise disaster, why would he go around talking about it in multiple settings over the decades?  Wouldn't you be all hush-hush?

 

 

 

Fact that they had to bring up an edited interview they never heard when it was aired explains how desperate conspiracy theorists are. They try to read between each interview from the past just to create a narrative.  It is not just Americans also lot of INdians are easy prey for Qanon conspiracy theorists. Just carefully edited image, video suiting their narrative is all they need.  This is why most of their sharing is some random youtube videos.

[coffee_rules]

Scary if true!

[BacktoCricaddict]

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-27/covid-19-and-lab-leak-history-smallpox-h1n1-sars

The History of Lab Leaks Has Lots of Entries

Smallpox, anthrax and influenzas have escaped facilities — sometimes with deadly consequences.

 

The troubling aspect of this outbreak was that this particular strain of H1N1 hadn’t been seen since 1950, when it was supplanted by other strains. The sudden appearance of what one account has described as a “time-traveling throwback” was baffling. A handful of researchers speculated that it might have escaped from a lab in either the Soviet Union or China, but this possibility, which both countries denied, could not be verified. The desire to secure cooperation from both countries on fighting influenza likely played a role in the decision not to pursue the matter further.

But the incident remained a puzzle for virologists, who tried repeatedly to explain what had happened. Various theories came and went to explain what became known as “frozen evolution,” but over the past 20 years, the consensus has moved toward the idea that this outbreak was most likely the result of some kind of leap to humans from an unknown lab. A related theory holds that it was the result of a botched vaccine trial associated with attempts to fight swine flu, which briefly became a concern in the 1970s.

 

Of course, all of these incidents took place in the 1970s. One would expect lab safety to have improved since then, but that isn’t necessarily the case. After the outbreak of SARS in 2003, labs around the world began studying the virus, which had come perilously close to causing a global pandemic. Since that time, there have been no less than six lab leaks of SARS. The first took place in at the National University of Singapore, where a graduate student contracted the disease from a contaminated sample.

 

[BacktoCricaddict]

21 minutes ago, coffee_rules said:

Scary if true!

Generally speaking, US lab regulations are extremely strict.  

[diga]

1 hour ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-27/covid-19-and-lab-leak-history-smallpox-h1n1-sars

The History of Lab Leaks Has Lots of Entries

Smallpox, anthrax and influenzas have escaped facilities — sometimes with deadly consequences.

 

 

I dont know how many of you remember the Surat bubonic plague in the 90s...  Word was that the CDC was conducting some experiments in that area.

https://www.theweek.in/theweek/cover/2020/01/31/genie-from-a-war-lab.html

 

https://greatgameindia.com/1994-surat-plague-bioterrorism/

 

https://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20000525/edit.htm#7

 

PS: Above are not really scientific articles, but more political in nature

Edited May 31, 2021 by diga

[Number]

Anyone checked #FauciLeaks trend on twitter?

Shocking If these are mails sent and received by him. He knows quite a lot.

[rkt.india]

 

 

 

 

[BacktoCricaddict]

7 hours ago, rkt.india said:

 

 

 

 

So is that really what that email to Fauci says?  It says the possibility cannot be ruled out.  It says more investigation is needed.  It says there may be some unusual features that need to be looked at more carefully. It says, overall it is consistent with bat origins.  But Berenson only takes out of it what he wants to hear.  "They knew something was up?"  No, they were just doing their job investigating *if* something was up.  Isn't that what you wanted?  For them to investigate if there was something amiss?  To me it proves that neither Fauci nor anyone else had eliminated the possibility of an engineered virus.  But why would they come out in public and say "oh yeah, there is a 0.1% chance that this may have happened?"  Berenson is being a stubborn, dishonest fool.  

 

BTW, that email is cautious science-speak - this is how real scientists talk.  Not in absolutes.  Only in probabilities.  Never jump to conclusions based on initial observations.  The job of absolutism is left to two-bit "conclude-first, data-next" journalists and their tweeps.  

Edited June 2, 2021 by BacktoCricaddict

[Jimmy Cliff]

 

 

[Gollum]

This is what happens when men consume too much soy

 

Literally fell off my chair when they greeted him...Hi Doctor Fauci lmao

 

 

[nevada]

23 hours ago, rkt.india said:

 

 

 

 

Fauxci can never get his story straight! "A hundred lies to cover up one lie" proverb applies to him perfectly.

[ravishingravi]

On 6/2/2021 at 6:29 PM, Jimmy Cliff said:

 

 

This has now changed the whole story or narrative. So, apparently lab leak theory was not an outlier. It was systematically discouraged. 

[ravishingravi]

At some point it starts to feel like parody, it ain’t. I can’t believe what I am reading anymore. All the post facto justifications doesn’t add up.

 

 

[coffee_rules]

On 6/2/2021 at 4:33 PM, Gollum said:

This is what happens when men consume too much soy

 

Literally fell off my chair when they greeted him...Hi Doctor Fauci lmao

 

 

Although, I’d preferred  he debunked  your SoyBoy theory first. At this point, Fauci’s flipflops on Wuhan , Masks is disconcerting