Any lab experimenting with the creation of or gain-of-function of human pathogens should be summarily terminated and its researchers banned from further activities. The depth and scope of this kind of research goes far beyond just China and the U.S. This has morphed into an arms race in biowarfare, and it is potentially more dangerous that the invention of the atomic bomb in 1945. ⁃ TN Editor
A potentially deadly new strain of COVID has been created in a University lab in London, according to a report.
The Daily Mail reports that researchers at Imperial College London have hybridised the original Wuhan strain of the disease with both the Omicron or Delta variants separately.
The College is yet to reveal how effective the strain they have created is, and has denied that the work constitutes gain of function, the process now widely believed to have been responsible for the original strain in Wuhan.
Molecular biology expert Dr. Richard Ebright warned that the new mutant strain, which was injected into hamsters in London, “is insanity, both in terms of the redundancy and waste,” and that it has zero “foreseeable practical applications.”
At least four labs on two continents now have constructed non-natural, lab-generated viruses that retain the high immune escape of Omicron and acquire higher severity than Omicron and that, as such, are reasonably expected to increase transmission or pathogenicity in humans. https://t.co/jKeDXXNY2G
— Richard H. Ebright (@R_H_Ebright) October 28, 2022
This is insanity. Both In terms of the redundancy and waste. And, especially, in terms of the risk of triggering a new pandemic wave upon accidental release of the lab-generated viruses–a risk exacerbated by the fact the lab-generated viruses are present in multiple locations.
— Richard H. Ebright (@R_H_Ebright) October 28, 2022
Dr. Ebright further warned that the development is huge “especially, in terms of the risk of triggering a new pandemic wave upon accidental or deliberate release of the laboratory-generated viruses.”
“This should be a wake-up call,” the biologist urged, adding “If the world wishes to avoid new pandemic waves and pandemics caused by lab-generated enhanced potential pandemic pathogens, then it is urgently necessary to restrict senseless high-risk, low-benefit research that creates enhanced potential pandemic pathogens and to implement effective national oversight, with force of law, on such research.”
“[T]here is no justification for intentionally making potential pandemic viruses more transmissible. The consequences of an accident could be too horrific, and such engineered viruses are not needed for vaccines.”
A Plea for Making Virus Research Safer https://t.co/orioZLXQm8
— Richard H. Ebright (@R_H_Ebright) October 30, 2022
The development comes after Boston University created a new strain with an 80 percent KILL RATE in a similar fashion.
*Source: Now It’s UK: Why Are Labs Racing To See Who Can Create The Most Deadly Virus?