Regardless of WHO is behind the study, the argument is SCIENTIFIC and should stay that way.
Here is the counter argument:
Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University, told The Daily Beast of the study that Basically, it’s all circumstantial and some of it is entirely fictional.
The paper leads with a claim that the coronavirus’ genes are “suspiciously similar to that of a bat coronavirus discovered by military laboratories” in China—an assertion Rasmussen says shouldn’t be surprising because “they are related SARS-like coronaviruses.”
The study’s authors made a similar claim about a portion of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein—which viruses use to breach and infect cells—and wrote that it’s similar to the original SARS virus in a “suspicious manner” and suggests genetic manipulation. “SARS-CoV also used ACE2 as a cellular receptor, as do other SARS-like bat coronaviruses,” Rasmussen says. “It is not suspicious and is in fact expected that the receptor binding domains that bind the same protein would be similar.”
Rasmussen also said that the paper misrepresented basic facts about another part of coronavirus spike proteins known as furin cleavage sites. The authors claim that SARS-CoV-2’s cleavage site is “unique” and unseen elsewhere in nature. But according to Rasmussen, “Furin cleavage sites occur naturally in many other beta-CoVs, including MERS-CoV and other SARS-like bat coronaviruses.”
THOSE COUNTER ARGUMENTS ARE SCIENTIFIC AND NEED TO BE REFUTED — SCIENTIFICALLY.
There is little doubt that the Wusan Biological Warfare lab was experimenting and trying to tinker with the the COVID-19 virus and other SARS like viruses. Very much doubt it was an intentional release because that does not serve China’s current interests. Plausible story is that poorly paid lab workers sold infected lab animals to the meat markets in Wusan. What is interesting to watch is China’s propaganda response to this catastophre and how it it aided by fellow travelers and dupes in the US. Don’t be a dupe.
DO THEY REALLY?