Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Experts debunk fringe theory linking China’s coronavirus to weapons research
Washington Post ^ | 01/29/2020 | Adam Taylor

Posted on 01/29/2020 9:59:29 AM PST by SeekAndFind

As China attempts to contain the spread of a new coronavirus that has left more than 100 people dead, rumors and disinformation have spread amid the scramble for answers.

Some of the speculation has centered on a virology institute in Wuhan, the city where the outbreak began. One fringe theory holds that the disaster could be the accidental result of biological weapons research.

But in conversations with The Washington Post, experts rejected the idea that the virus could be man-made.

“Based on the virus genome and properties there is no indication whatsoever that it was an engineered virus,” said Richard Ebright, a professor of chemical biology at Rutgers University.

Tim Trevan, a biological safety expert based in Maryland, said most countries had largely abandoned their bioweapons research after years of work proved fruitless.

“The vast majority of new, nasty diseases ... come from nature,” he said.

The British newspaper Daily Mail was among the first to suggest the possibility of a link between the newly spreading virus and the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, reporting last week that the lab, which opened in 2014 and is part of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, had been the subject of safety concerns in the past.

A separate article published by the Washington Times, a conservative newspaper in Washington, took the theories a step further, suggesting in a headline that the “Coronavirus may have originated in lab linked to China’s biowarfare program” and pointing to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The article cited research by Dany Shoham, a former Israeli military intelligence officer, who told The Post he did not want to comment further.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bioweapons; china; conspiracy; coronavirus; deepstatevirus; dontbelieveit; fakenews; kag; maga; militarygrade; nicetry; trump; virus
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-120 next last
To: SeekAndFind; Impy; BillyBoy; LS; NFHale; GOPsterinMA; campaignPete R-CT; AuH2ORepublican; ...

I need to add “debunked” to my media newspeak translation guide.

“Debunked” = NOT UNproven True, or: Something that viscerally goes against the Fake News narrative and must be immediately dismissed without any actual evidence to support it being factually proven false.

i.e. “Pizzagate was debunked.”
“Barack Obama being Muslim was debunked.”


21 posted on 01/29/2020 10:08:23 AM PST by fieldmarshaldj (Dear Mr. Kotter, #Epsteindidntkillhimself - Signed, Epstein's Mother)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Uh oh...WaPo says it is “debunked.”

That’s a confirmation if I ever heard one. Where’s my N95 mask stash?


22 posted on 01/29/2020 10:08:59 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I just love it when experts ‘debunk’ things for us.


23 posted on 01/29/2020 10:09:10 AM PST by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fieldmarshaldj

Joe Biden’s corrupt quid pro quo with the previous Ukraine administration was “debunked”


24 posted on 01/29/2020 10:09:31 AM PST by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Mr. K

Is there a “Department of Debunking”?


25 posted on 01/29/2020 10:09:37 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: MrEdd

They think it means “You’re an uneducated southern boob who speaks funny.”


26 posted on 01/29/2020 10:09:38 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

(Snort) More “Experts” being trotted out.

Sorry, but I should totally trust the WaPo track record...NOT.


27 posted on 01/29/2020 10:09:46 AM PST by Sir Napsalot (Pravda + Useful Idiots = USSR; Journ0List + Useful Idiots = DopeyChangey)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SMARTY
Ya gotta wonder about who is an expert any more.

You see them every day, they're all on this site........LOL!

28 posted on 01/29/2020 10:10:11 AM PST by Hot Tabasco (I want an impeachment pen)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

From now on, any time an academic defends CCP/PLA I’ll remember this:

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/28/800442646/acclaimed-harvard-scientist-is-arrested-accused-of-lying-about-ties-to-china


29 posted on 01/29/2020 10:10:23 AM PST by Black Agnes
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

That’s another way of saying unsupported, but not debunked. There’s a vast difference between this theory and the JFK assassination thing. The US is an open society, and people who might have been involved in pulling levers in the background can disclose things to reporters without anyone finding out who they are. Whereas China is a country where disclosing something the government doesn’t want publicized can get you killed on charges of espionage/treason, because the government will simply torture the journalists involved until they give up their source(s).


30 posted on 01/29/2020 10:12:24 AM PST by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Never believe any story until...........oh crap.....is that.....the.......fat....lady......


31 posted on 01/29/2020 10:12:27 AM PST by justa-hairyape (The user name is sarcastic. Although at times it may not appear that way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SMARTY

Exactly, experts say Trump colluded and needs to be impeached. F these “experts”


32 posted on 01/29/2020 10:15:47 AM PST by Blue Highway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Black Agnes

I can’t read the whole story thus I can’t evaluate.

Are they saying that they have looked at the actual virus obtained from a patient and there is no way it could be man made like the Chapel Hill China Bat/Sars virus.


33 posted on 01/29/2020 10:17:24 AM PST by RummyChick
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Now I am really worried. Almost confirmation that it was.


34 posted on 01/29/2020 10:18:13 AM PST by Karl Spooner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
“Based on the virus genome and properties there is no indication whatsoever that it was an engineered virus,” said Richard Ebright, a professor of chemical biology at Rutgers University.

However, Richard Ebright has no clue as to why almost half of the 2019-nCoV virus genome does not match nor is it related to the genome of any other corona virus.

35 posted on 01/29/2020 10:19:20 AM PST by Natty Bumppo@frontier.net (We are the dangerous ones, who stand between all we love and a more dangerous world.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Hot Tabasco

“You see them every day, they’re all on this site........LOL!”

I know I’ve encountered my share lately - and they’re confident experts, undeterred by facts or logic.


36 posted on 01/29/2020 10:19:38 AM PST by Magic Fingers (Political correctness mutates in order to remain virulent.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Experts say what they’re told to say. That’s their job.


37 posted on 01/29/2020 10:19:59 AM PST by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

How do you know the Washington Post is lying?

It prints something.


38 posted on 01/29/2020 10:20:07 AM PST by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Natty Bumppo@frontier.net

RE: Richard Ebright has no clue as to why almost half of the 2019-nCoV virus genome does not match nor is it related to the genome of any other corona virus.

That’s interesting. Which source ( reliable please ) tells us this? Thanks.


39 posted on 01/29/2020 10:20:30 AM PST by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

40 posted on 01/29/2020 10:21:13 AM PST by truthluva
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-120 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson