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 ...
Joe’s corruption is also “debunked”. Never was investigated, except by Giuliani, and they’re busily trying to re-cast him as either a partisan hack, a nutcase, or both. His legendary reputation as a prosecutor and mayor are being swept under the rug with Joe’s obvious corruption. A whole lot of “debunking” goin’ on.
“Now, I believe this theory.”
Lol. I know what you mean.
There’s always Krazy Konspiracy Kooks spewing crap. Washington Post included.
It’s sad that the Post was devolved so much that when they have a headline like this (obviously true) the first inclination is to think if the Post is saying something then the truth must be opposite.
The Post is trying, as always, to smear anyone who’s not in the leftist true believer camp with articles like this. There’s no other reason to make this a headline article.
It’s beginning to look a lot like a Stephen King novel. Life keeps imitating art.
If you ‘DEBONE’ a chicken, you remover the bones.
So, if you ‘DEBUNK’ something, you remove the bunk?................
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.01.26.920249v1
Full-genome evolutionary analysis of the novel corona virus (2019-nCoV) rejects the hypothesis of emergence as a result of a recent recombination event
Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding Twitter Account
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1221997385146040321?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Mad Magazine would have it among the list of things that mean something else. For example: When they say: “that’s been debunked,” it really means: “I pray to G-d it’s not true, but I don’t really know.”
Does he mean recombination event in nature or event in a lab.
That is happening all over, not just at Harvard. 1000 Talents are buying all sorts of academics. See University of Florida for an even bigger ring.
Neither of the experts quoted debunked anything. They simply said, and quite rightly, that there isn’t enough evidence to draw such a conclusion. All this article shows is that the WaPo doesn’t know how science works.
“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.”
You have seriously wrong info.
This is hardly new.
This was happening 30 years ago.
How do you think China went from 10th century to 21st century in less than 50 years...
We sold/gave it to them.
Where’s a good wall when you need one.
It can’t possibly be Debunked until Snopes says so.
Thanks for the link. The conclusion says this:
Conclusions:
The levels of genetic similarity between the 2019-nCoV and RaTG13 suggest that the latter does not provide the exact variant that caused the outbreak in humans, but the hypothesis that 2019-nCoV has originated from bats is very likely. We show evidence that the novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) is not-mosaic consisting in almost half of its genome of a distinct lineage within the betacoronavirus.
These genomic features and their potential association with virus characteristics and virulence in humans need further attention.
______________________________
So, let me, as a lay person make this observation:
1) There are known two variants: 2019-nCoV and RaTG13
2) 2019-nCov is the one that caused the current worldwide outbreak and it originated from bats.
Which leads to this question : what about the other variant: RaTG13?
* Do we KNOW of any human infection cases coming from this strain?
* Where did RatG13 originate from? Lab grown?
I ran the blast search myself.
WRT the spike protein, he’s correct.
It’s the only theory that makes sense.
“Debunked” is the new “The Science is Settled”
New definition for debunked. Any Theory, assertion, accusation or statement that disputes Globalist claims or supporting leftist parties which automatically must be labelled Debunked. Ordinary Citizens are no longer authorized to think about them or investigate or themselves.
Thought Police Statute 555 renewed 2019-Jan-01 World Court.
Oh, and “Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.”
It really means something that was initially thought to be “bunk” has now been “debunked” - i.e., confirmed. :)
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.