i wasnt clear in my question which is why I clarified.
So WHEN that kind of research was allowed, could gain of function research of deadly pathogens be done in a Level 3 lab.
Since I saw a lab that was LEVEL 3 do it, I presume it was allowed...but I am just checking since I saw allegations it wasn’t legal
The US moratorium ran, as I understand it from 2016 until 2019 but that is pretty irrelevant if they continued it in China the entire time. From what I hear work with these pathogens all required Level Four.
Your document would indicate there was some cessation in 2014.
Your question obviously addresses a critical issue - regulation of potentially dangerous research. That said, regulatory rules are not enough to prevent unethical ‘scientists’ from doing unethical ‘research’.
The problem is that there’s not much honor left in the scientific community - at least as regards biomedical research. It’s full of people hyping their findings, fudging data, and crawling all over one another for funding and ‘fame’.
Manipulating a viral genome is no longer ‘science’. Molecular biology research and recombinant DNA/RNA technology has become like cooking, and pretty much anyone with access to standard molecular biology lab equipment and supplies can do it. It’s not science. Science asks questions, and tests hypotheses.
What we now have in ‘science’ are ‘wannabe famous’, ambitious, and unethical people who are doing genetic manipulation in a ‘gee whiz, let’s see what happens, then we can publish it’ manner. Generally all this does is lead to a lot of worthless research that doesn’t advance general knowledge or contribute significantly to scientific progress - but uses up a lot of money that could be spent on better purposes and better research. That’s bad enough, but this kind of ‘research’ can also be destructive.
It actually angers and sickens me.