Chinese Decide To Experiment With A Bunch Of Previously Unknown Viruses – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Let’s recap. Several years ago, Chinese scientists in Wuhan were messing around with viruses found in bat populations trying to see if they could make the viruses more dangerous to humans. They succeeded. They created Covid-19. Then they either lost control of the virus and it jumped the lab fence or they deliberately released it.
Either way, they started a worldwide pandemic and in the process, they demonstrated pretty conclusively that this whole “gain of function” research thing was a pretty terrible idea.
So, of course, now in 2023, having learned nothing, the Chinese are getting ready to do it all over again.
In a recent article in the journal Virologica Sinica, published by the Chinese Society for Microbiology (CSM), Chinese scientists detailed how they had discovered eight previously unknown viruses on Hainan Island and were now planning to experiment on them.
Virologica Sinica is edited by Dr. Shi Zhengli, an influential scientist described as China's 'batwoman' who works inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology from which Covid-19 emerged. At least a dozen other scientists connected to the journal also work at the Wuham lab. Among the new viruses found on Hainan is another coronavirus, like Covid-19. It has been designated CoV-HMU-1.
The Chinese scientists also found two new pestiviruses, which are related to yellow fever and dengue, and two new papillomaviruses, a family of pathogens that can cause genital warts and cancer in people.
The Chinese are not the only ones running around hunting for new viruses to play with. All over the world scientists are not only hunting for unknown viruses but in some cases reviving viruses they find buried or dormant.
A French scientist recently revived a ‘zombie’ virus that spent 48,500 years frozen in permafrost. In the past, he has similarly revived several other viruses, and he has been successful in making the viruses infectious again. Other scientists have dug up the genomic material from the influenza strain responsible for the 1918 pandemic and discovered the genetic signatures of the virus that causes smallpox.
Birgitta Evengård, professor emerita at Umea University’s Department of Clinical Microbiology in Sweden, pointed out the obvious dangers of waking up viruses the world has not seen in tens of thousands of years.
“You must remember our immune defense has been developed in close contact with microbiological surroundings,” said Evengård, who is part of the CLINF Nordic Centre of Excellence, a group that investigates the effects of climate change on the prevalence of infectious diseases in humans and animals in northern regions.
“If there is a virus hidden in the permafrost that we have not been in contact with for thousands of years, it might be that our immune defense is not sufficient,” she said. “It is correct to have respect for the situation and be proactive and not just reactive. And the way to fight fear is to have knowledge.”
In other words, if we are not careful we are going to revive something against which we have no defense.
The hunt for new viruses that may have the potential to destroy life on Earth as we know it seemingly knows no bounds. Chinese scientists recently reported that they had discovered a new virus found at a depth of 8900 meters in the Mariana Trench. The virus is a bacteriophage or a virus that infects and replicates inside bacteria. The discovery apparently points to the existence of an entirely new family of viruses.
Scientists have an obvious interest in studying the natural world and determining what is out there that may pose a threat to humanity. We cannot prepare for threats we do not know exist. That said, unrestricted efforts to find new organisms and then experiment on them without any limits seems foolhardy in the extreme.
We just saw the consequences of playing God with a dangerous virus. A great many people died. Personal freedoms were disregarded. Businesses went bankrupt. Millions of children lost years of education they may never get back.
Rational, prudent people and institutions would look at the impact of Covid-19 and take steps now to dramatically reduce the likelihood of a future, potentially much more lethal pandemic. Gain of function research would be banned worldwide. Severe controls would be placed on efforts to find and study previously unknown viruses. We recognized long ago the necessity to place limits on the development and fielding of nuclear weapons. Biological agents pose an equally lethal threat to our survival.
We are doing none of these things. We are continuing to play God and play with fire. Four years after Covid-19 emerged from a lab, the Chinese are experimenting with previously unknown viruses.
What could possibly go wrong?
Wasn’t the US front and center with militarizing the virus at Chapel Hill lab before the BHO administration shut it down? Then Fauci swung that business deal with the virus at the Wuhan lab.