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CNN: U.S. pursuing theory that coronavirus started in a Chinese lab

Halbrand

Halbrand

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,616
www.cnn.com

US explores possibility that coronavirus spread started in Chinese lab, not a market

US intelligence and national security officials say the United States government is looking into the possibility that the novel coronavirus spread from a Chinese laboratory rather than a market, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter who caution it is premature to draw any...
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com

An intelligence official familiar with the government analysis said a theory US intelligence officials are investigating is that the virus originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, and was accidentally released to the public. Other sources told CNN that US intelligence hasn't been able to corroborate the theory but is trying to discern whether someone was infected in the lab through an accident or poor handling of materials and may have then infected others.
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Just breaking on CNN. To be clear, this is still just appears to be a US intelligence theory. Sanjay Gupta said that the fact that the first person diagnosed was not affiliated with the wet market was a clue that the wet market may not have been the origin.

Even if this started in a lab, it was almost definitely not created in a lab.

And of course this can go back to Trump in some way...in September 2019 he cancelled a program that had detected 160 coronaviruses over ten years called "Predict" which helped train people in the Wuhan lab.

www.latimes.com

Trump administration ended pandemic early-warning program to detect coronaviruses

The program had worked with labs in Wuhan, China, and around the world to detect deadly viruses that could jump from animals to humans.
www.latimes.com www.latimes.com
 

Deleted member 1476

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.Detective.

.Detective.

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Oct 27, 2017
9,679
When explaining his "facts"lies, he will likely use a video montage of his case timeline, with creepy dramatic music, like the other day.
 
Afrikan

Afrikan

Member
Oct 28, 2017
16,990
Superblatt said:
This is going to be Trump's message — whether it's true or not.
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But this also stands then..

And of course this can go back to Trump in some way...in September 2019 he cancelled a program that had detected 160 coronaviruses over ten years called "Predict" which helped train people in the Wuhan lab.
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And there's a report that another member here provided that touches more on it. And how they tried to warn the State Department of potential hazards...

 
BlackLagoon

BlackLagoon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,763
Seems far fetched that China would initially try to ignore the virus if they'd already been studying it in a lab. But I suppose the people in charge of lab itself could have been sticking their heads in the sand hoping it would all go away.
 
Antiwhippy

Antiwhippy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
33,458
BlackLagoon said:
Seems far fetched that China would initially try to ignore the virus if they'd already been studying it in a lab. But I suppose the people in charge of lab itself could have been sticking their heads in the sand hoping it would all go away.
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I mean the more immediate rebuke of this idea are scietific studies that are already done showing that this virus originated naturally.

www.sciencedaily.com

COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic has a natural origin

An analysis of public genome sequence data from SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses found no evidence that the virus was made in a laboratory or otherwise engineered.
www.sciencedaily.com
 
jml

jml

Member
Mar 9, 2018
4,783
Are China also at fault for how the US had a couple months to prepare for it to hit America and chose to twiddle their thumbs instead?
 
Wyman Manderly

Wyman Manderly

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Oct 27, 2017
3,447
TheGhost

TheGhost

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,137
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So when they say US Inteligence community do they mean Trump lackeys or are these people that operate you know....as they would have operated under Obama?
 
Prodigal Son

Prodigal Son

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,791
because of the source and political circumstances, whether or not this is true will take a backseat to how people worry it will affect the narrative of the general election
 
LJ11

LJ11

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,489
Heard this live, and did a double take.

Shit is fucking wild, feels like I'm losing my fucking mind.
 
MegaManTrigger

MegaManTrigger

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
8,734
US "intelligence" couldn't corroborate the possibility of that theory by asking high-ranking doctors about the virus's mutation potential?

Jesus Christ. The stupidity.
 

SecondNature

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,159
Imagine the absolute BOOST conspiracy nut jobs will get if this is true. Anti Vax will explode in success
 
Sectorseven

Sectorseven

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,560
What is a natural virus vs. a lab virus?

If a virus inadvertently passes from animal to human in a lab, is that natural?

Does a lab virus have to be grown in vitro?
 
iyox

iyox

Member
Oct 25, 2017
360
I don't actually understand how this doesn't make the response from the Trump administration look worse than it already is. They knew of a lab studying bat reservoir coronaviruses, were warned of safety concerns, were warned of a new virus spreading in the city where the lab is located, and they still effectively chose to do nothing. How does the lab origin make the response seem any better?
 
Jeff6851

Jeff6851

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
753
This country is so saturated with anti communist propaganda that people can literally claim things with no evidence, or even evidence against it, about China and most of the country will believe it.
 
nillapuddin

nillapuddin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,240
I had someone tell me this in February, was it not a known theory before?

(I know it was February because I was planning a trip in early March that I cancelled)
 
Becks'

Becks'

Member
Dec 7, 2017
7,475
Canada
My dad has fell for that and I can't convince him that it is not true. He believes that China released the virus on purpose because all other countries owe China so much money so Chinese want payback. The sky could fall but I still wouldn't be able to convince my parents to believe in science. My dad constantly pushes this crazy theory during the day and I am getting tired of it.

My dad also hates Trump, but because of this goddamn theory he approves of his decision to cut WHO.
 
Maple

Maple

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,732
It's important to note the difference between originating in a lab and leaking by accident, vs being specifically bioengineered and intentionally released.

This CNN article is only talking about the former.
 

elty

Member
Oct 31, 2017
1,954
China is claiming US leaked the virus from their labs.
US is claiming China leaked the virus from their labs.

Given both are not credible I supposed it must meant it is a natural event.
 
TheMadTitan

TheMadTitan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
27,246
Line X

Line X

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Oct 26, 2017
3,215
Fucking STUPID. The moment I saw this on Chris Cuomo's show I kinda yelled out JUST FUCKING GREAT...
 
OP
OP
Halbrand

Halbrand

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,616
Antiwhippy said:
I mean the more immediate rebuke of this idea are scietific studies that are already done showing that this virus originated naturally.

www.sciencedaily.com

COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic has a natural origin

An analysis of public genome sequence data from SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses found no evidence that the virus was made in a laboratory or otherwise engineered.
www.sciencedaily.com
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TheMadTitan said:
Someone needs to sticky and threadmark this shit asap.
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No, I'm not saying this necessarily spread from the lab but again, if this virus did indeed escape from it, it's most likely that its origins were still natural. They were studying coronaviruses that had originated in bats in that lab.

What the U.S. officials learned during their visits concerned them so much that they dispatched two diplomatic cables categorized as Sensitive But Unclassified back to Washington. The cables warned about safety and management weaknesses at the WIV lab and proposed more attention and help. The first cable, which I obtained, also warns that the lab's work on bat coronaviruses and their potential human transmission represented a risk of a new SARS-like pandemic.

During interactions with scientists at the WIV laboratory, they noted the new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory," states the Jan. 19, 2018, cable, which was drafted by two officials from the embassy's environment, science and health sections who met with the WIV scientists. (The State Department declined to comment on this and other details of the story.)

The Chinese researchers at WIV were receiving assistance from the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch and other U.S. organizations, but the Chinese requested additional help. The cables argued that the United States should give the Wuhan lab further support, mainly because its research on bat coronaviruses was important but also dangerous.

As the cable noted, the U.S. visitors met with Shi Zhengli, the head of the research project, who had been publishing studies related to bat coronaviruses for many years. In November 2017, just before the U.S. officials' visit, Shi's team had published research showing that horseshoe bats they had collected from a cave in Yunnan province were very likely from the same bat population that spawned the SARS coronavirus in 2003.

As many have pointed out, there is no evidence that the virus now plaguing the world was engineered; scientists largely agree it came from animals. But that is not the same as saying it didn't come from the lab, which spent years testing bat coronaviruses in animals, said Xiao Qiang, a research scientist at the School of Information at the University of California at Berkeley.

"The cable tells us that there have long been concerns about the possibility of the threat to public health that came from this lab's research, if it was not being adequately conducted and protected," he said.
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This particular part: "During interactions with scientists at the WIV laboratory, they noted the new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory. The cables argued that the United States should give the Wuhan lab further support, mainly because its research on bat coronaviruses was important but also dangerous."

Trump cut off the funding in September.
 
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GoldenEye 007

GoldenEye 007

Roll Tide, Y'all!
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,833
Texas
ABIC said:
Didn't the US Military yesterday just say the weight of evidence argued it's not a lab virus?

www.theguardian.com

US military chief: 'Weight of evidence' that Covid-19 did not originate in a lab

Chair of joints chiefs says ‘natural’ origin more likely after report of 2018 cable expressing concern about Wuhan laboratory
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

US Military is not an organization that will get these sorts of things wrong.
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The issue could be that it certainly isn't a lab created virus - and the evidence is pointing to that it isn't. But I suppose it could have escaped a lab environment with careless handling or whatever.

Going to be a mess either way with two administrations you can't trust.
 
devilhawk

devilhawk

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,536
Republicans and nutjobs will obviously conflate and take advantage of the lab theories.

The one more conspiracy theory-like notion that it was a synthetic bioweapon created in a lab is pure garbage. The more grounded theory that it was an isolated from bats, naturally existing virus that was being studied in the lab but accidentally infected a scientist is possible. But republicans like Cotton want people to think it is the former, even if it is just the latter. And we have no evidence that it was being studied in a lab other than the knowledge that some sort of lab exists in the area. The existence of a lab in Wuhan isn't even interesting though.
 
Teenage Fansub

Teenage Fansub

Member
May 24, 2019
22,197
ABIC said:
Didn't the US Military yesterday just say the weight of evidence argued it's not a lab virus?

www.theguardian.com

US military chief: 'Weight of evidence' that Covid-19 did not originate in a lab

Chair of joints chiefs says ‘natural’ origin more likely after report of 2018 cable expressing concern about Wuhan laboratory
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

US Military is not an organization that will get these sorts of things wrong.
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Trump would rather play into his voter base than back up his own departments, advisers and experts.
 
TheMadTitan

TheMadTitan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
27,246
Drewton said:
No, I'm not saying this necessarily spread from the lab but again, if this virus did indeed escape from it, it's most likely that its origins were still natural. They were studying coronaviruses that had originated in bats in that lab.




This particular part: "During interactions with scientists at the WIV laboratory, they noted the new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory. The cables argued that the United States should give the Wuhan lab further support, mainly because its research on bat coronaviruses was important but also dangerous."

Trump cut off the funding in September.
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But there's people out there who seem to think this thing is the Chinese T-Virus. I just finished a spat with my parents because they think this was some genetically engineered thing that was meant to be weaponized later.
 
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