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Conspiracy Theories and Biological Warfare

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Tabitha111 View Drop Down
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    Posted: January 26 2020 at 11:35am

by monotreme1000 January 26, 2020

When I was a moderator of PFI_Forum, one of my self-appointed duties was to knock down stupid conspiracy theories. There are many on the internet. There are some today regarding the origin of the Wuhan virus. But just because stupid conspiracy theories exist doesn't mean we should assume the Wuhan virus is a product of nature.
Let me say at the outset that I have absolutely no information suggesting that the Wuhan virus is anything other than a product of nature. On the other hand, it would not surprise me at all if it turned out it did escape from a lab. At this point, we simply don't know where it came from.
Is there any reason to think that China is doing research on viruses in order to create biological weapons? Yes there is. And we don't need to go to stupid conspiracy sites for the evidence.
From: Chinese researcher escorted from infectious disease lab amid RCMP investigation, CBC, July 14, 2019, Karen Pauls
A researcher with ties to China was recently escorted out of the National Microbiology Lab (NML) in Winnipeg amid an RCMP investigation into what's being described as a possible "policy breach."
Dr. Xiangguo Qiu, her husband Keding Cheng and an unknown number of her students from China were removed from Canada's only level-4 lab on July 5, CBC News has learned.
A Level 4 virology facility is a lab equipped to work with the most serious and deadly human and animal diseases. That makes the Arlington Street lab one of only a handful in North America capable of handling pathogens requiring the highest level of containment, such as Ebola.
[snip]
Qiu is a medical doctor from Tianjin, China, who came to Canada for graduate studies in 1996. She is still affiliated with the university there and has brought in many students over the years to help with her work.
Currently head of the Vaccine Development and Antiviral Therapies section in the Special Pathogens Program at the lab, Qiu's primary field is immunology. Her research focuses on vaccine development, post-exposure therapeutics and rapid diagnostics of viruses like Ebola.
She is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of Manitoba.
Cheng also works at the lab as a biologist. He has published research papers on HIV infections, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), E. coli infections and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome.
[snip]
"The National Microbiology Laboratory would have some pretty sensitive biological research material that ... could be shared either with or without authorization with foreign countries," said Gordon Houlden, director of the University of Alberta's China Institute.
"All of this is unproven, but even microbiology, sometimes especially microbiology, can have issues that involve national security."
From: Questions Surround Canadian Shipment of Deadly Viruses to China, The Scientist, August 9, 2019, Nicoletta Lanese
Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory shipped Ebola and Henipah viruses to Beijing on March 31, raising suspicions from experts in biochemical warfare, who say they think China may use the pathogens to develop offensive biological agents.
[snip]
The same lab is the focus of an ongoing investigation by the RCMP. The inquiry began following the recent dismissal of the head of the National Microbiology Laboratory’s (NML) Vaccine Development and Antiviral Therapies section in the Special Pathogens Program, virologist Xiangguo Qiu. Qiu, her colleague and husband Keding Cheng, and a number of her international students lost security clearance to their lab on July 5.
[snip]
China agreed to the Biological Weapons Convention in 1984, but both academics and government agencies have recently asserted that the country is a world leader in bio-weapon production, according to the Edmonton Journal.
“I would say this Canadian ‘contribution’ might likely be counterproductive. I think the Chinese activities . . . are highly suspicious, in terms of exploring [at least] those viruses as BW [biological warfare] agents,” says Dany Shoham, a biological and chemical warfare expert at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, in an interview with the Edmonton Journal.
Wuhan has China's only BSL 4 laboratory, like the one in Winnipeg. So, the only lab in China that can safely handle the Wuhan virus, is in Wuhan. Now, this could be an incredible coincidence. Such things do happen. But I do think it is not irresponsible to ask about the types of SARS viruses researchers at the Wuhan BSL 4 laboratory were working on when the Wuhan (SARS-like) virus emerged. Wouldn't such questions be asked if this happened in the US?
Responsible scientists and journalists should slap down stupid conspiracy theories. But we should also not be naive. The "experts" believe that China has an agressive, offensive biological weapons program. Scientists in China has a record of being sloppy with highly dangerous viruses, including SARS. It would be foolish to reflexively reject the possiblity that Wuhan virus is lab escapee just because some nuts say that it is. Sometimes the nuts are right.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 26 2020 at 11:38am
Hey who cares if it is biological war fare that escaped that caused this or natural causes. It is here and we have to deal with it. People can come up with all kinds of theories but does it matter? Blame is not what we need we need a way to stop it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 26 2020 at 11:50am
The Facebook page is unfortunately rife with conspiracy theories and people hawking herbal cures right now. It makes me appreciate you guys even more because we don’t often see that here in any great numbers.
And I could do without all the people that are horrified to hear you can catch it by contact with your eyes. Mucous membranes, people. It’s how coronaviruses spread.

"Buy it cheap. Stack it deep"
"Any community that fails to prepare, with the expectation that the federal government will come to the rescue, will be tragically wrong." Michael Leavitt, HHS Secretary.
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carbon20 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 26 2020 at 5:57pm
How else we going to combat Climate change,

Funny if I was going to release a virus

I couldn't have made/chosen a better time and place.....

12 Monkeys......

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.🖖

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote arirish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 26 2020 at 8:51pm
Flumom - If this virus has occurred naturally, it will have to be sequenced! If it was man made, they already know what virus was used to start with and how it was manipulated and if this were a movie they would already have a vaccine but only enough for the central committee and friends! The more they know about a virus to begin with makes coming uo with a vaccine that much faster! I do understand your point: If it kills you, who cares!   
Buy more ammo!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CRS, DrPH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 26 2020 at 9:41pm
Bollocks. I've studied biowarfare since the days of the Soviet Union and their experiments with loading freeze-dried smallpox into ICBM warheads. They were doing some amazingly dangerous stuff with their "Biopreparat" industrial complex.

The cardinal rule of biowarfare is that the aggressor MUST have a reliable vaccine to protect their own population & interests. Coronas don't have vaccines, and like the HIV virus, they shift antigens too quickly.   The only exception to this cardinal rule is in suicidal societies, and not even ISIS is that crazy.

Nobody in their right minds would weaponize a corona virus. They are too difficult to disseminate, have a very low case fatality rate (the Wuhan virus is maybe 10%, while smallpox is about 50%) and have other drawbacks.

A release from a medical research lab is more likely, but this appears to be another Chinese screw-up related to their habits of mixing all sorts of live, wild game in wet markets. They didn't appear to learn from their SARS experience. Bats in particular are nasty, virus-laden beasts, and why anyone would want to eat one (unless starving) is beyond me.

CRS, DrPH
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiwiMum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 26 2020 at 10:21pm
Originally posted by CRS, DrPH CRS, DrPH wrote:

Bollocks. I've studied biowarfare since the days of the Soviet Union and their experiments with loading freeze-dried smallpox into ICBM warheads. They were doing some amazingly dangerous stuff with their "Biopreparat" industrial complex.

The cardinal rule of biowarfare is that the aggressor MUST have a reliable vaccine to protect their own population & interests. Coronas don't have vaccines, and like the HIV virus, they shift antigens too quickly.   The only exception to this cardinal rule is in suicidal societies, and not even ISIS is that crazy.

Nobody in their right minds would weaponize a corona virus. They are too difficult to disseminate, have a very low case fatality rate (the Wuhan virus is maybe 10%, while smallpox is about 50%) and have other drawbacks.

A release from a medical research lab is more likely, but this appears to be another Chinese screw-up related to their habits of mixing all sorts of live, wild game in wet markets. They didn't appear to learn from their SARS experience. Bats in particular are nasty, virus-laden beasts, and why anyone would want to eat one (unless starving) is beyond me.



Thanks Chuck, please keep your insights coming, you have more relevant knowledge than the rest of us.

As for eating bats, why would anyone do that? They don't have any meat on them. I've held a bat in my hands and it weighed nothing at all. A sparrow would be more nutritious.
Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.
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carbon20 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 27 2020 at 12:36am
Have you tried "chickens feet" that's a treat.....not

Why would you bother
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.🖖

Marcus Aurelius
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