Virologist Testified Lab Leak Was Possible in Wuhan: You Can’t Rule That Out – Vanity Fair

In 2015, Ralph S. Baric, arguably the worlds most accomplished coronavirologist, published groundbreaking research with Shi Zhengli, the leading coronavirus researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

They had mixed components of different coronaviruses and created an artificial virus, or chimera, that could infect human cells. The research helped crystallize the threat posed by bat coronaviruses lurking in nature. But the experiments were dangerous too. In 2014, while their research was underway, the Obama administration enacted a pause on so-called gain-of-function research that could increase the virulence or transmissibility of certain viruses. Baric and Shi even flagged the dangers of the research themselves, writing, Scientific review panels may deem similar studiestoo risky to pursue.

The experiments were done in Barics well-secured laboratory in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Afterward, however, Shis team at the WIV continued to utilize Barics cutting-edge research techniques. Their work was funded in part with a US research grant.

Baric testified that he had specifically warned Shi Zhengli that the WIVs critical coronavirus research was being conducted in labs with insufficient biosafety protections.

Amid competing theories about the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19including whether it could have originated in a Wuhan laboratoryBaric has become a figure of intense interest. After all, he had pioneered techniques the WIV was using, including one that allows researchers to invisibly splice components of viruses together without leaving a trace.

For the last three years, as the COVID-19 origins debate has grown increasingly toxic, a small army of global sleuths and Freedom of Information petitioners have taken aim at Barics emails and research documents, hoping to uncover information about the true genetic-engineering capabilities of the WIV scientists, the ongoing research they were pursuing, and the viral genome sequences they had in their possession prior to the pandemic.

Through it all, Baric has kept mostly silentuntil now. On January 22, he gave a six-hour interview to investigators from two Republican-led House committees: the Oversight and Accountabilitys Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, and Energy and Commerces Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Though the committees have not yet made his testimony public, Vanity Fair has exclusively reviewed his statements. While not formally under oath, Baric was required by federal law to answer truthfully. (Through a University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill spokesperson, Baric declined to comment for this article.)

While there is little in the 212-page transcript that is likely to markedly shift the debate on how COVID-19 originated, the picture that emerges is of an American scientist who is deeply wary of his Chinese counterparts and has no way of knowing if or how they may have made use of the groundbreaking research techniques he developed.

Perhaps most notably, Baric testified that he had specifically warned Shi Zhengli that the WIVs critical coronavirus research was being conducted in labs with insufficient biosafety protections. When he urged her to move the work to a more secure biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) lab, he testified that she did not heed his recommendation. Because the WIV continued to perform coronavirus research at what he considers an inappropriately low biosafety level, Baric said of a laboratory accident, You cant rule that out. You just cant.

Clearly, the market was a conduit for expansion, Baric testified. Is that where it started? I dont think so.

In an email turned over to the Select Subcommittee as part of its investigation, Baric told Peter Daszak, president of the scientific nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance, that it was a load of BS to suggest that the WIV conducted coronavirus research in labs with sufficient biosafety protocols.

Baric told congressional investigators that he believes its far more likely that SARS-CoV-2 spilled over naturally from animals to humans, given the sheer abundance of viruses in nature. But he also said in his testimony that he disagrees with the most widely promulgated spillover argument: that the virus leapt from infected animals to people at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where it first burst into public view in December 2019. The argument does not hold up, he said, because genomic evidence suggests that COVID-19 was already circulating in the human population by mid-to-late October. Clearly, the market was a conduit for expansion, he testified. Is that where it started? I dont think so.

Baric also weighed in on a controversy that has pitted Dr. Anthony Fauci against Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), who has leveraged his credentials as an eye doctor to position himself as a crusader against Americas scientific and medical establishments. In contentious Senate hearings, Fauci has repeatedly denied Pauls claims that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which Fauci led at the time, had funded gain-of-function research at the WIV. However, Baric told investigators that the experiment in dispute, in which technicians created a chimeric virus that made lab mice sicker, was absolutely gain-of-function research: You cant argue with that. He also said he felt that the experiments results should have triggered regulatory review.

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Virologist Testified Lab Leak Was Possible in Wuhan: You Can't Rule That Out - Vanity Fair