Looks like they've been at this for some time now. No surprise, not after finding out about NIH funding dual American/Chinese Gain-of-Function research at Wuhan labs. NIH director admits taxpayers funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan — four years after COVID pandemic began Even though NIH has been saying funding never happened and doubled down about the labs involvement. May the Schwartz be with you !
This fella was receiving bacteria Escherichia coli or its DNA from a company in Guangzhou. I have no idea of purpose, but as the package was mislabeled as "womens' underwear", we can suppose it was outside legality. Not disclosed in media I've read is that law enforcement might have put a squeeze on him to tell what was going on. Possibly they did and it is simply undisclosed. Many countries prohibit shipment of biological materials and DNA without proper documentation. Makes sense. -- I would not speculate any connection with virology or Wuhan or anything along those lines. == Apologies if I told this story before. As a grad student I traveled to US deserts to bring plant litter samples back to experiment central in Las Cruces NM. Without giving a thought, I went with people who collected me (and samples) From El Paso (airport) to Juarez for a nice dinner. Crossing back into US Customs took those samples for fumigation. As law allows them to do. Unfortunately fumigation destroyed research value of those samples. I went to the doghouse for that.
Click-bait and probably dirty underwear; therefore containing pathogens - by today's political standards. All this while measles and former other eradicated disease are making a comeback here in the states....... Did you hear the latest, armed forces are now allowed to refuse the annual flu vaccine. I wonder how that's going to effect operational readiness come this winter???? Where's my gun; I need to shoot myself in the foot a few more times and wonder why a third of the troops are stuck in their barracks, in close quarters. Or are those bone spurs that I feel......
" ... while small pox and former other eradicated disease are making a comeback ... " Not known to me.
Sorry; meant measles - something a simple MMR vaccine would take care of. Everyone is counting on herd immunity to cover their unvaccinated kid. These outbreaks are pointing to the fact that, too many are unvaccinated - which could lead to a dangerous mutation....... Tracking measles cases in the United States through maps and charts | CNN
If this is to become a discussion of (viral) gain of function (GoF) research, I will say (again) that it unsettles me very much. Some viruses are difficult to study because of limited infective capacity. It should require extensive deliberation to improve that by GoF for mammals or food plants. I found this document useful: https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R47114/R47114.7.pdf?__cf_chl_tk=Uo4BVsp7TLxCuUrgg5zAYf7ahwf0ToSgEUyiM0FdMKA-1777348929-1.0.1.1-XpfGbTP6cca4fVZMLvg0Czdte5x5EvkbpLzO_3r5V4E Even though it does not disclose all US funding for GoF research domestic and foreign. One would need to drill much deeper to know all GoF research funding by any entity anywhere. Even that would not necessarily reveal all GoF research because not everything is on the internet. Surprise? See a more positive view here: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/gain-function-research-vital-us-innovation -- In thinking about GoF, rely on those starters and others that may be linked later. Do not rely on my personal fears/concerns. Do not relay on a possibility that cannot be completely eliminated, based on available evidence, that COVID was GoF-ed up in Wuhan and then (accidentally or intentionally) dispersed to sicken/kill people in China. Even imagining a plan that it would do greater harm elsewhere in countries that buy exports from China and support its economy. Imagining that rational concerns about GoF research have only to do with Wuhan will lead you astray.
