Zoom Corona Round Table: SARS-CoV-2 and #COVID19: science in the spotlight ensser.org/events/2020/zo… Speakers: Dr. Michael Antoniou, Prof. Ignacio Chapela and Prof. Giuseppe Longo. Dr. Antoniou's talk is titled: “SARS-CoV-2: natural original or laboratory creation? Does it matter?”
Antoniou got interested in the origins of SARS-CoV-2 after reading a paper claiming to show it couldn't be a lab creation, that ignored well-known ways of generating novel viruses in the lab. He wrote to the journal but they didn't want to know. More here gmwatch.org/en/news/latest…
Antoniou also came across claims that if SARS-CoV-2 had been engineered it would have left "signatures" or "scars" in its genome. But having manipulated genes for decades he knew that there were commonly used methods that left no "scars" behind. More here gmwatch.org/en/news/latest…
Antoniou's impressed by Alina Chan's paper contrasting the pattern of genetic changes that occurred early on in the SARS1 outbreak, with SARS2. V many mutations occur as SARS1 adapts to humans. But not w/ SARS 2—seems already well-adapted to infect humans gmwatch.org/en/news/latest…
Dr. Michael Antoniou, a molecular geneticist at King's College London, is extensively interviewed in English in this Italian documentary on the origins of SARS-CoV-2 (14:47) 🙏 @MedicalScitech#COVID19
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Scientists outraged by Peter Daszak leading enquiry into possible #Covid19 lab leak gmwatch.org/en/news/latest… Lead investigator considered one of the most conflicted & unreliable voices on the origins of the pandemic. “Can't imagine a lead investigator with more vested interests!”
Lead investigator Peter Daszak
☛has a $100M+ conflict of interest
☛is a long-term pal, collaborator & funder of those he's investigating
☛has previously dismissed any possibility of a lab leak as “crackpot”
☛has a track record of seriously inaccurate and misleading statements
Daszak has promised to investigate the pandemic's origins “with an open mind”. But Daszak's previously dismissed any suggestions that SARS-CoV-2 could have leaked from a lab as “preposterous”, “baseless”, “crackpot”, “conspiracy theories” & “pure baloney” gmwatch.org/en/news/latest…
"Soybeans have replaced traditional crops … leading to food insecurity. The expansion of the agrarian frontier into the northern Chaco has prompted rapid and wide-scale deforestation that has devastated ecosystems and threatened livelihoods."—Amalia Leguizamón #seedsofpower#gmo
"Violence against peasant & indigenous communities is escalating. The health hazards of agrochemical exposure are also on the rise. Across rural towns, Argentine doctors have documented increasing occurrences of leukemia, cancer, miscarriages and malformations in newborns." #gmo
Exactly 20 years ago today, 28 Greenpeace activists were acquitted of criminal damage for destroying a #GMO crop trial. Good article about it bbc.com/news/uk-englan…
"These protests took place amid a headlong rush to release GMOs without proper testing, monitoring or the labelling that gives consumers a choice about what they're eating.
"They helped bring [about] the safety-first approach that has protected our food and our farms ever since"
Michael Uwins, now 74, still remembers jurors hugging them outside court. He feels "immensely proud" of his actions.
He now considers himself an "armchair activist" but said: "If the same thing happened again I'd get my walking stick out of the cupboard & head straight up there."
There’s long been a sense that if the public and politicians really knew about the dangerous pathogen research being conducted in many labs, they’d be outraged. Denying the possibility of a catastrophic incident like this, then, could be seen as a form of career preservation.
“For the substantial subset of virologists who perform gain-of-function research, avoiding restrictions on research funding, avoiding implementation of appropriate #biosafety standards, and avoiding implementation of appropriate research oversight are powerful motivators.”
Joan Ruddock: This was the whole of Europe saying, 'We want to decide how we permit [GMOs] and we must have labelling.' And since that time we've been protected in our choices by having EU labelling rules. [Now] there's a huge question about whether we'll continue to be protected
Joan Ruddock: And that’s why I'm now v v concerned that we could end up with a deal with the US where people are worried rightly about chlorine chicken and hormone beef but we would [also] have to accept unlabelled unsorted #GMO products as part of that deal. #DontHideWhatsInside
The coming #GMO ban was announced by Victor Manuel Toledo when stepping down as Environment Minister. But now it's reported that one of the factors that led to his quitting was intruders breaking into his home, stealing documents and spraying #glyphosatejornada.com.mx/2020/09/03/pol…
Official sources at the ministry revealed that Toledo met a week ago with his team to tell them what had happened. He didn't want it to be known, but said he & his entire family were v scared. His wife told him that it wasn't worth risking his life or further damaging his health.
Reminiscent of what happened to Dr. Ignacio Chapela after he reported #GMO contamination of native Mexican maize. He was taken to a deserted building where an official told Chapela he knew how to “access my family. I was scared. I felt intimidated and I felt threatened for sure.”