"Laboratory spillover events have happened in the past. And they will continue to happen in the future. The question is, how can we reduce the risks?"
How to make biomedical research (and biosafety labs) less dangerous and more ethical, post-COVID-19
thebulletin.org/2021/06/how-to…
How to make biomedical research (and biosafety labs) less dangerous and more ethical, post-COVID-19
thebulletin.org/2021/06/how-to…
"There are no surveillance systems of laboratory-acquired infections and, if they occur, there are no mandatory mechanisms in place to notify state and local health officials about those infections."
"Laboratory-acquired infections are not 'notifiable' diseases under CDC guidelines," so they don’t get reported to local and state health officials. The CDC does not collect data on laboratory-acquired infections because they are considered occupational exposures."
"In other words, laboratory-acquired infections fall through the cracks in government surveillance systems."
"In essence, health officials are in the dark when it comes to potential laboratory-acquired infections in their jurisdictions.: This lack of awareness hinders public health preparedness efforts in cases of high-risk laboratory-acquired infections with potential to spread"
"Laboratory and laboratory-acquired infections occur, but without..surveillance..at regional, national, and international levels, it’s difficult to know until a disaster strikes. Of note, biosafety concerns existed at the WIV long before the emergence of SARS-CoV-2."
"NIH funding for EcoHealth Alliance’s research..very clearly describes gain-of-function research that creates novel coronavirus genomes and uses them to experimentally infect across a range of cell cultures from various animal species to humanized mice."
"We don’t know if gain-of-function research caused this pandemic or if it was naturally occurring. But the arguments for gain-of-function research can be countered by two points."
"First, the mRNA [and other] vaccines that were developed so quickly in response to the pandemic took decades of prior research and required the sequence of genetic material from the virus’s spike protein. Gain-of-function research was not needed."
"Second, investments in public health would improve response capabilities much more than any information that gain-of-function research could provide."
"We don’t need scientists helping nature to make deadlier pathogens in a misguided effort to improve public health."
"We don’t need scientists helping nature to make deadlier pathogens in a misguided effort to improve public health."
"Just because an experiment can be done doesn’t mean it should be done. Until COVID-19, society had largely abdicated research funding decision-making to the scientific community with little, if any, oversight or input by humanists, ethicists, or public health professionals"
"And the fact that the scientists made the mere suggestion that SARS-CoV-2 might have had a laboratory origin a taboo subject demonstrates that they are incapable of policing themselves."
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