Reviewers within DARPA “were really shocked” by the “irresponsible” nature of the proposal, and its lack of consideration for the risks that gain-of-function research would entail, an official, who was not authorized to speak to reporters, told me.
Andersen: “I was quite appalled, actually, to see it released now. I think the U.S.-based researchers that were on this particular grant have done a huge disservice by not releasing this information earlier.”
French virologist: "The secret is if you just look closely enough, you can see a tiny Wuhan Institute of Virology signature."
What this chapter of her work demonstrates, however, is a high tolerance for risk. “They were essentially playing Russian roulette with the virus that the world’s expert had labelled poised for human emergence,” David Relman, a microbiologist at Stanford, said.
Human hubris is high on my list, but sometimes it is just pure stupidity:
"They exhibit an admirable drive to follow the money, to upend centralized power, to overturn academic hierarchy, and to expose the injustices of oppressive governments. "
By the way I had a good laugh at the 60 minutes story about Daszak in Tioman.
They make it sound like it is in the middle of nowhere, even saying that it is 'West of Borneo' when it is actually directly of the coast of peninsular Malaysia.
I went diving there in the 90s like so many tourists in Asia.
It's rather easy to go there: there is a little airport (short landing or you hit the hill!) and then you take a boat to your beach.
"Nous pensons que la mission d'EcoHealth Alliance est importante pour les générations actuelles et futures, mais qu'elle ne pourra se faire de façon éthique et responsable avec Peter Daszak à sa tête",
"[Comment] EcoHealth Alliance s'est transformée, sous la férule de son président, en quelques années d'une association écologiste bien tranquille en un récipient de fonds fédéraux pour des projets qui peuvent souvent intéresser le ministère de la Défense..."
"[Daszak] a fait preuve d'une formidable volonté de cacher des informations qui allaient à l'encontre de son récit sur une origine naturelle. J'espère qu'il sera invité à témoigner sous serment au Congrès"
Jamie Metzl, ex membre de l'adm. Clinton et ex collaborateur de Joe Biden
@JamieMetzl@ugauthier Indeed. The only thing that China will remember is our weakness.
After WHO head Gro Harlem Brundtland slammed China in 2003 for its cover-up, the answer from China was to make sure it cold never be shamed again, by diluting the power of the WHO.
@JamieMetzl@ugauthier "Those days are gone, she says; member-states have now limited what the head of the WHO can do and say."
@JamieMetzl@ugauthier As soon as 2004, China pushed back and won. It covered up the first two primary cases of SARS-Lab infection at the then top P3 in China (a CDC lab in Beijing) and managed to kick out the WHO from the investigation, not even publishing a report.
from 28:24, on Daszak's lack of transparency and fake protests:
"So in light of this knowledge it is very hard not to interpret his protests as being because he feared the very opposite. He protested that the lab leak was a ridiculous possibility because he knew it was not"
from 43:30, on Andersen's smokescreen and publication of the dogma in Nature Medicine in March 2020:
"And none in that circumstance is going to sort of stand up and say ‘This paper by Andersen and his colleagues is bullshit’.
No one said a word."