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Libertarian_Virologist Profile picture
@ban_epp_gofroc
Nov 29, 2024 • 11 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
Just in time for Thanksgiving, Anthony Fauci and @greg_folkers are out with a new paper on the HIV and COVID pandemics—they claim that SARS-CoV-2 is very likely to have a natural origin, citing the deeply flawed work of the Proximal Origins and Friends author group. 🧵 Image
Fauci neglects to mention that Worobey et al 2022 (citation 35) has two published rebuttals in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A that detail its use of flawed statistical methods and data suffering from ascertainment bias. 2/
The flaws in the Worobey paper are glaring. 3/
Pekar et al 2022 (citation 36) had a copy/paste coding error: correcting it dropped their Bayes factor in favor of 2 spillovers dropped from 60 to 4. But they had a further error that if corrected totally demolishes their claim for 2 spillovers. 4/
Pekar 2022’s claim of 2 spillovers is based on nonsense. And so is their suggestion that lineage B probably spilled over before lineage A. 5/
Fauci also neglected to mention that George Gao (whose team took environmental samples of Huanan market and published the results in Nature) does not believe there was a zoonosis (or two) at Huanan market. 6/
Even after the Slack and email messages of the Proximal Origins authors revealed their undisclosed discussions with Fauci and their private doubts about dismissing a lab origin, Fauci continues to cite them as if they are providing independent corroboration of his conclusions. 7/
Any self respecting journal editor would not have let Folkers cite papers by Kristian Andersen after revelations that Folkers was referring to him as “Anders$n”—likely a crude attempt to evade FOIA. 8/
And to complete the circle, now Eddie Holmes is promoting Fauci and Folkers’ paper on Blue Cry. 9/ Image
Read the full paper here. 10/ academic.oup.com/cid/advance-ar…
The “Critical Review” paper (citation 37) is also a dumpster fire of nonsense. In particular, the claim that mouse passage can be ruled out for SARS2 due to the lack of N501Y—citing a paper that found N501Y arises after passage in BALB/c mice. 11/

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More from @ban_epp_gofroc

Libertarian_Virologist Profile picture
Apr 25
The announcement of Jeff Taubenberger as acting NIAID Director is the latest act of outright defiance and contempt for elected leadership by NIH. The law is clear: @SecKennedy must name a permanent NIAID Director. This is only the most recent instance of a recurring pattern.🧵 Image
NIH has shown through a consistent pattern of behavior that it does not believe that elected leaders have any right to determine who runs NIAID. Jeanne Marrazzo was named as NIAID director by ACTING NIH Director Larry Tabak. This is an incredible level of defiance of the law. 2/ Image
This press release from NIH made it crystal clear who had selected Marrazzo as NIAID director—not Secretary Becerra, as required by the law—but NIH—and specifically acting Director Tabak. Tabak was not even permanent NIH Director… 3/ niaid.nih.gov/news-events/ni…Image
Read 12 tweets
Libertarian_Virologist Profile picture
Feb 25
@PeterHotez funded a paper that involved gain of function research of concern at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, specifically creating a WIV1-SHC014 chimera. Hotez implausibly claimed he didn’t, but the receipts are clearly there. Hotez cannot be impartial on COVID origins. 🧵 Image
Hotez laughably claimed he could fund one part of a research project and have no responsibility for any other part of it. Despite his fervent denials, the public record makes it clear that Hotez funded the paper and the paper’s work involved gain of function research at WIV. 2/ Image
The paper in question (Zheng et al 2017) describes the construction of a WIV1-SHC014 chimera. The paper’s acknowledgments credit support from @PeterHotez’s NIH grant. 3/ link.springer.com/content/pdf/10…Image
Read 7 tweets
Libertarian_Virologist Profile picture
Feb 10
On Blue Cry, Kristian Andersen claims that people who discuss evidence of a likely lab origin of COVID are engaged in a “politicized attack on science” (which is actually a good description of Proximal Origins). Dishonest people assume everyone else is as dishonest as they are.🧵 Image
Andersen has the temerity to complain about supposed “financial costs” but conveniently omits the fact that he was awarded an $8.9 million grant following his work on Proximal Origins. Andersen claims there was no connection. 2/ Image
3/
Read 5 tweets
Libertarian_Virologist Profile picture
Feb 3
On Blue Cry, former eLife editor Michael Eisen calls Kristian Andersen a “complete f’ing asshole” after a discussion about bioweapons agents. What happened? See below 👇 🧵 Image
It starts when Eisen opens up a discussion about bioweapons research. Eisen should have said bioweapons agent research because it is undeniable that the U.S. does do research on bioweapons agents and that gain of function can result in discovery of new bioweapons agents. 2/ Image
Anders$n then calls for reinforcements from exactly who you’d expect to downplay bioweapons agent research… 3/ Image
Read 4 tweets
Libertarian_Virologist Profile picture
Feb 1
At Fauci’s urging, @JeremyFarrar convened a conference call to discuss Kristian Andersen’s concern that SARS-CoV-2 might be engineered. It is clear from the list of invitees that Farrar did not want to give an honest hearing to Andersen’s hypothesis—he was setting up an ambush.🧵 Image
One of the invitees was Ron Fouchier, a virologist responsible for an infamous gain of function experiment where potential pandemic pathogen H5N1 was adapted for respiratory spread among ferrets. Would Fouchier seriously and objectively consider the possibility of engineering? 2/ Image
Prior to the call, Andersen & colleagues expressed doubt about whether Fouchier would have an open mind regarding an engineering hypothesis. After the call they said Fouchier’s arguments were unconvincing and that Fouchier and Drosten were too conflicted to think straight.” 3/ Image
Read 11 tweets
Libertarian_Virologist Profile picture
Jan 29
When scientists discuss COVID lab origin hypotheses on X, zoonosis partisans often attempt to bully them into silence, frequently by making meritless complaints to their university or research institution. It’s why many are anon & why they make great efforts to identify anons. 🧵 Image
Stu Neil recently alluded to a case of an anon account named after a “garden ornament” (gnome) and laughs about how he used to have a job. Does Neil really think people should be deprived of their living because they discuss scientific hypotheses he disagrees with? 2/
Conducting replication studies is essential to the scientific enterprise. But try to conduct a replication study on the holy writ of Pekar et al 2022 and see what happens… 3/
Read 7 tweets

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