But the bigger thing here is that people seem to believe that a high containment lab–a BSL-4 lab, in parlance–"must" be a weapons lab, which… really? Where are you getting that idea? Is this an Outbreak/Richard Preston strikes again thing? Because it's very wrong. 2/4
-
-
Prikaži ovu nit
-
BSL-4 labs have the ability to work with the most deadly pathogens, yes; but that's for research. Do the people insisting that Wuhan's a bioweapons lab also insist that all 13 US BSL-4 labs are bioweapons labs? Cuz… that'd also be wrong. https://fas.org/programs/bio/research.html … 3/4
Prikaži ovu nit -
I would definitely encourage people to stop and read non-sensational reports about all levels of biosafety labs, and what they mean. Read what the labs research and do, before making these baseless jumps and accusations. 4/4
Prikaži ovu nit -
-
Okay, fine. A few more things, the first of which is not going to please the people who think that Twitter should be SERIOUS BUSINESS: If you had a secret bioweapons facility, in violation of the treaties you've ratified, would YOU tell the world where they are? I mean.
#nCoVpic.twitter.com/h9RluDVuykPrikaži ovu nit -
And let's be clear: China has submitted confidence building measures to the Biological Weapons Convention every year for decades. They open their labs for scientists, policy makers, and other researchers, as
@neva9257 points out: https://twitter.com/neva9257/status/1223108946287706113?s=20 …#nCoVPrikaži ovu nit -
We ALSO know, from when lab releases have happened, that there are very specific patterns to look for. For example, you would expect to see everyone who is sick clustered together, either by where they work or they live. We saw that in Sverdlovsk, with the anthrax oops.
#nCoVPrikaži ovu nit -
We also saw that with a FMD outbreak in the UK: epidemiologists were able to track the disease based on movements of a truck. We don't see that with
#nCoV - in fact, as researchers have found earlier cases, even the food market has become suspect as the origin point.Prikaži ovu nit -
Believe it or not, we study this kind of thing. People learn what to look for if an outbreak is intentional vs a spillover event. The reality is, as the world warms and as humans share more and more space with wild animals, we will see more spillover events like this.
#nCoVPrikaži ovu nit -
(If that thought bothers you, you may want to get involved with convincing our governments and our major industry to, ya know, do something about climate change, and to invest in more sustainable housing-for ourselves and the creatures we share the world with.)
Prikaži ovu nit
Kraj razgovora
Novi razgovor -
Čini se da učitavanje traje već neko vrijeme.
Twitter je možda preopterećen ili ima kratkotrajnih poteškoća u radu. Pokušajte ponovno ili potražite dodatne informacije u odjeljku Status Twittera.
Your protypical Buddhist Valkyrie. Bioethicist. Biorisk/Bioscary. Scicomm. Editor. Chasing trouble when I'm not chasing sunsets. COI: Married to