by Liza Carlisle at Republic Brief
The Coronavirus pandemic has prompted a global surge in laboratories that handle dangerous viruses — despite concerns Covid may have been the result of the risky experiments.
The virus first began spreading from a wet market in Wuhan, about eight miles from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), a high-security bio lab that worked with dangerous bat coronaviruses. Scientists there were also found to have wiped crucial databases and stifled independent investigations into the laboratory’s links to the pandemic.
Many countries believe they were caught flat-footed by Covid and want to get ahead of the next devastating outbreak by studying pathogens that pose a threat to humans. More than 40 facilities certified as biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) or BSL-4 have either been built or have gone into construction since 2020, predominantly across Asia.
Experiments at these labs often involve tinkering with animal viruses to advance treatments and vaccines that could be used in a future outbreak. But there are widespread concerns that these experiments might actually raise the risk of pandemics — something some experts believe was the case with Covid.
Professor Paul Hunter, an expert in infectious diseases at the University of East Anglia in England, told DailyMail.com he was concerned about what all the new labs would be used for.
‘The issue is what you’re going to be using [the labs] for,’ he told this website. ‘If they’re for diagnostic purposes, then you need them. But I don’t think every country needs a BSL-4.’ He added: ‘If they start having a dual purpose for research that has offensive military implications, that is the concern.’
Russia has set out its proposals for 15 of the maximum security labs and India is aiming for 18 BSL-3 and BSL-4 labs in total. The US is also adding a further highest level biosecurity lab to its existing 12.
*There are currently 63 BSL-4 labs, the highest level of security, across the globe. This is up from the 59 which were in operation or planned last year. Three-quarters are in urban areas. South America and Africa are some of the places lacking access to the labs
And now in the U.S. a new form of the Covid virus has been mutated intentionally.
Researchers in Massachusetts have developed a new lethal Covid strain in a laboratory–…
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