Resource Roundup: SARS-CoV-2 Did Originate in a Lab
Below is a compilation of evidence that supports the theory that SARS-CoV-2 originated in a lab. When I first published this article, the government was still vehemently denying the possibility of a lab leak. As of March 2023, that picture has changed.
Note that this is not a “fair and balanced” roundup, due to the fact that you can find ample support of the “natural origin” theory of the virus in any mainstream media outlet. The purpose of this Substack is to balance the scales and give equal “air time” to the opposing theory.
Originally Published: October 30, 2022
Last update: August 1, 2023
Rather than create new posts every time I find a new, relevant article, I’ll simply continue to update this one post, so be sure to check back occasionally.
Summary of Findings
Two labs in Wuhan, China were doing gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses in 2018 and 2019. Gain-of-function research involves altering a virus to make it more transmissible to humans, or to make it more lethal.
The United States was funding this research through the National Institute of Health and a nonprofit called EcoHealth Alliance. Since gain-of-function research is very controversial and several high-level U.S. officials were directly involved, the U.S. government had a strong incentive to steer investigations away from the labs.
There is a history of lab leaks in China, including four specifically with coronaviruses.
Recent scientific analysis of the virus shows that it has certain characteristics that are only found in lab-created viruses.
It seems likely that the alpha variant outbreak in China started in the summer of 2019, not December as the Chinese government claimed. And there is some evidence that an earlier and less virulent strain had been in circulation since 2018. See my post Did the Covid-19 Pandemic Really Start in Early 2020? for more information on the timing.
My take: I think that Occam’s razor is pretty compelling in this case. The simplest explanation is that the virus came from a lab. You have an outbreak of a new variant of a virus in a city where scientists are doing gain of function research on that exact virus. The only questions I still have are 1) when exactly did the leak occur? 2) was the “leak” accidental or intentional? and 3) what additional dangers does exposure to this lab-created virus pose?
Resources
What Really Happened in Wuhan: New Lab Leak Evidence Over the Origin of Covid-19 (Weekend Australian Magazine - July 28, 2023) Robert Kadlec, who was Assistant Secretary for the US Department of Health during the pandemic – and formerly Anthony Fauci’s boss – reveals that he believes it was vaccine research on coronaviruses in Wuhan that started the pandemic.
US Stops Funding for Chinese Lab at Center of Covid Controversy (Bloomberg - July 18, 2023) Interesting narrative shift here, with the article stating the lab hasn’t received money from since July 2020. Flipping that around, it confirmed the previously forbidden claim that the NIH was still sending money to Wuhan as late as July 2020.
Covid-19 Origin Debate 'Squashed', Ex-CDC Chief Dr Robert Redfield Claims (BBC - March 9, 2023) Redfield testified before Congress that it was "not scientifically plausible" to him that the virus had natural origins. He claimed he was "sidelined" at the beginning of the pandemic and excluded from meetings as his views were not in line with Dr. Fauci and other scientists.
Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, Energy Department Now Says (The Wall Street Journal - February 26, 2023) Well, since The Wall Street Journal has now admitted the possibility, I guess it’s no longer a “conspiracy.”
Evolution of a Theory: Unredacted NIH Emails Show Efforts to Rule Out Lab Origin of Covid (The Intercept - January 19, 2023) Emails from the early days of the pandemic show that scientists like Dr. Fauci and the UK’s Jeremy Farrar harbored substantial doubts about the possibilities of a natural origin.
Scientist Who Worked at Wuhan Lab Says COVID Was Man-made Virus (New York Post - December 3, 2022) Dr. Andrew Huff, a scientist and former vice president of EcoHealth Alliance, worked at the Wuhan lab and says the virus was leaked from that facility.
COVID-19 Origins: Investigating a “Complex and Grave Situation” Inside a Wuhan Lab (ProPublica, October 28, 2022) This comprehensive report compiled in a joint effort between ProPublica and Vanity Fair is a follow-up to Vanity Fair’s previous excellent article (see link below).
An Analysis of the Origins of the COVID-19 Pandemic Interim Report (U.S. Senate - October 2022) This is the most recent U.S. government report, published by the Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor and Pensions - Minority Oversight Staff. This report authored by Senate Republicans gives a decent recap of what was already known. Part of their conclusion is as follows: “Based on the analysis of the publicly available information, it appears reasonable to conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident.”
The Origins of SARS-CoV-2 (JaimieMetzl.com - October 26, 2022) This page is probably the most comprehensive roundup of resources available and it continues to be updated. Metzl was one of the first “whistle blowers” supporting the lab leak hypothesis. He was a member of the World Health Organization’s advisory committee on human genome editing from 2019 to 2021.
My Current Assessment of SARS-CoV-2: It Is One Of Ralph Baric's Experimental Congestive Heart Failure Coronaviruses That Was Being Further Researched In Wuhan (WMC Research - November 12, 2022) Some interesting notes on a specific strain of coronavirus research that is associated with myocarditis.
A Synthetic Origin of SARS-CoV-2 (A Biologist’s Guide to Life - October 20, 2022) Alex Washburne is the author of a preprint study that concludes the following: “We found that SARS-CoV has the restriction site fingerprint that is typical for synthetic viruses. The synthetic fingerprint of SARS-CoV-2 is anomalous in wild coronaviruses, and common in lab-assembled viruses… Both the restriction site fingerprint and the pattern of mutations generating them are extremely unlikely in wild coronaviruses and nearly universal in synthetic viruses. Our findings strongly suggest a synthetic origin of SARS-CoV2.”
MSH3 Homology and Potential Recombination Link to SARS-CoV-2 Furin Cleavage Site (Frontiers in Virology - February 21, 2022) A paper published that confirms the presence of Moderna’s patented sequence, as discussed by Arkmedic in the link below.
How to BLAST Your Way to the Truth about the Origins of COVID-19 (Arkmedic’s Blog - December 28, 2021) A very thorough and technical review of the genomic sequences found in SARS-CoV-2.
Peter Daszak: Supervillain Origin Story (Bad Cattitude - October 6, 2021) A detailed overview of the insane gain of function research that the U.S. was funding through the National Institute of Health and Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance.
The Lab-Leak Theory: Inside the Fight to Uncover COVID-19’s Origins (Vanity Fair - June 3, 2021) This well-written article in Vanity Fair builds a compelling case.
Investigate the Origins of COVID-19 (Science Magazine - May 14, 2021) an open letter published in Science by 18 leading scientists, stating that a proper investigation had not yet been done.
Natural Spillover or Research Lab Leak? Why a Credible Investigation Is Needed to Determine the Origin of the Coronavirus Pandemic (The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists - May 1, 2020) This article was written by Dr. Filippa Lentzos, a biosecurity expert at King’s College London.
See my post Did the Covid-19 Pandemic Really Start in Early 2020? for more information on the timing of the outbreak.