Documents Confirm Mutated SARS-CoV-2 Virus Most Likely Leaked from Biohazard Lab in China
- by Carolyn Hendler, JD
- Published January 1, 2024
- Infections
More evidence has emerged that the COVID-19 pandemic began when a lab engineered mutated coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) leaked from a biohazard lab in Wuhan, China. Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which was filed by the nonprofit public health research group U.S. Right to Know, have revealed that in 2018, scientists at the Wuhan Virology lab (WIV) had plans to make coronavirus spike proteins capable of infecting human cells that would be “inserted into SARS-CoV backbones.”1
The proposal called Project DEFUSE, which discussed inserting the spike protein into the SARS CoV-2 virus, was created by the New York based nonprofit, EcoHealth Alliance. A written proposal from Peter Daszak, PhD, president of the EcoHealth Alliance, and submitted by email to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) read,
Isolation will be attempted on a subset of samples with novel SARS-CoVs. Prof. Ralph Baric, UNC, will reverse engineer spike proteins in his lab to conduct binding assays to human ACE2 (the SARS-CoV receptor). Proteins that bind will then be inserted into SARS-CoV Backbones, and inoculated into humanized mice to assess their capacity to cause SARS-like disease, and their ability to be blocked by monoclonal therapies, or vaccines against SARS-CoV (REF).2
SARS-CoV-2 Lab Leak Theory Now “Almost Certain”
While DoD ultimately denied this risky proposal to deliberately genetically engineer a bat virus to cause severe respiratory illness in humans, the recently disclosed documents support the lab leak theory for the origins of COVID. Matt Ridley, PhD, a biologist and science writer who has covered the lab leak theory, suggests the new evidence basically confirms it:
This latest [document] leak makes the case for a lab leak almost certain.3
The proposal sought to add the spike proteins to furin cleavage sites of SARS-CoV-2, which would allow the virus to bind more readily to human receptor sites. Manipulating bat coronaviruses by binding the spike protein to furin cleavage sites, which is what caused the SARS-CoV-2 virus to become a global pandemic, has led many scientists to believe that this proposal is a blue print for how to make SARS-CoV-2 in a lab.4
Richard Ebright, PhD, a chemical biologist at Rutgers University said of the documents:
These revelations are important because the experiments in the grant proposal likely – indeed highly likely – led to the creation and release of SARS-CoV-2.5
EcoHealth Alliance Allegedly Hid Key Facts from Department of Defense
The proposal identifies EcoHealth Alliance president Daszak as the principal investigator for the coronavirus research, with the work being partly conducted at the Chinese lab in an attempt to save the money. The biohazard lab in Wuhan has fewer safety precautions and is less expensive to operate than U.S. labs. Allegedly, the U.S. scientists involved in the proposal attempted to hide from the D0D agency funding the project—the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)—the fact that the high-risk virus research would take place in a Chinese lab, where there are inadequate safety precautions.
The proposal, which was submitted to the government, stated that the engineering of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein—and the testing of whether it could infect humans—would take place in a Chapel Hill, North Carolina lab. However, a previous draft of the proposal revels that Daszak intended for most of the experiments to actually take place in Wuhan China. This fact was hidden from DARPA in an attempt to make the government agency more “comfortable” with the idea so that they would be more likely to approve the proposal.
Daszak’s alleged attempt to hide any potential national security risks, along with the fact that this risky research would be conducted in a biosafety level 2 lab (BSL-2) that had fewer safety precautions than the biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) lab in Chapel Hill came to light in comments Daszak made to his colleagues.6 7
Daszak’s comment read:
… If we win this contract, I do not propose that all of this work will necessarily be conducted by Ralph [scientist at Chapel Hill], but I do want to stress the U.S. side of this proposal so that DARPA are comfortable with our team. Once we get the funds, we can then allocate who does what exact work, and I believe that a lot of these assays can be done in Wuhan as well…8
Daszak also remarked that he intended to minimize the work that would be conducted outside the U.S. by focusing on his resume and that of Ralph Baric, PhD, a scientist at Chapel Hill rather than focus on the scientists at the lab in Wuhan, China.
Dr. Daszak wrote:
I’m planning to use my resume and Ralph’s. Linfa/Zhengli [scientists at WIV], I realize your resumes are also very impressive, but I’m trying to downplay the non-U.S. focus of this proposal so that DARPA doesn’t see this as a negative.
Released EcoHealth Alliance Documents “really damning”
Dr. Ebright explained the insights brought to light by the new documents:
The new documents reveal that EcoHealth Alliance planned to use U.S. Department of Defense funds to perform high-risk virus experiments at WIV at a biosafety level that was inadequate for research with a potential pandemic pathogen… The new documents also reveal that EcoHealth Alliance deliberately concealed these plans—both the plan to perform high-risk experiments at WIV and the plan to perform them using inadequate biosafety protections—from the U.S. Department of Defense in order to improve the chances of receiving funding.9
Justin Kinney, PhD, a quantitative biologist and cofounder of Biosafety Now, said:
That’s really damning. These revelations are important because these specific experiments could, quite plausibly, have led to the genetic engineering and accidental release of SARS-CoV-2… BSL-2 experiments are more convenient and less expensive than BSL-3 experiments … However, BSL-2 provides a far lower level of biosafety than BSL-3 does. This lower safety level is especially dangerous for experiments involving viruses that can be transmitted by air.10
While DARPA rejected the proposal, the possibility remains that the experimental research was conducted without their financial backing.11 The documents add to what many consider a smoking gun confirming the lab leak theory, especially since the first three cases of COVID in the world for the novel coronavirus reportedly were lab workers working on gain of function research at the Wuhan lab, including lead researcher Ben Hu, who is widely considered to be “patient zero.”12
Plan to Test Drugs and Vaccines Against Engineered SARS-CoV-2 Virus
The newly released documents show that after the scientists infected the mice with the altered spike protein, the plan was to use vaccines and other drugs, such as monoclonal therapies and vaccines, to try to neutralize the virus.13 Synthetic lab-made monoclonal antibodies, which bind to the spike protein, attempt to replicate naturally acquired antibodies the body makes after being infected with the virus.14
This plan became reality as monoclonal antibodies developed and marketed by drug companies were first used treat COVID in November 2020, and experimental mRNA COVID shots were made publicly available in the U.S. under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) granted to Pfizer and Moderna by the FDA starting in December 2020.15 16
In addition, it was revealed that this high-risk coronavirus gain of function research would also be used as proof of concept for future research with other deadly viruses, such as lethal hemorrhagic and respiratory viruses that include Marburg, Hendra, Nipah and Ebola.17
EcoHealth Alliance Denies Allegations of Withholding Information on Risky SARS-CoV-2 Research
The non-profit EcoHealth Alliance issued a statement following the release of the eye-opening documents obtained through a FOIA request and released by US Right to Know. EcoHealth laimed that the allegations about their 2018 proposal were, “baseless conclusions from dubious premises.”
The statement reads:
These allegations are false, based on misunderstanding of edits and comments on the document, and based on misleading out-of-context quotations, and a lack of understanding of the process by which federal grants are awarded.
EcoHealth Alliance maintains that because DARPA did not approve the proposal, the plan to make spike proteins capable of infecting human cells and inserting them into the backbones of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was not undertaken.18
ECOHealth Alliance Sued by Family Members of COVID Victims Who Died
EcoHealth Alliance may face more hurdles with the release of these documents as they respond to a lawsuit brought by the family members of four people who died from COVID. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit argue that Daszak understood the dangers of the research being conducted at the Wuhan lab and knew the virus was “capable of causing a worldwide pandemic in the human population.”
Plaintiffs allege that the deadly bioengineered virus escaped from the lab and caused a worldwide pandemic that ultimately infected, seriously injured and killed their family members. Plaintiffs further allege that EcoHealth Alliance breached their duty to ensure that the dangerous scientific research it was funding was conducted in a responsible manner that would not create an unreasonable risk.
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