Article  CIA’s dubious embrace of COVID-19 lab leak theory is likely to spur more controversy

#1
C C Offline
CIA’s cautious (and dubious) embrace of COVID-19 lab leak theory is likely to spur more controversy, not end it
https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2025/...ot-end-it/

INTRO: The calamitous global outbreak of COVID-19 has sparked intense scrutiny of its origins​. One school of thought holds that the virus emerged naturally, an example of the risks associated with a zoonotic spillover — the transmission of a pathogen from an animal host to a human host.

“We have at least a half-dozen scientific papers in the best scientific journals, including Cell and Science, which convincingly demonstrate how the SARS-2 virus [which causes COVID-19] emerged through zoonotic spillover,” wrote Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. “In contrast, I’ve not seen a single published scientific paper on lab leak…nor even a serious scientific explanation [of] how that would occur given the scientific evidence to date.”

But the lab leak theory won’t die. Last weekend, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) altered its assessment, concluding – with “low confidence” — that the virus is “more likely” to have come from a lab than a bat or other animal at a wet market. So, although no new evidence has emerged, after a careful re-review of existing but still incomplete data, the CIA now leans toward the lab leak hypothesis.

The CIA’s revised view does not appear politically motivated even though the change occurred in the early days of the new administration. While it’s true that many conservatives have promoted the leak hypothesis, the finding was reached during the final month of the Biden administration after a review under then-CIA chief William Burns, according to reporting by the New York Times. In 2023, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it favored the lab leak theory, as did a US Congress sub-committee in December 2024.

Let’s take a closer look at the science of the competing hypotheses... (MORE - details)
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#2
Syne Offline
Sounds like the very people who make their living doing gain of function research desperately trying to keep themselves in work.
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