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New Reports Indicate US and China Collaborated on Coronavirus Research Prior to COVID-19 Outbreak
New reports indicate the U.S. government helped fund research in Wuhan that may be linked to COVID-19.
(TMU) — Despite months of constant news coverage telling the public the source of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 was seafood markets located in Wuhan, China, mounting evidence indicates the origin of the virus may be related to joint research funded by the United States and Chinese governments. New records viewed by the Mail on Sunday, studies examining the outbreak of the virus, and questions posed by an increasing amount of researchers are poking holes in the narrative put forth by the government and media.
On Saturday, Mail on Sunday reported that scientists with the Wuhan Institute of Virology experimented on bats as part of a project funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Mail reported that they have obtained documents detailing the relationship between the Wuhan Institute and the NIH, including the use of U.S. funding to carry out research on bats. The Wuhan Institute also worked with the University of Alabama, the University of North Texas, Harvard University, and the National Wildlife Federation.
The documents reportedly detail how the U.S. government provided a $3.7 million grant for the Wuhan Institute to experiment on bats captured from caves in Yunnan, more than 1,000 miles away from Wuhan. According to the Mail, scientists working with funds from the U.S. NIH grew a strain of coronavirus in a lab and injected it into piglets. The report also states that after some piglets died they were fed to the remaining piglets.
The importance of the connection to the caves in Yunnan cannot be overstated. According to a genetic analysis of the novel coronavirus’ genome, it is “96% identical at the whole-genome level to a bat coronavirus.” The study, “A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin,” also connected CoViD-19 to a coronavirus originating from Yunnan. The study stated, “We then found that a short region of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) from a bat coronavirus (BatCoV RaTG13)—which was previously detected in Rhinolophus affinis from Yunnan province—showed high sequence identity to 2019-nCoV.”
Following the revelations, U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz called for an end to U.S. government funding of “cruel animal experiments at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which may have contributed to the global spread of CoViD-19.”
For years, the US government has been funding cruel animal experiments at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which may have contributed to the global spread of COVID-19, and research at other labs in China with virtually no US oversight.
It has to end now.https://t.co/Bjxs89GPgw
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) April 13, 2020
While these new revelations counter the mainstream narrative regarding the origin of the virus, they line up with previous studies. In late February, UPI reported that Chinese authorities said the first patient known to contract the novel coronavirus had no connection to the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan. “Eastern Broadcasting Co. and Liberty Times reported Thursday that China’s first patient had shown symptoms of CoViD-19 as early as Dec. 8. Chinese authorities have previously said the outbreak began on Dec. 31,” UPI noted. Additionally, UPI reported that a research team with China’s Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Huanan Agricultural College, and the Chinese Institute for Brain Research have also said the seafood market is not the source of CoViD-19.
Both the U.S. and Chinese governments have been tight lipped on potential alternative explanations for the origin of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and CoViD-19, the resulting disease. Both nations have also been quick to dismiss the idea that either were involved in developing any sort of germ or biowarfare—except when accusing each other of funding such projects. In fact, a recent report from the Guardian details how two websites for Chinese universities recently published and then removed pages referencing a new policy requiring all academic papers related to CoViD-19 to be submitted for extra vetting prior to publication.
“In terms of priority, controlling the narrative is more important than the public health or the economic fallout,” he said. “It doesn’t mean the economy and public health aren’t important. But the narrative is paramount,” Prof Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London, told the Guardian.
What About the Harvard Arrests?
The revelations regarding the U.S. funding of Chinese research into viruses spawned from bats and the attempts at controlling the narrative are sure to rekindle theories regarding the arrests of a Harvard professor who has been accused of lying about his connections to the Chinese government’s Thousand Talents Plan, an effort to attract Chinese scientists and entrepreneurs back to their homeland. Harvard department chair Charles Lieber is alleged to have accepted more than $1 million in grant money from the Chinese government. Harvard University called the charges against him “extremely serious.” Lieber was arrested on January 28. Two Chinese nationals were also charged including Zaosong Zheng who was detained on December 30 and Yanqing Ye who is currently in China.
Although there is not yet clear evidence that Lieber was arrested in relation to research related to COVID-19, his arrest does deserve further scrutiny. According to the statement from the Department of Justice, since 2008 Lieber received more than $15,000,000 in grant funding from the NIH and Department of Defense which require the disclosure of “significant foreign financial conflicts of interest.” The complaint states that beginning in 2011 Lieber also became a “’Strategic Scientist’ at Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) in China and was a contractual participant in China’s Thousand Talents Plan from in or about 2012 to 2017.”
This complaint connects Lieber to research in Wuhan, his involvement with the NIH—which was also funding Chinese research into bats—and makes clear his involvement with the Thousand Talents Plan. The DOJ describes the Thousand Talents Plan as “one of the most prominent Chinese Talent recruit plans that are designed to attract, recruit, and cultivate high-level scientific talent in furtherance of China’s scientific development, economic prosperity and national security. These talent programs seek to lure Chinese overseas talent and foreign experts to bring their knowledge and experience to China and reward individuals for stealing proprietary information.”
Although the complaint alleges that Lieber lied about his involvement in the program in April 2018—prior to the CoViD19 outbreak—his involvement with the program continued into 2019. If Lieber had been involved with Chinese research into bats, or secretly funneling out U.S. research into viruses, he would have been working on such matters prior to the outbreak. Although FactCheck states that, “While his work has recently focused on coming up with novel ways of using nanowires in cells, he is not a biologist, nor does he have expertise in viruses,” a 2004 report quotes Lieber as researching nanowires for detecting the presence of virus. Coincidentally, Lieber himself states, “Viruses are among the most important causes of human disease and are of increasing concern as possible agents of biowarfare and bioterrorism.”
Nature Index recently reported that during an April 2018 hearing organized by the U.S. House of Representatives, Michael Wessel, the commissioner of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, asked Congress to cut federal grants, loans, or other assistance to participants of the Thousand Talents Plan. Representative Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, also warned that China was using “sleeper agents at our research universities to steal our scientific breakthroughs.” Further, Nature Index notes that Francis Collins, director of the NIH, sent a letter to thousands of research institutes on August 20, 2018, warning that foreign nations were attempting to use “systematic programs to influence NIH researchers and peer reviewers.”
Final Thoughts
When considering these warnings in conjunction with Lieber’s arrest and involvement with the Thousand Talents Plan, it’s easy to understand why some readers and researchers believe there might be an as yet unproven connection between Lieber, the U.S. NIH funding of experiments in China, and the Chinese government’s plan to influence scientists within the United States. The U.S. and Chinese governments have both been accused of lying about the true impact of SARS-CoV-19 and the public has an increasing distrust for media reports that are often seen as exaggerated or downplayed.
All of this begs the following questions: Was Lieber involved with the research into bats found in the caves of Yunnan? What was the true nature of the U.S.-government sponsored experiments at the Wuhan Institute of Virology? How deep did this collaboration between the governments go? Does the truth about the origins of SARS-CoV-19 and COVID-19 relate to these experiments? The answers to these questions remain to be seen, but the public must continue to question the narratives that are being spun right in front of our eyes.
The Biden administration is reportedly planning to propose an immediate ban on menthol cigarettes, a product that has long been targeted by anti-smoking advocates and critics who claim that the tobacco industry has aggressively marketed to Black people in the U.S.
On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that the administration could announce a ban on menthol and other flavored cigarettes as soon as this week.
Roughly 85 percent of Black smokers use such menthol brands as Newport and Kool, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Research has also found that menthol cigarettes are easier to become addicted to and harder to quit than unflavored tobacco products, along with other small cigars popular with young people and African Americans.
Civil rights advocates claim that the decision should be greeted by Black communities and people of color who have been marketed to by what they describe as the predatory tobacco industry.
Black smokers generally smoke far less than white smokers, but suffer a disproportionate amount of deaths due to tobacco-linked diseases like heart attack, stroke, and other causes.
Anti-smoking advocates like Matthew L. Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, also greeted the move to cut out products that appeal to children and young adults.
“Menthol cigarettes are the No. 1 cause of youth smoking in the United States,” he said. “Eliminating menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars used by so many kids will do more in the long run to reduce tobacco-related disease than any action the federal government has ever taken.”
However, groups including the American Civil Liberties Group (ACLU) has opposed the move, citing the likelihood that such an action could lead to criminal penalties arising from the enforcement of a ban hitting communities of color hardest.
In a letter to administration officials, the ACLU and other groups including the Drug Policy Alliance said that while the ban is “no doubt well-intentioned” it would also have “serious racial justice implications.”
“Such a ban will trigger criminal penalties, which will disproportionately impact people of color, as well as prioritize criminalization over public health and harm reduction,” the letter explained. “A ban will also lead to unconstitutional policing and other negative interactions with local law enforcement.”
On Wednesday, the three men who were previously charged in the gruesome killing of Ahmaud Arbery last year in the state of Georgia were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of hate crimes and attempted kidnapping.
Arbery, 25, had been jogging in a neighborhood in Brunswick on Feb. 23, 2020, when Travis McMichael, 35, and his father, Gregory McMichael, 65, began pursuing him in their pickup truck before shooting him dead with a pump-action shotgun.
William “Roddie” Bryan,” 51, had been driving behind them in a separate truck and filming the incident. According to Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Richard Dial, McMichael then stood over Arbery’s lifeless body and called him a “f**king [n-word].” In separate footage, a Confederate flag sticker could be seen attached to the McMichaels’ truck.
Video of the incident didn’t come to light until it was leaked by a retired police officer who said that he wanted “the public to know the truth” about the slaying of the young Black man, according to his attorney.
The Department of Justice alleged Wednesday that the men confronted and ultimately killed Arbery “because of his race.”
The killing of Arbery by the apparent vigilantes sparked outrage internationally and across the country, with many saying that it shows the suspicion and violent racism often faced by Black joggers
The McMichaels were also each charged with “carrying, and brandishing—and in Travis’s case, discharging—a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence,” noted the DOJ press release.
As the FBI announced Tuesday that it is investigating the killing last week of unarmed Black man Andrew Brown Jr. by North Carolina sheriff’s deputies, civil rights and racial justice groups joined the victim’s relatives in demanding authorities release full police body camera footage of the shooting.
Five days after Brown, 42, was shot dead in his car outside of his Elizabeth City home by a team of SWAT-style Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies attempting to serve search and arrest warrants for alleged drug offenses, authorities on Monday allowed two of the slain man’s relatives and their lawyers to view a heavily redacted 20-second video of the killing.
After viewing the video, Brown family attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter said the deputies “were shooting and saying, ‘Let me see your hands,’ at the same time. Let’s be clear, this was an execution. Andrew Brown was in his driveway, and his hands were on the steering wheel.”
“They were still shooting at him after his car had already crashed into a tree,” she added.
An independent autopsy performed by Dr. Brent Wayne Hall, a former medical examiner for five North Carolina counties, found that Brown was shot five times.
According to family attorney Wayne Kendall, four rounds from the deputies’ barrage glanced his right arm. Kendall said Brown was then shot in the back of the head as he tried to drive away to save his life.
“Yesterday I said he was executed. This autopsy report shows me that was correct,” Khalil Ferebee, one of Brown’s seven children, said at a Tuesday press conference.
The restricted and incomplete nature of the video viewing sparked widespread outrage, with advocates calling on authorities to release all of the footage.
“We do not feel that we got transparency,” said civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is also representing Brown’s family, at the Tuesday news conference. “We only saw a snippet of the video, and they determined what was pertinent. Why couldn’t the family see all of the video? They only showed one bodycam video, even though we know there were several.”
The North Carolina NAACP released a statement Tuesday demanding an “immediate review of the body cameras.”
“Here we are again outraged to hear of yet another Black man dead, allegedly at the hands of those who are supposed to protect and serve,” the statement said. “The murder of Andrew Brown in Elizabeth City, North Carolina… on the morning after the guilty-on-every-count verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin screams for increased scrutiny of the policing system.”
Appearing on Democracy Now! on Tuesday, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II—co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign and president of Repairers of the Breach—said that “a warrant is not a license to kill” and that “the tapes should be released.”
“They waited 120 hours to get 20 seconds,” Barber, who is also the longtime chair of the North Carolina NAACP, said of local authorities. “That is absolutely ridiculous.”
“When something happened like this in Columbus, it was released almost immediately,” he added, referring to the police killing of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant in the Ohio capital on the day before Brown’s death.
Another Brown family lawyer, Bakari Sellers, also called for the full video’s release, saying that “police can’t sweep this under the rug.”
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and state Attorney General Josh Stein, both Democrats, have also called for the video’s release.
Although ongoing protests against Brown’s killing—now in their sixth day—have been peaceful, Elizabeth City Mayor Bettie J. Parker on Monday declared a local state of emergency in which she said that “our citizens and businesses must be protected from violence and damage.”
Parker said the state of emergency will continue “until deemed no longer necessary to protect our citizens.”
In response, Barber and other religious leaders on Tuesday declared a “moral emergency” in Elizabeth City.
“What we see happening in Elizabeth City with a man shot in the back and the inept way the investigation is being handled by the district attorney and sheriff is a moral failure,” Barber said outside a local church.
Also on Tuesday, the FBI’s Charlotte office announced it was opening an investigation into Brown’s killing. The North Carolina Bureau of Investigation is also investigating the incident.
Seven Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies—who found no guns or drugs on Brown or in his vehicle—have been placed on administrative leave following the killing.
Republished from CommonDreams.org under Creative Commons
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