A new study released this week by British professor Angus Dalgleish and Norwegian scientist Dr Birger Sorensen claims that the COVID-19 virus originated in a the Wuhan lab, where scientists were conducting a “Gain of Function” experiment – a scientific process which studies contagious diseases by making them more infectious and studying what effect they have on humans.
This type of research was temporarily outlawed in the US from 2014 to 2017, due to its controversial and dangerous nature. The study asserts scientists created the virus in the lab during the Gain of Function research, and then retro-engineered it to look as though it was done years ago. The study also found some evidence that data had been eliminated, concealed or destroyed in Chinese labs and that “scientists who wished to share their findings have haven’t been able to do so or have disappeared.” This week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States’ leading virologist, said US funding of the research was misused by China as the $600,000 in grants funding was never approved for Gain of Function research.
The theory that COVID-19 originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, has become more likely to be accurate as more information begins to come out of Wuhan. Former FDA Head Scott Gottlieb told CBS this week that the original theory that the disease originated in a wet market in Wuhan has been all but dismissed at this point, as there is no strong evidence that the virus started in the market, which has since been shut down.
As calls for a UN investigation grow stronger around the world, this study’s release will shake up the case, as the media and some politicians previously rejected the lab leak theory as a conspiracy. President Joe Biden announced the creation of a task force last week that will investigate and report on the origins of COVID-19 and report back in 90 days. It is unclear how this new study will affect that process.