Senate hearing on gain-of-function research

[EndtheMadnessNow]

A Senate hearing on gain-of-function research kicked off a few days ago.

Esvelt, a CRISPR gene-drive proponent from the Epstein-funded MIT Media Lab (who personally met with Epstein), is one of the subtler snakes in the GOF-critical grass. He's pushing for a "bioterrorism" approach to viral research that would further concentrate power with US spooks.


https://twitter.com/emilyakopp/status/15...4316237824


A bit of a surprise:

Steven Quay and Esvelt say gain-of-function research of concern should be banned. But Ebright says it's okay for known pathogens like COVID for which a lot of people already have antibodies.

Esvelt says synthesizing a virus has become 1,000x cheaper.

Could poor U.S. oversight of high risk gain-of-function research have caused the pandemic?

Ebright: Yes.
https://twitter.com/emilyakopp/status/15...2000459779






Revisiting Gain of Function Research: What the Pandemic Taught Us and Where Do We Go From Here


One of Esvelt's proposals is to create an oversight panel to review proposals for life sciences research, a panel that would be composed entirely of "experts from the security agencies."

"Credible pandemic virus identification will trigger the immediate proliferation of agents as lethal as nuclear devices"

Quoted from Esvelt's testimony [PDF].


Does anyone really believe such a panel would ever reject a proposal from USAMRIID, Lawrence Livermore, or the newly created (as of Sept 2020) CIA Labs?

Esvelt points out the inadequacies of the Biological Weapons Convention but conveniently omits the fact that the lack of any verification or enforcement mechanisms is 100% the US establishment doing.


Esvelt also self-servingly promotes his own pet project, Secure DNA, an automated system that supposedly detects dangerous orders by creating a massive database of key bio-weapon genome fragments.






MIT Media Lab


Finally, Esvelt promotes the creation of a new catastrophic insurance product that, in itself, is fine, but will obviously never be purchased by the entities whose research truly threatens humanity, like the US military. From his testimony linked above:




The Esvelts of the world would like to see the end of the era of virus collection & sequencing. Fair enough. But why do they want this? A cynical person might say it's so that their cohort of Epsteinian CRISPR gene-editing freaks at MIT can control the future of US bioweaponry.

USAID Announces New $125 Million Project To Detect Unknown Viruses With Pandemic Potential (Oct 5, 2021)

Today, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is launching an ambitious new project that will work with partner countries and the global community to build better preparedness for future global health threats. Discovery & Exploration of Emerging Pathogens - Viral Zoonoses (DEEP VZN), a five-year, approximately $125 million project (pending availability of funds), will strengthen global capacity to detect and understand the risks of viral spillover from wildlife to humans that could cause another pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how infectious diseases threaten all of society, up-ending people’s lives and attacking societies at their cores. It is also a strong reminder of the connection between animals, humans, and the environment, and the effect that an emerging pathogen spilling over into humans can have on people’s health and on global economies. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to advancing global health security, international pandemic preparedness, and global health resilience. Outbreaks do not respect geographic boundaries and can spread rapidly, jeopardizing the health, safety, and economic security of every country — including the United States. DEEP VZN will advance the U.S. Government’s global health security and foreign policy priorities by supporting efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to new infectious disease threats abroad.

The Washington State University Paul Allen School for Global Health will implement DEEP VZN with a consortium of partners that includes the University of Washington, FHI 360, PATH, and Washington University in St. Louis.

Since 2009, USAID’s Global Health Security Program has supported work to safely discover and understand new viruses from animals at high risk locations. The vast majority, more than 70 percent, of outbreaks in people originate from animals. At a time when people are coming into more frequent contact with wildlife, DEEP VZN will build and expand on previous work by significantly scaling up USAID's efforts to understand where, when, and how viruses spillover from animals to humans. USAID will share information it gathers with host-country and global partners to develop and implement interventions in communities to reduce the risks of virus spillover and therefore, potential outbreaks. Data and information gathered by DEEP VZN will also play a critical role in developing diagnostics, medicines, and vaccines for new viruses. Developing these tools now is essential for being better prepared for the future when new viruses spillover and stopping them from causing outbreaks that could become pandemics.

DEEP VZN is a critical next step in the evolution of USAID's work to understand and address the risks posed by zoonotic diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans. DEEP VZN will work in targeted countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America that have both a high risk for viral spillover and the capacity to safely conduct viral discovery. Identifying and understanding unknown viral threats will help these countries—and the world—be better prepared to detect, prevent and respond to future biological threats.

Last updated: August 02, 2022

University of Washington Joins The DEEP VZN project