Let's say we accept the premise that they cannot directly edit a virus to become more dangerous. What about serial passage, where the researchers simply allow the most demonstrably virulent strains to keep spreading? No guesswork is needed.
I don't know why this doesn't get mentioned when bioweapons are being discussed since there was work done in ferrets with an avian influenza that led to the GoF ban. Also, iirc sars-cov-2 showed an afinity for mink or some other animal close to ferrets and some farms had to cull them in Europe.
Plus there was an illicit, covert Chinese lab recently discovered in a warehouse filled with ace-2 humanized mice. Could those be used to serial passage sars-cov-2 and were abandoned as the project came to an end?
Let's say we accept the premise that they cannot directly edit a virus to become more dangerous. What about serial passage, where the researchers simply allow the most demonstrably virulent strains to keep spreading? No guesswork is needed.
I don't know why this doesn't get mentioned when bioweapons are being discussed since there was work done in ferrets with an avian influenza that led to the GoF ban. Also, iirc sars-cov-2 showed an afinity for mink or some other animal close to ferrets and some farms had to cull them in Europe.
Plus there was an illicit, covert Chinese lab recently discovered in a warehouse filled with ace-2 humanized mice. Could those be used to serial passage sars-cov-2 and were abandoned as the project came to an end?