Rural Routes/Margot Ford McMillen

Why Would a Lab in Wuhan Be Studying the COVID Virus?

From what I’ve been able to glean from the paucity of news reports on the subject, scientists are leaning toward blaming a lab in Wuhan for the pandemic that’s killed an estimated 20 million people and left more in a limbo known as “long COVID” that robs them of their lucidity, their energy and the joy that, for the rest of us, defines life itself.

Second in the running for most-likely-to-be-blamed is the Wuhan wet market where animals, sometimes caught in the wild and sometimes laden with odd viruses that can jump to their human capturers, are butchered on the spot or sold live for folks to butcher at home. Those who subscribe to this theory often follow it up with something about how, with so many humans being born and setting up households, we’re bound to intrude on nature more and more. And that connection with wildlife will lead to more pandemics.

If the second theory is true, there’s not much we can do about it except to limit human population growth. Shrink our cities and villages. Let nature have more of the ecosystem it needs. So far, there’s not much traction for that option, but we can hope.

But let’s concentrate on the first option … that COVID 19 is a virus created in a laboratory and escaped into the population, carried by a lab worker. The Wuhan lab is categorized as a BSL-4 lab, created to gain-of-function research. What are these BSL-4 labs, what do they do?

Googling around, we find that BSL are Gain of Function (GoF) labs, “a research process that aims to genetically alter a virus or organism to gain (or lose) function on its transmissibility or pathogenicity. However, viral GoF on infectious diseases places great risk to global health as it directly aims to alter viruses deadly to people.”

David Wallace-Wells, writing in the New York Times, says that scientists have tried to figure out how many of these BSL-4 labs there are. Turns out, there’s no oversight, no registration, no list. A group called Global Biolabs decided to make a database and found 59 in May of 2021. Since then, 10 more are being planned.

And, now, we come to the question of “why?” What are these labs for? After all, they are funded with generous grants from US taxpayers, and that includes the lab in Wuhan. What do we think we’ll get from them?

It’s true that these labs are called upon when there’s an emergency. They can test for Ebola, for example, or other types of viral diseases. However, these tests can also be run at labs where less-dangerous work is done, where the risks can be lessened by destroying test materials rather than keeping them around to see how the generations evolve.

A cynical answer to the question of “why” is that these super-viruses like COVID-19, with the ability to adapt to new conditions with every generation until they emerge practically unbeatable, is that they could become new, lethal and silent super weapons. Think back four years and imagine how devastating a silent COVID bomb set off in New York would have been. Here’s the sci-fi scene: The developers already have an antidote, they’ve vaccinated their population, they know there will be longterm effects, they release the virus, make humans into joyless, disposable zombies and take over the world. Bwah-ha-ha-ha!

A sci-fi scenario like that can gain credence when the developers go to extremes to keep their population safe. The severe winter lockdowns in China come to mind as one of those extremes. But, as China found out, forcing quarantine on people doesn’t work if the people are determined to get out.

Another answer to the “why” question is so that humans can be prepared and know how to fight new viruses that emerge naturally. Scientists point proudly to the new vaccines can use bits of virus that cannot replicate but still teach the body how to resist the real virus. Now that there’s a real-life understanding of how these “sub-units” work, we might expect future roll-outs to come even more quickly than the COVID vaccine.

Because of the threats and chance for accidents, a moratorium on experiments at BSL-4 labs was put into effect by the White House during the Obama administration. It was lifted soon after Trump moved into the White House. Today, a new initiative for a moratorium has been put on the table by Republican senators led by James Lankford of Oklahoma. It’s a rare chance for parties to reach across the aisle. If the moratorium passes with agreement from both parties, it will give us a pause if not a stop. It could even give American science a chance to work in cooperation with Chinese science.

And a chance to examine the “why” of the pandemic.

Margot Ford McMillen farms near Fulton, Mo., and co-hosts “Farm and Fiddle” on sustainable ag issues on KOPN 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo. Her latest book is “The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History.” Email: margotmcmillen@ gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, April 15, 2023

Populist.com