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Why aren't we discussing Gain-of-function risks more? It seems to be a few orders of magnitude more risky than nuclear disasters such as one in Fukushima and Chernobyl. If Sars-cov-2 was accidentally released from the Wuhan Lab, it has brought the entire world to its knees, trillions of dollars of damage, millions of lives lost and immeasurable impact to the society probably for many years to come. The only reason I…
It seems likely that investigations into the origin of the pandemic will remain inconclusive, but hopefully safety can be improved anyway.
I really think there should be a ban on these gain of function research labs. It’s fine to research current strains and potential medications, but that’s where the line should be drawn.
To illustrate that the definition is both broad and variable: "The term gain-of-function (GOF) research describes a type of research that modifies a biological agent so that it confers new or enhanced activity to that agent. Some scientists use the term broadly to refer to any such modification. However, not all research described as GOF entails the same level of risk. For example, research that involves the modification of bacteria to allow production of human insulin, or the altering of the genetic program of immune cells in CAR-T cell therapy to treat cancer generally would be considered low risk" [0]. It's also possible to modify the agent to make it safer while preserving other aspects that need to be studied. For example, creating a model virus that has no pathogenicity, but depends on the Covid spike protein for replication so it can be used to study receptor binding and vaccine evasion safely.
I wish we'd collectively chosen a clearer term, like "engineered potentially pandemic pathogenicity", that more closely matches our collective Covid-inspired concerns. Arguments about "gain of function" gives the dangerous stuff cover by mixing it together with innocuous experiments. Lack of clarity makes it easier to synthesize controversy, accidentally or intentionally, by mixing together statements about very different kinds of gain of function work. The Post says they identified 18 projects that "appeared to include gain-of-function experiments"—they should say exactly what risks those projects pose instead of leaving us with merely a vague and sinister implication.
[0] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/gain-function-research-invol...
If someone told you they were working on experimental nuclear warheads, you'd think they were crazy if their lab was in a city.
But they experiment with dangerous pathogens in cities of millions of people, and the janitors go home to their families every evening.
I don't know whether covid escaped from a lab, and I don't know whether the benefits of GoF research outweighs the risks.
But if the research is so important, it should be done in the desert somewhere with a long quarantine period on exit.
I'm sure the appropriate labs are designed to never let the pathogens escape. Sure; when the stakes are this high, backstop it.
I really think there should be a ban on these gain of function research labs. It’s fine to research current strains and potential medications, but that’s where the line should be drawn.
This may just drive the research underground, making it less regulated, and increasing the chances of some kind of disaster.
The idea that we do gain of function research in urban areas is mind boggling to me. If someone told you they were working on experimental nuclear warheads, you'd think they were crazy if their lab was in a city. But they experiment with dangerous pathogens in cities of millions of people, and the janitors go home to their families every evening. I don't know whether covid escaped from a lab, and I don't know whether…
The idea that we do gain of function research in urban areas is mind boggling to me. If someone told you they were working on experimental nuclear warheads, you'd think they were crazy if their lab was in a city. But they experiment with dangerous pathogens in cities of millions of people, and the janitors go home to their families every evening. I don't know whether covid escaped from a lab, and I don't know whether…
They said that no scientist wants to work in a remote location, they want to have a city social life. Which is why these labs are typically located in million+ cities.
They also said that this is safe, because no pandemic to date started from a lab, and that eventually it will be proven that this pandemic is zoonotic too.
They also said that they do not understand why a year and a half in people keep on talking about this baseless conspiracy theory.
It's funny seeing this on WaPo front page. Not long ago mentioning possible artificial source of COVID as a byproduct of gain-of-function research was a "baseless conspiracy theory", and you'd likely be banned for "misinformation" on social media.
The idea that we do gain of function research in urban areas is mind boggling to me. If someone told you they were working on experimental nuclear warheads, you'd think they were crazy if their lab was in a city. But they experiment with dangerous pathogens in cities of millions of people, and the janitors go home to their families every evening. I don't know whether covid escaped from a lab, and I don't know whether…
It should be obvious now, that all the gain-of-function research done on coronaviruses didn't help at all with this pandemic. Gain-of-function researchers didn't contribute to vaccine development, vaccines were developed by different people.