For the Record: Lab Leak

Philippine pangolin pup curled up with its mom, via Wikipedia. 

Matt Taibbi, pushing a report by his "Twitter Files" coconspirator Michael Shellenberger (best known for his work in the crusade on behalf of the despised plastic straw in his 2020 book Apocalypse Never)

Michael Shellenberger’s Public today released a blockbuster story, “First Person Sickened By COVID-19 Was Chinese Scientist Who Oversaw “Gain Of Function” Research That Created Virus,” which generously credits Racket. The story cites three government officials in naming scientist Ben Hu, who was in charge of “gain-of-function” research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, as the “patient zero” of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is a major story, contradicting early official explanations pointing to zoonotic cross-species “spillover” at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, colloquially known as the Wuhan wet market. The mystery bat or pangolin suspected of transmitting the disease to humans at that market was never found. The Public story for the first time asserts the source of contamination: a Wuhan Institute scientist fell ill after exposure to a virus engineered at his place of work.

Well, engineered or not engineered, according to the same story, since it also suggests (with pix!) Hu didn't use enough protective gear when he was working with naturally occurring bat and pangolin viruses, so he could just as easily have gotten sick, if he did, from a virus his colleagues brought to the lab from the wild.

My instant reaction, of course, was ad homines suspicion, because I've noted the dishonesty and rightwing agenda these guys have brought to previous work. I'm no more of an expert than Taibbi is (as he rightfully acknowledges in his post, this isn't any of his reporting), but I thought I'd google around a bit for an idea of what Ben Hu does in Wuhan. (For one thing, he publishes a lot, going back to 2015 or so, in these 40-author papers that normally come out of important labs, on subjects that aren't about bioengineering at all but most on zoonotic transfer of coronaviruses—I don't find any direct mention of "gain-of-function" research, and I do find, as recently as this January, a paper about a pangolin virus resembling SARS-CoV-2 that begins with the words "SARS-CoV-2, which likely spilled over from wildlife...").

One thing I noted was that the Shellenberger story is limited to the usual outlets—Daily Mail and New York Post and Fox News and down the food chain to the bottom-feeders like The Daily Wire. The New York Times and Washington Post and NPR and BBC aren't touching it. If that's because they think it's too stupid and unreliable or because they can't find out whether it is or not, I understand, but I think the responsible press ought to make an effort to respond to these things, rather than just leaving it to the bloggers. Truth still putting its boots on etc.

So I can't say I found out what the facts are, but I did get enough to decide Shellenberger isn't exactly doing all his homework, and proceed straight to the rant segment:

Kind of interesting that Ben Hu is listed as a co-author (he worked on the genome sequencing, "gain of function" research isn't mentioned) in an early paper from Wuhan (2/20) https://t.co/EI7ZqY7bH9 assuming zoonotic origin on the basis of patients zero not including him. https://t.co/f1rFynb7vt

— Yas You Like It (@Yastreblyansky) June 15, 2023

Also, all the rightwing coverage of the story (which is practically all the coverage) calls him a "Chinese scientist" but I'm pretty sure he's Chinese-American; "Ben" isn't a Chinese name, and the lab has used him to communicate with the West (e.g. organizing a conference)

— Yas You Like It (@Yastreblyansky) June 15, 2023

calling up imagery of a sinister gang of Oriental Frankensteins cooking up plagues with which to assault the world. The lab is not the "CCP" any more than a good Shanghai restaurant is, and that's not what the research is about.

— Yas You Like It (@Yastreblyansky) June 15, 2023

I also despise Xi Jinping and the mistreatment of Uyghur, Kazakh, Tibetan and other minorities, and of Hong Kong, and aggression in Taiwan and South China Sea. But most Chinese citizens are just struggling to live normal lives like you and me, including scientists.

— Yas You Like It (@Yastreblyansky) June 15, 2023

There's a much more carefully-researched and certainly more useful takedown (that doesn't mention any of my points) on Jonathan Katz's Substack, but it's behind a paywall. I went and subscribed, but you don't have to.