Katherine Eban, an award-winning investigative journalist known for her deep dives into the drug industry, shares her insights on the origins of COVID-19. She examines the contentious lab leak theory versus natural zoonotic transmission. The discussion explores the troubling history of lab leaks and the implications of gain-of-function research. Eban addresses barriers to investigations, particularly the lack of cooperation from the Chinese government, emphasizing the challenges in uncovering the truth about the virus's origins.
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insights INSIGHT
Transparency Push
Two factors drive the push for COVID-19 origin transparency: the lack of an identified intermediary host and China's lack of transparency.
This raises questions about whether the lab leak theory should have been taken more seriously earlier.
insights INSIGHT
Lab Leak Nuances
Lab leaks aren't just large spills, they often involve aerosol transmission from researchers or samples.
Many dangerous pathogens are studied in lower-security BSL-2 labs, not just BSL-4, increasing risk.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Miners' Illness
In 2012, six miners cleaning a bat-filled mineshaft fell gravely ill with a virus resembling COVID-19.
Three miners died, but Chinese authorities didn't report it to the WHO, hindering early awareness.
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Katherine Eban is an award-winning investigative journalist who previously appeared on The Drive to discuss the widespread fraud in the generic drug industry. In this episode, she discusses the content of her recent Vanity Fair article, which examined the evidence for the theory that the COVID-19 pandemic resulted from a virus lab escape as opposed to a natural virus that came from an animal host. Katherine and Peter walk through the evidence for both theories as well as discuss the long and troubling history of dangerous lab leaks and safety concerns about the Wuhan Institute of Virology. They also talk about the controversy surrounding gain-of-function research and its funding by the US government. Finally, they conclude with a discussion on the likelihood of definitively establishing the origins of the virus given the Chinese government’s lack of cooperation and highlight the fact that the many barriers to performing a full investigation may be the most troubling aspect of the controversy. This episode was originally recorded on July 6, 2021.
We discuss:
An overview of the lab leak controversy [1:30];
The troubling history of lab leaks of dangerous pathogens [8:30];
The zoonotic transmission theory: did SARS2 come from a bat? [11:45];
The debate about gain-of-function (GoF) research [26:15];
Questions about US funding of GoF research in China [33:45];
The uncertain significance of the furin cleavage site [51:30];
Discerning what’s most important about both the zoonotic transmission and lab leak theories [1:01:15];
The Peter Attia Drive