Chinese scientists wanted to genetically engineer coronaviruses that would be more infectious to humans and then conduct experiments on live bats about a year and a half before the first cases of COVID-19 appeared, but the US Department of Defense rejected the funding offer, writes the New York Post.
Scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology have planned to genetically improve airborne coronaviruses and release aerosols containing “new chimeric spike proteins” among cave bats in China’s Yunnan province, according to a 2018 proposal submitted to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) …
According to the New York Post, Chinese scientists also planned to modify coronaviruses to infect humans more easily by introducing “human cleavage sites” for bat coronaviruses.
According to this proposal, the aim of the study was to assess the risk of contracting coronavirus, develop ways to prevent outbreaks, and even vaccinate bats against the virus.
The proposal was initiated by the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance, a non-profit organization led by British scientist Peter Dashak that previously funneled federal funds to a Wuhan lab for bat coronavirus research.
But the $ 14 million grant was eventually turned down by the Pentagon’s Advanced Research Projects Agency over concerns that the experiment could lead to scientific research that could make the virus more transmissible and pathogenic.
“It is clear that the proposed project, led by Peter Dashak, could endanger local communities,” DARPA said, declining the proposal.
A team of researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and EcoHealth Alliance studied bats in caves across China, such as this cave in Guangdong, to test them for coronaviruses.
Scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology planned to modify coronaviruses to infect humans more easily by introducing “human-specific cleavage sites” to bat coronaviruses.
“Coronavirus created artificially”: photo of the Institute in Wuhan
See the related photo gallery
Details of the leaked proposal were made public on Tuesday by Drastic Research, a team of international scientists investigating the causes of the pandemic.
Drastic Research claims that the relevant documents were provided by a certain informant, and a former member of the Trump administration confirmed the authenticity of the proposal to the Telegraph.
The group wondered if research is ongoing – specifically looking at altering the virus to make it more infectious to humans – given the theory that COVID-19 spread from a Wuhan lab.
“Given what we find in this proposal discussing the planned introduction of human-specific cleavage sites, it is necessary to review the plausibility of inoculation by the wider scientific community,” said Drastic Research.
It came a week after a group of GOP lawmakers called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to summon Dr. Anthony Fauci to court about the origins of COVID-19.
In a letter sent to Pelosi on September 14, they said they had tried unsuccessfully to solicit information from several officials about funding for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which they believed could be used to research enhancement of functionality.
The group argued that this information is critical to provide surveillance and intelligence to prevent future pandemics, noting that the intelligence community’s account of the deadly virus has been inconclusive.
Critics have previously accused Dr. Fauci of lying after separate documents appeared to contradict his claims that the National Institutes of Health did not fund functionality-enhancing research at the same laboratory in Wuhan.
The documents received by Intercept detail other grants provided by the EcoHealth Alliance.
Drastic Research said it was “warranted” to study the plausibility of the laboratory leak theory.
Fauci has repeatedly insisted that the National Institutes of Health’s funding for the Wuhan laboratory is not a study to improve functionality.
The grant proposal included in the documents related to a project called “Understanding the Risk of Bats Coronavirus,” which included screening thousands of bat samples, as well as people who worked with live animals, for the new coronaviruses, the newspaper said.
The $ 3.1 million grant was awarded over a five-year period from 2014 to 2019. After resuming funding in 2019, it was suspended by the Trump administration in April 2020.
See also: “Scientists have named the future of COVID: will cause colds”
.