[burfog]

Neither extreme seems likely.

We know that the lab was adding functionality to bat coronaviruses, making them able to infect human cells. This can be done without gene editing technology. We've been doing that in the opposite direction for decades, passing viruses through non-human cells in order to make weakened ones for live-virus vaccines. To make a virus worse for humans, simply pass it through human cells. This is what the lab was doing.

It's extremely hazardous research. The USA banned it.

If you do that and then you have a lab accident, your level of culpability is at neither extreme. You didn't gene-edit the virus and release it on purpose. You didn't just get infected while studying bats.

[jml7c5]

>We know that the lab was adding functionality to bat coronaviruses, making them able to infect human cells.

Source?

[abandonliberty]

I reviewed Burfog's claims.

While it's true that Chinese scientists were investigating SARS, the above assertion is not supported by the evidence provided.

My best guess of where the confusion came from was the insertion of a temporary mammalian plasmid into HeLa cells in order to produce bat ACE2 for study.

While this could potentially be viewed as adding functionality to human cells in order to make them susceptible to bat coronaviruses, the above assertion doesn't follow. (and unfortunately we have no ability to genome-edit humans)

[burfog]

Here, because somebody else asked the same thing:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22875438