A new study from France’s Pasteur Institute links China’s Wuhan lab to a leaked strain of polio from 2014, The Daily Mail reported.
The strain was classified as a “highly evolved vaccine-derived” polio virus.
While the researchers cannot say with certainty that the leak originated from the lab, they noted that the strain is “99 percent” identical to a variant stored at the Wuhan Institute of Virology used for vaccine production.
Because “Saukett A and WIV14 share more than 99-percent similarity,” the researchers wrote, it is “therefore possible that several undocumented PV [polio virus] leaks occurred in the past from facilities handling PVs.”
Molecular biologist Dr. Richard Ebright told The Daily Mail, “The findings underscore the shocking unsafe state of global virology research.”
Another hypothesis posed by the researchers is that the polio strain was “released from a natural reservoir in which it had lain dormant for decades or from a facility.”
“According to that hypothesis, the lab release occurred somewhere in China, but not necessarily at WIV,” Dr. Ebright said.
American Faith reported that the Department of Defense (DOD) revealed that it is unable to track how many taxpayer dollars funded Chinese research labs.
In a press release from the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DOD OIG) it was revealed that the “DoD did not track funding in sufficient detail for us to determine the full scope of funds it provided to Chinese research laboratories or other foreign countries for research related to pathogens or otherwise.”
A report released this week titled “Management Advisory: Review of DoD Funds Provided to the People’s Republic of China and Associated Affiliates for Research Activities or Any Foreign Countries for the Enhancement of Pathogens of Pandemic Potential,” IG Storch found “significant limitations in the adequacy of the data in DoD and Federal awards systems.”
It has also been learned that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has collaborated with China to conduct “bird flu gain-of-function experiments.”
At least $1 million dollars is funding a five-year project between the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an organization affiliated with the Wuhan lab. The collaboration runs from 2021-2026, according to White Coat Waste Project.
The research involves the “in vivo passage of viruses through mallard ducks and Chinese goose species to predict evolution in natural hosts,” “viral evolution and transmission dynamics of avian influenza virus (AIV) infection in Japanese quail as an indicator species of potential to jump into mammalian hosts,” and experiments with “highly pathogenic avian influenza.”
