Deep dive into Wuhan lab leak and the impact of politics on “science”

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Katherine Eban: COVID-19 Lab Leak: Examining all sides of the debate and discussing barriers to a full investigation

“There is no smoking gun per se. What there is is smoke coming out of a lot of windows. ... There is enough smoke coming out of enough windows that we cannot take the lab leak hypothesis off the table, and so for me, the most credible people on this, they're not saying it was a lab leak. What they're saying is, ‘Why can't we have a full investigation?’” —Katherine Eban

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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.

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];
Barriers to a full investigation [1:19:15]

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