Who has let the genie out of the bottle?

Who has Let the Genie out of the Bottle?

                                                                        -- A Letter to Dr. Ralph Baric

Dear Dr. Ralph S. Baric,

I am impressed by the founding principles of the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill—lux, libertas—light and liberty, a motto that inspires the university to chart "a bold course of leading change to improve society and to help solve the world's greatest problems". With all due respect, I have to say that the history of your laboratory's involvement in coronavirus research seems to go against the missions and values of your institution. In particular, some of your remarks regarding the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) make me, and many Chinese citizens feel a little bit puzzled and concerned.

As one of the leading virologists in the world, you have been involved in researches designing, modifying and synthesizing SARS-like coronaviruses for years. Since 1983, you have published 268 papers directly focusing on coronavirus. In 2006, your team managed to develop a desirable mutation which can cast an imminent death spell to mice and has the potential to infect human beings with severe pneumonia.

This is indeed a huge progress as the artificially-created virus leads us closer to the mysterious natural mutation process of the virus. Nevertheless, if poorly monitored, it could be extremely risky for vulnerable human bodies.

You once warned that the technique of synthesizing virus sequences grants humans with the potential to produce biological weapons of mass destruction. Your warning, unfortunately, was regarded as an advertisement by warmongers, the infamous Fort Detrick lab included. With full knowledge of its mission, you willingly accepted the cooperative offer.

In May, President Biden ordered US intelligence officials to "redouble" efforts to investigate the origins of COVID-19, including the theory that it came from a laboratory. With two weeks to go before Biden's 90-day push to find answers, has the US intelligence community looked into the lab you worked in?

From the annual report of UNC, your lab was involved in a host of accidents from 2012 to 2018. In 2017 and 2018, 42 and 43 accidents were reported respectively. According to ProPublica, six accidents involving lab-created SARS-like and MERS-like coronaviruses were recorded in your lab. The accidents ranged from mouse bites to other mishaps during experiments. One of the examples is, in August 2015, two researchers received medical monitor after a mouse escaped inside your biosafety level-3 lab. "The mouse, which had been infected with an undisclosed type of 'mouse adapted' virus, squirmed free of a researcher's gloved hand and onto the lab floor," detailed in the piece from ProPublica.

Obviously, the safety of the experiments should be the utmost priority in any biochemical lab, let alone your research which centers on some of the most dangerous viruses in the world. Why such errors and accidents happened again and again in your lab?

Ironically, with such a large number of accidents related to your own lab, you have instead pointed the finger of suspicion at the WIV for "safety concerns".

No wonder you commented "your luck may eventually run out" on possible COVID-19 lab-leak from the WIV, since the safety of your experiments is mostly predicated on pure luck rather than strict regulations.

Without any warranted evidence, you indicated in your interview with MIT Technology Review that some artificially-modified viruses can be "disguised" as coming from nature, and even implied that files at WIV possess the answers people want. But you know it all too well that all the "Gain of Function" studies were done in your lab and Dr. Shi Zhengli from WIV did nothing but offer viral sequences.

Dr. Baric, as one of the leading coronavirus experts, you know what virus origin-tracing means in scientific sense. In the global effort to discover the origins of coronavirus, whoever first cracks the scientific puzzle is certainly laudable. Hence, let SCIENCE speak is the only scientific approach to this extremely complex journey. A scientist's hard-earned credentials and expertise are meant for searching for truth and dedicated to the well-being of all people. It is dangerous when science degenerates into servant of politics. Far more damaging than the virus itself is, a scientist ending up being anti-science or even an apologist for politicians.

The genie, no matter wherever it may escape from, will be found in the end.

Sincerely,

Xin Ping

(Xin Ping is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for China Daily, CGTN, Global Times, and other media outlets. He can be reached at xinping604@gmail.com.)