Will Lethal Pathogens Be Onboard Your Next Flight?
Imagine boarding a flight to your next vacation spot and, unbeknownst to you, traveling with you is an icebox packed with 24 vials of Ebola virus from 12 different strains, and six vials of highly lethal Henipaviruses, all of which are bound for the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
It’s not science fiction, it’s exactly what happened on March 31, 2019 when nervous Canadian Health officials stood by as the plane took off. Would the hazardous payload arrive intact? That’s what they hoped for, but they couldn’t be sure until an email arrived from Wuhan confirming its safe arrival. In the meantime, the same Canadian officials were unaware that the lab in Wuhan that would be receiving the deadly ice chest was not yet approved to handle the highest biosafely level required for such lethal viruses. How could this happen?
Read more in Vanity Fair
Slipstream
OMG! But when you think about it, we have no idea what's in the cargo hold along with our luggage. Unbelievable!
Well Street
The transport of deadly viruses on commercial flights is just one thing to be concerned about, according to this article.
Learning of lax safety measures and flimsy security clearances at labs engineering viruses capable of decimating populations won't make me rest easy.
If the potential for a lab leak or other mishap is as high as the article states, it's miraculous a pandemic didn't happen sooner.
Evangel
One has to wonder why "gain of function" research is even a thing--or even allowed. It seems it would violate the Geneva Protocol signed way back in 1928 which prohibits the use of biological weapons in war. When else would they use them? Isn't that the point of making a virus more lethal? And what about the Biological Weapons Convention that bans the development and use of biological or toxin weapons? Why else would any "health research" institute invest lab time in discovering ways to make known viruses more lethal?