In addition to having research the nearest known ancestor to sars-cov2, and proposing inserting the FCS that distinguishes sars-cov2 from it's ancestors, the project proposed treating bats in the wild with the humanized virus to make the bats immune to it.
It's about as close to mad science as you get outside of the movies.
I don't really know how much it matters if covid was directly caused by the lab leak when you can look at their actions and say that they would reasonably been expected to cause this outcome.
"Mom, I swear, I didn't cause the explosion! yes, I was maxing random chemicals I found in the garage, in violation against the established prohibitions, and the chemicals I was mixing happened to be the exact sort that caused the explosion. But it wasn't me!"
The fact that there was a moratorium on gain of function research means that even more of the culpable parties all the way up the funding chain are incentivized to lie about the whole thing.
In addition to having research the nearest known ancestor to sars-cov2, and proposing inserting the FCS that distinguishes sars-cov2 from it's ancestors, the project proposed treating bats in the wild with the humanized virus to make the bats immune to it.
It's about as close to mad science as you get outside of the movies.
I don't really know how much it matters if covid was directly caused by the lab leak when you can look at their actions and say that they would reasonably been expected to cause this outcome.
"Mom, I swear, I didn't cause the explosion! yes, I was maxing random chemicals I found in the garage, in violation against the established prohibitions, and the chemicals I was mixing happened to be the exact sort that caused the explosion. But it wasn't me!"
The fact that there was a moratorium on gain of function research means that even more of the culpable parties all the way up the funding chain are incentivized to lie about the whole thing.