Boston University Scientists Unleashed Controversy on the Development of COVID in a Lab

Boston University researchers have openly disputed the claim that they created a hyper-deadly COVID-19 strain in the laboratory. Instead, they insisted that they made a hybrid version, which is less deadly.

Sensationalized Study

A bioRxiv pre-print study by the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories at Boston University (NEIDL) tried to describe the distinctions between the original COVID strain disseminated early in the pandemic and the Omicron variant, which sparked a media frenzy over the past week.

According to Futurism, the Daily Mail's allegations that researchers had created a brand-new, lethal COVID strain were what first triggered the media craze.

According to the school, Fox News echoed the Daily Mail report's incorrect and erroneous claims. The Daily Mail published a false report that claimed the NEIDL researchers had created a deadly COVID strain with an 80% kill rate by focusing on an out-of-context passage from the paper's abstract.

The message has been sensationalized, and the study and its objectives have been completely misrepresented, according to Ronald B. Corley, director of NEIDL.

The Daily Mail's article was based on quotations from two academics who were not involved in the study and who made false accusations about the school's involvement in a gain of function research, which means manipulating viruses to make them more potent.

The publication continued to repeat the debunked claim that this kind of study is at the center of COVID's origin.

Boston University Statement

The research did not increase or make the Washington state SARS-CoV-2 virus strain more dangerous, according to the school's statement, which means it is not gain-of-function research.

The study led to a decrease in the danger of virus replication. Corley continued that the 80 percent kill rate statistic was gravely misled in the Daily Mail's reporting, especially given that it had nothing to do with people at all.

The animal model that was used, according to the NEIDL director, was a specific variety of highly susceptible mice. The researcher said that 80% to100% of the infected mice die from the sickness caused by the original strain, the so-called Washington strain, as opposed to Omicron, which is very mild.

The Daily Mail did provide an update along with the BU statement, but it hasn't changed the title or added any revisions to the beginning of the article. Hence, it's unlikely that any website viewers would even read the response.

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Safety in the Laboratory

According to the BU's statement, the work was carried out in biosafety level 3 facilities at the lab. Every study is carried out in a biosafety cabinet, and researchers must enter through a series of interlocking doors to access their workplace. The lab is outfitted with cutting-edge filtration and disinfection technologies, and all floors and walls are sealed. Additionally, the study would have been immediately stopped and reported if the researchers had discovered anything suspicious while conducting it.

The virus does not leave the laboratory where it is being investigated because the researchers take seriously the safety and security of how they handle viruses. Corley said that the public's health is their ultimate objective. Finding the component of the virus responsible for generating severe sickness was part of this investigation.

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