Episode Details

German spy agency 'believed Covid likely started in lab' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz7vypq31z7o https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/german-spy-agency-concluded-covid-virus-likely-leaked-lab-papers-say-2025-03-12/ Germany's foreign intelligence service, 80-90% chance that coronavirus accidentally leaked from a Chinese lab The intelligence service BND, in 2020 Wuhan Institute of Virology had been carrying out experiments where viruses are modified to become more transmissible to humans. German primary source https://www.zeit.de/2025/11/coronavirus-ursprung-wuhan-labor-china-bnd https://www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/artikel/gesundheit/wuhan-corona-pandemie-laborpanne-bnd-fragen-antworten-e348191/?reduced=true World Health Organization (2021) investigation Lab-leak theory "extremely unlikely" BND met in Berlin in 2020 Project Saaremaa, looking at viral origins https://www.nzz.ch/english/german-intelligence-supports-covid-19-lab-leak-theory-ld.1875253 A team of expert researchers put together Lab theory "likely" BND found indications that several violations of safety regulations had occurred at the lab. BND assessment commissioned by the office of Angela Merkel Findings were shared with the CIA in autumn of 2024. China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning "We believe that tracing the origin of Covid-19 is a scientific issue …. "The conclusion that a laboratory leak is extremely unlikely was reached by the China-WHO joint expert team ….. "This authoritative scientific conclusion has been widely recognised by the international community…. China firmly opposes any form of political manipulation on the issue of Covid-19 origin tracing. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-says-wuhan-institute-was-not-involved-creating-covid-19-virus-2025-02-12/ The institute never carried out any gain-of-function research on coronaviruses NZZ (Zurich) https://www.nzz.ch/english/german-intelligence-supports-covid-19-lab-leak-theory-ld.1875253 https://www.nzz.ch/english SARS-CoV-2 virus may have been artificially engineered by modifying an existing virus, Concern, potential for another pandemic spread from a Chinese laboratory, possibly caused by a different virus. MERS risk In 2020, China was working on SARS-like coronaviruses, but also on viruses similar to those producing the Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS. https://cdn.fortunejournals.com/articles/discovery-of-a-novel-merbecovirus-dna.pdf MERS, fatality rate ranging from 20% to 40% The viruses responsible for MERS circulate in bats, in China for instance. In discussions of data published by Fortune Journals (Reported by NZZ) Researchers involved reached the conclusion that experimenters in Wuhan had specifically adapted the MERS virus to humans. Professor Christian Drosten (German virologist) https://www.nzz.ch/wissenschaft/corona-experte-drosten-zieht-lehren-aus-der-pandemie-die-wissenschaft-war-etwas-arrogant-ld.1842566 The MERS virus is a clear candidate for a pandemic, which is why it is being studied. But this research should not involve making it more transmissible in the laboratory. The analyses discussed by the scientists meeting with the Federal Intelligence Service reveal a significant amount of manipulation that apparently extends as far as prestigious scientific journals. Chinese state propaganda was intended to manipulate what was published in scientific journals – and it succeeded. Christian Drosten Scientific publications are subject to rigorous reviews of their quality and details. However, a deliberate, perhaps even politically motivated deception is extremely difficult to control. WHO report Viral origins outside China possible High-ranking researcher at the meetings by the Federal Intelligence Service ‘We never imagined such manipulation was possible – let alone that it would su

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices