Jul 19, 2021
Katherine Eban is an award-winning investigative journalist who
previously appeared on
The Drive to
discuss the widespread fraud in the generic drug industry. In this
episode, she discusses the content of her recent Vanity Fair
article, which examined the evidence for the theory that
the COVID-19 pandemic resulted from a virus lab escape as
opposed to a natural virus that came from an animal
host. Katherine and Peter walk through the evidence for both
theories as well as discuss the long and troubling history of
dangerous lab leaks and safety concerns about the Wuhan Institute
of Virology. They also talk about the controversy surrounding
gain-of-function research and its funding by the US government.
Finally, they conclude with a discussion on the likelihood of
definitively establishing the origins of the virus given the
Chinese government’s lack of cooperation and highlight the fact
that the many barriers to performing a full investigation may be
the most troubling aspect of the controversy. This episode was
originally recorded on July 6, 2021.
We discuss:
- An overview of the lab leak controversy [1:30];
- The troubling history of lab leaks of dangerous pathogens [8:30];
- The zoonotic transmission theory: did SARS2 come from a bat? [11:45];
- The debate about gain-of-function (GoF) research [26:15];
- Questions about US funding of GoF research in China [33:45];
- The uncertain significance of the furin cleavage site [51:30];
- Discerning what’s most important about both the zoonotic transmission and lab leak theories [1:01:15];
- Barriers to a full investigation [1:19:15]; and
- More.
Learn more: https://peterattiamd.com/
Show notes page for this episode: https://peterattiamd.com/katherineeban2
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