Covid-19 likely to be man made

They haven't stated that they believe it was engineered. The lab studied viruses from the wild.

If the lab leak theory is correct, is it more likely to be a naturally occurring virus or one that has been manipulated in some way?

When will the findings of the FBI and DOE investigations be made public?

Again no. An open letter, even if you weren't conflating things about it, is not censorship.

It now seems you are suggesting that the conspiracy are sending people death threats.

So a lab leak may not be a conspiracy theory? Very basic question, any chance of a straight yes or no answer please kingmob?

I've made my stance on this very clear in the post you're replying to.

OK. But the post you quoted makes my stance extremely clear. Not sure how you missed it in that case.

Fair enough. You agree it's not a conspiracy theory that it may have leaked from WIV. Thank you.

No one has suggested the idea of a zoonotic orgin is a conspiracy.

Yes. I have made this clear on many occasions.

Though this doesn't seem to stop some people from still making the accusation.

An example of a conspiracy theory would be like say, claiming that the virus was the result of trying to create a cure for AIDs.

Scientifically, the differences in SARS-COV2 vs. other coronavirus are not the type of changes able to be made using gain of function research (not saying that the man-made aspect wasn't introducing an intermediate species and then spread to humans).

Here's a decent enough paper with plenty of references that covers both sides of the argument and probability of either:

SARS-COV-2 as an artificial creation: scientific arguments and counterarguments - PMC (nih.gov)

Ultimately, the type of changes seen in the SARS-COV2 spike protein are not currently reproducible using our current manipulation techniques using gain of function research. Now, that doesn't mean that the changes didn't occur naturally during research (virus evolve very fast) or that intermediate species weren't involved but that the 'man-made' part of the equation is implausible.

This paper does not say anything about supporting a lab leak.

Also he carries this warning:

Can only wonder why they might add that...

Is it credible that the Chinese have not only failed to discover the source of the virus but they have not found a trail or even a shred of evidence of its origin. That failure I would think is less plausible than an accidental lab leak which has been covered up.

Read an article ( can't remember from where, sorry, but a reliable publication, I think) a couple of months ago. and it was a detailed review of an investigation by a linguistics person into email traffic and messages from the Wuhan lab around the timespan before and after the leak was suspected. Think it must have been an intelligence op to have that level of detail. This guy worked in China in the diplomatic service for years so knew the type of euphemisns common to Chinese political services.

There was a flurry after the date of the suspected leak along with some heavy and unusual political visits to the head of the lab. There were a few unusual emails saying everything was now under control.

Also there were outreach to American gain of function labs before this about difficulties staffing the lab and maintaining control to the level required.

It was stated by a chief scientist working there that they were operating to a lower level of safety than would have been internationally accepted for they type of infectious material they were dealing with.

Cannot be investigated further as that particular scientist has since died! Feb 2020. This is the scientist who released the genome to international scientists.

I cannot find it now but remember thinking at the time that it pointed to a cover up of an accidental leak, but also it showed negligence on the part of the authorities who were pushing their scientists to come up with results without giving them appropriate staffing and funding to maintain safety.

(I didn't save it as I thought 'hey this is all coming out now.' Am surprised if it hasn't.)

These scientists were in fear of their lives, not just their jobs.

The authorities if they indeed did know about this are guilty of a gross act of negligence not seen since Chernobyl.

This is stated to have occurred in October 2019, so 2 months ahead of any official announcements.

I think is it part of the intelligence operation that Biden authorised into the origin of Covid.

I will try to find the article and post it here.

Yes. So it doesn't support your argument.

The Robert Kennedy Jr who is a prolific anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist?

The one who claims that vaccines cause autism and claimed:

No I'm pretty interested in discussing conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus.

But there's a lot of people insisting that there aren't any and that they aren't interested in discussing them.

I’m not sure if “the lab studied viruses from the wild” accurately describes what was happening at the WIV.

“Studied” suggests something entirely different than

“As part of the work, the team — including the renowned Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli, known as China’s “batwoman” — spliced together two different coronaviruses, creating a more dangerous version, which they found had the potential to infect humans, according to a 2015 paper the scientists published in the journal Nature.”

As quoted in this article from the FT.

https://www.ft.com/content/7fef48f1-88a4-48f7-8263-c50384643b7f

Interesting new potential culprit

One has to acknowledge that there may be differences in what individuals find interesting. That doesn’t make them wrong.

For example I may find the history of the Corby Trouser Press and its inspiration from Concorde design interesting. You may not. However that doesn’t mean that I or others are wrong to find it interesting.

I’m not familiar with Robert Kennedy. However I see the danger in not questioning consensus, the dismissal of scientific dissent and the effects this has on public health.