After reading more it seems that according to John Holdren (Head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy) the Chinese came to US politicians to discuss how topics like gain of function research should be regulated:
The top Chinese people came to talk through what the implications of these technologies are, and how we should think as a global science community about regulating them.
China’s leaders aren’t completely irresponsible. They messed up in Wuhan by allowing the lab to without enough trained personal to operate it safely but I would expect that it’s a combination of goals to have the lab on the one hand and the information about the security issues not going to the right people because the people who are responsible for the lab don’t want to look bad.
I doubt that Xi Jinping knew that he had a biosafety 4 lab without enough trained personal to be run safely.
I think the fact that mistakes like this are so understandable is precisely why gain of function research is dangerous. One mistake can lead to a multi-year pandemic and kill 10 million people. With those stakes, I don’t think anyone should be doing gain of function research that could lead to human deaths if pathogens escaped.
After reading more it seems that according to John Holdren (Head of the
Office of Science and Technology Policy) the Chinese came to US politicians to discuss how topics like gain of function research should be regulated:
China’s leaders aren’t completely irresponsible. They messed up in Wuhan by allowing the lab to without enough trained personal to operate it safely but I would expect that it’s a combination of goals to have the lab on the one hand and the information about the security issues not going to the right people because the people who are responsible for the lab don’t want to look bad.
I doubt that Xi Jinping knew that he had a biosafety 4 lab without enough trained personal to be run safely.
I think the fact that mistakes like this are so understandable is precisely why gain of function research is dangerous. One mistake can lead to a multi-year pandemic and kill 10 million people. With those stakes, I don’t think anyone should be doing gain of function research that could lead to human deaths if pathogens escaped.