Annotated Biography
This bibliography focuses on the origin of covid-19 itself rather than the conspiracy to cover that up. Bolded entries are more important.
[Andersen20] Kristian Andersen, Andrew Rambaut, Ian Lipkin, Edward Holmes, Robert Garry
The proximal origins of SARS-CoV-2
https://www.nature.com/articles/S41591-020-0820-9
Seminal work that dismisses the lab leak hypothesis as implausible. Since found to be fraudulent. See [Reactions].
History of paper, including Nature review saying the paper does not lie enough. Summary:
https://usrtk.org/covid-19-origins/visual-timeline-proximal-origin/
Detail:
https://oversight.house.gov/sscp-drafts-of-proximal-origin/
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11zyWYG1OZ7z7RMZHaj2EoDeHveGnendT/view
[Andersen20a] Private correspondence with Anthony Fauci and JeremyFarrar
https://originofcovid.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/andersenletter.jpg
“[We] all find the genome inconsistent with evolutionary theory.” I.e. that it has characteristics that looks like it was man made, probably the novel Furin cleavage site.
[Berche23] Patrick Berche
Gain-of-function and origin of Covid19
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10234839/
Description of how pandemic viruses normally require time to adapt to a new species, and thus have several lineages, unlike the sudden emergence of SARS-CoV-2. Also a good description of dangerous influenza Gain of Function experiments. Also a good general overview of the WIV, DEFUSE etc.
[Berghmans24] Peter Berghmans
Collection of 15 scientists warning about the dangers of Gain of Function before Covid-19.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1632854245182504960.html
[Berghmans24a] Peter Berghmans
https://x.com/peter_berghmans/status/1784928586270421234
Long list of medals awarded to senior scientists for lying about the lab origin of covid.
[Bionow]Biosafety Now
https://biosafetynow.org/
Lobby site for better biosafety. Some links to Covid-19.
[Bisbo22] Bisbo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar0niV8T9So
How 3 Indians cracked the Wuhan Code and exposed the origins of Covid-19
Extremely cheesy but surprisingly accurate summary of the evidence for Covid-19.
[Bloom21a] Jesse Bloom
Recovery of Deleted Deep Sequencing Data Sheds More Light on the Early Wuhan SARS-CoV-2 EpidemicRecovery of Deleted Deep Sequencing Data Sheds More Light on the Early Wuhan SARS-CoV-2 Epidemic
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8436388/
Bloom recovered early SARS-CoV-2 sequences from a paper after they had been deleted from the Sequence Read Archive (SRA). These early sequences were closer to known bat viruses than the seafood market samples. Certainly the market sequences are not representative of all SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan early in the epidemic. NIH asked Bloom to delete his data.
[Bloom23] Jesse D Bloom
Importance of quantifying the number of viral reads in metagenomic sequencing of environmental samples from the Huanan Seafood Market
https://academic.oup.com/ve/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ve/vead089/7504441?login=false
China recently released the full market read data. Bloom shows that it does not indicate human infection of SARS-CoV-2.
[Bostickson21] Billy Bostickson, Gilles Demaneuf, January 2021.
An investigation into the WIV databases that were taken offline
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349073738_An_investigation_into_the_WIV_databases_that_were_taken_offline
Detailed analysis of what was in the database, when it was removed, and (dubious) reasons given for the removal.
[Bruttel21] Washburne Bruttel, VanDongen
Endonuclease fingerprint indicates a synthetic origin of SARS-CoV-2
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.10.18.512756v1
Paper that shows the very unusual evenly spaced Bsal/BsmBl restriction sites in SARS-CoV-2 that suggest the virus was engineered.
[Bruttel24] Valetin Bruttel
https://x.com/VBruttel/status/1748192507026968820/photo/1
Extract from DEFUSE proposal showing plan to use 6 restriction sites (as found in SARS-CoV-2) and costs for BsaI and BsmBI restriction enzymes.
[Bruttel25] Valetin Bruttel
https://vbruttel.substack.com/p/why-sars-cov-2-was-a-lab-manipulated
Why SARS-CoV-2 was a Lab-Manipulated Virus, in 10 Key Points
Another list, with the key points elaborated on.
[Butler15] Declan Butler November 2015
Engineered bat virus stirs debate over risky research Nature
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2015.18787
Pre-Covid-19 article raising concerns about the Gain of Function experiments by Menachery who created a novel virus at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. It warned that an escape could produce a global pandemic, which was evidently true.
[Carl21] Steven Carl, January 2021.
A Bayesian analysis concludes beyond a reasonable doubt that SARS-CoV-2 is not a natural zoonosis but instead is laboratory derived
https://zenodo.org/record/4477081#.YWNyfn0RUd4
Long paper that analyzes much of the evidence.
[Calisher20] Charles Calisher et. al. February 2020 in The Lancet
Statement in support of the scientists, public health professionals, and medical professionals of China combating COVID-19
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30418-9/fulltext
Very influential letter condemning “conspiracy theories” and calling the lab leak “rumors and misinformation” but without argument. It was organized by Peter Daszak, chair of the Eco Health Alliance that partially funded the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Daszak claimed “no competing interests” which was not redacted by the Lancet until June 2021.
[Cambridge21] Cambridge Working Group
Consensus Statement on the Creation of Potential Pandemic Pathogens (PPPs)
http://www.cambridgeworkinggroup.org/
Over three hundred scientists raising concerns about Gain of Function research.
[CCDC20] Chinese Center for Disease Control
Strengthening the Management of Science and Technology
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7340336-China-CDC-Sup-Regs.html
Gag order issued 25 February 2020 formally instructing all scientists to cease all work and publication on Covid-19 without approval. There was also an internal censorship memo around 4 January 2020.
[Chan21] Alina Chan
A response to “The Origins of SARS-CoV-2: A Critical Review”
https://ayjchan.medium.com/a-response-to-the-origins-of-sars-cov-2-a-critical-review-5d4a644d9777
A detailed technical rebuttal of [Holmes21]. It shows the weakness in geographical arguments by examining other known lab leaks. It also details how the sources for the earlier SARS-1 epidemic were found very quickly.
[Chan21a] Alina Chan, Shing Zhan
The Emergence of the Spike Furin Cleavage Site in SARS-CoV-2
https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/39/1/msab327/6426085
Molecular Biology and Evolution, Volume 39, Issue 1, January 2022,
Important because it (accidentally?) got published. Talks generally about lab leak.
[Chan22a] Alina Chan Critical review of [Worobey22]
https://twitter.com/Ayjchan/status/1499794942012579843
This deserves a proper short paper, not just twitter!
[Chan22b] Andersen’s threat over Chan’s critique of [Worobey22]
https://twitter.com/Ayjchan/status/1498032402970599424
https://twitter.com/K_G_Andersen/status/1498023912789004291
A tweet like that from a senior researcher like Andersen is a serious threat, and totally unreasonable.
[Chan22c] Alina Chan
Evidence for a natural origin of Covid-19 no longer dispositive after scientific peer review
https://ayjchan.medium.com/evidence-for-a-natural-origin-of-covid-19-no-longer-dispositive-after-scientific-peer-review-af95b52499e1
Notes that WHO report says early sampling was focused on the market area, so unsurprising that that was were they found cases. (It was already widely spread throughout Wuhan by late December.) Also that Worobey ignores [Goa22] that no animals were infected. And that Wuhan area had no bats with SARS-2 like viruses.
Linage A&B only separate by 2 mutations. About 5% chance of mutation per person infected. Diamond Princess cruise ship produced 5 mutations in three weeks.
[Chan22d] Alina Chan
The evidence for a natural vs lab origin of Covid-19
https://ayjchan.medium.com/the-evidence-for-a-natural-vs-lab-origin-of-covid-19-6946407f3310
Summary of all the evidence.
[Chan24] Alina Chan, in The New York Times!
Why the Pandemic Probably Started in a Lab, in 5 Key Points
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/06/03/opinion/covid-lab-leak.html?unlocked_article_code=1.w00.8JGK.XlP0qBRKHdWB
No paywalled.
This was the first admission of the lab leak by the NYT after being totally denying it from the beginning. A huge shift in the political winds.
1. Virus from Wuhan far from bats with WIV.
2. DEFUSE, the hidden database, Furin Cleaveage Site (not restriction sites)
3. Work carried out at BSL-2
4. Huanan market is nonsense.
5. No evidence of wildlife vs MERS/SARS-1.
[Chen24] Xin Chen, , Fatema Kalyar, Abrar Ahmad Chughtai, Chandini Raina MacIntyre
Use of a risk assessment tool to determine the origin of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/risa.14291
Formal assessment of whether SARS came from a lab. Published in Risk Analysis, good. Concludes 68% likely to be lab origin, using mainly common sense evidence rather than genomic.
[Comer22]James Comer, Republican oversight committee
Letter requesting access to redacted emails.
https://republicans-oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Letter-Re.-Feb-1-Emails-011122.pdf
This contains important notes about the communications between Fauci and senior scientists that had said a lab leak was likely, and then radically changed.
[Congress25] Select subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Final Report
https://www.whitehouse.gov/lab-leak-true-origins-of-covid-19/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2024.12.04-SSCP-FINAL-REPORT-ANS.pdf
[Courtier22]VirginieCourtier-Orgogozo, Francisco A.de Ribera
SARS-CoV-2 infection at the Huanan seafood market
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935122010295
Very early infections not clustered near animals. Thinks toilets etc. most likely source of spread. No animals infected.
[Csabai21] I. Csabai et.al.
Unique SARS-CoV-2 variant found in public sequence data of Antarctic soil samples collected in 2018-2019
https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-1177047/v1
https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-1330800/v1
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10497629/The-early-Covid-mutations-Chinese-lab-fuelling-leak-theory.html
Samples were contaminated in China with early SARS-2 like fragments. May possibly be ancestral to SARS-2.
[Daszak16] Peter Daszak discussing their Gain of Function research. Recorded 2016.
https://twitter.com/benimanajpaul/status/1586689765855924224
Succinct extract of Daszak video explaining why he was funding research into collecting wild coronaviruses and engineering their spike proteins to see if they would become pathogenic in people.
[Daszak19] Peter Daszak on This week in Virology. Recorded 9 December 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdYDL_RK–w
Daszak talks about genetically manipulating Coronaviruses at 28:00. This was recorded just before the outbreak became known. (Daszak must regret this interview.)
[Deigin20] Yuri Deigin April 2020.
Lab-Made? SARS-CoV-2 Genealogy Through the Lens of Gain-of-Function Research
https://yurideigin.medium.com/lab-made-cov2-genealogy-through-the-lens-of-gain-of-function-research-f96dd7413748
An excellent, detailed technical analysis of the virus and of gain of function research.
[Deigin21b] Yuri Deigin, Rossana Segreto July 2021
The genetic structure of SARS-CoV-2 is consistent with both natural or laboratory origin: Response to Tyshkovskiy and Panchin
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/bies.202100137
Refutation of criticism of [Segreto20]
[Deigin21a] Yuri Deigin, Rossana Segreto May 2021
SARS-CoV-2’s claimed natural origin is undermined by issues with genome sequences of its relative strains
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/bies.202100015
Issues with genomes of RaTG13, MP 789 (from pangolins) and RmYN02.
[Drastic21] The DARPA DEFUSE Project
https://drasticresearch.org/2021/09/20/1583/
Analysis of leaked DARPA grant application for Gain of Function research at the WIV.
[Deigin24] Yuri Deign
Why Ralph Baric’s Testimony Strengthens the Case for a COVID-19 Lab Origin
https://yurideigin.medium.com/why-ralph-barics-testimony-strengthens-the-case-for-a-covid-19-lab-origin-81cf9c2acf71
https://twitter.com/ydeigin/status/1788237913043390656
Analyzes the collaboration with the WIV and provides details of why and how SARS-CoV-2 was made. In particular Baric explains that they used a less efficient Furine Cleavage Site because it seemed to make viruses more effective in cats.
[Dogs24] Dogs Breakfast @breakfast_dogs
The BANALity of Evil
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1775843923568767364.html
Evidence using the ratio of synonymous mutations to other mutations that strongly suggests that the BANAL viruses are also fake (like the RaTg13).
[DWNews21]
Gain-of-Function: Should supercharging viruses be banned?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0nuyPQzU18
Excellent summary of the issue and the evidence. But dances around the lab leak — respectable scientists do not talk about that.
[Eban21] Katherine Eban
The Lab-Leak Theory: Inside the Fight to Uncover COVID-19’s Origins
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/the-lab-leak-theory-inside-the-fight-to-uncover-covid-19s-origins
Good summary of the issues. Endorsed by Dave Franz; An ex-commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases
https://twitter.com/gdemaneuf/status/1519993315856613376
[Eban22] Katherin Eban, Jeff Kao
COVID-19 Origins: Investigating a “Complex and Grave Situation” Inside a Wuhan Lab
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/10/covid-origins-investigation-wuhan-lab
Analysis of Chinese documents suggest that there was a grave situation at the WIV, possibly known even by Xi Jinping.
[Eban25] Katherin Eban
Exclusive: Inside the FBI’s Lab Leak Investigation
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/inside-the-fbis-lab-leak-investigation
Lead FBI researcher Jason Bannan discusses some of the reasoning behind there assessment that the lab leak is most likely. A good summary of much of the evidence. (We do need the actual report, with everything declassified.) Reports that WIV researchers Yu Ping, and Ben Hu, became ill with COVID-19-like symptoms in the autumn of 2019. Also notes Yu Ping master’s thesis notes more than 2,800 samples came from Yunnan Province, with almost a third of them testing positive for SARS-like coronaviruses. Surprisingly no discussion of lack of animals, FCS etc.
[Ebright24] Richard Ebright
In The Coverup
https://x.com/HansMahncke/status/1905368602548592779
Ebright explaining significance of FOI on DEFUSE. 1. Work definitely to be done in Wuhan. 2. Exact FCS site. 3. Bsal restriction sites. Missed Baric’s concern about BSL-2.
[Esvelt22] Kevin Esvelt
Delay, Detect, Defend: Preparing for a Future in which Thousands Can Release New Pandemic
https://www.gcsp.ch/sites/default/files/2024-12/gcsp-geneva-paper-29-22.pdf
Raises the concern that 1000s of Ph.D.s can synthesize viruses. Discusses mitigation.
[Esvelt24] Kevin Esvelt
It shouldn’t be easy to buy synthetic DNA fragments to recreate the 1918 flu virus
https://www.statnews.com/2024/05/08/shouldnt-be-easy-buy-synthetic-dna-fragments-recreate-deadly-1918-flu-virus/
Esvelt mail orderd DNA for many dangerous viruses to an unknown lab. No questions were asked. This makes it very easy for bad actors to develop bioweapons.
[Epoch20] Epoch Times Joshua Philipp
Tracking Down the Origin of the Wuhan Coronavirus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bXWGxhd7ic
First documentary questioning the origin of Covid back in April 2020. Very anti-China, misses the role of western virologists. Some good analysis of data not widely known back then, including the initial outbreak.
[Everington21] Keoni Everington, Taiwan News
Video shows Wuhan lab scientists admit to being bitten by bats
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/4102619
[Freuling20] Conrad Freuling, Breithaupt, Müller, et. al.
Susceptibility of Raccoon Dogs for Experimental SARS-CoV-2 Infection
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/12/20-3733_article
Raccoon dogs can be infected by SARS-2, and can infect other dogs very nearby. But no virus in their lungs, so unlikely to be airborne.
[Fox04] Cecil Fox, Simon Wain-Hobson, Joseph Vandepitte
The Origins of AIDS (2004)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRTpThZrDAY
Excellent review of the compelling evidence of the HIV/OPV theory that HIV was created by virologists Koprowski in a reckless polio vaccine trial in the late 1950s. The vaccine was made with Chimanzees kidneys, and the first definite cases were in the same places in the Congo in the early 1960s.
Also https://x.com/jonatanpallesen/status/1826621529771135211
And the main reference [Hooper21]
[GainOfFunction] Fun YouTube clips. (If videos about 10 million deaths can be fun.)
Peter Daszak drilling a hole to hell, and selling DEFUSE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVn4TuUuF1k
Ralph Baric explaining GoF
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS6pQbNQjtY
Hittler worried about advances by Lab Leakers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh5ZPquXbds&t=42s
Andersen deleting tweets, and the Witches from Macbeth (1:50)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peA78nxALHA&t=310s
Fauci’s dogs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erPfknQbaLA&t=34s
Fauci the science, the truth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmaUScpOth8
Fauci dancing around the truth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_tlg3qrBzg
Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@gainoffunction9082
[Gao20] George Gao May 2020
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1189506.shtml
https://nypost.com/2020/05/27/wuhan-wet-market-is-victim-of-coronavirus-outbreak-chinas-cdc/
Chinese CDC Director Gao Fu dismissed the Market theory, stating “At first, we assumed the seafood market might have the virus, but now the market is more like a victim. The novel coronavirus had existed long before”
[Gao22] George Gao preprint, see [Liu23]
Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in the environment and animal samples of the Huanan Seafood Market
https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-1370392/v1
Detailed early analysis by the Chinese CDC. No correlation between positive samples and produce (such as live animals) sold. All positive samples human. No animal samples found positive. Most samples lineage L, not the ancestral S (now known as Lineage B and ancestral A respectively).
[Gilles20] Gilles Demaneuf
Translations of key Chinese articles and blogs about the Covid-19 Outbreak
https://gillesdemaneuf.medium.com/translations-of-key-chinese-articles-and-blogs-about-the-covid-19-outbreak-3c253df8df98
Translations of many Chinese media articles from the early phase of the outbreak, many of which have since been deleted. Includes documents by Little Mountain Dog
[Gilles22] Gilles Demaneuf
Interactive map of Wuhan with key locations and early cases.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1D12qtMmmH_qrb57fUSVXd38KhMwd5kU-&ll=30.48116739826394%2C114.43840152970311&z=12
[Giovanni21] Giovanni Apolone et. all
Unexpected detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the prepandemic period in Italy
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8529295/
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-re-checks-research-when-coronavirus-first-surfaced-italy-2021-06-01/
Evidence that Covid-19 was circulating in Italy as early as September 2019. Validated by a separate institution. If true, this makes the December analysis for Huanan Market origin irrelevant.
[Global20] Global Times (Chinese Communist Party paper)
Wuhan’s Huanan seafood market a victim of COVID-19: CDC director
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1189506.shtml
Quotes George Gao saying that the Huanan market was a victim rather than a source of Covid-19. No infected animals found. Interesting because of the source.
[Global21] Global Times June 2021
Scientists close to the Wuhan virologist lab break silence, push away latest conspiracies
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1226242.shtml
Zero workers tested positive for SARS antibodies (despite Covid being widespread throughout Wuhan by then). (Global Times is a Chinese Communist Party publication.)
[Goodrum22] Goodrum and 156 other virologiests(!)
Virology under the Microscope—a Call for Rational Discourse
https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jvi.00089-23
https://twitter.com/jn44014998/status/1618909554905067522
Denies lab leak, promotes Gain of Function, Says virology does good in the world.
[Harrison22] Neill Harrision and Jeffrey Sachs
A call for an independent inquiry into the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2202769119
Call for more information from the US government archives. Also an excellent analysis of the Furin Cleavage Site. Sachs is chair of the Lancet commission on the origin of Covid-19.
[Hearing23] Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Investigating the Origins of COVID-19
https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/investigating-the-origins-of-covid-19/
https://www.c-span.org/video/?526520-1/house-subcommittee-examines-origins-covid-19
Congress / House Hearing with R. Redfield, N. Wade, J. Metzl, P. Auwaerter as witnesses.
Republican Wenstrup: 1:10 — Reviews the evidence.
Democrat Ruiz: 11:48 — No mention of evidence, defence of Biden’s inaction, then vicious attack on the best witness.
Democrats attack Wade as racist and so not to be heard(!).
[Haslam23] Jim Haslam
Let’s be blunt: SARS2 leaked from a Wuhan lab but it’s not Chinese junk
https://jimhaslam.substack.com/p/lets-be-blunt-sars2-leaked-from-a
Asserts that SARS-2 was not made in Wuhan but in the USA by Ralf Baric and Vincent Munster as a self replicating animal vaccine vector.
Also worked with Australians Daniel Andersen and Linfa Wang to infect horseshoe bats in Wuhan. Claim is dubious.
[Haslam24] Jim Haslam
https://jimhaslam.substack.com/p/sars2-was-patented-by-ralph-baric
Asserts Baric has a patent on SARS-2. Very dubious.
[Hearing23a] Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Hearing Wrap Up: Suppression of the Lab Leak Hypothesis Was Not Based in Science
https://oversight.house.gov/release/hearing-wrap-up-suppression-of-the-lab-leak-hypothesis-was-not-based-in-science/
[Holmes16] Edward C Holmes, Gytis Dudas, Andrew Rambaut, Kristian G Andersen
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27734858/
The evolution of Ebola virus: Insights from the 2013-2016 epidemic
The usual suspects arguing that the West African Ebola outbreak was not a lab leak.
[Holmes21] Andersen, Goldstein, Stephen A; Rasmussen, Angela L; Robertson, David L; Crits-Christoph, Alexander; Wertheim, Joel O; Anthony, Simon J; Barclay, Wendy S; Boni, Maciej F; Doherty, Peter C; Farrar, Jeremy; Geoghegan, Jemma L; Jiang, Xiaowei; Leibowitz, Julian L; Neil, Stuart J D; Skern, Tim; Weiss, Susan R; Worobey, Michael; Andersen, Kristian G; Garry, Robert F; Rambaut, Andrew
The Origins of SARS-CoV-2: A Critical Review
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)00991-0
The usual suspects provide detailed arguements that the virus has a natural origin. [Chan21] rebuts this.
[Homesec22] USA Subcomittee on emerging threats and spending oversight.
Revisiting Gain of Function Research: What the pandemic taught us and where do we go from here.
Video
https://www.c-span.org/video/?522133-1/hearing-virus-research-funding
Website with wrong video but witness statements
https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/subcommittees/etso/hearings/revisiting-gain-of-function-research-what-the-pandemic-taught-us-and-where-do-we-go-from-here/
Richard Ebright (about GoF regulation), Steven Quay (about the origin of covid-19, good summary) and Kevin Esvelt (delaying the next pandemic until we are ready for it) are good. More importantly are the political statements by Margaret Hassan (D-NH) and Rand Paul (R-KY).
[Hooper05] Ed Hooper
The latest scientific evidence strongly supports the OPV theory
https://documents.uow.edu.au/~bmartin/dissent/documents/AIDS/Hooper04/evidence.html
http://www.aidsorigins.com/contaminated-polio-vaccine-theory-not-refuted/
Good summary of the evidence that virologist Koprowski created HIV/OPV in a botched vaccine trial.
[Hooper21] Ed Hooper
The River
http://www.aidsorigins.com/wp-content/uploads/The-River-by-Edward-Hooper-2021-edition.pdf
Very detailed analysis of the evidence for the lab origin of HIV/OPV. First edition in 1990s.
[Hu17] B. Hu, Zeng, … Z. Shi.
Discovery of a rich gene pool of bat SARS-related coronaviruses provides new insights into the origin of SARS coronavirus.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5708621/
Reports creating eight SARS chimeras using the W1V1 backbone and different bat SARS-like spike protein genes.
[Jacobsen21] Rowan Jacobsen (MIT Tech Review)
Inside the risky bat-virus engineering that links America to Wuhan
https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/06/29/1027290/gain-of-function-risky-bat-virus-engineering-links-america-to-wuhan/
In 2013, Shi found SHC014, closest to SARS-1, could not culture it. Baric used “reverse genetics” to 3D print it. Baric mixed SHC014 spike with SARS-1 backbone. To make universal vaccine. BSL-3+. Gain of Function definitions. Baric supplied humanized mice to Shi. SARS-1 only spread 1 day after severe symptoms, but kills 10%. 2012, Shi successfully cultured W1V1. Fauci approved all exemptions to GoF. WIV also developed reverse genetics in BSL-2. WIV made 8 chimeras with W1V1 backbone.
[Jones24] Will Jones
Is This the Man Who Created COVID-19 in Fauci’s U.S. Lab?
https://dailysceptic.org/2024/01/30/is-this-the-man-who-created-covid-19-in-faucis-u-s-lab/
Dubious theory that the virus was actually created in the NIH’s lab by Vincent Munster who received DARPA grant PREDICT to do this. Then sent the virus to Danielle Andersen who was at the WIV, and may have let it leak. So possibly not Shi Zhengli at all. (What matters is that it leaked from some lab, not which lab.)
[Kaiser19] Jocelyn Kaiser
EXCLUSIVE: Controversial experiments that could make bird flu more risky poised to resume
https://www.science.org/content/article/exclusive-controversial-experiments-make-bird-flu-more-risky-poised-resume
Discussion of how Ron Fouchier and Kawaoka made a Gain of Function experiment in 2011 making H5N1 bird flu spread between ferrets. This was very controversial because ferrets are similar to humans and H5N1 has a very high mortality rate. They published the exact genome changes so that others could easily replicate this reckless experiment. It led to a pause in GoF work, which was then lifted. Conducted in Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. See [Redfield24]. Also 2011
https://www.science.org/content/article/scientists-brace-media-storm-around-controversial-flu-studies
[Kamb25] Lewis Kamb, USRTK
US intelligence agency’s classified analysis offers detailed scientific view that COVID-19 may have come from Wuhan lab
https://usrtk.org/covid-19-origins/dia-analysis-covid-may-have-come-from-wuhan-lab/?mc_cid=a6ada547ae&mc_eid=e07f29a48e
Analysis and link to recent FOIed DoD intel from early 2020 which supports the lab leak. This was suppressed, of course.
[Husseini22] Husseini, Sam, Latham, Jonathan
Did West Africa’s Ebola Outbreak of 2014 Have a Lab Origin?
https://www.independentsciencenews.org/health/did-west-africas-ebola-outbreak-of-2014-have-a-lab-origin/
Detailed if tedious paper showing that the Ebola was lab related, by no less than Andersen et. al.
[Kennedy23] Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Wuhan Cover-up and terrifying bioweapons arms race
https://twitter.com/peter_berghmans/status/1761438618462167044
Book by a senior Democrat!
Large focus on the long history of biowarfare, people, motivations. Not so much on the facts of the origin of covid and the evidence for the lab leak.
[Kaiser22] Jocelyn Kaiser
Was a study that created a hybrid COVID-19 virus too risky?
https://www.science.org/content/article/was-study-created-hybrid-covid-19-virus-too-risky
Boston University recently added the spike protein of SARS-2 Omicron with the first variant and “successfully” produced a new virus that was far more virulent.
[Keita22] Alpha Keita et. al.
Resurgence of Ebola virus in 2021 in Guinea suggests a new paradigm for outbreaks
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03901-9
A second more more recent lab leak?? Good temporal divergence graph.
[Kopp22a] Emily Kopp
FOIA reveals another secret call on COVID’s origin. The details are redacted.
https://usrtk.org/biohazards-blog/foia-reveals-another-secret-call-on-covids-origin/
Summary of FOIed emails by US Right To Know group.
[Kopp22b]Emily Kopp
Virologist who tried to discredit the lab leak theory was once a ‘partner’ to EcoHealth Alliance
https://usrtk.org/biohazards-blog/anti-lab-leak-virologist-ecohealth-alliance-partner/
Ian Lipkin, coauthor or key Proximal Origins paper [Andersen20], did not reveal serious conflict of interest working with WIV.
[Kopp22c]Emily Kopp
Timeline: The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2
https://usrtk.org/biohazards/timeline-the-proximal-origin-of-sars-cov-2/
Detailed updated timeline of what we know of how this very dubious paper [Andersen20] was created, and how opinions changed for no apparent reason.
[Kopp23] Emily Kopp
Visual timeline: ‘Proximal Origin’
https://usrtk.org/covid-19-origins/visual-timeline-proximal-origin/
Detailed analysis of the creation of the Proximal Origins paper that discredited any lab leak. The authors did not appear to believe in their own paper.
[Kirchgaessner21] Stephanie Kirchgaessner et. al. April 2020
China clamping down on coronavirus research, deleted pages suggest
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/11/china-clamping-down-on-coronavirus-research-deleted-pages-suggest
Publications of documents about the source of SARS-COV-2 have been removed from university web sites.
[Kumar21] Sudhir Kumar et. al.
An Evolutionary Portrait of the Progenitor SARS-CoV-2 and Its Dominant Offshoots in COVID-19 Pandemic
https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/38/8/3046/6257226?login=true
Seminal work using Mutational Order Analysis (MOA) to determine the early cases of SARS-2.
[Lancet22] Lancet Commission
The Lancet Commission on lessons for the future from the COVID-19 pandemic
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)01585-9/fulltext
“The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2 remains unknown. [Possibly] zoonotic spillover from wildlife … or a research-related incident.”s No conclusion. Need to control wildlife trade, plus improved biosafety and biosecurity.
[laowhy86-21] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpQFCcSI0pU
Story of the missing Yanling Huang at 4:13. Notes 24 December 2019 job posting from the WIV acknowledging a big discovery in human transmissiblity. Also
https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/global/wuhan-virus-lab-scientist-thought-to-be-covid19-patient-zero-still-missing-despite-yearlong-search/news-story/36b5227262044af57c4e09132f4b3c6b
[Latham20] Jonathan Latham, Allison Wilson.
A Proposed Origin for SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 Pandemic.
https://www.independentsciencenews.org/commentaries/a-proposed-origin-for-sars-cov-2-and-the-covid-19-pandemic/
Discovery and analysis of Li’s masters thesis on the sick guano miners.
[Latham22] Johnathan Latham, Allison Willson.
Delete, Deny, and Destroy: Chinese and Western Strategies To Erase COVID’s Origin Are Being Exposed By Independent Research
https://www.independentsciencenews.org/commentaries/delete-deny-and-destroy-chinese-and-western-strategies-to-erase-covids-origin-are-being-exposed-by-independent-research/
Very well written critique of [Worobey22] and [Pekar22]. Describes [Kumar22]’s Mutational Order Analysis (MOA) that strongly suggests a single spill over event.
[Latham23] Johnathan Latham
The Great Raccoon Dog Mystery
https://www.independentsciencenews.org/commentaries/the-great-raccoon-dog-mystery/
Bad experience in attending biosafety conferences — suppressed. Big question, why has nobody tested whether Racoon Dogs can be infected with Covid? Falsely claims he found Mojian miners paper (it was TheSeeker).
[Leitenberg20] Milton Leitenberg
Did the SARS-CoV-2 virus arise from a bat coronavirus research program in a Chinese laboratory? Very possibly.
https://thebulletin.org/2020/06/did-the-sars-cov-2-virus-arise-from-a-bat-coronavirus-research-program-in-a-chinese-laboratory-very-possibly/#footnote29
Good summary of research at the WIV, their papers and the NAID grant at point 8.
[Liu23] William Liu, et. al. George Gao.
https://chinaxiv.org/abs/202303.10351V1
Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at the Huanan Seafood Market
Details of sampling performed that show the areas near the wildlife stalls were sampled much more frequently than other areas. This voids Worobey’s anlysis.
[Lui23b] William Liu, et. al. George Gao.
Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at the Huanan Seafood Market
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06043-2
Nature paper. “SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 73 environmental samples, but none of the animal samples”.
[Liu20] Liu Caiyu, Leng Shumei, February 2020
Biosafety guideline issued to fix chronic management loopholes at virus labs
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1179747.shtml
Global times (Chinese government paper) talks of improved lab security shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic started.
[Lochlann20] S. Lochlann Jain
The WetNet: What the Oral Polio Vaccine Hypothesis Exposes about Globalized Interspecies Fluid Bonds
https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/maq.12587https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/maq.12587
Excellent summary of the HIV/OPV issue and the attacks on Hooper.
[Mallapaty21] Smriti Mallapaty September 2021
Did the coronavirus jump from animals to people twice?
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02519-1
Dubious proposal that Lineage A and Lineage B “puts a dagger through the heart” of the lab origin thesis. See [Latham22].
[Malone21] David Malone, Jan Klimkowski 2021 Channel 4
Did Covid Leak from a Lab in China
https://rumble.com/v1vyfm2-did-covid-leak-from-a-lab-in-china-channel-4-documentary.html
Excellent summary of the key facts about the origin of Covid-19. The most important documentary in a decade. Unfortunately suppressed by management and only shown once and only in the UK.
(Was subsequently removed from YouTube and later https://www.channel4.com/programmes/did-covid-leak-from-a-lab-in-china, totally suppressed.)
[Mascolo25]Georg Mascolo, Holger Stark
https://www.zeit.de/2025/11/coronavirus-ursprung-wuhan-labor-china-bnd/komplettansicht
Tiefrot als “Geheim” gestempelt
Stamped deep red as “Secret”
German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) said Covid was “80%..95%” likely to have come from a lab. Report in 2020, but suppressed by Merkel government.
[Massey22] Steven E Massey; Adrian Jones; Daouyu Zhang; Yuri Deigin; Steven C Quay
Unwarranted exclusion of intermediate lineage A/B SARS-CoV-2 genomes is inconsistent with the two spillover hypothesis of the origin of COVID-19
https://zenodo.org/record/7005332#.Yv7rJnZBxhHhttps://zenodo.org/record/7005332#.Yv7rJnZBxhH
Rebuttal of [Pekar22]. Pekar just removed inconvenient data.
[Maastricht25]
The lifecycle of SARS-CoV-2. Scientific version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlOi2hVGtg0
Excellent animation of how the virus infects cells, both the primary and secondary replications.
[Maxmen21] Amy Maxmen, Smriti Mallapay June 2021
The COVID lab-leak hypothesis: what scientists do and don’t know
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01529-3
Not a lab leak because we do not know exactly how it was made. Evidence not discussed. No mention of sick miners.
[Menachery15] Vineet Menachery, Yount, …, Shi Zhengli, Ralph Bric November 2015.
A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4797993/
Paper detailing the creation of a dangerous chimera of the spike SHC014 in a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV backbone/
[Mensendiek23] Hana Mensendiek USRTK
Origins of the 2014-2016 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa
https://usrtk.org/risky-research/ebola-outbreak-origins/
[Metzl] Origins of SARS-COV-2
https://jamiemetzl.com/origins-of-sars-cov-2/
Very long detailed discussion of the evidence.
[McDonald21] Jessica McDonald 2021 The Facts – and Gaps – on the Origin of the Coronavirus
https://www.factcheck.org/2021/06/scicheck-the-facts-and-gaps-on-the-origin-of-the-coronavirus/
Good paper on the evidence, both for and against a lab leak.
[Nazaryan23] Alexander Nazaryan
Raccoon dogs did not start COVID-19, new study says
https://www.aol.com/news/raccoon-dogs-did-not-start-165128156.html
Surprisingly good review of Jesse Bloom’s analysis of the new Racoon Dog samples, and why they do not support a market origin.
[NIH19] Peter Daszak
Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence
https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9819304
NIH Grant that partially funded the creation of SARS-CoV-2.
[NHMRC22] Australian NHMRC
Gain-of-Function Research Review: Report
https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/gain-function-research-review-reporthttps://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/gain-function-research-review-report
Identified 17 GoF research projects. Asserts strong regulation. Too high level to really know.
[Noyce18] Ryan S. Noyce, Seth Lederman, David H. Evans
Construction of an infectious horsepox virus vaccine from chemically synthesized DNA fragments
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29351298/
Ab initio synthesis of the HPXV horsepox virus at Uni Alberta.
[NYTimes22] New Research Points to Wuhan Market as Pandemic Origin
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/02/26/science/covid-virus-wuhan-origins.html
Echo of Worbey’s dubious papers stating that the markets were the source of Covid.
[ODNI21] Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Unclassified summary report on the origins of Covid-19
https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Unclassified-Summary-of-Assessment-on-COVID-19-Origins.pdf
Response to President Biden’s request for information. 1 page only. One agency thinks it was a lab leak with moderated confidence, for natural with low confidence. No useful information, no analysis, no follow up.
[ODNI21] Updated Assessment on COVID-19 Origins
https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Declassified-Assessment-on-COVID-19-Origins.pdf
4 low conficence natural, 1 moderate confidence man mande.
Natural and lab are Plausible.
Not a bioweapon because proponents spread disinformation!
Not genetically engineered but admits NoSeeUms.
WIV created Chimeras.
No confirmed animal source but “often takes years” but good picture of other virus animal sources.
Inadequate biosafety.
Virus might not have originated at Huanan market; some cases no association.
Bejing limited WHO access.
18 pages. (No date, but appears declassified October 2021.)
[ODNI23]
https://www.odni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Report-on-Potential-Links-Between-the-Wuhan-Institute-of-Virology-and-the-Origins-of-COVID-19-20230623.pdf
In response to the bill calling for declassification. Vacuous and useless. Zero new information.
Dept Energy & FBI asses lab leak most likely, for different reasons?
“Almost all” agencies say not engineered.
WIV sometimes worked with PLA. No known backbone. Large repository of bat samples. Used Transgenic mice.
WIV made Chimeras. NoSeeUms.
Inadequate biosafety. BSL-2.
Sick workers not relevant.
9 pages
[Orellana04] Claudia Orellana
Laboratory-acquired SARS raises worries on biosafety
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(04)00911-9/fulltext
Details of how SARS-1 escaped from a BSL-4 laboratory in Taiwan. SARS-1 was far less infectious than SARS-CoV-2, so this shows the limitation of even the best biosecurity measures.
[Panda20] Ankit Panda March 2020,
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Implies US Military Brought Coronavirus to Wuhan
https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/chinese-foreign-ministry-spokesperson-implies-us-military-brought-coronavirus-to-wuhan/
Chinese government nonsense.
[Oversight24]
Academic Malpractice: Examining the Relationship Between Scientific Journals, the Government, and Peer Review
https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/academic-malpractice-examining-the-relationship-between-scientific-journals-the-government-and-peer-review/
Start 0:45.
[Pallesen24] Jonatan Pallesen
Origins of AIDS: The polio vaccine hypothesis
https://x.com/jonatanpallesen/status/1826621529771135211
Excellent Summary of HIV/OPV, short and to the point.
[Paul23] Rand Paul
Rand Paul Directly Confronts Antony Blinken About COVID-19 Research Funding Records
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TKiRkmiIkk
Secretary of State Blinken still refuses to provide non-classified data about research proposals and updates that probably provide evidence for the origin of Covid-19.
[Pekar21] Jonathan Pekar, Michael Worobey et. al.
Timing the SARS-CoV-2 index case in Hubei province
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abf8003https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abf8003
Suggests index case about October 2019. Which argues against the market origin based on data from December, long after the index case. (Pekar and Worobey must regret this paper!) (Other evidence suggests September start.)
[Pekar22] Jonathan Pekar et. al.
The molecular epidemiology of multiple zoonotic orgins of SARS-CoV-2
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abp8337
Proports that lineage A and B must have come from two different spill overs. Main lineage B is (C8782, T28144) while Lineage A is (C8782T, T28144C). Real significance is unclear, other than to make the market origin possible. [Massey22] is a rebuttal.
[Piplani21] Sakshi Piplani, Singh, Winkler, Petrovsky
In silico comparison of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-ACE2 binding affinities across species and implications for virus origin
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-92388-5
SARS-2 was better adapted to human ACE2 than any other tested species, from the very beginning.
[Pompeo21] Michael Pompeo January 2021
Ensuring a Transparent, Thorough Investigation of COVID-19’s Origin
https://web.archive.org/web/20210116020513/https:/www.state.gov/ensuring-a-transparent-thorough-investigation-of-covid-19s-origin/
Describes sick workers at the WIV, Gain of Function, links to military, call for Chinese transparency.
[Qiu20] Jane Qiu June 2020
How China’s ‘Bat Woman’ Hunted Down Viruses from SARS to the New Coronavirus
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-chinas-bat-woman-hunted-down-viruses-from-sars-to-the-new-coronavirus1/
Includes disproved claim miners died from fungal infection.
[Qiu25] Jane Qiu in The Guardian
The Covid ‘lab leak’ theory isn’t just a rightwing conspiracy – pretending that’s the case is bad for science
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/25/covid-lab-leak-theory-right-conspiracy-science
Qui was queen of the zoonati, so this is a strong change. And amazing that The Guardian published it. Times are slowly changing.
[Quay21] Steven Quay May 2021
An analysis of the results of routine employee testing for SARS-like infections within the WIV and other Wuhan labs raises serious issues about their validity
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351711216_An_analysis_of_the_results_of_routine_employee_testing_for_SARS-like_infections_within_the_WIV_and_other_Wuhan_labs_raises_serious_issues_about_their_validity
The title says it all.
[Quay21a] Steven Quay, Daoyu Zhang, Adrian Jones, Yuri Deigin
Nipah virus vector sequences in COVID-19 patient samples sequenced by the Wuhan Institute of Virology
https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.09112
SARS-2 sequences from the Wuhan Institute of Virology were contaminated with artifacts used for engineering Nipa viruses. Nipa is 60% mortal, and if it became airborne would be much more serious than SARS-COV-2. This suggests bioweapons research, and is a significant breach of BSL-4 protocols.
[Quay21b] Steven Quay March 2021
A Bayesian analysis concludes beyond a reasonable doubt that SARS-CoV-2 is not a natural zoonosis but instead is laboratory derived.
https://zenodo.org/record/4642956#.Yzf6V3ZBxhF
For those that like a formal statistical analysis, Quay looks at the probability of each of the known events occurring, and concludes that starting with a 98.8% prior probability that it was not a lab leak, it determined that the likelihood of all of them occurring given a natural zootonic source is 0.2%. Well beyond reasonable doubt.
[Quay21c] Steven Quay July 2021
Science Not Speculation Should Inform the Investigation of the Origin of COVID-19
https://zenodo.org/records/5104853
Starts with refutation of Principal Origins, Lancet letter etc. and then provides technical info about leak. Lack of diversity in early cases shows very new.
[Quay22] Steven Quay
Written remarks to accompany the testimony of Steven Quay, MD, PhD
https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/imo/media/doc/Quay%20Testimony.pdf
Quay’s written testimony to [Homesec22]. Excellent summary of the case for the origin of covid-19 being a lab leak. Issues with the market hypothesis, pre adaption to humans, furin cleavage site and ORF8 protein.
[Quay24] Steven Quay
Ancestral SARS-CoV-2 is not a natural virus because it cannot support sustained transmission in any animal species: Ancestral SARS-CoV-2, with its metastable D614/Furin Cleavage Site phenotype, cannot be maintained outside of a laboratory environment
https://zenodo.org/records/14562838
The earliest version of Covid-19 were D614/Furin. However, D614 naturally evolves quickly to G614/Furin. So it could not have been in an animal reservoir for an extended period of time.
[Quay24b] Steven Quay
The thrombo-inflammation and neuropathology sequence motifs of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein appear to have been engineered into the virus
https://zenodo.org/records/14559752
Note HIV like inserts cause the fibrin binding which causes thrombo-inflamation. Also that HIV inserts can infect CD4 cells. Also shows RaTG13 is definitely fraudulent.
[Rahalkar20] Monali Rahalkar, Rahul Bahulikar, August 2020, |
The Abnormal Nature of the Fecal Swab Sample used for NGS Analysis of RaTG13 Genome Sequence Imposes a Question on the Correctness of the RaTG13 Sequence
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343582083_The_Abnormal_Nature_of_the_Fecal_Swab_Sample_used_for_NGS_Analysis_of_RaTG13_Genome_Sequence_Imposes_a_Question_on_the_Correctness_of_the_RaTG13_Sequence
[Ratcliffe23] John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence 2020, 2021
House Hearing on Origin of Covid-19
https://www.c-span.org/video/?527424-1/house-hearing-origins-covid-19
“A lab leak is the only explanation credibly supported by our intelligence, by science, and by common sense”.
[Redfield24] Robert Redfield (ex director US CDC)
https://twitter.com/IvanSoto1776/status/1789582376038727750
“The Primary Threat of H5N1 Bird Flu Stems From Gain of Function Research”
Also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNB8TQaxbJo
[Rindsberg22] Ashley Rindsberg
How Dick Cheney created Anthony Fauci
https://unherd.com/2022/08/how-dick-cheney-created-anthony-fauci/
Describes how Cheney tasked Fauci in biodefense in the war on terror.
[Rixey22] Charles Rixey
SARS-CoV-2 Origins Research Reference Project – 20220911
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353547700_SARS-CoV-2_Origins_Research_Reference_Project_-_20220911/link/632602ad071ea12e363eb3ff/download
Large Bibliography of paper.
[Robertson21] Lori Robertson 2021
The Wuhan Lab and the Gain-of-Function Disagreement
https://www.factcheck.org/2021/05/the-wuhan-lab-and-the-gain-of-function-disagreement/
[Rogin21] Josh Rogin 2021,
In 2018, Diplomats Warned of Risky Coronavirus Experiments in a Wuhan Lab. No One Listened.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/03/08/josh-rogin-chaos-under-heaven-wuhan-lab-book-excerpt-474322
[Rubio23] US Senate report
A complex and grave situation.
https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/4f6bb786-504e-443d-8904-974dafc1cd0e/CD3BC3317D197A25E9FF01EBFB869357.rubio-covid-origins-report-final.pdf
[Sachs22] Jeff D Sachs
Lab Leak Theory: New Evidence?
Important because Sachs was chair of the new Lancet committee on the Origin of Covid. He is very open to the Lab Leak hypothesis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZa5k87ByOk
Also an article calling for transparency. See also [Harrison22].
[Sachs22a] Jeff Sachs interviewed by Current Affairs
Why the Chair of the Lancet’s COVID-19 Commission Thinks The US Government Is Preventing a Real Investigation Into the Pandemic
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/08/why-the-chair-of-the-lancets-covid-19-commission-thinks-the-us-government-is-preventing-a-real-investigation-into-the-pandemic
Furin cleavage site, all USA technology according to Sachs. Needs investigation. “The Labs”. Barely the word “Wuhan”! “you can take a sequence of letters, which defines the genome, you can recreate the virus just from the letters.” Sachs had appointed Daszak to lead the Lancet commission! (before sacking him). Calls for congressional oversight. (Sach’s then closed the commision [Thacker21a]).
[Sachs22b] Jeff Sachs, Alina Chan, Richard Ebright, Emily Kopp
SDSN Webinar: Origins of the COVID-19 Pandemic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AprmM4pYI6E&t=33s
Follow up to Lancet Commision. Unsurprisingly no zoonati took Sachs’s invitation to attend.
[Sago22] Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO)
https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/scientific-advisory-group-on-the-origins-of-novel-pathogens/sago-report-09062022.pdf
Good summary of other known coronaviruses plus animals. Zero analysis of furin cleavage site, activities at the lab. Foggy statement about two spill overs (lineage A & B?). “Cannot know about labs unless China confesses”.
[Sago25] Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO)
Independent assessment of the origins of SARS‑CoV‑2
https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/independent-assessment-of-the-origins-of-sars-cov-2-from-the-scientific-advisory-group-for-the-origins-of-novel-pathogens
Belated report that does its best to downplay the lab leak.
[Saltzburg22] Steven Saltzburg 2022
The US Is Funding A Massive Virus Hunt That Might Cause Another Pandemic. Great Idea!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2022/07/05/the-us-is-funding-a-massive-virus-hunt-that-might-cause-another-pandemic-great-idea
https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/oct-5-2021-usaid-announces-new-125-million-project-detect-unknown-viruses
USAID is spending $128 million to look for novel viruses in the wild that have pandemic potential.
[Sanchez22] Cecilia A. Sánchez et. al. Echo Health Alliance
A strategy to assess spillover risk of bat SARS-related coronaviruses in Southeast Asia
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31860-w
Analysis of where bats and people meet, in order to try to quantify the risk of zootonic transfer. Importantly, Wuhan is in a very low risk area.
[Scaruffi22] Did covid-19 come out of a lab?
https://www.scaruffi.com/politics/covidcon.html
Very odd paper that discounts the lab leak hypothesis but then provides a fairly good summary of the evidence. It also discusses the possibility of it originating in a lab outside Wuhan, but without any real evidence.
[Segreto20] Rossana Segreto, Yuri Deigin November 2020
The genetic structure of SARS-CoV-2 does not rule out a laboratory origin
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7744920/
This is a detailed description of the evidence presented in this paper, including many references. Discusses the Pangolin MP789 spike protein.
[Segreto21] Rossana Segreto, Yuri Deigin et. al. March 2021
Should we discount the laboratory origin of COVID-19?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7993900/
Excelent technical analysis of the evidence for a non-zootonic source.
[Segreto22] Rossana Segreto
Is SARS-CoV-2 the causative agent of EVALI cases prior to the Covid-19 pandemic?
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359231017_Is_SARS-CoV-2_the_causative_agent_of_EVALI_cases_prior_to_the_Covid-19_pandemic
Paper noting that EVALI and Covid-19 have very similar symptoms.
[Senate22] Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor and Pensions
An Analysis of the Origins of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Interim report
https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/report_an_analysis_of_the_origins_of_covid-19_102722.pdf
A detailed review of the evidence for both zootonic and lab origin. Considerable detail about the sudden appearance of SARS-CoV-2 vs SARS-1.
[Senate24] U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs
Origins of COVID-19: An Examination of Available Evidence
https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/origins-of-covid-19-an-examination-of-available-evidence/
Quay and Ebright present the evidence for the leak, Garry and Koblentz prop up market origins etc. A general mood for change, unclear how much. Excellent note by Ebright as to why this is important at 1:28.
https://twitter.com/emilyakopp/status/1803131795593928735
Garry: All we did is write a paper
https://youtu.be/1kbUDmJPwtU?t=6053
[Senate24b] Risky Research: Oversight of U.S. Taxpayer Funded High-Risk Virus Research
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1ynJODEgzjwxR
Long hearing. A good start but does not cover private research. Board made from “distinguished life scientists” may also be corrupt.
[Senate24c] Select Oversight committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Final Report After Action Review of the Covid-19 Pandemic
https://oversight.house.gov/release/final-report-covid-select-concludes-2-year-investigation-issues-500-page-final-report-on-lessons-learned-and-the-path-forward/
https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/12.04.2024-SSCP-FINAL-REPORT.pdf
Declares Covid-19 likely came from a lab with evidence. Unfortunately very partisan language. Also covers many other issues in the USA handling with only 4 1/2 of 500 pages on the leak, c.f. 53 pages on Como’s New York lock down. Nothing on the ongoing risk of Gain of Function.
(Compare with the Australian report which does not mention the origin at all.)
https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-oversight.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/SSCP%20Democratic%20Final%20Report.pdf
The Democrats rebuttal. “all prior epidemics and pandemics … have zoonotic origins. … a lab origin for COVID-19 also remains plausible. … without
greater transparency from the Chinese Communist Party, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to know the origins of COVID-19. Blatant lie, no evidence cited.
[Shi20] Reply to Science Magazine
https://www.science.org/pb-assets/PDF/News%20PDFs/Shi%20Zhengli%20Q&A-1630433861.pdf
Shi Zhengli provided a detailed response to questions from Science in early 2020. Shi says in response (5) that no virus was detected in animals at the market. Also confirms that Coronavirus reserach was conducted in BSL-2 and BSL-3 (12). Also at
https://originofcovid.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/shizhengliqa.pdf
[Shing20] Shing Hei Zhan, Benjamin E. Deverman, Yujia Alina Chan
SARS-CoV-2 is well adapted for humans. What does this mean for re-emergence?
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.01.073262v1
Sudden emergence of SARS-2, started like SARS-1 looked like after some time, with no precursor.
[Squitieri20] Tom Squitieri June 2020
Did the Military World Games Spread COVID-19?
https://prospect.org/coronavirus/did-the-military-world-games-spread-covid-19/
Dubious claim that the virus actually spread from the October 2019 Wuhan world military games.
[State21] US State Department January 2021
Fact Sheet: Activity at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
https://2017-2021.state.gov/fact-sheet-activity-at-the-wuhan-institute-of-virology/index.html
Reason to believe WIV researchers became sick. The WIV performed Gain of Function research.
[State20b] US State Department 2020
An analysis of Circumstantial Evidence for Wuhan Labs as the source of the Coronavirus
https://usrtk.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/State-Department-FOIA-An-Analysis-of-Circumstantial-Evidence-for-Wuhan-Labs-as-the-Source-of-the-Coronavirus.pdf
Excellent summary of the evidence, written 2020, released March 2022. Examines circumstances including Huang’s disappearance, but does not examine technical evidence such as the furin cleavage site. See also an analysis of this paper at https://usrtk.org/biohazards-blog-index/
[Sun25] The Sun Newspaper
Inside the Wuhan lab-leak scandal – bioweapons, cover-ups & the Covid ‘smoking gun’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtrXKO-UUxg
Documentary on the origin.
[Sweeny22] Frank Sweeny COVID-19
Origin Episode 6: Establishing the False Narrative
https://straighttalkmd.libsyn.com/origin-of-covid-19-episode-6-establishing-the-false-narrative
Good podcast of the detailed evidence of the cover up, opinions of key scientists and the cover up. Reviews controversy about earlier GoF on avian flu. Why key scientists fear the lab leak hypothesis.
[Stoyan] Dietrich Stoyan, Sung Nok Chi
Statistics cannot prove that the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was the early epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic
https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.10106
Shows that even the statics used in [Worobey22a] are not correct.
[Syed21] Ah Kahn Syed (pseudonym)
How to BLAST your way to the truth about the origins of COVID-19How to BLAST your way to the truth about the origins of COVID-19
https://arkmedic.substack.com/p/how-to-blast-your-way-to-the-truth
Using the NIH’s blast tool to search viral databases. Finds 3 similar overlaps with HIV-1. Also finds the Furin Cleavage site in a pre Covid-19 Moderna patent. Strong evidence.
[Tedros21] Head of the WHO criticizes the report.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/30/who-criticises-chinas-data-sharing-as-it-releases-covid-origins-report
[Temmam2] Coronaviruses with a SARS-CoV-2-like receptor-binding domain allowing ACE2-mediated entry into human cells isolated from bats of Indochinese peninsula.
https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-871965/v1
Preprint study that describes BANAL-52 which was found in bats in Laos and is very similar to SARS-CoV-2.
[Thacker21] Paul Thacker 2021
The covid-19 lab leak hypothesis: did the media fall victim to a misinformation campaign?
https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n1656
Overview of the way the scientific media rejected any mention of the lab leak.
[Thacker21a] Paul Thacker 2021
Covid-19: Lancet investigation into origin of pandemic shuts down over bias risk
https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj.n2414
Jeff Sach’s shuts down a commission run by Daszak. No further investigation happening. Too hard for Lancet.
[Thacker22] Paul Thacker 2022
NIH Tries Sealing Name of Chinese Researcher Attached to Discredited Pandemic Origin Study
https://disinformationchronicle.substack.com/p/nih-tries-sealing-name-of-chinese
Discussion of NIH retracted documents and the removal of sequences from their databases.
[TK25] ?
Video of news clips describing the lab leak as a Conspiracy Theory
https://x.com/0rf/status/1883335336753037315
Great compilation of the historic media peddling misinformation.
[Tucker22] Jeffrey Tucker
The Lab Leak: The Plots and Schemes of Jeremy Farrar, Anthony Fauci, and Francis Collins
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-lab-leak-the-plots-and-schemes-of-jeremy-farrar-anthony-fauci-and-francis-collins/
Review of Jeremy Farrar’s crazy Spike book focusing on his early very paranoid reaction to the possibility that SARS-2 resulted from a Lab Leak. (Farrar is chair of the Welcome Trust, a major funding body.)
[Tufekci25] Zeynep Tufekci
We Were Badly Misled About the Event That Changed Our Lives
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/opinion/covid-pandemic-lab-leak.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4U4.ooD3.OqwSL0331yAE&smid=tw-share
New York Times opinion saying the lab leak is probable, and scientists misled us. Times have changed! Does not mention the actual evidence for the lab leak, that would be too much.
[USRTKBib] US Right To Know, Bibliography
https://usrtk.org/biohazards/origin-of-sars-cov-2-gain-of-function-readings/
Large bibliography but unannotated. (USRTK have made seveeral FOI requests.)
[USRTK23]
https://usrtk.org/covid-19-origins/intelligence-report-wuhan-institute-of-virology/
Review of vacuous ODNI report.
[Wade21] Nicholas Wade May 2021
The origin of COVID: Did people or nature open Pandora’s box at Wuhan?
https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/the-origin-of-covid-did-people-or-nature-open-pandoras-box-at-wuhan/
Widely read article proposing a lab leak theory. Quite good.
[Wade25] Nicholas Wade
New Documents Bolster Lab Leak Hypothesis.
https://www.city-journal.org/article/new-documents-bolster-lab-leak-hypothesis
Review of [Bruttel21] restriction enzymes.
[Wang05] Ming Wang, Meiying Yan et. al.
SARS-CoV Infection in a Restaurant from Palm Civet
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3367621/
Civets were found as the source of SARS-1 within a couple of months.
[Wang22] Wen Wang et. al. Coronaviruses in wild animals sampled in and around Wuhan at the beginning of COVID-19 emergence
https://academic.oup.com/ve/article/8/1/veac046/6601809
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9214087/
Several coronaviruses were discovered in racoon dogs and bats. However, neither SARS-CoV-2 or its progenitor were found.
[Wain-Hobson21] Simon Wain-Hobson.
New Analysis of DEFUSE Proposal
https://drasticresearch.org/2021/10/06/new-analysis-of-defuse-proposal/
Casts doubt on the potential usefulness of such gain of function research.
[Washburne25] Alex Washburne
https://alexwasburne.substack.com/p/kudos-to-a-dia-analysis?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Kudos to a DIA analysis
Analysis of the recently released 2000 USA Defense Intelligence Agency report on the origin of covid. Particularly on their analysis of the restriction sites.
[Westergard20] Russel Westergard
Surviving the Outbreak
https://statemag.state.gov/2020/04/0420feat05/
Says that in mid October 2019 Wuhan was struck what was thought to be an unusually vicious flu season. Schools closed mid December. This would have been Covid-19. Then talks about evacuating the USA staff.
[WHO04] WHO July 2004
Investigation into China’s recent SARS outbreak yields important lessons for global public health
https://web.archive.org/web/20040721012235/http:/www.wpro.who.int/sars/docs/update/update_07022004.asp
Detailed investigation of lab leak of SARS virus from National Institute of Virology in Beijing.
[WHO21] WHO March 2021 Origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus
https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus/origins-of-the-virus
The dubious World Health Organization report.
[WHO21a] Annex to Origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-convened-global-study-of-origins-of-sars-cov-2-china-part-annexes.pdf
P125 “30 Dec … City wide screening … and exposure with Huanan market.” “31 Dec coninuted serveillance of several hospitals close to Huanan market…” Also P126 a third of all early cases not associated with the market.
[WHO25]
Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of
Novel Pathogens (SAGO)
https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/documents/epp/sago/independent-assessment-of-the-origins-of-sars-cov-2-by-sago.pdf?sfvrsn=b0f90ad4_4
Belated report, that unsurprisingly support a natural origin. Nothing new in it, lots of wofle. They seem to have dropped the Huanan market to some degree. No review of the evidence for a lab leak of course.
[Willman22] David Willman and Madison Muller
A Science in the Shadows
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/a-science-in-the-shadows/
The dangers of GoF. Brief mention of Covid. Strong mention of the Erasmus bird flu GoF. In the Washington Post!
[Wolf24] Leon Wolf, theblaze.com
Lab wars: Inside one Democrat’s 20-year crusade to save the world from Anthony Fauci — Part 1: 2001-2014
https://www.theblaze.com/news/lab-wars-inside-one-democrat-s-20-year-crusade-to-save-the-world-from-anthony-fauci-part-1-2001-2014
Excellent background to the rise of reckless Gain of Function research from Cheney under Fauci.
[Worobey04] Michael Worobey, … Andrew Rambaut …
Contaminated polio vaccine theory refuted
https://www.nature.com/articles/428820a
Usual suspects arguing against HIV/OPV, despite overwhelming evidence.
[Worobey21] Dissecting the early COVID-19 cases in Wuhan
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm4454
Says that the fact that many early cases were not linked to the market does not rule the market out.
[Worobey22] Michael Worobey, Rasmussen, Pekar, Andersen et. al.
The Huanan market was the epicenter of SARS-CoV-2 emergence
https://zenodo.org/record/6299600
Influential preprint that that makes the dubious argument that because the “wet” market was a super spreader it must have been the been the source. Claims “Dispositive” (irrefutable) evidence market is source. Heavily criticized by [Latham22] and [Chan22b] and [Zhang22].
Reported by New York Times and echoed by the world’s press. Authors are the usual suspects.
[Worobey22a] Michael Worobey et. al.
The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was the early epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abp8715
Heavily modified version of the preprint [Worobey22], no longer claiming “Dispositive Evidence”, admitting “insufficient evidence to define upstream events”. Still fails to mention that no animals at the market were found to be positive, nor that all environmental samples were human. See [Yong22].
[Achenbach23 ]Joel Achenbach
Lab-leak fears are putting virologists under scrutiny
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/01/18/lab-leak-theory-virologist/
Fairly weak article mentioning the Boston Uni Omicron experiment.
[Yong22] Shin Jie Yong
New Covid-19 Origin Data Are Highly Flawed And Don’t Solve Anything
https://medium.com/microbial-instincts/new-covid-19-origin-data-are-highly-flawed-and-dont-solve-anything-9025b6b8009e
Another rebuttal of [Worobey22a]. Clear description of issues with geo mapping and linage analysis.
[Zhang20] Daoyu Zhang August 2020, Anomalies in BatCoV/RaTG13 sequencing and provenance
https://zenodo.org/record/5018435#.YUFz5H0RUd7
Zhang argues that RaTG13 was created in cell cultures.
[Zhang22] Zhang Daoyu et. al.
Zoonosis at the Huanan Seafood Market: A Critique
https://www.zenodo.org/record/7212687#.Y14FLXZBxhE
Detailed re-analysis of the [Worobey22] paper that shows that the cases in the market were actually clustered around the toilets, and not the wildlife vendors.
[Guo-ping07] Guo-ping Zhao
SARS molecular epidemiology: a Chinese fairy tale of controlling an emerging zoonotic disease in the genomics era
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2435571/
Detailed analysis of the SARS-1 epidemic. In particular it shows the early phase where the virus slowly adapted to humans.
[Zhang24] Jia-Xin Lv et. al.
Evolutionary trajectory of diverse SARS-CoV-2 variants at the beginning of COVID-19 outbreak.
https://academic.oup.com/ve/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ve/veae020/7619252
https://twitter.com/jbloom_lab/status/1765163324176847019
Paper showing that variants at the Huanan market were not near the top of the tree, hence the market was almost certainly not the source.
[Zhou20] Peng Zhou et. al.
Addendum: A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2951-z
Zhou of the WIV admitting to having studied 9 SARS coronavirus samples after evidence for them found by others. (Only one, RATG13 has been published.)
[Zhou20a] Xuesen Zhao et. al.
Broad and differential animal ACE2 receptor usage by SARS-CoV-2
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.19.048710v3
SARS-CoV-2 binds more closely to human ACE2 than any other animal, nice picture.
End.
Origin Of Covid 
