Do The FBI’s COVID Lab-Leak Claims Hold Up To Scrutiny? Or Are They Playing Politics?
The answer may not surprise you.
A few days ago, the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, made some shocking claims while being interviewed on Fox News. Wray stated, “The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan.” Such a claim should not be taken lightly, as tensions between China and the US are rising daily, and the implications for China if this is true are substantial. But does this claim have any basis? Or is this political subterfuge?
So, how can we assess where this virus came from? Well, luckily enough, there is a quirk of genetics and evolution that means we can identify a lab-grown virus. You see, viruses can share genetic information between themselves through horizontal gene transfer (HGT) and recombination. This means that in the wild, a virus species can have difficulty splitting into two different species because bad or neutral mutations can be quickly whittled out, while beneficial mutations are spread through the entire population. But HGT and recombination can also happen with closely related viral species, which means a natural population will always resemble their cousin species. However, if a viral population is fully cut off from its natural…
