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Slack / Private Message Drop, p.539 [SLACK_000753] · slack_pm:msg:05618

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You can't have a 'natural' bioweapon - by definition

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2021-02-22 07:57 Robert F. Garry open

Don't miss it!
2021-02-22 07:57 Robert F. Garry open

But wasn't that zoo in San Diego?
2021-02-22 08:45 Kristian G. Andersen open

Yeah, San Diego... I was asked to be on that program too - but declined.
2021-02-22 08:47 Kristian G. Andersen open

Devi is :100: though, so I'm sure she didn't exactly intend to stir the pot of conspiracy... No doubt large-scale factoryfarming is risky from a natural emergence perspective though - but calling them "bioweapon factories" is just dumb.
2021-02-22 08:48 Andrew Rambaut

You can't have a 'natural' bioweapon - by definition
2021-02-22 08:51 Kristian G. Andersen open

Hah, good point.
2021-02-22 08:51 Andrew Rambaut open

Also I don't think that a human virus getting into mink is a particularly risky think other than potentially exposing more people or creating a reservoir. It isn't going to get more human adapted.
2021-02-22 08:53 Kristian G. Andersen open

I don't know - having a parallel epizootic with god knows what kind of selection pressures operating is to be avoidedat all cost. Mink farming is typically also associated with other farming - creating risks of further epizootics.
2021-02-22 08:59 Andrew Rambaut open

I agree about the zoonosis as a route from things like bats into humans especially as these mustelids seem such good models for humans. But I just can't get excited about animal transmission as a source of variants.