• GiantFloppyCock@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    It’s shady practices like this that fuel conspiracy theories and erode public trust in science.

    • june@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      My mother appears convinced it’s a Chinese medical lab. So, yea.

      • LexiconDexicon@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Well, because it is actually

        The county also discovered nearly 1,000 bioengineered mice. Wang Zhaolin, a representative of Prestige Biotech – the company operating the lab – told county investigators that the mice were genetically engineered to catch and carry the COVID-19 virus

        I mean if you don’t want conspiracy theories to spread then don’t make them true to begin with

        • LUHG@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Pretty sure one of the Chinese ran USA labs were caught sending samples of contagious diseases back to China via standard DHL type packages. This was before COVID.

      • takeda@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        I actually noticed that when searching for “prestige biotech” (the name of the company) pretty much all the conservative media already state that it is Chinese linked. The weird thing is that they state it as a fact without explaining how they arrived to this conclusion.

        I mean, it very well might be, but tell me how you arrived to that conclusion.

      • wahming@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Both the owner and representative of the company are Chinese, so why wouldn’t she think that?

        Also, how many other countries would be interested in maintaining a bioweapons facility in the US?

        • june@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Because being Chinese doesn’t mean you are a Chinese nationalist. It’s a pretty racist jump to make.

          • wahming@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Buddy, see my username? Yeah, that’s a Chinese name. I of all people know exactly what the difference is between Chinese ethnicity and Chinese nationality.

            With that said, the majority of Chinese business people have some connection or other to China, be it family, business, or otherwise. Combine that with the context here of mysterious purpose (but probably bioweapons), unknown funding source and complete lack of any commercial purpose, etc etc, and it’s not a hard conclusion to draw.

      • Beliriel@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Just like trans athletes in sports. Which are like what? 3 people?

        It makes for good headlines and that’s why it’s news and gives the rightwing conspiracy nuts more fuel for the next big idiotic thing.

  • Chuymatt@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Here is my issue: they seem to be using ‘bio-engendered mice’ as a scare phrase. Nearly all mice in a research facility will be, everywhere.

    It’ve been weirder had they NOT been genetically modified.

  • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m REALLY not trying to deaden the conspiracy-ness of this article…

    But during covid we basically let a lot of research protocols and testing slack on the protocols:

    https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/single-irb-exception-determinations/october-2020-exception-determination/index.html

    https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/exception-informed-consent-requirements-emergency-research

    I haven’t seen a protocol exception on sourcing research subjects, but I’m sure one was in place during covid, and I will bet real money these clowns were selling test mice, their paperwork was in faded crayon, they got paid 100x the normal prices, and unlike everyone else they just were too stupid to shut down and get out while the getting was good.

    • dezmd@lemmy.worldM
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      1 year ago

      Looks like the old article was deleted by creator, @fmstrat was that maybe you accidentally posting with the wrong login?

  • LilDumpy@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    What was illegal about it? Was that warehouse not zoned for labs? Obviously poor storage and labeling practices, but surly (maybe) not illegal?

  • Thalamus@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    There’s this docu series on netflix (unnatural selection) about genetic engineering in general but also about some people (with and without science background) who believe that anyone should be able to do genetic engineering at home (Josiah Zayner is one of them, i believe he still sells lab equipment and reagents for anyone who want to do some DIY bio-engineering). They also follow this guy who stopped taking his HIV meds and started using some kind of antibody that was developed by some shady company (it didn’t work and guess what; not a single physician was involved). I believe one of these shady guys was found dead in a sensory deprivation pod with ketamine in his blood.