Just wonderful - from the scientific journal Nature - 2017/02/23:
Inside the Chinese lab poised to study world's most dangerous pathogens
A laboratory in Wuhan is on the cusp of being cleared to work with the world’s most dangerous pathogens. The move is part of a plan to build between five and seven biosafety level-4 (BSL-4) labs across the Chinese mainland by 2025, and has generated much excitement, as well as some concerns.
Some scientists outside China worry about pathogens escaping, and the addition of a biological dimension to geopolitical tensions between China and other nations. But Chinese microbiologists are celebrating their entrance to the elite cadre empowered to wrestle with the world’s greatest biological threats.
And, of course, it was an international body of scientists that certified the lab for occupancy:
The lab was certified as meeting the standards and criteria of BSL-4 by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS) in January. The CNAS examined the lab’s infrastructure, equipment and management, says a CNAS representative, paving the way for the Ministry of Health to give its approval. A representative from the ministry says it will move slowly and cautiously; if the assessment goes smoothly, it could approve the laboratory by the end of June.
Just wonderful - a virus that would be ideal as a bioweapon shows up in a city that has the first BSL-4 lab in all of China. A lab that was OK'd by Chinese bureaucrats and not a team of independent scientists. When I say bioweapon, I am talking about how it has an asymptomatic incubation time - the guy who flew to the US did not realize that he was ill until some days after he arrived. He was contagious and spreading this around to all the other people on the long flight.
It is not lethal, it just incapacitates the victim. You want to invade but you do not want to kill your future serfs.
Just perfect
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