293
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] giantfloppycock@lemm.ee 66 points 1 year ago

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

[-] june@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

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

[-] LexiconDexicon@lemmy.world 43 points 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

[-] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Wow... I mean I know why that makes sense, but still, wow...

[-] LUHG_HANI@lemmy.world 2 points 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 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 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 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Chinese listed owner. Chinese representative. Mysterious purpose with unknown source of funds. Not too hard to connect the dots.

Edit: Apparently people don't realise Chinese can refer to ethnicity as well as nationality. Yes, it would be ideal if we had different terms for the two.

[-] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

The article didn't mention the guy's nationality, unless I missed it.

[-] takeda@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

Exactly, have they said that, I wouldn't have problem with it. The articles that I looked at weren't mentioning anything beyond it is Chinese linked.

[-] girlfreddy@mastodon.social 3 points 1 year ago

@agent_flounder @wahming

Exactly. Assumptions rarely lead to facts.

[-] wahming@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

I used the term Chinese to refer to ethnicity, not nationality.

[-] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Why would ethnicity matter in this context?

[-] wahming@kbin.social 10 points 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?

[-] xthedeerlordx@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

a bioweapons facility

stop with this. You have no evidence of this. You're simply fear-mongering and contributing to conspiracy.

[-] june@lemmy.world 2 points 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 5 points 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.

[-] xthedeerlordx@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

(but probably bioweapons),

source? This is a wild jump

edit: there is no source. this user is just spreading lies

[-] Butters@lemmywinks.com -1 points 1 year ago

It’s sad you have to identify yourself as Chinese in order to make this statement.

Like we can’t judge a statement based on it’s content alone.

[-] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

You speak as if this is common. The reason this is news is because it’s random AF.

[-] giantfloppycock@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago

I didn’t mean to imply it’s common, just that it’s particularly damaging.

[-] Beliriel@lemmy.world -2 points 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.

[-] yata@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

Only to people who wouldn't trust science regardless of this event.

[-] Chuymatt@kbin.social 41 points 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 12 points 1 year ago

I heard the mice were dosed with dihydrogen-oxide to make them more infectious!

[-] Thortallmon@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah wild-type mice are present in labs as controls, but by far fewer in number to the modified organisms, apparently

[-] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 16 points 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.

[-] LilDumpy@lemmy.world 10 points 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?

[-] MostlyBirds@lemmy.world 82 points 1 year ago

You can't just decide to set up a medical lab and do experiments with infectious diseases without permits and licences and oversight, you know.

[-] SpicyPeaSoup@kbin.social 32 points 1 year ago

Well, this ruins my plans. Goddamn gubmit getting all up in my business.

[-] MostlyBirds@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Shit, my bad.

[-] Reverendender@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

Not with that attitude

[-] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

I thought this was America!!!

[-] adidson@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a herpes infected mouse is a good guy with a herpes infected mouse

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Clearly they were trying to develop a gun that shoots herpes in this lab.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

What if we do them on funguses? Those aren't animals that oughta be fine I haven't watched HBO lately or played any video games

[-] qooqie@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

A lot of stuff sounded illegal. Poor storage is illegal when dealing with bio safety hazards of this level, poor labeling too. Sounded like they didn’t have protocols available or even approved by review boards which is illegal. I doubt they even had proper bio safety ratings which would be illegal in this case. The whole situation sounds extremely dangerous and I hope no harm has been done.

[-] ultimate_question@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

It was illegal, and don't call me surly.

[-] nymwit@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

oh the mice were surly alright

[-] Acronymesis@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Do you want an actual Raccoon City? Because this is how you get an actual Raccoon City...

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I was gonna bet Fresno, Modesto or Bakersfield. Got it in one.

[-] thalamus@lemmy.world 3 points 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.

[-] archaix@lemm.ee -5 points 1 year ago
[-] aJazzyFeel@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago
[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Well there goes my pox party

[-] Beliriel@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Eh there are multiple bioweapon labs across the world that still have small pox and the bubonic plague. You can still have your pox party, just not private.

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2023
293 points (98.3% liked)

News

23287 readers
3786 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS