"Chinese scientists create a lung supervirus from bats and mice. It is only needed for study purposes but there are many protests." Thus begins the service of Tg3 Leonardo on 16 November 2015; the cover introduction ends with a question: "Is it worth the risk?". "It is a certain experiment but it worries many scientists - a group of Chinese researchers graft a protein taken from bats on the Sars virus, acute pneumonia, made from mice. And a supervirus that could affect humans comes out". "It remains closed in the laboratories, of course. It only serves for study reasons; but it is worth taking the risk, creating such a great threat just to be able to examine it", is said in the studio after the initials and before launching the service by Maurizio Menicucci . "As old as science, the debate on the risks of research - it is explained in the video - in the end is the myth of Icarus falling for having touched the sun with the wax wings designed by his father Daedalus. An experiment carried out in China relaunches it. a group of researchers has managed to develop a chimera, a modified organism by grafting the surface protein of a coronavirus found in bats of the rather common species, called 'horseshoe nose', on a virus that causes Sars, acute pneumonia, although in a non-mortal form in mice it was suspected that the protein could make the hybrid suitable for hitting humans, and the experiment confirmed it. "
"It is precisely this molecule, called SHCO14 - continues the service - that allows the coronavirus to attach itself to our respiratory cells, triggering the syndrome. According to the researchers, moreover, the organism, the original one, and even more so the engineered one, can infect the man directly from bats, without going through an intermediate species such as the mouse. And it is precisely this possibility that raises many controversies. Just one year ago the US government suspended funding for research aimed at making viruses more contagious but the moratorium was not had stopped the work of the Chinese on SARS which was already at an advanced stage and considered itself not so dangerous; according to a part of the scientific world it is not: the chances that the virus will pass to our species would be irrelevant with respect to the benefits. many other experts fail. First, because the relationship between risk and benefit is difficult to evaluate, and then because it speci and these days it is more prudent not to put into circulation organisms that can escape or be removed from the control of the laboratories ".
"The latest nonsense is the derivation of coronavirus from a laboratory experiment. Don't worry, it's 100% natural, unfortunately." The virologist Roberto Burioni explains that on his social profiles he replies to the concerns born for the circulation of a service of the Leonardo transmission dedicated in 2015 to the birth of a laboratory chimera virus, a story that has sparked new concerns about the origin of the pandemic coronavirus, already denied by several studies. The last, Burioni reminds ANSA, is the one published on March 17 in Nature Medicine "in which it is written that the analyzes carried out clearly show that the virus is not built in the laboratory. Enough with the fakes".
Salvini, Conte-Di Maio clarify about virus 2015 - "Incredible !!! From Tgr Leonardo (Rai Tre) of 16.11.2015 service on a pulmonary supervirus Coronavirus created by the Chinese with bats and mice, extremely dangerous for humans (with related concerns Urgent question from the League to the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister ". The leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, writes it on his Facebook page.
Casarin, Tgr Leonardo service resumed by Nature - "The service of 16 November 2015 aired in the" Leonardo "section of TgR is taken from a publication of the journal Nature". This was announced by the director of the Rai regional newspaper, Alessandro Casarin, who explains: "Just three days ago the same magazine made it clear that the virus the service reports about, created in the laboratory, has no relation to the natural virus Covid-19 ".
