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n American scientist who worked at a research laboratory in Wuhan, China, has claimed that the novel coronavirus was a “genetically engineered agent” that leaked from the U.S.-funded facility.
It was reportedly exposed by Dr. Andrew Huff, an epidemiologist and former vice president of EcoHealth Alliance, in “The Truth About Wuhan” book, in which he referred to the pandemic as “the biggest U.S. intelligence failure since 9/11.”
In his book, Huff says the COVID-19 virus was genetically engineered through China’s gain-of-function experiments — which modify the way an organism functions — funded by the U.S. government, The Sun reported.
He said that EcoHealth spent years teaching the Wuhan Institute of Virology the “best existing methods to engineer bat coronaviruses to attack other species,” and that China was aware “that this was a genetically engineered agent.”
“The U.S. government is to blame for the transfer of dangerous biotechnology to the Chinese,” he told The Sun. “I was terrified by what I saw. We were just handing them bioweapon technology.”
Huff claimed that China’s gain-of-function experiments were carried out with poor control measures, which led to the lab leak at the Wuhan lab.
“EcoHealth Alliance and foreign laboratories did not have the adequate control measures in place for ensuring proper biosafety, biosecurity and risk management, ultimately resulting in the lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” he wrote in the book.
EcoHealth Alliance, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that aims to prevent the emergence of new infectious diseases, has been studying bat-related coronaviruses with funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The group established ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
