The recent "novel" coronavirus epidemic in China, marked by its rapid spread and high mortality rate, has triggered a crisis-level response by the government and a nationwide shutdown of normal activity. According to the official story, the virus originated at a seafood / meat market in Wuhan where it somehow "jumped species" from animals (bats) to infect humans.

"Xie Linka, an oncologist at Wuhan Union Hospital, received a warning from police after sending an alert to her colleagues in a WeChat group on December 30. In the message, Xie relayed a warning from fellow doctors about an infectious disease: "Don't go to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in the near future. Several people were found to have contracted an unknown pneumonia similar to SARS there. Today our hospital has received multiple patients from the market. Everyone please remember to wear masks and ventilate properly."

-- CTV News article

However, subsequent inspection of the virus genome revealed unusual genetic modifications inconsistent with the "natural evolution" story. This led to speculation that the virus had been engineered in a nearby virus research laboratory, and somehow escaped into the environment. A new paper published by Chinese experts in the field of "synthetic biology" supports this hypothesis, and names two Wuhan laboratories as possible sources:

"The Possible Origins of 2019-nCoV Coronavirus"

• Botao Xiao, Joint International Research Laboratory of Synthetic Biology and Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou
• Lei Xiao, Tian You Hospital, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan

"Descriptions of the virus published on 'Nature' this week indicated that the genome sequences from patients were 96% or 89% identical to the Bat coronavirus... [yet] the probability was very low for the bats to fly to the market. According to municipal reports and the testimonies of residents...the bat was never a food source in the city, and no bat was traded in the market. There was possible natural recombination or intermediate host of the coronavirus, yet little proof has been reported...

Was there any other possible pathway? We screened the area around the seafood market and identified two laboratories conducting research on bat coronavirus. Within ~280 meters from the market, there was the Wuhan Center for Disease Control & Prevention...[which] hosted animals in laboratories for research purposes, [including] pathogens collection and identification... Surgery was performed on the caged animals and the tissue samples were collected for DNA and RNA extraction and sequencing. The tissue samples and contaminated trash were a source of pathogens... The WHCDC was also adjacent to the Wuhan Union Hospital where the first group of doctors were infected during this epidemic. It is plausible that the virus leaked around and some of them contaminated the initial patients in this epidemic, though solid proofs are needed in future study.

The second laboratory was ~12 kilometers from the seafood market and belonged to Wuhan Institute of Virology. This laboratory reported that the Chinese horseshoe bats were natural reservoirs for the SARS coronavirus which caused the 2002-3 pandemic. The principle investigator participated in a project which generated a chimeric [engineered] virus using the SARS-CoV reverse genetics system, and reported the potential for human emergence. A direct speculation was that SARS-CoV or its derivative might leak from the laboratory.

In summary, somebody was entangled with the 'evolution' of 2019-nCoV coronavirus...[which] probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan. Safety level may need to be reinforced in high risk bio-hazardous laboratories..."

-- Zero Hedge article, with copy of original paper

UPDATE: This paper, originally published at the science website researchgate.net, has been removed from public view.

This forseeable "accident" has already claimed thousands of lives, and caused untold economic damage to China and the rest of the world. What benefit, if any, does this cross-species "gain of function" virus research provide to humanity? At what cost?

UPDATE: See this 2015 video report from Radiotelevisione Italiana, discussing Chinese experiments and "gain of function" research using genetically modified coronaviruses to target human lung tissue:

"Chinese scientists have created a pulmonary super-virus from bats and mice only for study reasons but there are many questionable aspects to this. Is it worth the risk? ... Here is an experiment in China, in which a group of scientists has managed to develop a 'chimera' – an organism modified by attaching the surface protein of a coronavirus found in bats to a virus that causes SARS in mice... It was suspected that the protein could make the chimeric hybrid organism suitable for affecting humans, and the experiment confirmed it... It is precisely this molecule, called SHCO14, that allows the coronavirus to attach itself to our respiratory cells and to trigger the syndrome."

-- Zero Hedge article

What would prevent a small group of radical "eco-terrorist" ideologues from using modern, widely-available genetic engineering tools and drone sprayers to cause similar chaos? In 1995, the Aum Shinrikyo cult released a neurotoxic agent into the Tokyo subway, killing several people and injuring hundreds more. Can you imagine the devastation if such a group released something like the highly contagious Wuhan virus instead?

"Aum Shinrikyo is listed as a terrorist organization because of the 1995 attack and for previous attempts to carry out biological and chemical attacks... Aum’s founder preached that the end of the world was near and that Aum followers would be the only people to survive the apocalypse... Aum recruited young, smart university students and graduates, often from elite families...[and] accumulated great wealth from operating electronic businesses and restaurants, in addition to requiring members to sign their estates over to the group...

The 1995 attack caused massive disruption and widespread fear... It also showed the world just how easy it is for a small cult or group of terrorists with limited means to engage in chemical [and biological] warfare... Several years before the 1995 subway attack, the group attempted to carry out at least nine biological assaults... Aum’s team of young scientists cultured and experimented with biological toxins, including botulin, anthrax, cholera, and Q fever... According to the CDC, Aum sent a fact-finding team to Zaire to study and collect Ebola virus samples in 1993."

-- CFR article (2012)

"One striking aspect of the Aum case is that roughly a dozen members of the inner circle personally carried out various criminal acts, including assassinations and the dissemination of biological and chemical agents. Cult rank-and-file members appear to have assisted...by staffing chemical and biological weapons production facilities, but appear not to have been directly involved in carrying out attacks...

The cult member in charge of biological weapons efforts had completed undergraduate studies in agricultural and veterinary medicine at a university with a substantial anthrax collection, including both Sterne and Pasteur vaccine strains, before going on to PhD studies in virology... Aum members working on the project were aware they had a 'vaccine strain' but planned to use “genetic engineering” to convert it to a more lethal form... In 1993 the cult began attempting to mass produce the anthrax [but] without evidence that it had successfully obtained a pathogenic strain."

-- NTI article (2011)