They call this gain of function experiments. So again, gain of function experiments are being done all over the world all the time because it has a lot of implications for things like genetic modification of crops and things. So there's ways that you can monetize gain of function viruses. By finding those gains and functions you can figure out a better way to manipulate nature.
Dr. Zach Bush (29:11)
That's why we're doing it-- maybe warfare and everything else, but really it's because there's an economic potential for monetizing through further manipulating nature through genetic modification. We're talking about genetically modifying human beings. We've already genetically modified the mosquito. We've genetically modified the salmon. This fascination with genetic modification is leading to all of these gain of function experiments, but I would argue that no laboratory in the world does genetic modification of viruses better than a pig farm. It's now illegal to transport their stool out across state lines. It's considered a toxic substance, it’s a biohazard. So they have to pour this into pools, literally lakes, adjacent to the pig farm facilities, and they build levies to hold this stool. Imagine billions of gallons of stool outside of Smithfield in North Carolina, or in Hubei Providence ten X that.
Dr. Zach Bush (29:34)
You've got these massive pig stool lakes, every teaspoon of which has millions of microorganisms that are all under severe stress of the antimicrobials and the glyphosate and everything else, and they are cranking out viruses at an astounding rate. Remember, viruses are looking for adaptation opportunities. They're always doing gain of function. So you have lakes of stool in Hubei province that are doing billions and billions of new variants of viruses every couple of seconds, most of which don't do a thing. But every once in a while there will be a new gain of function, and it goes to update the genome of all the bacteria in the environment. And some of those might be actually useful to a bat that's nearby, so it'll update its genome with that thing. Its droppings might then pass through another animal that needs that genetic update.
Dr. Zach Bush (30:26)
You can see how a gain of function genomic adaptation to a toxic environment can be utilized by many, many different species with the right bearings. That's what we saw happen here. I can guarantee you that their labs are trying to do this, but I guarantee you that none of them can compete with a pile of pig stool. The pig stool is always going to win the game because it's got so many trillions of workhorses going all the time, cranking out all of these variants under stress. In a laboratory they're literally like taking a gene, and try that one. And then they take a gene, and they try that one. In this case, in nature, they're trying quadrillions at once, and it's a massive explosion of genetic variations, very few of which will go on to transform the world. COVID is a new transformation. I believe nature probably did that better than any laboratory it could be.
Dr. Zach Bush (31:39)
The fact that there were so many asymptomatic carriers of this that got that update and had no symptoms would suggest to me that this is an important update. I don't think it was directly harmful at all. We would have seen more harm from this thing. We are so lucky that this was not a harmful militarized thing. If it was that, it was so poorly done. I think that there's a very clear likelihood that this was a natural genetic update. Is it the results of genetic engineering? Yes, in the oldest form of genetic engineering, which is viral variation. Viruses have been doing gain of function since the beginning of time, billions of years before we showed up. Personally I put great suspicion on the story of a government laboratory. I don't think they're smart enough yet. I honestly don't think our labs have the capacity to do what nature does every single day, which is adaptation and gain of function.