> The US government surprised many researchers on 17 October when it announced that it will temporarily stop funding new research that makes certain viruses more deadly or transmissible.
So it's not clear what the actual order entails and how temporary it was. And the whole advisory language ("asked scientists") seems to be kinda distinct from "banned".
> The grants are all public and document gain of function research, which was illegal since President Obama had banned it through an executive order.
In general, these kinds of conspiracy theories just collapse when you start pulling the threads.
>In general, these kinds of conspiracy theories just collapse when you start pulling the threads.
You think it's a conspiracy theory that Obama banned GoF research? OK, it was through an OSTP directive working with the NIH rather than an EO, but that's splitting hairs. It also wasn't banned, but only subject to a higher degree of scrutiny.
So it's not clear what the actual order entails and how temporary it was. And the whole advisory language ("asked scientists") seems to be kinda distinct from "banned".
> The grants are all public and document gain of function research, which was illegal since President Obama had banned it through an executive order.
In general, these kinds of conspiracy theories just collapse when you start pulling the threads.