What they were researching was the mechanisms that cause the viruses to first leap from animals to humans, something very important to understand in preventing future outbreaks of such dangerous viruses. SARS, Swine Flu, Avian Flu, Ebola, HIV, etc.
Sometimes things in science can be dangerous, or can be later misused, but that doesn't mean the research to understand how animal to human transmission happens in the first place is necessarily nefarious or done with the intent to weaponize, etc.
I know "gain of function" is easy to misrepresent to be some evil weaponization thing, but that's not actually what was being studied or why.
Not actually true.
What they were researching was the mechanisms that cause the viruses to first leap from animals to humans, something very important to understand in preventing future outbreaks of such dangerous viruses. SARS, Swine Flu, Avian Flu, Ebola, HIV, etc.
Sometimes things in science can be dangerous, or can be later misused, but that doesn't mean the research to understand how animal to human transmission happens in the first place is necessarily nefarious or done with the intent to weaponize, etc.
I know "gain of function" is easy to misrepresent to be some evil weaponization thing, but that's not actually what was being studied or why.