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Scientists in China wanted to genetically engineer coronaviruses that were extremely infectious to humans and conduct experiments on live bats, 18 months before some of the first COVID-19 cases emerged... A U.S. Department of Defense Agency rejected the funding proposal, several leaked documents show.
Scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology wanted to genetically enhance coronaviruses then would later release aerosols that would contain "novel chimeric spike proteins" into cave bats in Yunnan China, according to a proposal from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency from 2018.
The purpose of this specific research was to see the risk of coronavirus and work on ways to prevent outbreaks, according to those same leaked documents.
EcoHealth Alliance, a NYC-based nonprofit that is led by a British scientist, "Peter Daszak, submitted the proposal. The $14 million grant was then rejected by DARPA after fears this could lead to gains-of-function research.
“It is clear that the proposed project led by Peter Daszak could have put local communities at risk,”
DARPA stated when rejecting the proposal.
This leaked proposal was released by Drastic Research, a group of scientists that are investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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