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‘Artificial coronavirus’ study linked to Steve Bannon and Chinese fugitive Guo Wengui
- Guo-backed Rule of Law Foundation listed on non-peer-reviewed paper’s title page
- Lead author of study is former University of Hong Kong postdoctoral researcher
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A foundation associated with fugitive Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is linked to a non-peer-reviewed study that alleges the coronavirus is an artificial pathogen.
The Rule of Law Foundation’s name appears on the title page of the paper published on the Zenodo open-access research repository on Monday.
In the paper’s abstract, the researchers said the theory of a natural origin of the coronavirus “although widely accepted, lacks substantial support”.
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“The alternative theory that the virus may have come from a research laboratory is, however, strictly censored on peer-reviewed scientific journals,” it said.
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The study’s first author is Yan Limeng, a former University of Hong Kong postdoctoral researcher who alleged in July that HKU silenced her when she claimed to have discovered early in the outbreak that the coronavirus could be transmitted between people.
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