Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32840850›Full record

ArticleJournal of bioethical inquiry2020

In the Shadow of Biological Warfare: Conspiracy Theories on the Origins of COVID-19 and Enhancing Global Governance of Biosafety as a Matter of Urgency.

Jing-Bao Nie

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of bioethical inquiry, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
15citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Review
  5. Establishing a national biosafety and biosecurity agency for the United States.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2024
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Review
  10. The Global Regulation of "Fake News" in the Time of Oxymora: Facts and Fictions about the Covid-19 Pandemic as Coincidences or Predictive Programming?International journal for the semiotics of law = Revue internationale de semiotique juridique · 2022
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. COVID-19 Information Sources and Misinformation by Faith Community.Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financing
    Article
  15. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Jing-Bao NieBioethics Centre, Otago Medical School, University of Otago, 60 Clyde Street, Dunedin, 9056, New Zealand. jing-bao.nie@otago.ac.nz.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1570-2254

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Two theories on the origins of COVID-19 have been widely circulating in China and the West respectively, one blaming the United States and the other a highest-level biocontainment laboratory in Wuhan, the initial epicentre of the pandemic. Both theories make claims of biological warfare attempts. According to the available scientific evidence, these claims are groundless. However, like the episodes of biological warfare during the mid-twentieth century, the spread of these present-day conspiracy theories reflects a series of longstanding and damaging trends in the international scene which include deep mistrust, animosities, the power of ideologies such as nationalism, and the sacrifice of truth in propaganda campaigns. Also, the threats associated with biological warfare, bioterrorism, and the accidental leakage of deadly viruses from labs are real and growing. Thus, developing a better global governance of biosafety and biosecurity than exists at present is an urgent imperative for the international community in the broader context of a looming Cold War II. For such a governance, an ethical framework is proposed based upon the triple ethical values of transparency, trust, and the common good of humanity.

Indexed as

Biological WarfareContainment of BiohazardsGovernmentInternational CooperationSARS-CoV-2BioterrorismChinaCOVID-19GuiltHumanismHumansPandemicsTrustUnited StatesVirusesBiological warfareBiosafety and biosecurityChinaGlobal governanceOrigins of COVID-19P4 or BSL-4 labUSA

Identifiers

PMID32840850
PMCPMC7445685

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.