The dangers associated with gain-of-function research have been widely discussed for a long time. Here is an article in @ScienceMagazine from January 2013, warning of the dangers of GOF research, and accusing NIH and Fauci of complacency in the face of the risks. pic.twitter.com/20pTE5BRZd

— Nils Gilman (@nils_gilman) May 28, 2021

Yep. I remember reading articles about this in the late 1990s. It’s not like that GOF research being very risky is some novel and crazy idea.