You call genetically engineering a pathogen orders of magnitude more lethal - and then specifically tweaking it for mammalian systems - "playing with ferrets". Sorry, but that's absolutely delusional. If you want to be an apologist for these scientists, you're free to do so of course. As someone who has considerable experience in the field, I can confirm that academic science has degraded to the point where Fiat money printing can incentivize researchers and professors to conduct abhorrent behavior. This needs to be talked about.

I'm upset that my children may be born into a world where some unelected bureaucrats in the NIH get to play god and test their sick experiments on the world's population.

Did you even read the article?

"In 2017, a change made under their watch removed the committee’s power to block the projects, recasting the panel as strictly an advisory body.

Another change at that time redefined gain-of-function research, giving NIH leaders greater leeway to approve projects without referring them to the review committee. Some researchers had complained that far-reaching reviews would slow NIH approvals and scientific progress."

And by the way, this is the Bezos Post talking. This was untouchable content just a few months ago. We must acknowledge the shocking pace of this narrative shift.