The Code as Witness

The Code as Witness by Steven Quay is thrilling to read. Quay’s systematic, thorough, and detailed investigation into exactly where and how the COVID-19 virus emerged leaves no reasonable doubt that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was a benign bat virus that was manipulated in a laboratory to make it more virulent. Most importantly, Quay points out that any gain-of-function research on deadly viruses must be highly regulated and controlled to prevent the outbreak of catastrophes like COVID-19. I agree 100%.

—Dr. Louis J Ignarro, PhD

Professor Emeritus, Pharmacology

UCLA School of Medicine

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1998

This book provides a definitive answer to the longstanding question of the origin of SARS-CoV-2. But it is more than that - a wonderful affirmation of science, and a medical detective story, exceptionally well written for a general audience, in the tradition of Microbe Hunters and other great books.

—Roger D. Kornberg, PhD

Mrs. George A. Winzer Professor of Medicine

Stanford School of Medicine

Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2006

Dr. Steven Quay was among the very first scientists and doctors to sound boldly the alarm that China’s Wuhan virology laboratory was the likely font of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this riveting account of the birth and spread of—and catastrophic damage from—the virus, he collects a vast array of genetic evidence, medical experience, and public policy expertise to explain in layman’s terms what went terribly wrong both in China and in the reaction throughout the Western world. And most importantly, Quay demonstrates how and why we must protect ourselves from the next deadly global pandemic.

—Victor Davis Hanson, PhD

Martin and Ellie Anderson, Senior Fellow

Classics and Military History

The Hoover Institution, Stanford University

From the outset of the pandemic, Dr. Quay knew something was amiss. When the COVID-19 genome was released, he suspected the virus had been tampered with in a lab in Wuhan. I respected his analysis such that I invited him to testify before the Senate concerning the lab leak and how to make sure such a man-made catastrophe never happens again. Dr. Quay’s new book takes you behind the scenes to discover how a man-made virus escaped the lab and killed millions of people across the globe. A must read.

—Rand Paul, MD

US Senator (R-KY) Chair, Homeland Security Committee

In The Code as Witness, Dr. Steven Quay delivers a masterclass in scientific sleuthing and moral clarity. With the precision of a molecular biologist and the urgency of a wartime reporter, he deciphers the genetic breadcrumbs left in the wake of a global crisis. This is not just a book, it’s a forensic indictment wrapped in a page-turning narrative. Quay stands as a witness for the truth when it matters most. A courageous and essential read.

—Miles Yu, PhD

Principal China policy and planning advisor to Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Professor of History

Director, Center for Regional Studies

United States Naval Academy

The origin of the SARS-CoV2 virus is no longer a mystery. In the clearest and most comprehensive analysis so far, Dr. Steven Quay shows how the many different features of the virus’s molecular anatomy and epidemiology have a single explanation – the escape of the virus from the lab in which it was concocted.

Quay’s lucid descriptions make this discovery seem obvious and easy. In fact, it was the opposite. Two vigorous efforts to suppress the truth – by the Chinese government and by a coterie of Western scientists with a vested interest in manipulating viruses – deceived the public and governments for years into supposing the virus had a natural origin.

From the outset, a mere handful of independent scientists, Steven Quay prominent among them, were skeptical of the establishment view led by the senior NIH officials Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins and strove against heavy odds to make the truth emerge. Quay’s new book, a thrilling piece of scientific detective work, makes clear that SARS-CoV2 and the Covid-19 pandemic were the dark fruit of a program of virus manipulation sponsored by the US and Chinese governments. A careful set of proposals lays out how to avoid repeating these catastrophic errors.

—Nicholas Wade

Science Editor (Former) The New York Times

Dr. Quay’s book is a tour de force explanation of the origins of COVID-19 and the dangerous and dubious science experiments that contributed to COVID’s creation, accidental promulgation, and global coverup. It is a Frankenstein-like story of scientific hubris, arrogance, and malfeasance. Quay describes in great detail the perilous process of Chinese researchers and international partners used to create new and novel pathogens via a process he describes as “gain of opportunity.” In Wuhan, viruses that never could have been created in nature were synthetically developed in labs with dangerous dual use research programs, with secret Chinese Military Biological Warfare funding strategically and insanely aided and abetted by the US National Institutes of Health, DOD, and USAID in the name of “biodefense.” Quay concludes by calling for the cessation of funding for gain of function built virological agents, pathogens, and platforms and the creation of regulations, intelligence, and oversight to ensure that a man-made global pathogenic disaster never happens again.

—David Asher, PhD (Oxford)

Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute

Chair, Task Force on Origins of COVID-19,

Office of the Secretary of State,

Michael Pompeo (2020)

Steven Quay is the scientific expert on the origins of Covid. Not only is his analysis careful and precise, but he has made some remarkable discoveries, solidly based in science, that everyone else had missed. This is the book to read if you want to know what really happened.

—Richard Muller, PhD

Professor Emeritus, Physics University of California at Berkeley

This is a sobering and scary read that deserves serious attention. Regardless of the verdict on the origin of COVID, we have struck a fragile detente with the microbes that surround us. Recognizing how fragile the balance is, research like that described here to gain the upper hand is fraught with risks of upsetting that balance with catastrophic consequences. Quay has done a service to sound the alarm and call for constraints and controls.

—Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD

20th Commissioner, FDA (2006-09)

12th Director, National Cancer Institute, (2002-06)

Steven Quay has given us two tremendous gifts with his book The Code as Witness. First, he provides an apolitical, scientifically rigorous examination of COVID’s genetic origin that spawned a global pandemic. Second, he offers a practical policy prescription to prevent the next one.

—Robert Kadlec, MD

Former Asst. Secretary

HHS for Preparedness and Response

Co-Conceiver, Operation Warp Speed

On his own time and at his own expense, Steven Quay has been a persistent and diligent investigator into the origin of the Covid pandemic. What he found out about the genes of the virus, the schemes of some scientists and the obfuscations of some politicians is a true-life horror story that will grip and shock the reader. This is a vital telling of the greatest scandal of our time.

—Matt Ridley Author of Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19

As the medical and intelligence worlds continue to debate the cause of the COVID pandemic, Dr. Quay provides additional scientific analysis of his theory of causation. A must read for all!

—VADM (Ret.) Richard Carmona, MD, MPH, FACS 17th Surgeon General of The United States

As the first to uncover genetic evidence proving SARS-CoV-2’s lab origins, Dr. Steven Quay’s expertise inspired me to sound the alarm, and The Code as Witness brilliantly exposes the virus’s creation, spread, and cover-up, decisively debunking myths like the raccoon-dog theory. Importantly, he also provides a host of potential remedies to prevent the next pandemic, making the book a blueprint for policy makers and legislators.

—Roger Marshall, MD

US Senator (R-KS) Member, Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP)

A well-researched and compelling analysis that evaluates the potential origins of the virus responsible for the global Covid-19 pandemic, written by a highly accomplished physician-scientist author that has provided testimony as an expert witness to the United States Senate and Congress. Essential reading for anyone interested in why and how the pandemic may have started.

—Stephen Higgs, PhD, FRES, FASTMH Past President Amer. Society of Tropical Med. and Hygiene

Steven Quay has been asking and seeking to answer essential questions about COVID-19 origins since the pandemic’s earliest days. The Code as Witness outlines his important efforts, lays out the scientific case for a COVID-19 research-related origin in significant detail, and suggests a path toward building a safer future. It is a must-read book for anyone interested in understanding what went wrong and how we can and must do better in the future.

—Jamie Metzl, PhD, JD

Bestselling author of Hacking Darwin and Superconvergence

WHO Advisory Committee,

Developing Global Standards for Governance and Oversight of Human Genome Editing

Excellent and accessible summary of the facts surrounding the most consequential human-caused disaster since World War II and most consequential scientific failure in history. Essential reading for any scientist, science administrator, science journalist, or science historian. Recommended reading for any member of the public or maker of policy who wishes to understand why 20 million died, and $25 trillion was lost in a predictable and preventable lab-generated pandemic or who wishes to understand how to prevent a next lab-generated pandemic.

—Richard High Ebright, PhD

Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers University and Laboratory Director at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology

I eagerly look forward to studying Steven Quay’s new book, The Code as Witness. I know that Steven has the scientific rigor worthy of this international conundrum, and the courage to corral the facts to their conclusion. Many, many great people had their lives shortened, but the task is clear, to make sure that particular series of events do not repeat again, and it is only science without short-term politics that can ensure that outcome.

—The Lord Borwick of Hawkshead

Member of the Science and Technology Select Committee House of Lords, UK Parliment

Dr Quay’s new book is needed and timely. After years of confusing political and scientific claims and counter assertions, The Code as Witness focuses on the virus and its genome and the information conveyed. Beyond analysis, Dr Quay presents policies to help avoid possibly new and more deadly pandemics.

—James A. Kelly

Former Asst. Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs

I have known Steven Quay since soon after he began investigating COVID-19’s origins. He is a thoughtful, methodical, and thorough scientist who pursues the truth with no political agenda guiding his deliberations. I can think of no one better qualified to locate the exact spot from which this deadly virus erupted and began its deadly march around the Earth.

—Deroy Murdock, MBA

Fox News Contributor

Emeritus Media Fellow, Hoover Institute

Dr. Quay provides a good review of the circumstantial evidence, biological and epidemiological clues, and preponderance of risk factors that have quasi-exclusively piled up on the side of a research-related accident, despite the politically motivated narrative to the contrary. This book blows that into pieces.

—Gilles Demaneuf

Engineer and Data Scientist

Co-founder of DRASTIC and member of the “Paris Group”

—John Walters

President and CEO

Hudson Institute

Dr. Quay leads us - calmly, expertly - on a gripping tour of scientific discovery about the origins of a novel virus that has killed perhaps 30 million people worldwide since 2019. It is the duty of conscientious people to heed the implications and recommendations of this important book.

—Matt Pottinger

32nd U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor (2019-21)

Chairman, China Program

Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Steven Carl Quay is a physician-scientist and founder of Seattle-based Atossa Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ATOS), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. He received his M.D., M.S., and Ph.D. from The University of Michigan, was a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Nobel Laureate H. Gobind Khorana, a resident at the Harvard-Massachusetts General Hospital, a facility member of Harvard Medical School, and was on the faculty of Stanford University School of Medicine for a decade. His 390+ scientific contributions to medicine have been cited over 12,000 times, placing him in the top 1% of scientists worldwide. He is the author of two Amazon Best Seller books related to the COVID-19 Pandemic and has testified before the US Congress on medical research and healthcare national policy issues, as well as advised the US State Department on complex medical questions related to national security. He has founded six startups, invented seven FDA-approved pharmaceuticals, and holds 91 US patents for inventions in 22 different fields of medicine. The medicines he has invented have been used by over 80 million people worldwide. His current passion is the prevention of the two million yearly breast cancer cases worldwide. A TEDx talk he delivered on breast cancer prevention has been viewed over 220,000 times. He is now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute with a portfolio including National Security and the Confluence of Artificial Intelligence and Synthetic Biology.