WU WHAT?
Nearly all Lancet scientists who publicly trashed Covid lab leak theory have links to Wuhan research, report says
16:52, 11 Sep 2021
Updated: 16:27, 15 Sep 2021
TWENTY six of the twenty-seven scientists who publicly trashed the Covid lab leak theory have links to Wuhan researchers, it has been reported.
The group published a letter in March last year denouncing “conspiracy theories” that the virus was made or leaked from the centre in the Chinese city.
But now an investigation by the Daily Telegraph into the signatories of that letter, have revealed that nearly all of them have some link to the Wuhan Institute of Virology – raising serious questions about their impartiality.
They include Dr Peter Daszak, the British president of EcoHealth Alliance, and UK Government scientific adviser Sir Jeremy Farrar.
Only one - Dr Ronald Corley, a microbiology expert from Boston University - has been found to have no links back to funders or researchers at the Wuhan institute.
Only in February this year, the World Health Organisation rejected the idea that Covid began in a Wuhan wet market or was the result of a lab leak.
But, for scientists who have tried to prove otherwise, including Professor Angus Dalgleish and Norwegian scientist Birger Sorensen, this latest news lays further claim that there has been an “extreme cover-up”, the Telegraph reports.
Commenting on the discovery, Dalgleish and Sorensen said the findings “show beyond reasonable doubt that our entire area of virus research has been contaminated politically.
“We bear the scars to show it,” they added.
'EXTREME COVER UP'
The information of their involvement with the Institute came after Dr Peter Daszak was removed from the United Nations commission investigating the origins of Covid.
Reports revealed that the EcoHealth Alliance, for which he is President, had funneled taxpayer cash to WIV to carry out gain of function research of bat-based coronaviruses.
The 55-year-old has a close relationship with the lab's chief Dr Shi Zhengli - dubbed "Batwoman" - and was last year jovially tweeting about singing karaoke with her and "partying in a bat cave" amid the pandemic.
WIV however are the prime suspect as circumstantial evidence mounts that link the origins of the virus to a lab leak as the US ordered a "redoubled" probe.
Dr Daszak was part of the much derided WHO investigation which visited Wuhan early this year, only to have its findings dismissed as a "whitewash" and then be undermined by WHO's director on the same day as its release.
And while an appendix was added to the to The Lancet letter in June this year, pointing out Mr Daszak’s links to Wuhan, no others revealed any conflict of interest came to light until the new reports surfaced now.
Dr Peter Palese, a microbiologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, signed the Lancet letter but now acknowledges there are serious questions about the origins of the virus.
The 77-year-old told MailOnline in June: "I believe a thorough investigation about the origin of the Covid-19 virus is needed.
"'A lot of disturbing information has surfaced since the Lancet letter I signed, so I want to see answers covering all questions."
Dr Daszak had also previously denied that live bats were being studied at WIV - only for footage to emerging appearing to show the animals being handled at the lab.
He had already backpedaled on his comments and revealed they didn't even ask if WIV kept live bats when they visited as part of the WHO probe.
What do we know about the Wuhan Institute of Virology?
THE Wuhan Institute of Virology is the highest security lab of its kind in all of China - and can be found right at the heart of the origins of the pandemic.
Various theories have been reported about the lab, which is headed up by scientist Dr Shi Zhengli, known as “Bat Woman”.
The lab specialises in bat-borne viruses and had been carrying out experiences on them since 2015.
Airlocks, full body suits, and chemical showers are required before entering and leaving the facility - the first in China to be accredited with biosafety level 4 (BSL-4).
BSL-4 labs are the only areas in the world where scientists are permitted to study diseases that have no cure.
Scientists from the lab even tested a mysterious virus which killed three miners 1,000 miles away in Yunnan province back in 2012.
It has been suggested this fatal bug may have been the true origin of Covid-19.
Experts at the lab also engineered a new type of hybrid 'super-virus' that can infect humans in 2015, according to journal Nature Medicine
The study was designed to show the risk of viruses carried by bats which could be transmitted to humans.
There is no suggestion the facility's 2015 work is linked to the pandemic and the facility denies the lab leak claims.
The lab was also recruiting new scientists to probe coronaviruses in bats just seven days before the outbreak.
Covid may have escaped by a researcher getting infected, improperly disposed of waste, or potential breaches in the security at the lab.
China meanwhile, has long been accused of covering up or distorting its role in the early days of the pandemic, with claims the Communist Party manipulated case and death figures while withholding information from WHO.
Beijing has a history of lab leaks in which deadly viruses have accidentally escaped and critics have highlighted what they allege is a gung-ho approach to safety.
There is currently no evidence to suggest the virus was intentionally released by China.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/16110791/lancet-scientists-links-wuhan-research-report-says/
COVID-19: '26 out of 27 scientists, who dismissed Wuhan lab leak theory, had connections to Chinese lab'
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| File: In this file photo dated January 31, 2021, security personnel clear the way for a convoy of the World Health Organization team to enter the Huanan Seafood Market on the third day of field visit in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province | Photo Credit: AP |
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Twenty-seven scientists signed The Lancet letter last year, effectively ending the debate about whether coronavirus was manipulated or leaked from the Chinese lab
- The letter was initiated by British zoologist Peter Daszak
- Peter Daszak heads the US-based nonprofit organisation EcoHealth Alliance, which has ties to China directly
New Delhi: A media report has suggested that scientists who rejected the theory that COVID-19 leaked from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) were associated with the lab.
The Telegraph reported that all except one of the scientists who signed a letter published in The Lancet in March 2020 rejecting the lab-leak theory have links with Chinese researchers, their colleagues, or funders.
Twenty-seven scientists signed The Lancet letter, initiated by British zoologist Peter Daszak, effectively ending the debate about whether coronavirus was manipulated or leaked from the Chinese lab.
Daszak heads the US-based nonprofit organisation EcoHealth Alliance, which has ties to China directly. Additionally, this firm has funded research at WIV.
The signatories said they "strongly condemned the conspiracy theories" concerning the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, said the report.
Using a Freedom of Information request, it was revealed that Daszak sent an e-mail on February 8 that stated "collaborators" in China urged him to write the letter as a "show of support".
Express.co.uk reported citing the newspaper that Daszak eventually acknowledged his involvement with the EcoHealth Alliance, but omitted to mention that five other signatories also worked for it.
In addition, three of the signatories of The Lancet letter are individuals who work for Britain's Wellcome Trust, which has funded WIV research. Notably, Sir Jeremy Farrar, the director of the Trust and a member of Sage, calls George Gao, the director of the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control, an "old friend".
The report said Gao, who is also an ex-Wellcome Trust research assistant, supported Daszak's nomination to the National Academy of Sciences.
The origin of COVID-19 remains unknown almost two years after it was first discovered in Wuhan, China. There have been several claims made by scientists and governments around the world. A recent US intelligence report was unable to determine whether the novel coronavirus jumped to humans naturally or as the result of a laboratory leak.
In the meantime, the US' involvement has also been discussed a lot.
According to a book by Australian journalist Sharri Markson, the US cash funded the Wuhan virology lab.
