Josh Christenson, 2024, New York Post<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A panel of scientists fiercely debated Tuesday whether COVID-19 stemmed from a laboratory accident<\/a> or naturally spread from animals to humans, with one expert declaring there was \u201czero\u201d evidence for a natural origin of the pandemic that killed millions around the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rutgers University molecular biologist Dr. Richard Ebright said in his opening statement before the Senate Homeland Security Committee that the \u201clarge preponderance of evidence indicates SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, entered humans through a research incident.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ebright, who was joined in arguing for the so-called \u201clab-leak theory\u201d by Dr. Stephen Quay, a former professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, added that \u201cno \u2014 zero \u2014 secure evidence points to COVID\u2019s natural origins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe probability this actually came from nature based on these features is one in a million,\u201d Quay concurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, China, more than 800 miles from \u201cthe closest bats harboring SARS-CoV-2 live viruses that could have served as progenitors,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\u00a0now-debarred Wuhan Institute of Virology<\/a>\u00a0(WIV) conducted\u00a0US-funded, gain-of-function research<\/a>\u00a0on SARS-like bat viruses between 2014 and 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During that research period, the WIV conducted \u201cthe world\u2019s largest research program on bat SARS viruses\u201d and had \u201cthe world\u2019s largest collection of bat SARS viruses,\u201d Ebright added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, the Rutgers prof said, the Wuhan lab had conducted experiments with SARS viruses that had a \u201chigh pandemic potential\u201d in the four years before COVID-19 \u2014 and just one year earlier, had run research with the genetically modified SARS viruses \u201cthat match in detail the features of SARS-CoV-2.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That research was funded by a more than $4 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to the since-suspended Manhattan-based public health nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance<\/a>, about half a million dollars of which directly flowed to WIV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EcoHealth lost its status as a federal grantee for likely violating biosafety standards with its WIV project, titled \u201cUnderstanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence,\u201d and failing to immediately report the experiments, which resulted in a modified virus that was 10,000 times more infectious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EcoHealth, led by Dr. Peter Daszak, has denied that the experiments constituted gain-of-function research \u2014 despite testimony from NIH principal deputy director Dr. Lawrence Tabak last month stating that it was<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quay in his opening remarks said that scientists \u201cdependent on NIH or NIAID funding may have pressure to publicly agree with orthodoxies,\u201d such as arguing against SARS-CoV-2 escaping a research lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That implicated one of the panel\u2019s other witnesses, Dr. Robert Garry<\/a>, who has received NIH funding and authored a controversial scientific paper \u2014 prompted by then-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci<\/a> \u2014 in early 2020 to debunk the lab leak theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ebright in his opening remarks noted that the paper, \u201cThe proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2,\u201d was published in March 2020 as \u201can opinion piece,\u201d not backed by available evidence, and completely disproven by \u201cprivate communications\u201d of the authors that were released last year by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFour of the authors of that paper,\u201d he said, \u201cin their private communications show clearly that they knew the conclusion that they state in that article is invalid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scientists have twice requested the retraction of the paper, Ebright added, suggesting that its authors were guilty of \u201cscientific misconduct\u201d and potentially fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both Garry, a professor and associate dean at Tulane University School of Medicine, and Gregory Koblentz, an associate professor and director of the Biodefense Graduate Program at George Mason University, argued against the theory during the Senate hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI firmly believe the available evidence indicates that the spillover happened naturally likely at the seafood market in Wuhan, China,\u201d Garry testified, without immediately explaining the evidence that led him to that conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In subsequent questioning, the Tulane professor admitted that \u201cwe don\u2019t know\u201d whether the WIV had the virus, and \u201cwe don\u2019t have the evidence from the Chinese\u201d that points either way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am first and foremost a scientist, and I will adhere to the scientific method, so I will continue to evaluate the evidence and reassess the validity of my scientific hypotheses regarding the origin since I\u2019ve spoken to you,\u201d Garry told panel members, adding later that he still stood by the 2020 paper arguing against the lab leak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNatural spillovers have multiple markets,\u201d Quay pointed out at another point, referencing facts related to the earlier SARS virus that ripped through China beginning in 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Koblentz noted that the US intelligence community remained \u201cdivided\u201d about the origins of COVID-19, but the theory that it \u201cwas deliberately developed as a biological weapon has been unanimously rejected by all US intelligence agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rare bipartisan congressional investigation into COVID origins was presided over by the committee\u2019s chairman, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and ranking member, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who is also a doctor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe COVID-19 pandemic was one of the worst public health crises that our country has ever faced,\u201d Peters said in his opening statement. \u201cWe lost more than 1 million Americans to the virus. \u2026 Today\u2019s hearing is intended to examine the available scientific evidence related to the virus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGiven the likelihood that the Chinese government may never fully disclose all the information they have about the initial COVID-19 outbreak, we must use the scientific information available to better prepare for future potential pandemics,\u201d Peters affirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul in his opening remarks highlighted the \u201cprivate doubts\u201d of many of the lab leak opponents \u2014 who smeared those skeptical of a natural origin as \u201cconspiracy theorists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe cover up went beyond public statements, federal agencies and key officials withheld and continue to conceal crucial information from both Congress and the public,\u201d Paul said, thanking Peters for joining him in leading the committee hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHHS and NIH have not produced documents related to the gain of function research that the chairman and I requested over a year ago,\u201d he added, \u201cand they\u2019re still resisting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Josh Christenson, 2024, New York Post A panel of scientists fiercely debated Tuesday whether COVID-19 stemmed from a laboratory accident or naturally spread from animals to humans, with one expert declaring there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[272,651],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lab-leak","category-wuhan-labs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9785,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9784\/revisions\/9785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}