Experts refute ‘ lab- leak’ theory
▶ Urge return to ‘ scientific, rational’ virus tracing
As the debate surrounding the origins of the COVID- 19 virus has long branched out as Western politicians and media’s muzzle of China- bashing as well as individuals’ tool to gain personal fame, Chinese and foreign scientists who buried their heads in studying the puzzle have been pushed out front, such as Shi Zhengli. They decided to break silence, and hopefully they can veer virus tracing back to a “scientific and rational” way.
In an interview with the New York Times published on Monday, Shi Zhengli, a virologist from the Wuhan Institute of Virology ( WIV), which was mired at the center of “lableak” conspiracy, said, “How on Earth can I offer evidence for something where there is no evidence?”
“I don’t know how the world has come to this, constantly pouring filth on an innocent scientist,” she said.
Shi is not the first scientist that has had enough of the conspiracy. A virologist, who is Shi’s collaborator, told the Global Times on condition of anonymity that the issue of tracing the virus origins has “definitely been politicalized to largely serve [ Western] domestic political needs such as winning elections…” “There’s no way that the virus could have been made in WIV. I am confident that science will eventually prevail by discovering the progenitor virus in nature one day!” the WIV virologist noted.
In the latest tussle, leaders of G7 countries played with the “lab- leak” conspiracy in their summit in Cornwall last week, after US President Joe Biden decided to expand an investigation by the country’s intelligence agencies into the origins of the virus.
The World Health Organization ( WHO) has made it clear that tracing of virus origins won’t be solved once and for all, according to the anonymous virologist, who noted the second- stage investigation should be expanded to different parts of the world.
The virologist debunked the accusations of Australian journalist Sheri Markson, who pieced together a video and claimed WIV kept live bats which can harbor SARS or COVID- 19 viruses. It is well known in the scientific field that the Rhinolophus bats which carry such viruses are unable to be kept live in any laboratory around the world and definitely not in WIV.
Markson’s purpose is to promote the sale of her new book, scheduled to be released in September. The WIV scientist noted that some clips of the video “unearthed” by Markson were taken from a publicity video released by the WIV in 2017. “Markson has made it as her secret discovery, which again proved that such news reports are not newsworthy and serve only the political purposes being pursued by certain journalists.”
Yuan Zhiming, director of the institute’s Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, said that lab staff have had to report on a daily basis their health condition since the outbreak of the epidemic, and the antibody tests of COVID- 19 for all staff turned out to be negative.
Epidemiologists said that the trend of politicalizing virus- tracing issues and even hyping the “lab- leak” conspiracy are standing in the way of a “scientific and rational” investigation of the puzzle. Scientists worldwide should stand together to work on this issue, as well as hobble those who wants to squeeze on this topic for their own purposes.