At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, several prominent politicians and scientists suggested that the virus, SARS-CoV-2, was leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. Other hypotheses included suggestions that the virus jumped from animals to humans in a “wet” meat market in Wuhan.
Early censorship of lab leak hypothesis
The lab-leak hypothesis faced considerable derision and censoring in both the mainstream media and social media. However, now the evidence that the virus did leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology is mounting, and the mainstream media is finally taking notice.
A great deal of evidence exists that the Wuhan Institute of Virology participated in “gain-of-function” research on coronaviruses in collaboration with U.S. scientists. In fact, the institute received funding from the National Institutes for Health (U.S.). In addition, the evidence seems overwhelming now that the SARS-CoV-2 virus did come from a lab.
The censorship created an atmosphere that chilled investigations and conversations about the source of COVID-19. The COVID-19 science cult came “out of science, expertise, the university system, executive-branch ‘norms,’ the ‘intelligence community,’ the State Department, NGOs, the legacy news media, and the hierarchy of credentialed achievement in general.” That cult is now falling away to the truth.
Fauci supported the natural origin theory of SARS-CoV-2
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), supported the natural-origin theory for SARS-CoV-2 from the beginning. The MSM republished Fauci’s statements as hard proof that the lab-leak theory was just another extremist conspiracy theory.
However, Fauci has now flip-flopped. He is no longer convinced in the natural origin. He says that we must continue to investigate “what went on in China until we find out, to the best of our ability, what happened.” The flip-flop should be a warning to the MSM who took Fauci’s opinion as incontrovertible proof.
If SARS-CoV-2 did leak from a lab, especially a lab involved in gain-of-function research, it could damage the faith of many who rely on experts to inform them of the dangers. It calls into question every other thing the experts have reported about COVID-19.
Evidence pointed to a lab-leak from the beginning
In February 2020, some scientists and doctors pointed to certain details that seemed to be signs of a laboratory escape. The MSM dismissed these early reports. Yet, an essay in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in May 2021 published scientific facts about the potential origin of SARS-CoV-2.
Peter Daszak, EcoHealth Alliance president, funded controversial gain-of-function (GOF) research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). In addition, NIAID, a part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, gave funding to the EcoHealth Alliance, which then passed it through to WIV.
In February 2020, a group of virologists published a letter in the Lancet, which said they “overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife,” and calling the lab leak theory a conspiracy, adding, “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.”
We are now learning that the letter was not based on an independent investigation. Instead, it was a poor attempt at PR.
As the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists reported:
“It later turned out that the Lancet letter had been organized and drafted by Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance of New York. Daszak’s organization funded coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
If the SARS2 virus had indeed escaped from research he funded, Daszak would be potentially culpable. This acute conflict of interest was not declared to the Lancet’s readers. To the contrary, the letter concluded, ‘We declare no competing interests.’”
U.S. columnist Thomas Frank has published a list of details that support the lab-leak theory including:
- “Laboratory accidents happen regularly. From January 1, 2015, to June 1, 2020, 28 lab incidents were reported at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s biosafety level 3 labs, for instance. All involved genetically engineered organisms and six involved lab-created coronaviruses.
- Daszak, despite working closely with WIV, was part of the World Health Organization’s investigative team charged with identifying the origin of SARS-CoV-2; the team dismissed the lab-accident theory.
- We know with great certainty that researchers at the WIV had access to and were doing gain-of-function research on coronaviruses. We also know that they collaborated with scientists in the U.S., and received funding from the National Institutes of Health for such research.”
In addition, Peter Gøtzsche with the Institute for Scientific Freedom noted:
“Researchers at the Wuhan Institute were led by China’s leading expert on bat viruses, Dr. Shi Zheng-li. Shi teamed up with Ralph S. Baric from the University of North Carolina who pioneered techniques for genetically manipulating these viruses, which became a major aspect of research at the Wuhan Institute.
Their work focused on enhancing the ability of bat viruses to attack humans so as to ‘examine the emergence potential.’
In 2015, they created a novel virus by taking the backbone of the SARS virus, replacing its spike protein with one from another bat virus known as SHC014-CoV. This manufactured virus was able to infect a lab culture of cells from the human airways.
They wrote that scientific review panels might deem their research too risky to pursue but argued that it had the potential to prepare for and mitigate future outbreaks. However, the value of gain-of-function studies in preventing the COVID-19 pandemic was negative, as this research highly likely created the pandemic.
On 9 December 2019, just before the outbreak of the pandemic, Daszak gave an interview in which he talked in glowing terms of how his researchers at the Wuhan Institute had created over 100 new SARS-related coronaviruses, some of which could get into human cells and could cause untreatable SARS disease in humanized mice …”
Increasing calls for the truth
The U.S. government has recently stated that it will continue to investigate the true origin of COVID-19. The Chinese Communist Party has stated that no more investigation is necessary. Beijing considers the investigation to be complete. Still, a U.S. investigation is expected to examine the information from WIV held by NIH, NIAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security, EcoHealth Alliance, and the National Science Foundation.
The U.S. Senate passed an amendment seeking a ban on future U.S. funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology. A separate amendment bans U.S. funding for gain-of-function research in China. This is the first step but doesn’t go far enough. The United States must ban gain-of-function research occurring here in the States, and it must be the leader and encourage other countries to do the same. Unless this happens, there’s nothing to prevent researchers from creating another deadly pathogen that would never have arisen naturally.
U.S. lawmakers have also begun to push for their own investigations. Josh Rogin wrote in The Washington Post:
“Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told me he is preparing sanctions legislation to push for a transparent forensic investigation into the Wuhan lab and ‘impose costs if Beijing doesn’t allow one.’
Lawmakers also want to probe the failures of the U.S. intelligence agencies, especially how they failed at intelligence on the origin of COVID-19. How could they not know of the U.S./Chinese collaboration conducting very risky research? We cannot allow the intelligence community to investigate itself.
The investigations will face considerable obstacles. The WIV has deleted all mention of its collaborative efforts with the NIH, NIAID, and other U.S. research partners from its website after Fauci testified to the Senate in March 2021.
In addition, Rogin noted:
“Some say there’s little likelihood that the intelligence community or Congress will be able to find a conclusive answer on the lab leak theory in 90 days — if ever. Biden alluded to this possibility in his statement, saying Beijing’s actions to cover up and conceal events in Wuhan early on ‘will always hamper any investigation into the origin of covid-19.’”
Still, the mounting evidence points towards SARS-CoV-2 originating in a lab, and that lab is most likely the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The researchers most likely manipulated the virus to increase its infectiousness and pathology in humans. When this is confirmed, the investigations must look into the early censorship of concerned scientists and doctors who spoke up against the COVID-19 science cult.