Thread by @PeterDaszak

Prof Shi Zhengli re. call for more focus on lab-leak hypothesis: ".. will definitely damage the reputation & enthusiasm of scientists [working] on animal viruses which have potential spillover risk ..& weaken our ability ..to prevent the next pandemic.” technologyreview.com/2021/05/13/102…

Robert Garry @utmbhealth "“distracts from important work needed to identify the source of SARS-CoV-2..& completely misrepresents the outcomes of @WHO report [that] adds to the large volume of epidemiological and genomic data supporting zoonotic emergence" wsj.com/articles/scien…

.@K_G_Andersen "Letter suggests a false equivalence between the lab escape & natural origin scenarios. To this day no credible evidence has been presented to support the lab leak hypothesis, which remains grounded in speculation.” nytimes.com/2021/05/13/sci…

.@angie_rasmussen supports further investigation, but said that “there is more evidence (both genomic & historical precedent) that this was the result of zoonotic emergence rather than a laboratory accident.” nytimes.com/2021/05/13/sci…

.@ScienceMagazine editor @hholdenthorp on why publishing this letter in a scientific journal is appropriate as a venue for balanced debate. blogs.sciencemag.org/editors-blog/2…

The letter's comment that "there were no findings in clear support of either a natural spillover or a lab accident.." ignores a wealth of data supporting a 'natural spillover' & a complete lack of data suggesting a lab accident. For example.... science.sciencemag.org/content/372/65…

Evidence that there is a signficant diversity of related bat-CoVs in China and SE Asia:

https://twitter.com/PeterDaszak/status/1267474894671024132?s=20

..evidence that people in rural China (and likely throughout SE Asia) are exposed to these viruses on a daily basis in their ordinary lives, incl. 3% serology to bat-CoVs prior to COVID at one site: ecohealthalliance.org/wp-content/upl…

Evidence (from WIV research!) that bat-SARSr-CoVs capable of binding to human ACE2 were present in bat caves in China, e.g. ecohealthalliance.org/wp-content/upl…

Evidence that the wildlife farms of S. China employed 14 million people in 2016, in an industry worth $77bn (see @IPBES #PandemicsReport, & (from @WHO report), that this was supplying the Huanan Market w/ known SARS-CoV-2 reservoirs! ipbes.net/pandemics

The goal of the @WHO report is to prioritise the most important pathways for further investigation, based on known & gathered evidence. By failing to balance all this evidence, the letter fails in its critique of @WHO.