Alina Chan Profile picture
Nov 5, 2021 9 tweets 4 min read Read on X
If the problem with some lab leak proponents is that they’re “just asking questions”, then the problem with some natural spillover proponents is that they “don’t ask questions”.

From day 1, some believed SARS2 must’ve come from a market, everything else could not be questioned.
The amount of misinfo coming from both sides has been comparable, but in-field experts should be held to a higher standard because their word is taken at face value by journalists and the public.

Yet we have seen zero accountability for the misinformation spread by some experts.
Have any of the experts who cast the lab origin hypothesis as a conspiracy theory taken any responsibility for their anti-scientific statements?

Have any of the journalists misled by them gone back to these experts and said wtf?
Probably a good time to start going through the numerous articles in 2020 and even 2021, published by top media outlets quoting Peter Daszak and friends without question, to start adding much needed clarifications on the EcoHealth’s COIs re: the #OriginOfCovid
Many of the COIs we’ve seen are not even slightly nebulous. Many of the #OriginOfCovid advisors and investigators have strong financial, personal, professional, reputational interests in making sure this virus didn’t come from a lab.
Somehow it has recently upgraded to “let’s not investigate the #OriginOfCovid because the world can’t handle knowing that the virus likely came from a lab”

I find this more honest than “lab leak is a conspiracy theory” but still anti-scientific.
Stop reassuring each other that the #OriginOfCovid will never be found.

Some people might already know the origin but need to wait for a safer time to blow the whistle.

Let’s focus on making best efforts to investigate and also make pathogen research safer.
It doesn't help that, in July, 40+ science orgs wrote:

"We urge [Congress] to reject attempts to impose restrictions on federally funded research or the operations of federal science agencies based on premature conclusions about how the pandemic emerged." asm.org/Articles/Polic…
There are some scientists who will refuse to implement new framework+oversight over risky pathogen research until someone shows them an authenticated video from 2019 of a tube labeled SARSrCoV with novel FCS spilling directly into the mouth of a scientist in Wuhan.

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More from @Ayjchan

Feb 5
There is speculation that US funded collaborations with the Wuhan Institute of Virology to keep an eye on virus research there.

The problem is that, when a pandemic happened, the middleman did not produce intelligence but also actively suppressed the lab leak theory.
When the SARS-CoV-2 sequence was released in Jan 2020, EcoHealth could've said
1⃣They planned to put furin cleavage sites in SARS-like viruses
2⃣In 2013, the Wuhan lab discovered a new lineage of SARS-like viruses that the covid virus belongs to
3⃣Work was done at low biosafety
Instead we had to go through 5 years of the lab leak hypothesis being painted as a racist, anti-science conspiracy theory and a ton of misinformation from EcoHealth about the work being done in Wuhan.
Read 7 tweets
Jan 9
No punches pulled piece on #OriginOfCovid by @ianbirrell

"The pandemic revealed the arrogant and contemptuous behaviour of leading scientific figures, aided by prominent academic journals, patsy journalists and weak politicians."
unherd.com/2025/01/chinas…
@ianbirrell I suggest one correction @ianbirrell please replace 'despite' with 'because of':

WHO "hired Sir Jeremy Farrar, despite the former Wellcome Trust boss’s exposure as a central player in... branding any suggestions Covid could have come from a laboratory as conspiracy theory."
@ianbirrell On Feb 19, 2020, the authors of Proximal Origin realized that Jeremy Farrar - who had convened them and led their efforts - had signed the Lancet letter by Daszak condemning all lab #OriginOfCovid as conspiracy theories. Image
Read 5 tweets
Jan 5
5 years ago, the authors of Proximal Origin wondered where the pandemic virus had been transmitting *intensely* so that it gained a furin cleavage site and passed it on.

One said, "No way the selection could occur in the market. Too low a density of mammals." #OriginOfCovid Image
Until today, there has been no reported sign of intense transmission of the virus in animals prior to the detected outbreak in Wuhan.

Investigators, including one Proximal Origin author, searched fur farms in China - no sign of any SARS-like virus.
nature.com/articles/s4158…
On the other hand, a 2018 research proposal surfaced, showing Wuhan and US scientists with a plan to insert novel furin cleavage sites into novel SARS-like viruses.
theintercept.com/2021/09/23/cor…
Read 8 tweets
Jan 1
"5% chance that H5N1 starts a sustained pandemic in humans in the next year. 50% chance that H5N1 starts a sustained pandemic in humans in the next twenty years..."

I invite @slatestarcodex to estimate the chances of a lab-based flu pandemic by 2025!
astralcodexten.com/p/h5n1-much-mo…
@slatestarcodex For consideration, only 4 projects have been flagged by NIH for HHS review since 2017.

One project, funded till 2020, proposed creating ferret transmissible H5N1.

One project, proposed in 2024, was not funded by NIH so no info was made public.
aspr.hhs.gov/S3/Pages/Resea…Image
@slatestarcodex In addition, under the new US gov policy on research that enhances the pandemic potential of pathogens, it will be the funding recipient (not the funder) who is responsible for flagging their own federally funded projects for review.
liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.108…
Read 5 tweets
Dec 23, 2024
Peter Daszak, who partnered with the Wuhan lab that likely caused the pandemic and is being debarred by HHS, continues to chair @NASEM_Health's forum on microbial threats.

Daszak's forum is hosting @theNASEM workshop on the future emergence of pathogens.
nationalacademies.org/event/43921_01…
@NASEM_Health @theNASEM The event disclaimer and website make no mention of Daszak's involvement in this event or any conflicts of interest. Image
@NASEM_Health @theNASEM This echoes Daszak's behind-the-scenes coordination of the infamous letter in @TheLancet casting lab #OriginOfCovid as a conspiracy theory without disclosing his conflicts of interest.

Read the story about this letter in @theintercept
theintercept.com/2021/09/23/cor…
Read 7 tweets
Dec 22, 2024
In 2020, leading virologists deceived a @nytimes journalist, resulting in NYT dropping the lab leak hypothesis.

Years later, these virologists continue to deny their perfidy while attacking experts like @sigridbratlie who call out their deception.
telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2024/0…
@nytimes @sigridbratlie At the @USFHealth Covid meeting, natural #OriginOfCovid proponents exalted one of these virologists.

Thankfully @ewinsberg read out the slack messages of these virologists which completely contrasted with their public stance.
@nytimes @sigridbratlie @USFHealth @ewinsberg Some consider the lies of leading virologists as indirect evidence for a lab #OriginOfCovid e.g. see the end of this anonymous analysis on youtube.

Why are some smart virologists making so many claims they should know are false?
Read 6 tweets

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