Thread by @Ayjchan

April 2020 Phillip Russell, former president of American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene told James Le Duc, former director of Galveston National Laboratory that signs "point to the lab as the source of the outbreak."

@USRightToKnow #OriginOfCovid
usrtk.org/biohazards/bio…

@USRightToKnow "The flimsiness of the epidemiology pointing to the wet market, the absence of bats in the market, the failure to identify an intermediate animal host, the extraordinary measures taken by the Chinese government...

... including persecution and probable killing of two brave physicians, to cover up the outbreak, the steps taken to silence the laboratory personnel, the change in leadership of the lab, all point to the lab as the source of the outbreak.”

“This reminds me of the efforts by Matt Messelson and many colleagues to coverup up the Sverdeslosk [Sverdlovsk] anthrax outbreak. They succeeded for many years aided and abetted by many in academia until Ken Alibek defected and the truth came out."

"I bought the wet market story for months but now am very skeptical of anything information coming from the Chinese government."

Some top scientists today are still selling the wet market story.

Don't think anyone should hold their breath waiting for the media to report on this though.

It's unfortunate but I think we will only see the true thoughts of many virologists and experts on the #OriginOfCovid in FOIA'ed emails. Many have probably moved to secure channels now.

These are the emails:

usrtk.org/wp-content/upl…

Le Duc wrote to the WIV in Feb 2020 about a lab #OriginOfCovid

"I raise these issues since I am receiving questions along these lines more and more frequently. Initially they came from social media and other "alternate information sources"...
usrtk.org/wp-content/upl…

... but in the last few days I have been approached by senior officials and major reputable newspapers.

... It's not clear to me where the coronavirus work was/is actually being conducted."

It was BSL2.

It's worth noting that Le Duc was not cold calling the Wuhan Institute of Virology. He had been working with the institute and their biosafety director, participating in personnel exchanges, transferring proven best practices to the new Wuhan facility. utmb.edu/gnl/news/2018/…

I hope people reading these FOIA'ed emails today will have empathy for the virologists & experts who were privately discussing lab #OriginOfCovid but not raising this concern publicly.

A year ago, people suggesting a lab leak were still being yelled down as racist conspiracists.

I suspect to publicly raise concerns regarding a lab #OriginOfCovid especially if you were an expert in virology or pathogen research would have been an act of self immolation.

What people should take away from these FOIA'ed emails is not violence or anger but, ideally, a better understanding of the difficult situation some scientists found themselves in and the very human way they decided to act or not act.

I think these FOIA’ed emails speak to the courage and fortitude of experts in virology and related fields who have spoken up and sincerely advocated for and contributed to an investigation of both natural and lab #OriginOfCovid

Thanks to them, it’s not like the entire virology community was silent on this issue or peddling wet market origin as the one true #OriginOfCovid for nearly 2 years of the ongoing pandemic.

I still have hope that scientific communities can begin to hold members of our own accountable but it’s gonna take a hell lot of work to get there.

We might have to tell our kids and write in the history books that the #OriginOfCovid was cracked open by internet sleuths #Drastic, @USRightToKnow, @BuzzFeedNews, @WhiteCoatWaste, @theintercept and a few brave scientists and (citizen) journalists + FOIA lawyers.