Did ‘Catastrophic’ Lab Accident’ Start COVID-19? By
According to a “senior European politician,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confided to him in private that he believes COVID-19 was the result of a catastrophic accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China.
According to a “senior European politician,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confided to him in private that he believes COVID-19 was the result of a catastrophic accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan, China.
Publicly, in a June 14 press conference, Ghebreyesus stated:
Support Our Site
Now is your chance to support Gospel News Network.
We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
“We do not yet have the answers as to where it came from or how it entered the human population. Understanding the origins of the virus is very important scientifically to prevent future epidemics and pandemics.
“But morally, we also owe it to all those who have suffered and died and their families. The longer it takes, the harder it becomes. We need to speed up and act with a sense of urgency.
“All hypotheses must remain on the table until we have evidence that enables us to rule certain hypotheses in or out. This makes it all the more urgent that this scientific work be kept separate from politics.
“The way to prevent politicization is for countries to share data and samples with transparency and without interference from any government. The only way this scientific work can progress successfully is with full collaboration from all countries, including China, where the first cases of SARS-CoV-2 were reported.”
The WHO was quick to dismiss lab leak claims
As you may recall, in the latter part of 2020, the WHO established a scientific advisory group to investigate the origin of SARS-CoV-2, which just so happened to include individuals who weren’t exactly impartial. That’s not surprising, considering China was allowed to hand pick the team.
Among those selected was Peter Daszak, Ph.D., president of EcoHealth Alliance (EHA), who has close professional ties to the WIV and who had already gone on record dismissing the lab-origin theory as “pure baloney.”
He was also the mastermind behind the publication of a group of scientists’ statement condemning such inquiries as “conspiracy theory.” Daszak’s “scientific consensus” was then relied on by the media to “debunk” theories and evidence showing the pandemic virus most likely originated from a laboratory.
On Feb. 9, 2021, this task force declared the WIV and two other biosafety level 4 laboratories in Wuhan had nothing to do with the COVID-19 outbreak, and that the lab-escape theory would no longer be part of the investigation.
With that, the WHO declared its China investigation completed and said it would consider expanding the scope of the investigation to look into other sources, such as imported frozen fish from overseas.
It was only after 14 nations criticized the findings as heavily compromised that Ghebreyesus relented, admitting there were flaws in the report and ordered a new investigation.
A preliminary report from this new group, the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), was released on June 9.
In the video below, Dr. John Campbell reviews the findings of this report.
Saga continues with SAGO
“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, really,” Campbell says after introducing the SAGO report — a prelude that tips us off that this report, as previous ones, leaves a lot to be desired.
In summary, while SAGO doesn’t dismiss the lab leak theory completely, it still considers it unlikely and doubles down on the natural zoonotic spillover theory.
While Ghebreyesus did send two letters to Chinese authorities requesting more information that might help evaluate the lab leak theory, SAGO was not provided with any such material, so one wonders what they used to reach the conclusion that it’s unlikely.
SAGO does discuss the very real possibility of lab escapes, noting it has happened before and states there’s a need to identify a) gain of function research in which pathogens are made deadlier, and b) dual-use research of concern, meaning research on pathogens that can be used for both defensive and offensive purposes.
As explained by Campbell, a virus might be studied to understand a disease or create a vaccine, but the findings could also be put to use in the creation of a bioweapon, for example.
Questions remain around U.S. funding
Campbell also points out that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the U.S. canceled funding for bat coronavirus research at the WIV in April 2020, so it’s clear the NIH had in fact funded such research.
