Up to 24 scientists have signed an open letter calling for the an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19 after the World Health Organization's (WHO) report showed several "incorrect, disputed, contradictory and imprecise statements" that concluded with a statement saying the lab leak theory was "highly unlikely."
Scientists argued that the WHO report "failed to reach some most basic standards of credible analysis and assessment," as it contained up to 12 statements that could be contested to prove that the lab leak theory is in fact the most likely of all origins of COVID-19.
According to The Daily Caller, the scientists argued that more than a year after the initial COVID-19 outbreak in China, "critical records and biological samples that could provide essential insights into pandemic origins remain inaccessible," casting doubt on the WHO team because such information that was withheld by the Chinese government totally undermined the credibility of such an "investigation" into the origins of COVID-19.
The scientists urged to launch a separate, independent investigation that is not held back by China or any other government of "veto power" over scientists chosen to perform the probe into the origins of COVID-19. They added that there should be a whistleblower process in place to protect anyone who wants to come forward with information without the fear of retribution.
The open letter was organized by Jamie Metzl, former National Security Council director under the Clinton administration and geopolitical expert, and founder of One Shared World, an interdependence movement. The open letter calling for a full investigation into the origins of COVID-19 was also co-signed by several prominent scientists such as Dr. Fabien Colombo of France and Dr. Filippa Lentzos of the United Kingdom, and Dr. Steven Quay of the United States.
Among some of the most concerning "incorrect, disputed, contradictory and imprecise statements" that the scientists pointed out is an incorrect statement in which Prof. Shi Zhengli says that "all fieldwork is done with full PPE." Photographic and video evidence showed "limited PPE use" by staff at Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) when doing fieldwork.
Also concerning is the imprecise and contradictory statement by WIV P4 lab director Yuan Zhiming, who "denied categorically any possibility of a lab-leak" and "denounced structural issues with many labs in China before the pandemic."
However, the very same Yuan Zhiming wrote in a paper published in ScienceDirect that the variance in "investment sources, affiliations, and management systems" has led to several "difficulties converging objectives and cooperation workflows" and in effect "puts laboratory biosafety at risk since the implementation efficiency and timely operations are relatively compromised."
The paper also revealed that some laboratories for vital processes have limited resources, causing them to "run on extremely minimal operational costs or in some cases none at all."
Lastly, the paper revealed that "most laboratories lack specialized biosafety managers and engineers" and are manned by part-time researchers only, making it "difficult to identify and mitigate potential safety hazards in facility and equipment operation early enough."
Subsequently, Dr. Quay also released a similar open letter which he claims will help those who read the WHO report into the origins of COVID-19 to "understand the five facts that scientists agree on." These five facts are the same arguments that support the accidental laboratory-acquired infection theory.
Dr. Quay said as per PRNewswire, "I strongly believe this COVID virus was a gain-of-function experiment that went wrong, we owe the families of the 2.7 million who died answers to why this happened."
