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Wuhan Institute of Virology. /CFP
Scientists in the U.S. and Australia who publicly oppose the COVID-19 lab-leak theory are facing political pressure, anonymous threatening letters accompanied by bullets and consequences at work, Global Times reported on Monday.
Peter Daszak, a scientist who took part in the World Health Organization's origin tracing and is also president of the EcoHealth Alliance based in U.S., was recused from the UN-backed commission work on the origins of the pandemic, Global Times reported. Daszak said after the field trip in China that the lab leak theory is "impossible."
According to Global Times, a source close to the matter said that a "U.S. scientist is being personally threatened by emails, phone calls and messages on social media, and people who attacked him generally have far-right and even white supremacism leanings. GOP members of Congress are whipping those extremists up now."
"There is a coordinated political campaign to undermine anyone involved in the origins work if they do not fit the lab leak narrative. This is coming mainly from the right wing circles in the U.S., Australia, and in Europe, mainly the UK," the source told Global Times.
Australian evolutionary biologist Edward Holmes at the University of Sydney is being probed by the Australian government after he released an open letter in last April stating there was no evidence the COVID-19 virus originated in a lab in Wuhan, Global Times reported.
"He was threatened that if he continued expressing opinions on the origins of the virus, he may face even further crackdown," the paper quoted a source as saying, adding that Holmes has also received a number of threatening letters accompanied by real bullets.
Due to the pressure, Holmes has reportedly been undergoing therapy and is unable to carry out regular scientific research work.
More scientists have stepped out and spoken about their disagreements with the lab leak theory.
Danielle Anderson, the only foreign scientist to have worked at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, said in a Bloomberg report on June 28 that no one she knew at the institute got ill by the end of 2019, refuting the Wall Street Journal's claim that three researchers from the lab were hospitalized with flu-like symptoms in November 2019.
She said the institute has the highest biosafety level with extremely strict procedures.
Massimo Galli, director of Infectious Diseases at Milan's Luigi Sacco Hospital, said: "I really find it hard to think that if something escaped from a laboratory it would be this difficult to prove that concept. Among other things, it is an unknown virus that has no signs of genetic engineering inside," Italian news agency Adnkronos reported on June 22.
