Prominent New York microbiologist overturns laboratory theory | Abroad

Microbiology professor Peter Palese said on Friday that “disturbing information” had erased his belief in a natural origin of the coronavirus.

‘Conspiracy’

Palese was one of 27 scientists who published a very influential letter in the scientific journal The Lancet last year. In the editorial, they made ground beef with “conspiracy theories” about a possible escape from a lab or a virus “made” by human action.

But Professor Palese, president of the microbiology department at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York and the holder of his own laboratory, says he can no longer rule out a laboratory origin.

“I think a full investigation into the origin of Covid-19 is needed,” Palese told the Daily Mail. “A lot of disturbing information has surfaced since I signed this letter. I want to see answers to all questions.

Lancet-brief

In early 2020, the lab theory was on the rise when a Hong Kong scientist who fled the country suggested the lab’s provenance, and Fox News and the Mail on Sunday revealed that even U.S. taxpayer dollars had gone on a coronavirus job search in Wuhan. . In gain of function research, viruses are cobbled together.

With the letter in The Lancet and a second letter in Nature, a group of scientists have taken flight. By presenting the possibility of a laboratory origin as a “conspiracy,” the discussion was nipped in the bud.

The scientific consensus now is that the laboratory theory is indeed possible – and that scientists, journalists and opinion makers have been misled by the authoritative letters. These were “political, unscientific statements, but they were incredibly effective,” recalls Nicholas Wade, former Nature and New York Times reporter.

Pierre Daszak

As it turned out, the Lancet letter was orchestrated by Peter Daszak and he was also the one who got other scientists to sign the letter. Daszak heads the non-profit EcoHealth Alliance which, among other things, transferred 600,000 euros from the American organization NIH, Anthony Fauci, to Wuhan. So he has a personal interest. Daszak was also one of the most prominent scientists authorized to conduct research on the origin of the crown on behalf of the WHO, along with Marion Koopmans, among others.

Many prominent Americans have denounced the plausibility of the laboratory theory in recent months, including CIA directors, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former CDC director Robert Redfield. The focus was often on China. But the American role is also completely back on the agenda, especially since the leak of the ‘Fauci mails’.

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