Trust the science?

Scientists worked overtime to debunk the lab leak theory

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Dear Friends —

Yesterday, we looked at how the media dismissed the lab leak theory out of hand. Zero intellectual curiosity. Zero journalistic inquisitiveness. Just a full-throated trumpeting of Dr. Fauci and those scientists who insisted the virus was not from a lab.

And an equally full-throated insistence that anyone who disagreed was a racist or a conspiracy theorist … or both.

Why? It was a combination of anti-Trump sentiment, and a disdain for those who were asking about the theory like Senators Tom Cotton and conservatives.

But the media couldn’t have slammed this theory so effectively out of nowhere. There had to be scientists and government officials insisting the lab leak theory was a conspiracy, in order for reporters to repeat those claims.

Trust the science

Scientists did, in fact, downplay or try to debunk the lab leak theory. I mentioned yesterday that scientists told a Nature reporter the lab leak theory made “it harder for nations to collaborate on ending the pandemic — and fuel online bullying.”

Several scientists who were in close contact with Dr. Fauci and National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins published a letter in the journal Nature Medicine (shared with Dr. Fauci and Collins ahead of time) that said, “our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus.”

Shortly afterward, a letter from virologists was published in the Lancet, strongly condemning “conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin,” and insisting most scientists believe the virus originated in wildlife. The letter also praised Chinese health officials for “transparently” sharing their data.

A WHO report, while not entirely dismissing the theory, found it to be “extremely unlikely, and determined natural spread through a host was “likely to very likely.”

But why?

So why would scientists shut down any discussion of a lab leak theory?

Chinese researchers were conducting gain-of-function research at the lab in question that was funded by the U.S. government. The NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, headed by Fauci, had been funding research to the tune of $3+ million. If Covid came from the lab where U.S.-funded research happened, Fauci, Collins, and other prominent government scientists would be under embarrassing suspicion and scrutiny.

If you're a scientist who needs grants or goodwill from prominent U.S. scientists in the NIH (and most do), it’s easy to see where your bread is buttered.

It’s also easy to see how they might convince themselves that they’re right in doing this. If you already hold Dr. Fauci in high esteem and consider President Trump to be the polar opposite, you’re going to be a lot less critical of Fauci’s ideas than Trump’s.

If you’re interested in learning more about this, I highly recommend the National Review’s Eyes Wide Shut: The Covid-Origins Story.

This virus killed 6.8 million people, including over 1 million Americans. The gamesmanship by our scientific community and press corp to hide the truth is unforgivable.

 — Ken

Finally, a reminder of the Times’ ethics …