![\"peter](\"https:\/\/www.independentsciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/peter-daszak-ecohealth-alliance-600x316.jpg\")
The emails obtained via public records requests show that EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak drafted the\u00a0Lancet<\/i>\u00a0statement, and that he intended it to\u00a0\u201cnot be identifiable as coming from any one organization or person\u201d<\/a>\u00a0but rather to be seen as\u00a0\u201csimply a letter from leading scientists\u201d<\/a>. Daszak wrote that he wanted \u201cto avoid the appearance of a political statement<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n The scientists\u2019 letter appeared in\u00a0The Lancet<\/i>\u00a0on February 18, just one week after the World Health Organization announced that the disease caused by the novel coronavirus would be named COVID-19.<\/p>\n The 27 authors \u201cstrongly condemn[ed] conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin,\u201d and reported that scientists from multiple countries \u201coverwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife.\u201d The letter included no scientific references to refute a lab-origin theory of the virus. One scientist, Linda Saif, asked via email whether it would be useful\u00a0\u201cto add just one or 2 statements in support of why nCOV is not a lab generated virus and is naturally occuring? Seems critical to scientifically refute such claims!\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Daszak responded, \u201cI think we should probably stick to a broad statement<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Growing calls<\/a>\u00a0to investigate the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a potential source of SARS-CoV-2 have led to\u00a0increased scrutiny<\/a>\u00a0of EcoHealth Alliance. The emails show how members of EcoHealth Alliance played an early role in framing questions about possible lab origin of SARS-CoV-2 as \u201ccrackpot theories that need to be addressed,\u201d as\u00a0Daszak told\u00a0The Guardian<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n Although the phrase \u201cEcoHealth Alliance\u201d appeared only once in\u00a0The Lancet<\/i>\u00a0statement, in association with co-author Daszak, several other co-authors also have direct ties to the group that were not disclosed as conflicts of interest. Rita Colwell and James Hughes are\u00a0members<\/a>\u00a0of the Board of Directors of EcoHealth Alliance,\u00a0William Karesh<\/a>\u00a0is the group\u2019s Executive Vice President for Health and Policy, and\u00a0Hume Field<\/a>\u00a0is Science and Policy Advisor.<\/p>\n The statement\u2019s authors also claimed that the \u201crapid, open, and transparent sharing of data on this outbreak is now being threatened by rumours and misinformation around its origins.\u201d Today, however,\u00a0little is known<\/a>\u00a0about the origins<\/a>\u00a0of SARS-CoV-2, and investigations into its origins by\u00a0the World Health Organization<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0The Lancet<\/i>\u00a0COVID-19 commission<\/a>\u00a0have been\u00a0shrouded in secrecy<\/a>\u00a0and mired by\u00a0conflicts of interests<\/a>.<\/p>\n Peter Daszak, Rita Colwell, and\u00a0The Lancet<\/i>\u00a0Editor Richard Horton did not provide comments in response to our requests for this story.<\/p>\n This article is reprinted from the website of US Right to Know<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more information:<\/strong><\/p>\n A link to the entire batch of EcoHealth Alliance emails can be found here:\u00a0EcoHealth Alliance emails: University of Maryland<\/b><\/a>\u00a0(466 pages)<\/p>\n U.S. Right to Know is posting documents obtained through public freedom of information (FOI) requests for\u00a0our Biohazards investigation<\/a>\u00a0in our post:\u00a0FOI documents on origins of SARS-CoV-2, hazards of gain-of-function research and biosafety labs<\/b>.<\/a><\/p>\n Editor\u2019s note. We welcome comments and information about the subject of this article. However, please note that the \u201creply\u201d function in the comments section is not working for people without high level access to the website. There are two possible solutions for readers wanting to reply to specific comments:
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