New Delhi: The international team of scientists who had last year dismissed the lab leak idea as a conspiracy theory in a report published in The Lancet, is now saying
there is no scientifically validated evidence to support the theory that the coronavirus leaked from a laboratory in China. More recent, peer-reviewed studies strongly suggest that the virus evolved in nature, the scientists wrote in The Lancet journal.
The report was compiled by two dozen biologists, ecologists, epidemiologists, physicians, public health experts and veterinarians from around the world.
“We believe the strongest clue from new, credible, and peer-reviewed evidence in the scientific literature is that the virus evolved in nature, while suggestions of a laboratory-leak source of the pandemic remain without scientifically validated evidence that directly supports it in peer-reviewed scientific journals,” the authors wrote in the journal, Economic Times reported quoting PTI.
“Allegations and conjecture are of no help as they do not facilitate access to information and objective assessment of the pathway from a bat virus to a human pathogen that might help to prevent a future pandemic,” the authors of the report explained.
“New viruses can emerge anywhere… It is time to turn down the heat of the rhetoric and turn up the light of scientific inquiry if we are to be better prepared to stem the next pandemic,” they noted.
The authors of the report, however, said they welcome calls for scientifically rigorous investigations into the origin of the virus, the report added.
“To accomplish this, we encourage WHO and scientific partners across the world to expeditiously move to continue and further extend their initial investigation with experts in China and the Chinese Government,” they wrote.
They noted that WHO’s report from March 2021 must be considered the beginning rather than the end of an inquiry.
That inquiry had concluded that a lab leak was unlikely.
