{"id":1971467,"date":"2023-07-12T22:14:02","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T02:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scientists-agreed-to-downplay-chinese-lab-leak-theory-for-fear-of-s-show-messages-indicate\/"},"modified":"2023-07-12T22:14:45","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T02:14:45","slug":"scientists-agreed-to-downplay-chinese-lab-leak-theory-for-fear-of-s-show-messages-indicate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scientists-agreed-to-downplay-chinese-lab-leak-theory-for-fear-of-s-show-messages-indicate\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists suppressed Chinese lab leak theory due to fear of controversy, messages reveal."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fscientists-agreed-to-downplay-chinese-lab-leak-theory-for-fear-of-s-show-messages-indicate%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1971467&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Scientists Downplayed Chinese Lab Leak Theory, Internal Messages Show<\/h2>\n<p>Scientists who authored a paper on the origins of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/covid-19\">COVID-19<\/a> agreed the best course of action was to downplay the Chinese <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tom-cotton-responds-to-ex-cdc-chiefs-belief-that-pandemic-started-in-lab-this-was-never-a-conspiracy-theory\/\" title=\"Tom Cotton Responds To Ex-CDC Chief\u2019s Belief That Pandemic Started In Lab: \u2018This Was Never A Conspiracy Theory\u2019\">lab leak theory<\/a> over concerns about international fallout, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blm-spent-6-million-buying-a-california-mansion-report\/\" title=\"BLM Spent  Million Buying A California Mansion: Report\">newly released internal messages show<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Andrew Rambaut and Dr. Kristian Andersen discussed the issue in an early February 2020 Slack conversation with colleagues, which took place several weeks before their \u201cProximal Origin\u201d report got <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41591-020-0820-9\">published in the journal<\/a> Nature Medicine in March of the same year.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Rambaut, on February 2, 2020, said, \u201cgiven the s*** show that would happen if anyone serious accused the Chinese of even accidental release, my feeling is we should say that given there is no evidence of a specifically engineered virus, we cannot possibly distinguish between natural evolution and escape so we are content with ascribing it to natural process.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>In response to Rambaut\u2019s message, Andersen replied, \u201cYup, I totally agree that that\u2019s a very reasonable conclusion. Although I hate when politics is injected into science \u2013 but its [sic] impossible not to, especially given the circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Republicans on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic disclosed the Slack discussion in a <a href=\"https:\/\/oversight.house.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023.07.11-SSCP-Interim-Staff-Report-Re.-Proximal-Origin_FINAL.pdf\">staff report<\/a>, highlighting the exchange as evidence of \u201cpossible motives\u201d by researchers to \u201cdefend China and play diplomat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?529219-1\/hearing-origins-covid-19#:~:text=They%2C%20along%20with%20others%2C%20authored,that%20occurred%20in%20Wuhan%2C%20China.\">hearing on Tuesday<\/a>, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) even confronted Andersen with the Slack messages, saying the witness had a \u201cpreferred political narrative.\u201d Still, Andersen and Robert Garry, another author on the paper, both testified under oath that they stand by their report\u2019s ultimate conclusion that COVID-19 was not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus.<\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-9096\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1688831213092000&#038;usg=AOvVaw1PLjNvPE9xhE43TkDJzri8\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>The GOP staff report also raises concerns that the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and specifically Dr. Anthony Fauci and then-NIH Director Francis Collins, exerted undue influence over the \u201cProximal Origin\u201d paper to dismiss the Chinese lab leak theory, which over time has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/new-intel-prompts-energy-dept-to-assess-covid-likely-leaked-from-wuhan-lab-report\">gained traction<\/a> over the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-cdc-director-fires-back-at-faucis-natural-claim\/\" title=\"Former CDC Director Fires Back at Fauci\u2019s \u2018Natural\u2019 Claim\">natural emergence theory<\/a> among agencies in the U.S. intelligence community.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats on the COVID panel <a href=\"https:\/\/oversightdemocrats.house.gov\/sites\/democrats.oversight.house.gov\/files\/For%20Distribution-2023.07.11%20Proximal%20Origin%20Democratic%20Staff%20Report.pdf\">released their own report<\/a> insisting that all evidence available to the subcommittee, including testimony from Anderson, \u201cdemonstrates that Dr. Fauci and Dr. Collins did not lead, oversee, or influence the drafting and publication of \u2018Proximal Origin\u2019 or seek to suppress the lab leak theory through the paper\u2019s conclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>place shortly after the outbreak. They concluded that emphasizing the lab leak theory could lead to negative consequences, including potential harm to scientific collaborations and economic repercussions. The messages shed light on the decision-making process and the cautious approach taken by scientists in addressing the origins of the virus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1588,"featured_media":1971468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1971467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1971467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1971467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1971467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1971468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1971467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1971467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1971467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}