As researchers try to pin down where exactly COVID-19 originated, skeptics are questioning two new studies looking at a wet market in Wuhan, China, as the site from where the virus was released.
The two new research papers, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, and Department of Health and Human Services, suggest the virus was released at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market as a result of live animal sales, with “at least two zoonotic events” to blame.
Richard H. Ebright, a Board of Governors professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers, called the research “opinion pieces” and condemned news outlets such as the New York Times for spreading false information.
The journalists pimping the two opinion pieces masquerading as scientific papers fully understand that they are pimping spin, not science.
Thar is the entire point of the pimping.
— Richard H. Ebright (@R_H_Ebright) February 27, 2022
“The journalists pimping the two opinion pieces masquerading as scientific papers fully understand that they are pimping spin, not science,” Ebright wrote on Twitter in response to the post. “Thar is the entire point of the pimping.”
In a separate tweet, Ebright pushed back again, saying the research does not “contain scientific evidence or scientific analysis, much less … scientifically sound conclusions.”
The papers argued that the “early COVID-19 cases were both epidemiologically and geographically linked” to the wet market, citing “sales of susceptible, live mammals at which SARS-CoV-2-positive environmental samples were strongly associated with live mammal stalls known to sell these animals.”
Researchers uploaded the papers to Zenodo, a publishing site that touts ease of use for individuals, with uploads “made available online as soon as you hit publish.” It is not clear whether the studies found on Zenodo completed a peer-review process prior to publishing.
The studies posited that the emergence of novel viruses from animal reservoirs, including wildlife markets, is a continued threat.
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A separate study by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention also reported two main evolutionary branches of the early COVID-19 models to be found at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. That study has yet to complete its peer-review process.
Ebright noted that the idea of a lab leak is an uncomfortable topic for many scientists, tweeting that the theory “has exposed a cadre of scientists and science administrators whose longstanding practice has been contempt for the public interest, disdain for scientific responsibility, and rejection of effective oversight of biosafety, biosecurity, and biorisk management.”
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It is still possible that COVID-19 originated from a lab leak, according to Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel. Last week, scientists found a tiny chunk of DNA matching a sequence patented by Moderna three years before the pandemic began.
“The hypothesis of an escape from the lab by accident is possible,” Bancel told Fox Business, noting that Moderna scientists are looking into the data. “Human make mistakes. It is possible that the Wuhan lab in China was working on viruses enhancement or gene modification and there was an accident where someone was infected in the lab and then infected family and friends. It is possible.”
