A group of scientists in a letter to the British medical Journal The Lancet, said the theory that COVID-19 origins are the result of a laboratory leak in China is "without scientifically validated evidence."
The Hill noted the group is made up of the same scientists who published a 2020 letter in The Lancet saying "We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin."
In the latest letter, posted Monday, they say: "On Feb 19, 2020, we, a group of physicians, veterinarians, epidemiologists, virologists, biologists, ecologists, and public health experts from around the world, joined together to express solidarity with our professional colleagues in China.
"Unsubstantiated allegations were being raised about the source of the COVID-19 outbreak and the integrity of our peers who were diligently working to learn more about the newly recognized virus, SARS-CoV-2, while struggling to care for the many patients admitted to hospital with severe illness in Wuhan and elsewhere in China.
"Recently, many of us have individually received inquiries asking whether we still support what we said in early 2020.
"The answer is clear: we reaffirm our expression of solidarity with those in China who confronted the outbreak then, and the many health professionals around the world who have since worked to exhaustion, and at personal risk, in the relentless and continuing battle against this virus. Our respect and gratitude have only grown with time.
"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."
And Vanity Fair reported that the original statement in The Lancet was organized by Peter Daszak, the president of EcoHealth Alliance.
The alliance was the same nonprofit that had sent grant money it got from the National Institutes of Health to the lab in Wuhan.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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