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One November 11th, it was reported by Carey Gillam, the research director of U.S. Right to Know, "Chinese governmental authorities first promoted the idea that the source of the causal agent for COVID-19 in humans came from a wild animal in December. Chinese government-supported scientists then backed that theory in four separate studies submitted to the journals between Feb. 7-18, 2020.
The World Health Organization’s China Joint Mission Team investigating the emergence and spread of COVID-19 in China stated in February : “Since the COVID-19 virus has a genome identity of 96% to a bat SARS-like coronavirus and 86%-92% to a pangolin SARS-like coronavirus, an animal source for COVID-19 is highly likely.”
The Chinese-initiated focus on a wild animal source helped chill calls for an investigation into the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where animal coronaviruses have long been stored and genetically manipulated.
"The focus on a wild animal source, the “zoonotic” theory, has become a critical element in global discussion about the virus, directing public attention away from the possibility that the virus may have originated inside a Chinese governmental laboratory — the Wuhan Institute of Virology."
It's been reported that U.S. Right to Know (USRTK) has learned that two of the four papers that make up the foundation for the zoonotic theory appear to be falsified, and that the editors at the journals in which the papers were published — PLoS Pathogens and Nature — are "investigating the core data behind the studies and how the data was analyzed. The other two similarly appear to suffer similar flaws."
U.S. Right to Know says papers lack sufficiently reliable data, independently verifiable data sets and transparent peer review and editorial process.
"The four papers in question are Liu et al., Xiao et al., Lam et al. and Zhang et al. The two that are currently being investigated by the journal editors are Liu et al and Xiao et al. In communications with the authors and journal editors of those two papers, USRTK has learned of serious problems with the publication of those studies, including the following:
Liu et al. did not publish or share (upon being asked) raw and/or missing data that would allow experts to independently verify their genomic analyses.
Editors at both Nature and PLoS Pathogens, as well as Professor Stanley Perlman, the editor of Liu et al., have acknowledged in email communications that they are aware of serious issues with these papers and that the journals are investigating them. Yet, they have made no public disclosure of the potential problems with the papers.
The silence of the journals regarding their ongoing investigations means that wider communities of scientists, policymakers and the public impacted by COVID-19 are unaware of the problems associated with the research papers, said Suryanarayanan.
“We believe that these issues are important, since they may shape how institutions respond to a catastrophic pandemic that has radically affected lives and livelihoods worldwide,” he said.
Links to these emails can be found here: