(Beijing) As the World Health Organization prepares the next phase of its investigation into the origins of the pandemic, more experts believe the UN agency is not up to the task and that the mission should be given to someone else.
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Several experts, including some with close ties to the WHO, believe that the heightened tensions between the United States and China will prevent the agency from providing credible answers.
Rather, they suggest a broad independent analysis comparable to what was organized in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
The first part of a joint WHO-China investigation into the origins of the coronavirus concluded in March that the virus likely passed from animals to humans, and that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely “.
The next phase could take a more in-depth look at early human infections or attempt to identify the animal (or animals) responsible for transmission.
But the idea that the pandemic started in a laboratory – and possibly even that it was due to a modified virus – has come to life recently, when United States President Joe Biden ordered a further review of US intelligence in this case. subject within 90 days.
Earlier this month, WHO emergency chief Dr Michael Ryan said the agency is working out details of the next phase of its investigation, but the WHO does not have the power to demand cooperation from China.
PHOTO SALVATORE DI NOLFI, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
WHO Emergency Chief Michael Ryan
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Some see this as precisely the reason why the investigation is doomed to fail.
“We will never identify the origins by relying on the World Health Organization,” said Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University. China has blocked them for 18 months, and it is obvious that they will never overcome them. ”
Mr Gostin says the United States and other countries have three choices: share the information they have, revise the rules to give the WHO the power it needs, or create a new entity to investigate. . Experts propose a survey set up by the G7.
The first phase of the WHO mission required the green light from China across the board, from the experts on site to the final production of their report.
Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, called it a “joke.” He believes that the question of whether the virus arrived from animals or from a laboratory is not only political, but that it has political dimensions that go beyond the expertise of the WHO.
The closest genetic relative of COVID-19 was discovered in 2012; six Chinese miners had suffered from pneumonia after coming into contact with bats in the Mojiang mine. In the past year, however, China has sealed off the mine, seized samples from researchers and ordered residents not to speak to foreign reporters.
Even though China initially seemed very interested in identifying the source of the coronavirus, it suddenly jumped on the brakes in early 2020 when the pandemic began to sweep the planet. Last December, an Associated Press investigation found that Beijing severely restricted the release of data on COVID-19.
Jeffrey Sachs, of Columbia University, warned that the United States must be prepared to examine its own researchers in detail and admit that they are possibly just as guilty as China.
“The United States was heavily involved in work at the Wuhan labs,” Sachs said.
The United States, for example, was funding controversial experiments and looking for animal viruses capable of causing pandemics.
“The idea that China is at fault is the wrong premise to launch this investigation,” he added. If laboratory work is responsible [de la pandémie], it is highly likely that the United States and China were working together on a science project. ”
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