More prominent scientific figures have thrown their weight behind calls for investigating the lab leak theory as the cause of the coronavirus pandemic, with some revealing they were previously ostracised for presenting research that suggested the scenario was realistic.
The Daily Mail reports that British vaccine researcher and professor of oncology Angus Dalgleish struggled to find a publisher for his paper suggesting the virus’s spike protein contains artificially inserted sequences.
The report notes that the professor “said the research was shunned by the scientific community, who did not want to threaten China or be seen to be agreeing with President Donald Trump — who was a big advocate for the theory the virus was leaked from a lab at the time.”
Dalgleish noted in an interview with the Times of London (paywall) that his research has led him to believe that “The changes [in the bat coronavirus] required to infect humans are extremely unlikely to have occurred naturally.”
“I was basically ostracised. I was fearful — really frightened by the way I was being treated. I was told I was not an expert on coronaviruses and I should just shut up,” the professor claimed.
He added that he and his research team “couldn’t believe people with whom we’d collaborated and published papers with in the past would shun us — I was warned I was out of my depth and I shouldn’t get into this and I’d make a fool of myself.”
In addition, yet more scientific figures have demanded that the lab leak theory be investigated, with professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Cambridge Ravi Gupta noting that the scenario has not been ‘adequately explored’.
Hellbound and Down 