British doctor Peter Daszak who tried to gag Wuhan lab leak theory is FIRED from UN commission investigating COVID after he was exposed for organizing letter denying leak claim in The Lancet medical journal
British scientist Peter Daszak has been removed from the COVID commission looking at the origins of the pandemic after helping secretly denounce the lab leak theory while failing to mention his close ties to the same facility.
The scandal-hit scientist's departure from the UN-backed Lancet commission into the virus's origins was revealed on its website.
It added a sentence in brackets under his photo and above his biography, saying 'recused from Commission work on the origins of the pandemic.'
No further information on Daszak's departure was given - but he has faced conflict of interest claims after his close ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology were revealed last month.
Daszak, 55, president of the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance, was one of 28 experts from around the world asked to analyze how best to respond to the pandemic.
The panel comprised leading global figures in public health, economics, philanthropy, diplomacy and politics.
It is organized by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which, according to its website, 'operates under the auspices of the United Nations to mobilize scientific and technical expertise in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.'
On Monday the COVID commission updated their website to show that Daszak was recused
Daszak's presence on a number of bodies investigating the origins of COVID has proved controversial because he has links to the Wuhan Institute and its chief researcher Dr Shi Zhengli - dubbed 'Batwoman'.
He helped organize a letter published in prestigious medical journal The Lancet that was signed by 27 scientists, including Daszak himself, and denounced the lab leak claim as a 'conspiracy theory,' and 'nonscientific.'
Daszak has since faced conflict of interest claims over his ties to the lab investigators increasingly believe COVID may have leaked from.
Supporters of the theory say it is too much of a coincidence that the virus emerged in the same Chinese city that houses one of only three labs in the world studying bat coronaviruses, with the other two both based in the United States.
The conservation charity of which Daszak is the director, EcoHealth Alliance, has funneled money into the lab and research being done by Dr Zhengli.
Donald Trump was among the first to point the finger at the Wuhan lab as a source of the outbreak, but his suggestion was initially dismissed as a conspiracy theory and a bid to distract from his own handling of the pandemic.
Daszak, a Ukrainian-born British zoologist, was an early voice denouncing 'lab leak' theories as 'conspiracies' in an open letter published in last February - a reaction that has been likened to a cover-up.
They wrote at the time: 'We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.
'Conspiracy theories do nothing but create fear, rumors, and prejudice that jeopardize our global collaboration in the fight against this virus.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9710875/Peter-Daszak-removed-COVID-commission-following-bombshell-conflict-report.html