A prominent British zoologist working with Chinese scientists on Covid research has told how he has faced vicious death threats - receiving an envelope with white powder at his home.
Dr Peter Daszak's family even appeared targeted in an online "kill list." As head of the US-based EcoHealth Alliance (EHA), the Brit described a "medieval" witch hunt from critics, particularly regarding the organisation's long-standing partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) before the Covid-19 outbreak. Speaking out, Dr Daszak told of the "relentless" harassment threat he and his relatives received at his home in the States.
He said of the "kill list" that listed his wife and children's names on the online platform 4chan: "That is not appropriate or normal for a scientist to be put through. And you get zero sympathy for this."
The doctor added: "No one has come and punched me in the face yet or shot me. But I am certainly expecting that – which is weird as a scientist." The connection between the EHA and the WIV became contentious after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. It came about when the Wuhan lab became central to unfounded claims about a possible virus leak that supposedly sparked the pandemic in late 2019.
Last year, the US government banned WIV from receiving federal funds for ten years, accusing it of conducting hazardous experiments that boosted the power of coronaviruses before the pandemic. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made this decision after documents surfaced suggesting scientists at the Wuhan lab had inserted new spike proteins into four bat coronaviruses, significantly increasing their viral activity.
EcoHealth Alliance has worked with Chinese researchers at WIV since 2005, shortly after the SARS outbreak. The work aimed to identify wildlife sources of potentially threatening viruses and prevent similar global outbreaks. The collaboration had approval from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US State Department.
However, after 2020, the organisation has faced intense scrutiny over whether its research in China complied with guidelines designed to block risky research. In its recent report, EHA stated that the allegations against it were based on the "false assumption" of a lab leak. Previously, Dr Daszak said: "There is not a scintilla of verifiable scientific evidence for this."
The origins of the COVID-19 pandemic remain unclear, although many investigations have focused on the Wuhan wet market, which has been linked to early human cases. Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Dr Daszak said the politicisation of the issue threatened to hinder important vital work to prevent future virus outbreaks.
"We have got scientists in the countries that are most at risk of the next pandemic now out of work and unable to help prevent the next one," he said.
