Jeffrey Sachs, chairman of the COVID-19 commission of the medical journal The Lancet and professor at Columbia University in the United States, has decided to stop researching scientists who have studied the origin of the virus. The reason, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), was a conflict of interest.
Mr. Sachs is concerned about the scientists’ ties with the non-profit organization EcoHealth Alliance, which is allegedly controlled by the United States. The organization used US funds to research bat coronaviruses in conjunction with an institute in Wuhan.
According to the newspaper, the president of the non-profit organization Peter Dassak is opposed to the laboratory version of the origin of the coronavirus. Therefore, Jeffrey Sachs felt that the conclusions of scientists may be biased.
Earlier, US intelligence released the findings of an investigation into the origin of COVID-19 on August 27. The intelligence community has not reached a common conclusion. However, they believe that China was not aware of the virus prior to the outbreak and that it was not developing COVID-19 as a biological weapon. The US believes China is hampering a global investigation.
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