Danish Food-Safety Expertise for the Win

February 10, 2021·27 comments·Politics

A major international investigation into COVID's origins reached its conclusions in remarkable fashion: spending more time at a museum celebrating China's pandemic response than at the biolab most likely to hold answers. The WHO team's final narrative required absolute unanimity despite the evidence pointing elsewhere. What happens when institutions designed to protect global health become tools for protecting powerful patrons?

• The investigation's timeline reveals its real purpose. The WHO team spent several hours at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the facility most directly relevant to the inquiry, but allocated more time to a museum and a frozen food storage facility.

• The virus-on-packaging theory collapses under basic scrutiny. China claims to have detected the virus on American pork, Brazilian beef, Russian squid, and Saudi shrimp. The last two animals don't harbor COVID, yet the theory remains the official conclusion.

• No dissent emerged from 17 international scientists. Absolute unanimity on a controversial conclusion suggests something other than scientific deliberation occurred. The diversity of expertise and nationality produced no disagreement.

• The investigation became a narrative machine. The WHO team didn't just conclude something unlikely. They centered their remarks around frozen food supply chains and border movements, shifting focus from the most accessible explanation.

• International institutions now operate as political necessities rather than scientific ones. When a global health organization prioritizes patron-state interests over evidence, what credibility remains for the next crisis?

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Comments

trocaliveabout 5 years ago

I agree 1,000%. Anything to establish plausible deniability for a large patron. Thanks for calling this out…a year ago! Hence there is no surprise in these findings, except the particular (and helpfully vague) excuse they have settled on.

Pat_Wabout 5 years ago

I find The WHO’s announcement astonishing. It came to China on US pork packaging? Really!? Then why did the problem not begin in the US? Russian squid or Saudi shrimp, 2 animals that do not harbor Covid viruses, as far as I know. It count not possibly have originated in the Human biolab? Thou protesteth too vigorously, dear Lady China.

Such an announcement can have no purpose other than oiling the feathers of the CCP. It gets an eye roll from any reasonably educated person. So The WHO cares nothing for non-China world governments. China is the 800 pound gorilla in their donor base.

Astonishing.

Musta1234about 5 years ago

The WHO press conference rhymes a lot with Trump’s rant on Russian interference. “It could be a fat guy with a laptop”.

It could be anything, therefore it must be nothing.

Pat_Wabout 5 years ago

Zietgeist writer- I read this news bit, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who-china/covid-may-have-taken-convoluted-path-to-wuhan-who-team-leader-says-idUSKBN2A90BW, where there is no mention of the sensational conclusions you mention. Where do they come from? I feel I may have been click-baited by ET.

Since I do not subscribe to WSJ I cannot check that source.What do you suppose is really going on?

jamesmorrisonabout 5 years ago

The WHO are running dogs for the CCP. They even tried to blame the spread on Australian beef. It is a contemptible organisation.

benabout 5 years ago

What I find scary is the ability of the Chinese to bend the entire narrative of 17 WHO members not even 1 dissident. Now that’s power. Not a Trump fan but he would be calling this out BIG TIME and so far nothing from BIDEN and other western leaders.

Flat_Arthurabout 5 years ago

Quoting from the article “In laying out the possibilities for the origin of the pandemic, the WHO team on Tuesday said it was also possible that the virus may have been transmitted to humans through imported frozen food, a theory heavily promoted by Beijing.”

Here is a Reuters article with a timeline of China’s rigorous investigation of the risks in the frozen food supply chain.
https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-china-food/timeline-chinas-battle-with-coronavirus-on-frozen-food-and-packaging-idUKL4N2I32C4

Flat_Arthurabout 5 years ago

Deny, deny, counter-accuse. Classic. Pencil me in for the virology lab theory.

bhuntabout 5 years ago

Click-baited? I understand that the WSJ article is behind a paywall, which is why I included so many direct quotes. I mean … unless your concern is that I’m making up the quotes, in which case I really don’t know how to respond.