WHO advisory board member: I'm a progressive Dem who was called a 'right-wing nut' over Wuhan lab leak theory
Jamie Metzl slammed Peter Daszak's 2020 Lancet letter condemning lab leak theory as 'scientific propaganda'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An advisory board member to the World Health Organization said Wednesday he was labeled a "conspiracy theorist" and "right-wing nut job" by the media and members of the scientific community last year after posing the theory that COVID-19 may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
"The small number of people who were raising this issue early last year were labeled conspiracy theorists—I know because I was one of them," said Jamie Metzl during an appearance on "Fox & Friends."
"And yes there were some people who were called right-wing nuts. But I’m not a right-wing nut. I’m actually a progressive Democrat."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CHINA'S 'MASSIVE COVER-UP' ON COVID STILL HAPPENING: WHO ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER
Members of the scientific community, including EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak, attempted to shut down "conspiracy theorists" last year.
Daszak spearheaded a letter in The Lancet signed by 27 scientists in 2020 that "strongly condemn[ed] conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin," without disclosing to readers that Daszak's group had funded coronavirus research at the Wuhan lab through government grants.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The letter was subsequently utilized by members of the media to fact-check claims that asserted COVID-19 may not have been of natural origin.
Yet, since the publication of the letter three of the signers have since said a laboratory accident is plausible enough to merit consideration, according to Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post.
Metzl said he considered the letter to be an "outrage."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It was not data-driven science—it was scientific propaganda and thuggery."
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Metzl has since asked editor-in-chief of the Lancet, Richard Horton, to step down.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The WHO advisory board member added that he doesn’t consider the question of COVID-19’s origins a right-wing or left-wing issue and urged people to just look at the data and "be honest."
Fox News' David Rutz contributed to this report.