多名国际顶级科学家接连发声，驳新冠病毒“实验室泄漏论”
近段时间以来，美国一些反华势力和政客持续散布“新冠病毒出自实验室”的谣言，美国总统拜登更以此为由，动用情报部门介入溯源，开展所谓“独立调查”。
国际科学界对此提出质疑。当地时间7日，美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)报道称，来自美国、英国、澳大利亚、新西兰等多国的21名顶级科学家联合署名，在预印本网站上提交的一篇研究论文中对“新冠病毒从实验室泄漏”的说法予以驳斥。
论文强调，目前没有证据表明早期病例与武汉病毒研究所有关联，并指出“已有大量科学证据支持新冠病毒的动物起源”，几乎可以肯定新冠病毒出自动物，而不是实验室。
作为该论文的签署人之一，来自杜兰医学院微生物学和免疫学教授在接受CNN采访时表示，“我认为可以得出一个非常有力的论点，即新冠病毒不是从实验室泄漏的。”
Dozens of top experts worldwide have refuted the claims that the novel coronavirus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), and reiterated that COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 most likely originated in nature.
In a pre-print review titled "The Origins of SARS-CoV-2: A Critical Review" published on the open-access research repository Zenodo on Wednesday, a group of 21 virus experts from the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and other countries noted that theories about a lab leak are almost based on coincidence, not hard evidence.
"I think you can make a pretty strong argument that it didn't leak from a lab," reported CNN citing Robert Garry, professor of microbiology and immunology at Tulane Medical School.
这不是科学界第一次集体发声。7月5日，24位国际知名医学专家在权威医学杂志《柳叶刀》上发表联合声明，驳斥所谓“实验室泄漏论”，表示“目前没有科学证据支持新冠病毒从中国实验室泄漏的理论，最近的同行评审研究强烈表明该病毒是在自然界进化的”。
声明重申了去年在《柳叶刀》上对中国科研和医务工作者的支持，并再次呼吁对新冠病毒的溯源调查保持理性和科学。去年2月，这24位医学专家就曾在《柳叶刀》上发表联合声明声援中国，并强烈谴责网络上流传的关于新冠病毒的阴谋论。
针对有舆论宣称“个别专家同中国存在利益往来”的指控，声明也作出澄清，强调联署的医学专家们受到的资助来自美国非营利性机构及美国政府，与中国的合作仅限学术层面。
声明表示，指控和推测对客观评估病毒信息和促进国际间合作毫无用处，“科学，才是确定新冠病毒如何传播到人类社会的关键。”
Actually, this is not the first time these scientists have elaborated their conclusions. On Monday, another group of 24 experts jointly published a letter in the Lancet stating that the virus most likely originated in nature and not in a laboratory.
In the letter this time, they said many of them have received inquiries asking if they still support their early-2020 open letter. "The answer is clear: we reaffirm our expression of solidarity with those in China who confronted the outbreak then, and the many health professionals around the world who have since worked to exhaustion, and at personal risk, in the relentless and continuing battle against this virus. Our respect and gratitude have only grown with time."
They stressed that "the strongest clue from new, credible, and peer-reviewed evidence in the scientific literature is that the virus evolved in nature," refuting the lab leak theory as it has no "scientifically validated evidence that directly supports it in peer-reviewed scientific journals."
The experts called for careful and transparent collection of scientific information to understand how the virus reached humans and to prevent future pandemics, calling allegations and conjecture "of no help."
对此，中国外交部发言人汪文斌在7月7日的记者会上重申，美方将溯源政治化的目的就是要把自身抗疫失败的责任转嫁给中国。
汪文斌表示，无论这些人怎样变换政治操弄的手法，事实都不会改变：导致60多万美国民众失去生命的，正是那些无视科学、把抗疫政治化的美国政客。世卫组织联合专家组作出的权威结论也不会改变：溯源工作应基于全球视野，未来溯源工作不会局限于某一区域，需要多国多地开展。国际社会尊重科学、坚持正义的大势更不会改变。把病毒溯源政治化、向别国甩锅推责的企图只会以失败告终。