リンク元→
米下院外交委員会の共和党スタッフが「新型コロナウイルスは、中国の武漢ウイルス研究所から誤って流出した」と断定する報告書
何回かに分けて載せます。
Five hundred and four days ago, on March 16, 2020, Committee Minority Staff
began its investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19
global pandemic at the direction of Ranking Member Michael T. McCaul. The
House Foreign Affairs Committee Minority Staff Final Report on The Origins
of the COVID-19 Global Pandemic, Including the Roles of the Chinese
Communist Party and the World Health Organization was published in late
September 2020. At the time of its release, there were an estimated 30.8
million cases of COVID-19 around the world, and a death toll of
approximately 958,000. Today, the cumulative count stands at more than
196.4 million cases and 4,194,061 dead.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee Minority Staff has continued to
investigate the origins of COVID-19, examining new information as it became
available, including through expert testimony. We have done so because
approximately 48 million of our population are under the age of 12 and
without access to a vaccination, while others remain unvaccinated due to
underlying medical conditions, leaving a large portion of American citizens
at risk of infection. We prepared this addendum as reports increase
regarding various strains around the globe, and as PRC authorities continue
to withhold critical information about the early months of the pandemic. We
have strongly urged our Majority colleagues to take this investigation
seriously and conduct a full bipartisan investigation into the origins of
COVID-19, and will continue to do so. President Biden has said he wants to
discover how the pandemic began, and it is our duty to the American people
to use all the tools in our arsenal in pursuit of that goal. As always, we
stand ready to address this and other foreign policy challenges together
and in a bipartisan manner. We must not let up on pressing General
Secretary Xi and CCP authorities for answers.
Here we share the result of these efforts in an addendum to our September
2020 Final Report. In particular, this update focuses on whether the virus
may have leaked from a medical research laboratory in Wuhan, Hubei
Province, PRC, and the efforts to conceal such a leak. The evidence used to
inform this report is based upon open source information and includes
published academic work, official PRC publications (both public and
confidential), interviews, emails, and social media postings.
Since the publication of the September 21, 2020 Final Report new questions
have been raised pertaining to the origins of COVID-19. The PRC’s
continued lack of transparency resulted in President Joseph R. Biden,
Jr.’s May 26, 2021, order to the United States Intelligence Community to
prepare a report in 90 days on the origins of COVID-19, “including whether
it emerged from human
contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory
accident.”1
1“Statement by President Joe Biden on the Investigation into the Origins
of COVID-19.” The White House, 26 May 2021,
www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/05/26/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-the-investigation-into-the-origins-of-covid-19/.
Based on the material collected and analyzed by the Committee Minority
Staff, the preponderance of evidence suggests SARS-CoV-2 was accidentally
released from a Wuhan Institute of Virology laboratory sometime prior to
September 12, 2019. The virus, or the viral sequence that was genetically
manipulated, was likely collected in a cave in Yunnan province, PRC,
between 2012 and 2015. Researchers at the WIV, officials within the CCP,
and potentially American citizens directly engaged in efforts to obfuscate
information related to the origins of the virus and to suppress public
debate of a possible lab leak. It is incumbent on these parties to respond
to the issues raised herein and provide clarity and any exonerating
evidence as soon as possible. Until that time, it must be assumed General
Secretary Xi and the Chinese Communist Party, prioritizes preserving the
Party over the lives of its own people and those around the global
suffering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than one year after the World Health Organization declared a pandemic,
the world is still reeling from the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and
the disease it causes, COVID-19. More than four million people have lost
their lives worldwide, including more than 612,000 Americans, while
economies around the world have been devastated by the fallout. This report
investigates the origin of this virus and looks at how it became a deadly
pandemic.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology
Last September, the House Foreign Affairs Committee Minority Staff, under
the direction of Ranking Member Michael T. McCaul, released a report on the
origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. That report highlighted the possibility
SARS-CoV-2 could have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).
However, as we continued our investigation and uncovered more information,
we now believe it’s time to completely dismiss the wet market as the
source of the outbreak. We also believe the preponderance of the evidence
proves the virus did leak from the WIV and that it did so sometime before
September 12, 2019.
This is based upon multiple pieces of evidence laid out in the report,
including:
The sudden removal of the WIV’s virus and sample database in the middle of
the night on September 12, 2019 and without explanation;
Safety concerns expressed by top PRC scientists in 2019 and unusually
scheduled maintenance at the WIV;
Athletes at the Military World Games held in Wuhan in October 2019 who
became sick with symptoms similar to COVID-19 both while in Wuhan and also
shortly after returning to their home countries;
Satellite imagery of Wuhan in September and October 2019 that showed a
significant uptick in the number of people at local hospitals surrounding
the WIV’s headquarters, coupled with an unusually high number of patients
with symptoms similar to COVID-19;
The installation of a People’s Liberation Army’s bioweapons expert as the
head of the WIV’s Biosafety Level 4 lab (BSL-4), possibly as early as late
2019; and
Actions by the Chinese Communist Party and scientists working at or
affiliated with the WIV to hide or coverup the type of research being
conducted at there.
Genetic Modification
This report also lays out ample evidence that researchers at the WIV, in
conjunction with U.S. scientists and funded by both the PRC government and
the U.S. government, were conducting gain of-function research on
coronaviruses at the WIV, at times under BSL-2 conditions. Much of this
research was focused on modifying the spike protein of coronaviruses that
could not infect humans so they could bind to human immune systems. The
stated purpose of this work was to identified viruses with pandemic
potential and to create a broad-spectrum coronavirus vaccine. In many
instances, the scientists were successful in creating “chimeric
viruses” – or viruses created from the pieces of other viruses – that
could infect human immune systems. With dangerous research like this
conducted at safety levels similar to a dentist’s office, a natural or
genetically modified virus could have easily escaped the lab and infected
the community.
Committee Minority Staff has also identified scientists who are directly
tied to the WIV, and who worked on gain-of-function research in the years
prior to the start of the current pandemic, who had the ability to modify
genetically modify coronaviruses without leaving any trace evidence. An
American scientist, Dr. Ralph Baric, assisted in creating a method to leave
no trace of genetic modification as early as 2005. And as early as 2016,
scientists working at the WIV were able to do the same. This makes it clear
that claims by the scientific community that SARS-CoV-2 could not be man-
made because it has no genetic modification markers are disingenuous.
We conclude there is ample proof that the virus could have been genetically
manipulated, and that it is vitally important we fully investigate this
hypothesis to determine if that happened here.
The Cover-Up
In the original report, we laid out many of the ways the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) went to great lengths
to cover up the initial epidemic, and how their cover-up likely turned what
could have been a local outbreak into a global pandemic. The CCP detained
doctors in order to silence them, and disappeared journalists who attempted
to expose the truth. They destroyed lab samples, and hid the fact there was
clear evidence of human-to-human transmission. And they still refuse to
allow a real investigation into the origins. At the same time, the WHO,
under Director General Tedros, failed to warn the world of the impending
pandemic. Instead, he parroted CCP talking points, acting as a puppet of
General Secretary Xi.
In this addendum, we have uncovered further evidence of how top scientists
at the WIV and Dr. Peter Daszak, an American scientist, furthered that
cover-up. Their actions include bullying other scientists who questioned
whether the virus could have leaked from a lab; misleading the world about
how a virus can be modified without leaving a trace; and, in many,
instances directly lying about the nature of the research they were
conducting, as well as the low-level safety protocols they were using for
that research.
These actions not only delayed an initial investigation into the
possibility of a lab leak costing valuable time, but provide further proof
the virus likely leaked from the WIV. These actions also call
into question the way in which U.S. government grants are used in overseas
labs and call for more 6
oversight of those grants.
Next Steps
After this extensive investigation, we believe it is time to call Peter
Daszak to testify before Congress. There are still many outstanding
questions about the type of research he funded at the WIV that only he can
answer. In addition, we believe there is legislation Congress can pass that
would not only hold those responsible accountable but also help to prevent
a future pandemic, including but not limited to:
Institute a ban on conducting and funding any work that includes gain-of-
function research until an international and legally binding standard is
set, and only where that standard is verifiably being followed.
Sanction the Chinese Academy of Sciences and affiliated entities.
List the Wuhan Institute of Virology and its leadership on the Specially
Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List and apply additional,
appropriate secondary sanctions.
Authorize new sanctions for academic, governmental, and military
bioresearch facilities that fail to ensure the appropriate levels of safety
and information sharing.
