Who Are the WHO's Covid Investigators?

"The world needs to learn all it can about the origins of the novel coronarivus, and the World Health Organization has been investigating. But there's increasing reason to question the effort due to China's lack of cooperation and conflicts of interest on the WHO team.

A Beijing-approved WHO delegation recently concluded a 12-day visit to Wuhan, where the virus emerged more than a year ago. The group visited local hospitals and sites like the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and Huanan Seafood Market. But such field trips aren't very helpful without unhindered access to raw data. The Chinese government, which controls research into Covid-19's origin, has limited WHO access to such information.
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The WIV has conducted controversial 'gain of function" research on coronaviruses. Such experiments can provide viruses with new capabilities-such as the ability to infect a different species. The U.S. State Department has said "several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019' and had 'symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses.' This is important to investigate.
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One prominent member of the WHO team is zoologist Peter Daszak. Also part of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission, Mr. Daszak has vowed to investigate 'with an open mind' and 'not be bound by preconceived ideas.'

Yet emails obtained by the nonprofit U.S. Right to Know show that Mr. Daszak long ago made up his mind about the lab-leak theory. In February 2020, he helped organize a statement in the Lancet condemning "conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.
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His interest is understandable. The British-born U.S. citizen has deep ties with the WIV. Millions of U.S. government dollars went to his organization to fund research at the Chinese institution. Mr. Daszak, who has consistently defended the Chinese government, didn't respond to a request for comment.
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Also of concern is Marion Koopmans, who oversees the viroscience department at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands. A decade ago Ms. Koopmans's deputy, Ron Fouchier, made international news by modifying a deadly flu virus to spread between ferrets. If an investigation finds it likely that the Covid-19 pandemic was caused by gain-of-function research, that would have repercussions for labs around the world, including at Erasmus MC. A spokesman for the organization didn't respond to a request for comment...."