FNC Contributor, NYU Prof Dr. Siegel on COVID Origin Debate Docs: NIH Doesn’t Want ‘to Admit that the Genie Got out’ on Gain of Function

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” Fox News Medical Contributor and Clinical Professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine Dr. Marc Siegel reacted to records obtained by The Intercept and The Nation about discussions on the origins of the coronavirus involving then-NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins and then-NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci and said that the communications show an effort to preemptively dismiss the lab leak theory and that this happened because they’re “committed to what’s called an international consortium of scientists.” And the NIH doesn’t want “to admit that the genie got out of the bottle” on gain of function research.

Co-host John Roberts asked, “[T]here did seem to be an effort here, an all-out effort to disprove the lab leak theory, instead of what science normally does, say, well, here’s a possibility on this hand and here’s a possibility on this hand and we don’t really know which one is true. It was kind of like, well, this one is worrisome enough, but this one’s really scary, so let’s get rid of it before it gains any traction, why would they do that?”

Siegel responded, “I can tell you why, because they are committed to what’s called an international consortium of scientists. And the law — Obama was trying to actually push back on gain of function research and really was worried about it. But under the current law, for emerging — for enhanced potential pandemic pathogens, as long as it’s under strict supervision, you can do it. The problem is, how much of a strict supervision do we have in the Netherlands? How much do we have in China? And by the way, how much do we even have in North Carolina where this work is going on? So, I don’t think the NIH really wants to admit that the genie got out of the bottle, whether it caused this pandemic or not, because it’s going on around the world. You could be a scientist, John, in China, but the Chinese Communist Party is looking over your shoulder there.”

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