According to a new poll conducted by a pro-animal rights PAC, at least seven Democratic members of Congress have pledged to collaborate across party lines to examine the lab-leak scenario of COVID-19 origins.
In response to the White Coat Waste PAC 2022 candidate questionnaire, six of the seven lawmakers, all of whom are up for re-election and are predominantly in challenging races, said they would back an investigation. A seventh, PA Rep. Brendan Boyle, tweeted declaring that it was critical to get “to the bottom” of the COVID-19 pandemic’s roots.
WCW, which supports politicians who oppose harmful animal research, distributed its questionnaire to over 100 contenders in competitive races, including members from both parties, according to WCW board member Justin Goodman. Six Democrats said they’d look into a lab leak, one said they wouldn’t, and one said they’d abstain.
Rep. Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania, Rep. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, Elaine Luria of Virginia, Sanford Bishop of Georgia, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, and Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia all said yes, but PA Lieutenant Governor and Senate nominee John Fetterman said no.
To date, research into the lab-leak theory seems to have been virtually entirely Republican. Republican members of the House and Senate launched hearings on the matter, accusing the Chinese Communist Party of trying to cover up a lab mishap that might have unleashed the coronavirus into the populace.
The Biden admin. has maintained a dovish approach on the subject, preferring not to question China on the origin of the virus and deferring all recent queries to an intelligence agency analysis released last year, which indicated that a lab leak was feasible but not particularly likely.
Proponents of the lab leak, including Senate Republicans that are on the HELP Panel, claim that the epidemic occurred too coincidentally mere kilometers from the Wuhan Department of Virology, where Chinese researchers began genetically manipulating bat-based coronaviruses in the years before.
White Coat Waste has been a vocal opponent of gain-of-function studies, which makes viruses more hazardous and transmissible, as well as Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has promoted and sponsored such research throughout his tenure at the NIAID.
