CNN medical contributor: Don't let lab-leak theory lead to anti-Asian discrimination
Dr. Leana Wen: 'None of this is to say that a scientific investigation shouldn’t proceed'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen warned that an investigation into the lab-leak theory for the origins of the coronavirus could "increase anti-Asian" hate in a Washington Post column Tuesday.
While she said it was crucial to understand how the pandemic began to help prevent future ones, she said "unproven speculation" could be harmful.
"It’s not hard to imagine that increased rhetoric about careless or even reckless Chinese scientists could provoke more acts of harm against AAPI communities," she wrote.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Wen, the former head of Planned Parenthood who left over philosophical differences with the organization, wrote she had received an increased amount of hate mail since the lab-leak theory gained more attention in recent weeks. She admonished politicians and media members to parse their language when criticizing the Chinese government by not conflating it with Chinese people in general.
"None of this is to say that a scientific investigation shouldn’t proceed. It should--and we must gather evidence objectively. No one should jump to conclusions or cherry-pick data to fit a pre-determined conclusion for partisan political aims," she added in a tweet.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Wen's article comes on the heels of a rapid media about-face on the possibility the virus escaped from a Wuhan lab known for its bat coronavirus experiments. Journalists have in part blamed politics for their earlier dismissal of the idea, citing Republicans like Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., first proposing the theory last year.
The Washington Post issued a correction this week to a story that, 15 months ago, alleged Cotton peddled a "debunked" "conspiracy theory" about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Washington Post's reporting side has also fretted about the possibility of anti-Asian discrimination.
"The reopening of debate presents challenging issues for Facebook because the claim has also been associated with a wave of anti-Asian sentiment," the Post reported Friday, in a story headlined, "Facebook’s reversal on banning claims that covid-19 is man-made could unleash more anti-Asian sentiment."
Some critics have wondered why anti-Asian sentiment would spring any more from the lab-leak accident theory than that it originated in unsanitary Chinese wet markets.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I guess I just don't see why the lab leak theory would inspire more prejudice than the most widely accepted alternative explanation: deplorable hygiene in a market selling exotic (and, to most Americans, revolting) livestock," Axios reporter Lachlan Markay reacted.
After New York Times reporter Apoora Mandavilli said the lab theory had "racist roots" last week, journalist Glenn Greenwald had a similar thought.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Can someone explain to me why it's racist to wonder if a virus escaped from a Chinese lab, but it's not racist to insist that it infected humans because of Chinese wet markets? If anything, isn't the latter more racist?" he asked.