双语:摒弃阴谋论,让科学引领溯源工作
发布时间:2021年11月15日
发布人:nanyuzi  

No More Conspiracy; Let Science Take the Lead

摒弃阴谋论,让科学引领溯源工作

 

Ambassador Dai Qingli Contributes an Article to The Nassau Guardian

驻巴哈马大使戴庆利在《拿骚卫报》发表署名文章

 

28 July 2021

2021年7月28日

 

Earlier this year, China invited a WHO expert team made up of 17 scientists from 10 countries and organizations to the city of Wuhan, the initial epicenter of the pandemic, for the China part of the global study of the origins of the COVID-19 virus. This study was phase one of WHO’s ongoing program authorized by resolution WHA 73.1 that aims to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population in order to reduce the risk of similar events occurring.

今年早些时候,中国邀请世界卫生组织专家组前往新冠肺炎疫情早期暴发地之一的武汉市,开展全球新冠病毒溯源研究的中国部分工作。这是世卫组织根据WHA73.1号决议开展的新冠病毒溯源工作的一部分。来自10个国家和国际组织的17名科学家组成专家组访问中国,旨在确定病毒来源和传染途径,以降低类似事件发生的风险。

 

China cooperated with the WHO mission in an open, transparent and science-based way. The joint study team, which also included 17 Chinese scientists, assessed 4 possible pathways for the introduction of the virus, including direct zoonotic spillover, an intermediate host, cold food chain products and laboratory incident, and they rated each according to the degree of likelihood.

中国秉持公开、透明、科学和合作原则,全力支持了世卫专家组开展的各项工作。包括17名世卫组织专家、17名中国科学家在内的联合研究小组评估了病毒出现的4种可能途径,包括直接从自然宿主到人,通过野生动物也就是自然宿主到中间宿主再到人,通过冷链跨境远距离传播以及实验室引入,并对每一种途径的可能性程度进行了评级。

 

The likelihood of lab incident was duly examined by the joint study team. They inspected the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), scrutinized the standard operating procedure, management rules, enforcement of security at the WIV and looked through all the research programs it was and is engaged in.

联合专家组对实验室引入的可能性进行了调查。他们访问了武汉病毒研究所,同相关研究人员和管理人员对现场进行了考察,仔细了解其规范流程、管理制度、安全制度的执行情况,并查看了该研究所曾经开展和正在开展的一些研究项目。

 

They then listed all the factors either supporting or precluding the lab leak possibility, and came to the eventual conclusion that the introduction of the virus through a laboratory incident is “extremely unlikely”. This was written into the report of the joint expert team as the official and authoritative conclusion of the phase one origin tracing by the WHO.

随后,联合专家组从两个维度列出了支持实验室泄露可能性和不支持这一可能性的一切相关因素,最终得出结论:通过实验室事件引入病毒“极不可能”。这一结论写入了联合专家组报告,是世卫组织第一阶段溯源研究的官方权威结论。

 

Unfortunately, such a fact and science-based conclusion was apparently not enough to dispel the conspiracy theory about lab leak, which swirled around with vociferous momentum following the release of the report. Apparently, determined political forces are doggedly promoting this narrative.

不幸的是,上述以事实和科学为依据的结论没有能够消除关于“病毒源于实验室泄露”的阴谋论。这一阴谋论在报告发布后沉渣泛起且愈发嚣张,显然受到了强大政治力量的顽固鼓动。

 

But what do conspiracy theorists have to show for their assertions? One oft-cited “evidence” is that three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell ill in November 2019 with similar symptoms as COVID 19. The other is that the WIV conducted the so-called “gain of function” experiments on the virus, whereby they would enhance the virulence of the virus.

但是阴谋论者们拿出了什么样的证据呢?一个经常被引用的“证据”是,“武汉病毒研究所有3名研究人员于2019年11月到医院就诊,其症状和新冠肺炎一致”。另一个则是声称该研究所对病毒进行了所谓“功能增强实验”。

 

Yet the accusers never provided the names of those sick researchers. In fact, they wouldn’t be able to, since according to the WIV, none of its staff members or graduate students were infected with the virus. Furthermore, the WIV denied many times that they ever conducted gain of function experiments.

然而,指控者从未提供那些生病的研究人员的姓名。事实上,他们不可能提供,因为该所已多次澄清,其工作人员或研究生都未曾感染该病毒,他们也从未进行过功能增强实验。

 

A lie told a thousand times will still be a lie. As Ms. Shi Zhengli, the leading researcher at the WIV nicknamed “bat-lady” commented to New York Times, “This is no longer a question of science, it is speculation rooted in utter distrust.”

谎言说了一千遍终究还是谎言。正如武汉病毒研究所首席研究员石正丽女士对《纽约时报》评论的那样,这不再是一个科学问题,而是源自极度不信任的妄自臆测。

 

Danielle Anderson, an Australian expert who worked at the WIV until November 2019, told Bloomberg recently that there’s no evidence that infection as a result of gain of function occurred. She further said she was impressed with the institute’s maximum biocontainment lab which has the highest biosafety designation.

曾在武汉病毒研究所工作至2019年11月的澳大利亚专家丹妮尔·安德森最近接受彭博社采访时表示,没有发现2019年底有研究人员“生病”,也没有证据显示进行了“功能增强实验”。她还对武汉病毒研究所采取的最高安全标准印象深刻。

 

It is the common understanding among the scientific community that the COVID-19 virus evolved in nature. On July 5, 24 leading experts from around the world published an article in The Lancet, noting that “a laboratory-leak source of the pandemic remain without scientifically validated evidence”. On July 7, 2021, scientists from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia released a preprint paper on Zenodo, a research data sharing platform in Europe, in which they wrote, “There is currently no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 has a laboratory origin. There is no evidence that any early cases had any connection to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

新冠病毒是自然起源的,这是学术界的普遍共识。今年7月5日,24名国际知名专家在《柳叶刀》上发表论文,指出,目前没有任何的科学证据支持新冠病毒从中国实验室泄露的理论。7月7日,来自美国、英国和澳大利亚的科学家在欧洲科学数据共享平台(Zenodo)上发表预印本文章,指出:“没有任何证据表明新冠病毒来自武汉实验室;没有证据表明任何早期的病例与武汉病毒研究所存在联系”。

 

Given all this, it cannot but come as a total surprise not just to China but to fair-minded people around the world that the WHO’s proposed second phase of studies into the origins of the corona-virus should list the hypothesis that “China’s breach of laboratory protocols caused the virus to leak” as one of the research priorities and still focus origin tracing on China.

鉴于上述,世卫组织第二阶段新冠病毒溯源计划仍然将中国实验室泄露的假设作为研究重点,把继续到中国溯源作为重点研究内容,这不得不令中国乃至世界秉持公道的人们感到惊讶。

 

There can only be one explanation for such single-minded promotion of the lab leak theory, that is, the WHO has come under overwhelming political pressure by some member states, and the scientific process has been sidetracked by politics. The aim of all this manoeuvring is self-evident: accuse, slander and pin blame on China, with the collateral damage being the American scientists who worked with the WIV before the pandemic.

对于这样处心积虑宣扬阴谋论的做法只能有一个解释,那就是世卫组织受到了一些成员国强大的政治压力,科学进程被政治推离了轨道。这一波政治操作的目的不言而喻,那就是诬蔑、抹黑和推责于中国,同时也一并打压在疫情暴发前与武汉病毒研究所合作过的美国科学家。

 

The second phase of origin tracing should be a continuation of the first phase, guided by Resolution WHA73.1 and conducted on the basis of thorough discussions among WHO members. It shouldn’t evolve into a political investigation based on the presumption of guilt and with the aim of validating the conspiracy claims. Without new scientific evidence, there would be no justification for reopening the case.

第二阶段病毒溯源应该在第一阶段病毒溯源的基础上延伸,以WHA73.1号决议为指引,在成员国充分磋商的基础上进行。病毒溯源不应该演变成基于有罪推定和旨在为阴谋论寻求佐证的政治调查。除非发现了新的科学证据,否则完全没有必要重开调查。

 

The next phase of origin tracing should be focused, among others, on early cases in different parts of the world, as it was found that blood samples from December 2019 to January 2020 in various countries tested positive for corona virus antibodies.

下一阶段溯源的重要关注点之一,应该是世界各地的早期病例。多项研究表明,新冠病毒在2019年底已在全球多地出现。比如多个国家2019年12月至2020年1月间的血液样本中新冠病毒抗体检测呈阳性。

 

People of the world deserve to know the answers to where COVID-19 came from, but politicizing the scientific work of origin tracing would only push humanity further from the truth. The better angels of human nature should prevail, otherwise, we would all be worse off in terms of preventing a recurrence of the pandemic.

世界人民都期待找到新冠病毒的来源。但将本属于科学范畴的病毒溯源工作政治化,只会使人类离真相更远。人性中善的一面应该取胜,否则人类有效防范疫情再次发生的前景只会更渺茫。