PolitiFact has retracted a fact-check that denied the theory that the coronavirus was created in a lab in Wuhan, China.
The retracted fact-check came in response to claims made by Hong Kong virologist Dr. Li-Meng Yan on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” show. Yan asserted that COVID-19 is a man-made virus and that it was intentionally released into the population.
“Tucker Carlson guest airs debunked conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was created in a lab,” the headline of the fact-check, which has now been archived, read. PolitiFact further called Yan’s remarks “inaccurate and ridiculous.”
“We rate it Pants on Fire!” the fact-checker said.
Why remove it? The fact-checker uploaded an archived version of the fact-check and added an editor’s note that explains why the nonprofit decided to take it down from the website. Specifically, PolitiFact said that they cannot claim for certain that the COVID-19 virus was not “manipulated.”
“When this fact-check was first published in September 2020, PolitiFact’s sources included researchers who asserted the SARS-CoV-2 virus could not have been manipulated. That assertion is now more widely disputed,” the editor’s note states. “For that reason, we are removing this fact-check from our database pending a more thorough review.”
“Currently, we consider the claim to be unsupported by evidence and in dispute,” the editor’s note added.
Worth noting: The fact-check, in part, relied on a statement published in the journal Nature Medicine in March 2020. New York Times science reporter Nicholas Wade blasted the statement, saying it is “full of absurdly large holes” and “grounded in nothing but two inconclusive speculations.”
How we got here: PolitiFact removed the fact-check after it published a piece that acknowledges some scientists believe that the virus might have escaped from a lab. It also pointed to questions about scientists at the Wuhan lab conducting “gain of function” research, which involves making viruses more potent with the goal of creating better vaccines.
CDC director Rochelle Walensky this week said during a Senate hearing that “[c]ertainly, a lab-based origin is one possibility.” When asked if the U.S. has played a role in “gain of function” research, Walensky said: “Not to my knowledge.”
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