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The World Health Organization has suspended a key investigator into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic “after findings of sexual misconduct,” according to an agency spokesperson.
Peter K. Ben Embarek, an expert on food safety and animal-borne diseases, was fired last year; The dismissal was reported by The Financial Times on Friday.
The findings stem from events that took place in 2015 and 2017, Marcia Poole, a WHO spokeswoman, said in an email. The agency’s investigative team first learned of the allegations in 2018. At the time, “there was a significant backlog,” and the resulting investigative and administrative process took several years, he said.
The agency did not provide further details on the nature of the complaint but noted that there are other allegations against Dr. Ben Embarek who “could not be fully investigated” because the victim or victims did not want to participate in the process.
Dr. Ben Embarek could not immediately be reached for comment. But he told Reuters that the 2017 incident was over. “I am not aware of any other complaints, and there are no other complaints that I have received,” he said, according to Reuters. “I have to fight the harassment qualification, and I hope to defend my rights.”
In 2021, Dr. Ben Embarek led a WHO mission to Wuhan, China, to investigate the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. International experts selected by the WHO are working with experts from China to conduct a joint investigation, which China has repeatedly delayed.
At a press conference in Wuhan, Dr. Ben Embarek said it was “impossible” that the virus leaked from a Wuhan lab, citing the lab’s safety precautions. “All the work that has been done on the virus and trying to identify its origin continues to lead to natural reservoirs,” he said at a press conference.
The WHO team was criticized for advancing a narrative pushed by Chinese officials, including that the virus may have originated outside of China and could have spread through frozen food shipments. At the press conference, the visiting scientists praised the Chinese experts.
But some members of the mission later said China was withholding the requested data. And in an interview with Science, Dr. Ben Embarek admits that the team is working in a difficult political environment.
“Politics is always in the room with us on the other side of the table,” Science said. “We have between 30 and 60 Chinese colleagues, and many of them are not scientists, not from the public health sector.”
As the team prepares to publish its findings, US officials have expressed concern that the Chinese government has too much control over the content of the final report.
The report concluded that “introduction through laboratory events” was “unlikely” and introduction through the food chain was “possible.” But the most common source of the virus is spillover from animals, he concluded.
The lab leak theory remains controversial; has gained support in recent months, and US intelligence agencies have different conclusions about the origins of the pandemic. Most virologists believe that the virus emerged from an animal at a market in Wuhan. But definitive proof, for any theory, remains elusive.
Dr. Ben Embarek also leads WHO’s One Health initiative, which is dedicated to the relationship between human, animal and environmental health.
The WHO has also come under fire in recent years for not taking strong enough action against sexual misconduct. In 2021, researchers discovered that people working for the agency had abused or sexually exploited women and girls during the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Over the past 18-20 months, WHO has embarked on a comprehensive program to drive systemic change across the organization to prevent and respond to sexual misconduct,” Ms Poole said in an email. The agency has cleared its backlog and aims to complete future investigations in 120 days or less, he said.
The new sexual conduct policy took effect in March. The new policy “is an important part of making ‘zero tolerance’ a reality and not just a slogan,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said in a statement at the time.
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