中新网北京7月21日电(蒋鲤)截至7月21日下午3时，超过400万中国网民发起联署倡议，一起向世界卫生组织呼吁，让包括中国科学家在内的、独立于美国地缘政治影响的国家的病毒学家、实验室安全专家、生化武器专家，调查美国德特里克堡实验室。

　　此次联署道出了普通民众一直关心但却得不到回答的问题。早在2019年7月，美国弗吉尼亚州北部就出现原因不明的呼吸系统疾病，威斯康辛州暴发了大规模“电子烟疾病”，患者症状与新冠病毒患者的症状非常相似。同年7月，德特里克堡生物实验室突然被关闭，但美国相关部门却以“国家安全原因”为由，拒绝公布更多信息……

　　恰恰是如此多的“巧合”和美国讳莫如深的态度，让人很难不联想“电子烟疾病”与新冠病毒之间的关系。德特里克堡实验室被美媒称为“美国政府最黑暗的实验中心”。早在20世纪90年代初，该实验室就曾发生炭疽等致命菌株、毒株丢失事件。美国一直声称要弄清楚新冠病毒的源头，并且一再诋毁抹黑中国。然而，在面对各界质疑时，却对自家疑点重重的德特里克堡生物实验室三缄其口，避而不谈。这不由得让人猜测：美国，你在隐瞒些什么？

　　新冠疫情在全球多地暴发后，美国不断将矛头指向中国，不仅质疑世卫组织、专家学者的权威结论，还大肆罔顾科学与事实，将溯源这样的科学问题交给情报部门调查，大搞“情报溯源”，炒作“实验室泄漏论”，企图甩锅中国。这不由得让人怀疑：美国，你是在转移视线吗？

　　在新冠溯源问题上，中国的武汉病毒研究所能邀请专家组实地考察，让外国媒体进行采访。而美国的德特里克堡实验室却始终对质疑者紧紧关闭大门。中国有句俗话：“白天不做亏心事，半夜不怕鬼敲门”，这不由得让人思考：美国，你究竟在怕什么？

Three questions for the U.S. to address regarding furtive Fort Detrick

By John Lee

(ECNS) -- More than four million Chinese netizens have signed a joint letter as of 3 p.m. Wednesday, demanding the World Health Organization (WHO) to send virologists, laboratory safety experts and biochemical specialists independent of geopolitics influence of the U.S. to investigate the Fort Detrick lab.

The joint signing points to unanswered questions of wide concern. In July 2019, an unexplained respiratory disease appeared in northern Virginia, while a large-scale e-cigarette disease broke out in Wisconsin. These patients shared similar symptoms with those confirmed carrying COVID-19. Coincidentally, the Fort Detrick lab was suddenly shut down in the same month by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for "national security reasons", with the department refusing to release more information since.

It's natural for people to link the e-cigarette disease with COVID-19 due to the lab’s closure and national attitude. Fort Detrick was dubbed "the center of the U.S. government’s darkest experiments" by Politico Magazine. Lab specimens of anthrax spores, the Ebola virus and other deadly pathogens disappeared from the lab in the early 1990s. Though the U.S. is trying to figure out the origin of COVID-19, why is it keeping silent on Fort Detrick? Is there something the U.S. is trying to hide?

The U.S. has been targeting China since the pandemic outbreak. It has not only questioned the conclusion drawn by WHO experts, but also ordered U.S. intelligence to look into the origin of the virus, hyping the "lab-leak" theory. People can't help asking, is this a distractive move?

While Wuhan Institute of Virology has opened its doors to the WHO and foreign media in order to support COVID-19 origin tracing, Fort Detrick has avoided all probes. What is the U.S. afraid of?