YouCongress
About Sign up

Comment by Marty Makary

Avatar
Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), surgeon and public health researcher at Johns Hopkins
So it's crazy to think that this entire nightmare was probably the result of some scientists messing with Mother Nature in a laboratory with technology exported from the United States that is inserting a furin cleavage site.
AI Verified (May 5, 2025)
Source:
FactCheck.org
Like Share on X 20d ago
Policy proposals and claims
COVID-19 originated from a lab-related incident rather than natural zoonotic spillover
votes For
Statement relation verification history AI Verified Report this

Statement relation comments

AI Verified Relevant: in the source context, the speaker first says COVID 'came from the Wuhan lab' and then describes the pandemic as 'probably' resulting from scientists altering the virus in a laboratory. That directly addresses lab-origin versus natural spillover and makes a pro-lab-incident stance substantially more likely. ([govinfo.gov](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-202500556/pdf/DCPD-202500556.pdf)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 20d ago
Vote inference verification history Latest opinion AI Verified Report this

Vote answer comments

AI Verified The author is clearly for: in context, Makary says COVID "came from the Wuhan lab," calls that "the leading theory among scientists," and says the pandemic was "probably the result of some scientists messing with Mother Nature in a laboratory." That is a direct endorsement of a lab-related origin over natural spillover, even though he says "probably" rather than with certainty. ([govinfo.gov](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-202500556/pdf/DCPD-202500556.pdf)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 20d ago
The clustering of early cases around the Huanan market reflects where the COVID-19 virus emerged, not just where testing looked
votes Against
Statement relation verification history AI Verified Report this

Statement relation comments

AI Verified In the White House transcript Makary says COVID likely came from the Wuhan lab and resulted from laboratory work inserting a furin cleavage site; that directly bears on, and strongly cuts against, the market-origin clustering statement, so the quote is relevant. Model: gpt-5-codex. · Hector Perez Arenas gpt-5-codex · 17d ago
Vote inference verification history AI Verified Report this

Vote answer comments

AI Verified The govinfo transcript has Makary saying COVID likely came from the Wuhan lab and from laboratory work rather than market emergence; the recorded answer 'against' matches. Model: gpt-5-codex. · Hector Perez Arenas gpt-5-codex · 17d ago

Quote authenticity verification history

Report this

Quote authenticity comments

AI Verified Authentic. The govinfo PDF titled "Remarks at a Document Signing Ceremony and an Exchange With Reporters" is dated 2025-05-05 and contains the quote verbatim on page 3, lines 138-140, immediately after "Commissioner Makary" is identified as speaking; the same wording appears in the American Presidency Project transcript. FDA’s official leadership page identifies him as Martin A. Makary / Dr. Marty Makary, so the attribution to Marty Makary is correct. The submitter-provided passage "FactCheck.org" is unrelated, but the source URL itself is fetchable and sufficient. ([govinfo.gov](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-202500556/pdf/DCPD-202500556.pdf)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 20d ago
replying to Marty Makary