The Lab Leak Hypothesis for the Origin of the COVID-19 Virus is Dangerous

An important article appeared in the  Journal of Virology in August that we believe must be called to the attention of everyone who cares about the integrity of science and the pursuit of scientific evidence. Authored by 41 distinguished scientists and health professionals, the article, titled “The harms of promoting the lab leak hypothesis for SARS-CoV-2 origins without evidence,” is a blistering denunciation of attempts to promote the theory that the virus that causes Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2, originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

As the article explains, there are currently two competing hypotheses about where the Covid-19 virus came from. One is the lab leak theory that claims the virus was created in the laboratories of the Wuhan Institute of Virology and somehow escaped. Although scientists have left open the possibility that this hypothesis is correct, there is at present absolutely no evidence to support it. The other hypothesis is that the virus emerged in animals, probably bats, and was transferred to mammals that were then slaughtered in a meat market in Wuhan and transmitted to humans. The great bulk of scientific evidence accumulated so far supports this theory, called the zoonosis hypothesis.

Lab Leak Gets Support in the Halls of Congress

Even though no evidence supports the lab leak hypothesis, it has been touted in many circles,  including by Kentucky U.S. Senator Rand Paul, who is also an ophthalmologist. Dr. Paul has excoriated the former director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Dr. Anthony Fauci, for the latter’s support of the zoonosis hypothesis. Last June, Fauci was grilled by a House of Representatives subcommittee investigating the Covid-19 pandemic, during which some Representatives called for his prosecution and accused him of “crimes against humanity.” Paul and others have accused Fauci and NIAID of funding research at the Wuhan Institute that they say led to the release of the Covid-19 virus. Fauci fiercely denies these allegations and  fact checkers have not uncovered evidence that U.S. federal dollars funded research that created any dangerous viruses at the Wuhan Institute.

There Are At Least Four Reasons Promoting the Lab Leak Theory Is Dangerous

The authors of the Journal of Virology paper lament that “Despite the absence of evidence for the escape of the virus from a lab, the lab leak hypothesis receives persistent attention in the media, often without acknowledgment of the more solid evidence supporting zoonotic emergence.” They call this situation “dangerous” for the following reasons:

• The lab leak theory puts the blame for the pandemic on scientists and consequently some of them have “withdrawn from social media platforms, rejected opportunities to speak in public, and taken increased safety measures to protect themselves and their families.” Some scientists have even abandoned their work in favor of less controversial areas of research. The last thing we need is for scientists to withdraw from the public or to alter important scientific research trajectories because of a fallacious hypothesis that blames them for the Covid-19 pandemic.
• “The lab leak narrative fuels mistrust in science and public health infrastructure.” We need scientists and public health specialists to work on understanding how dangerous viruses spread, to develop new interventions to treat the ones we already have, and to be prepared for future viral outbreaks. Fomenting distrust will only set back all of these efforts and leave us more vulnerable to present and future viral diseases.
• Proponents of the lab leak hypothesis have proposed new restrictions on research about viruses that “if adopted, would unnecessarily restrict research required for developing vaccines and antivirals in the US.”
• Our attention should be directed to dealing with the situation that most likely did lead to the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 as a human pathogen: illegal and/or unregulated wildlife markets like the one in Wuhan. “Globally,” the Journal of Virology authors state, “policymakers have done little to curtail or effectively regulate the illegal wildlife trade and wet market practices” that still threaten to be the source of future zoonotic events. “Diverting attention, effort and resources in response to the unsupported lab leak hypothesis harms the mission of pandemic preparedness,” they wrote.

To some, the issue of where the virus that causes Covid-19 came from may seem an academic exercise. After all, the virus is now all around us and we have been forced to deal with it for years. Yet, as the Journal of Virology authors persuasively argue, the stakes here are far from trivial. The bulk of scientific evidence supports the zoonotic origin of the virus and virtually no scientific evidence supports the lab leak hypothesis. Media that understandably concentrate on “fair balance” when it comes to political issues must not fall into the trap of giving unscientific viewpoints equal weight with theories that are well supported and endorsed by most experts. Promoting the lab leak hypothesis distorts reality and threatens our ability to meaningfully prepare for future pandemics. It is critical that we heed the science here and reject political posturing, blaming scientists, and promoting ideas utterly lacking evidence.