Lab leak or not? How politics shaped the battle over the origin of Covid

A lab leak has already been dismissed by many as a conspiracy theory. But the idea is gaining traction, even as evidence mounts that the virus has emerged from a market.

WASHINGTON - In the spring of 2021, with studies on the origins of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic nowhere and the issue entwined with bitter partisan politics, David Relman, a microbiologist at Stanford, quietly asked his congresswoman.

He told his representative, Anna Eshoo, that he was organizing a letter from leading scientists calling for an open and independent investigation into the origins of Covid-19 - including whether it came from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. He wanted to know if she would publicly endorse the idea.

The outreach worked. As soon as the letter was posted in the prestigious journal Science, Ms. Eshoo became one of the first Democrats in Congress to call for an investigation into the origins of Covid.

This was the prelude to a sea change in policy on the issue: Within weeks, President Biden ordered a thorough review of information about the start of the pandemic, which has since come to mixed conclusions.

< figure class="img-sz-large css-hxpw2c e1g7ppur0" aria-label="media" role="group">ImageDavid Relman, a microbiologist at Stanford, has called for an independent investigation into the origins of Covid-19.Credit. ..Jason Henry for The New York Times

Covid's origin hunt story is partly about China's obstruction that left scientists incomplete evidence, all about a constantly changing virus. Despite all the data suggesting the virus may have spread to humans from wild animals in a Chinese market, conclusive evidence remains elusive, as is the competing hypothesis that the virus leaked. from a lab.

But the story is also about politics and how Democrats and Republicans filtered the available evidence through their partisan lenses.< /p>

Some Republicans became obsessed with the idea of ​​a lab leak after former President Donald J. Trump raised it in the early months of the pandemic despite little supporting evidence. That made the theory toxic to many Democrats, who saw it as an effort by Mr. Trump to distract from his administration's failures to contain the spread of the virus.

The intense political debate, now in its fourth year, has at times turned scientists into lobbyists, vying for the time and favors of policy makers. Dr. Relman is just one of many like-minded researchers and thinkers who have worked successfully in the halls of power in Washington to force skeptical journalists, policymakers and Democrats to take seriously the idea of 'a lab leak.

But political momentum hasn't always matched the evidence. Even though the idea of ​​an accidental lab leak has now gained traction in Washington, the findings reported last week have bolstered the market theory. Extracting a wealth of genetic data taken from swabs at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan in early 2020, virus experts said they found samples containing genetic material from both coronavirus and illegally traded raccoon dogs. The finding, although inconclusive, pointed to an infected animal.