User:Adoring nanny/ScientistsRfcDraft

RfC: how should the lead describe scientists' opinions about the lab leak theory?

• Option A (status quo): Most scientists believe the virus spilled into human populations through natural zoonosis, similar to the SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV outbreaks, and consistent with other pandemics in human history.
• Option B: Scientists are divided, but most believe the virus spilled into human populations through natural zoonosis, similar to the SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV outbreaks, and consistent with other pandemics in human history.
• Option C: Scientists are divided, but most believe the virus spilled into human populations through natural zoonosis.

I've omitted sources from all options, but plenty are out there, and I'll make sure the discussion goes into them.

Discussion (scientists' opinions about LL)

Sources

Starting a list of sources below. Any editor is welcome to expand it.

Scholarly

• Helden, et al. [1] There is so far no scientifically validated evidence that directly supports a natural origin.
• Holmes, et al. [2]Recent debate has coalesced around two competing ideas: a “laboratory escape” scenario and zoonotic emergence. Article then argues for zoonosis.
• Pekar, et al. [3]As with other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 emergence likely resulted from multiple zoonotic events.
• Sallard, et al. [4] The data currently available are not sufficient to firmly assert whether SARS-CoV2 results from a zoonotic emergence or from an accidental escape of a laboratory strain.

News, including scholarly news

• Nature [5] Scientists have for some time been divided over the provenance of SARS-CoV-2.
• NYT [6]

  Scientists who have studied the genetics of the virus, and the patterns by which it spread, say the most likely cause is that the virus jumped from live mammals to humans — a scientific phenomenon known as “zoonotic spillover” — at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, the city in which the first cases of Covid-19 emerged in late 2019.

  But other scientists say there is evidence, albeit circumstantial, that the virus came from a lab, possibly the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which had deep expertise in researching coronaviruses. Lab accidents do happen; in 2014, after accidents involving bird flu and anthrax, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tightened its biosafety practices.

• TheBMJ [7] The theory that SARS-CoV-2 may have originated in a lab was considered a debunked conspiracy theory, but some experts are revisiting it amid calls for a new, more thorough investigation. Also, a portion is entitled A conspiracy to label critics as conspiracy theorists.
• WSJ [8] Some scientists argue that the virus probably emerged naturally and leapt from an animal to a human, the same pathway for outbreaks of previously unknown pathogens . . . . The lack of an animal source, and the fact that Wuhan is the center of China’s extensive coronavirus research, has led some scientists and U.S. officials to argue that a lab leak is the best explanation for the pandemic’s beginning.