> Luc Montagnier co-discovered HIV in 1983 […]

> During the COVID-19 pandemic, Montagnier promoted the idea that SARS-CoV-2 was deliberately created and escaped from a laboratory

My understanding is that quite some researchers think that the lab leak hypothesis is possible, but unprovable at this point. I know Wikipedia treats it as some fringe hoax, but to me it seems almost religious. In the sense that the idea has been marked as a conspiracy theory at the very beginning and nothing can change that stance anymore. When a scientist supports it, it discredits the scientist instead of supporting the theory.

(For transparency, my personal opinion on covid origin is that I find it difficult to believe either side of the debate when it claims it is 100% sure.)

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ciropantera 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Lab leak is one thing, "deliberately created and escaped" is a different story.

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Denote6737 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It depends on personal interpretations of "deliberately created". To wit, virology labs will deliberately breed up more virulent strains of viruses in order to study their effects.

	▲	yreg an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I don't know what's Montagnier's position beyond that paragraph on Wikipedia, but a virus undergoing gain of function research could be I suppose described as "deliberately created" (obviously not from scratch and not deliberately released).

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ginko 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

"deliberately (created and escaped)" is very implausible yes. "(deliberately created) and escaped" not so much though.

	▲	ciropantera 15 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Agreed, and I think conflating these two is one of the reasons for the resistance towards the lab leak theory that gp mentioned.

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jpizagno 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Came here to note this as well. I think the lab leak theory is becoming more acceptable.