If the virus came from the lab ...

... other considerations would have to be made. The lab-theory is no longer considered a conspiracy, it is seriously discussed. During the Sars pandemic of 2003, the pathogen also escaped twice from a Beijing research institute, whereupon nine people became infected and one died. We have to ask what the purpose of “gain of function” research is. It works in the test tube on accelerating the mutation processes of viruses or bacteria in order to be able to better predict emerging infectious diseases and to be able to develop vaccines. It ́s history goes back to the beginning of the last century and was also always to be seen from a military point of view as a development of bioweapons. The Geneva Protocol of 1925 and even the ratification of the Biological Weapons Convention in 1975 were too imprecise to prevent the development of human viruses. The reason: viruses do not have all the characteristics of life. In 2014, the White House imposed a moratorium on gain-of-function research on influenza, Mers and Sars, which was lifted again in 2017 by the National Research Council. For all these years, scientists and bioethics experts on synthetic virology have expressed concerns regarding the dual use of gain-of-function research that is civilian and military use. All the more worrying in times of war. With the Hamburg Declaration 2022, 50 scientists from all over the world have publicly spoken out and called for the end of high-risk gain of function research on pathogens with global pandemic potential.