[oliwarner]

Maybe people are past caring.

What is commenting, protesting, international sanctions or going to war actually going to achieve here?

I probably do believe an accidental lab-leak scenario, but obsessing about it isn't going to bring anyone back, or refund my family's time in lockdown, or help us treat it going forward. If anything, it's a distraction from what we need to do to to slow transmission.

[AndrewBissell]

We could always make sure there isn't more of this sort of research being done right now. Firing anyone who was involved (as opposed to, say, giving them regular interview slots on CNN) also seems wise.

[oliwarner]

I don't disagree, with caveats.

This is absolutely something that investigative professionals should pursue. If laws need to change, or people need to be punished on their recommendation, go for it.

But this is not the time for more "Drastic" research, scraping together odd papers and presentation slides to build a narrative. It's not the time a newspaper (that is a family friend, ex-employer and significantly Party-biased) to rile people up enough to buy the book you're about to release.

We've all seen way too much of this social-media-science in the past 2 years. Anger and anecdotes aren't enough. He should present his case to the authorities and let them deal with it, rather than trying to do the same as the rest of his Party members and cash in.