It’s because the media and polite company decided long ago that a lab release was a “conspiracy theory” and shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Why this is the case is more mysterious. One plausible explanation from Bret Weinstein is that it makes the work of virologists look very dangerous; maybe even more dangerous then not studying viruses.

Because the idea is so often advanced without evidence by known bad sources.

This article seems more level headed, and indeed acknowledges the problem.

Maybe its most frightening sentence is:

> US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is currently constructing a new and expanded national Bio and Agro-defense facility in Manhattan, Kansas. DHS has estimated that the 50-year risk (defined as having an economic impact of $9-50 billion) of a release from its lab at 70%.

That's .. not great odds.

I’m not sure, but the source website seems to be quite biased: https://geneticliteracyproject.org/glp-facts/bioscience-reso...