because if it were, then we are fully into conspiracy theory territory, and I have no interest whatsoever to venture there--despite the numerous accusations here to the contrary!
That said, I will read the literature on the subject. Here is one recent publication that describes how it may be scientifically possible which is a far cry from actually stating that this indeed happened.
I'm reluctant to even include the reference below; that alone is a very sad, very chilling reminder of how politically charged this subject has become; which is unfortunate, because I'd be interested in hearing a qualified scientific discussion on the questions raised in this paper.
[Note that it is published in a journal called Bioessays because the only way someone could post a scientific research article on this would be if they actually performed the described experiments, which they clearly did NOT do.]
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33200842/
The genetic structure of SARS-CoV-2 does not rule out a laboratory origin: SARS-COV-2 chimeric structure and furin cleavage site might be the result of genetic manipulation
Severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2's origin is still controversial. Genomic analyses show SARS-CoV-2 likely to be chimeric, most of its sequence closest to bat CoV RaTG13, whereas its receptor binding domain (RBD) is almost identical to that of a pangolin CoV. Chimeric viruses can arise via natural recombination or human intervention. The furin cleavage site in the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 confers to the virus the ability to cross species and tissue barriers, but was previously unseen in other SARS-like CoVs. Might genetic manipulations have been performed in order to evaluate pangolins as possible intermediate hosts for bat-derived CoVs that were originally unable to bind to human receptors? Both cleavage site and specific RBD could result from site-directed mutagenesis, a procedure that does not leave a trace. Considering the devastating impact of SARS-CoV-2 and importance of preventing future pandemics, researchers have a responsibility to carry out a thorough analysis of all possible SARS-CoV-2 origins.
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