French Academy of Medicine: COVID-19 likely result of lab accident | Euractiv

Source: French Academy of Medicine: COVID-19 likely result of lab accident | Euractiv
Publisher: Euractiv | Author: Euractiv
Published: April 4, 2025 | Archived: July 17, 2026

The French National Academy of Medicine has now come out in favor of the lab leak theory to explain the origin of COVID-19.

This position adds weigh to the theory already supported by German intelligence and the American CIA, both of which concluded in recent weeks that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic originated from a leak at a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan.

Last January, an investigation under the Biden administration – also backing the lab accident theory – was made public. In March, German media reported that their national intelligence services had likewise concluded that a laboratory leak was the most likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The French Academy’s report, supporting the lab accident theory, was adopted by 97% of its members.

In its report, the Academy also highlights that the theory of a genetically manipulated virus leaking from a laboratory was first raised in February 2020 by several teams specialising in coronaviruses.

While the report stresses that this is only a theory, the French institution believes there is “a body of facts and arguments” supporting it – particularly a project involving the Wuhan Institute of Virology and U.S. teams, which may have resulted in the global pandemic.

However, some grey areas remain due to the opacity of Chinese authorities, who have shown little willingness to disclose details or conclusions from their investigations. Moreover, the lab leak theory continues to compete with the hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 naturally transmitted from bats to humans.

The possibility of transmission through a civet – a small, furry, wide-eyed mammal – was also raised by France’s National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).

“The report is not intended to fuel sterile or accusatory controversies, nor to block research carried out in France – especially research involving genetic manipulation, which can be essential in many areas of biology,” the French Academy emphasised in the preamble of its report.

(aw)