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Comment by Stephen A. Goldstein

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Virologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Utah studying viral emergence and SARS-CoV-2 origins
The preponderance of scientific evidence indicates a natural origin for SARS-CoV-2. Yet, the theory that SARS-CoV-2 was engineered in and escaped from a lab dominates media attention, even in the absence of strong evidence.
Disputed (Aug 1, 2024)
Source:
Stephen A. Goldstein, coauthor of James Alwine et al., "The harms of promoting the lab leak hypothesis for SARS-CoV-2 origins without evidence," Journal of Virology, August 1, 2024.
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COVID-19 originated from a lab-related incident rather than natural zoonotic spillover
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Disputed The quote appears verbatim in the article abstract on the DOI page, but the piece is a 41-author commentary that lists Stephen Goldstein among many authors rather than a single-author statement. I can confirm the text in the source, but not attribute it solely to Stephen A. Goldstein as a single-author quote. ([journals.asm.org](https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jvi.01240-24)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 · 1h ago
replying to Stephen A. Goldstein