The revived debate over whether COVID-19 could be the result of an accidental release from the Wuhan Institute of Virology may never be adequately resolved. Either way, we risk not seeing the wood for the trees. While the World Health Organization (WHO) reported in February such a leak was “extremely unlikely”, it later advised more work was needed to rule it out. But the real problem is not what might have happened in China — it’s that there is no meaningful international legal oversight in the first place. The United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity puts the onus on individual countries to regulate their own biotech industries. While there are protocols for the safe handling and transfer of living modified organisms, there are still no agreed international standards governing laboratory safety, monitoring and information sharing.