Reminds me of US railroad companies in the 19th century trying to evade liability for starting wildfires caused by cinders spouted from coal-fired steam locomotives.

Arrest?

If you work on a supervirus with zero safety net, knowing that it will likely escape containment like many of its predecessors did and wreak havoc and still decide to go forth with it, you should be held criminally responsible for what it does. More importantly, something should be done to stop people from doing this.

It's like filling a huge cistern with nitroglycerin and then claiming you're not responsible for the destruction after it inevitably blows up.