DRASTIC
{{Short description|Twitter group investigating COVID-19 origins}}
{{See Wiktionary|the internet activist group|drastic|term}}
DRASTIC (Decentralized Radical Autonomous Search Team Investigating COVID-19) is a loose collection of internet activists assembled to investigate the origins of COVID-19, in particular the lab leak theory.{{Cite journal
|last1 = Maxmen
|first1 = Amy
|last2 = Mallapaty
|first2 = Smriti
|date = 2021-06-08
|title = The COVID lab-leak hypothesis: what scientists do and don't know
|url = https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01529-3
|journal = Nature
|language = en
|volume = 594
|issue = 7863
|pages = 313–315
|doi = 10.1038/d41586-021-01529-3
|pmid = 34108722
|bibcode = 2021Natur.594..313M
|s2cid = 235395594
|access-date = 2021-06-25
|archive-date = 2021-06-15
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210615125313/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01529-3
|url-status = live
}}{{cite web | url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2025/02/18/covid-19-how-a-group-of-amateur-investigators-pushed-the-lab-leak-theory_6738298_8.html | title=Covid-19: How a group of amateur investigators pushed the lab-leak theory | website=Le Monde | date=18 February 2025 }} Composed of about 30 core members, and primarily organized through the social media website Twitter, DRASTIC was formed in February 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. DRASTIC members called for a "full and unrestricted investigation" into the origins of COVID-19, conducted independently of the World Health Organization; most scientists thought that COVID-19 likely had a natural origin, and some considered that a potential lab leak was worth investigating.{{cite journal |last1=Frutos |first1=Roger |last2=Gavotte |first2=Laurent |last3=Devaux |first3=Christian A. |title=Understanding the origin of COVID-19 requires to change the paradigm on zoonotic emergence from the spillover to the circulation model |journal=Infection, Genetics and Evolution |date=March 2021 |volume=95 |pages=104812 |doi=10.1016/j.meegid.2021.104812 |pmid=33744401 |language=en|pmc=7969828 |bibcode=2021InfGE..9504812F }}{{cite magazine |last1=Oreskes |first1=Naomi |author1-link=Naomi Oreskes |title=The Lab-Leak Theory of COVID's Origin Is Not Totally Irrational |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-lab-leak-theory-of-covids-origin-is-not-totally-irrational/ |magazine=Scientific American |date=September 2021 |language=en |quote=To be clear, most scientists think animal spillover is the most likely explanation because that's where most new diseases come from.}}
Many of DRASTIC's members use pseudonyms, while identified members have backgrounds including mycology,{{cite web |last1=Probst |first1=Maraike |last2=Flatschacher |first2=Daniel |title=Rossana Segreto |url=https://www.uibk.ac.at/microbiology/team/rossana-segreto/index.html.en |website=University of Innsbruck |access-date=28 June 2021 |language=en |archive-date=28 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628162532/https://www.uibk.ac.at/microbiology/team/rossana-segreto/index.html.en |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Fridstrøm |first1=Aksel |title=Will the upcoming WHO investigation in China look into the possibility of a lab leak starting the pandemic? |url=https://www.minervanett.no/sars-sars-cov-2-who/will-the-upcoming-who-investigation-in-china-look-into-the-possibility-of-a-lab-leak-starting-the-pandemic/369666 |access-date=28 June 2021 |work=www.minervanett.no |date=2020-12-02 |language=no |archive-date=2021-06-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628162532/https://www.minervanett.no/sars-sars-cov-2-who/will-the-upcoming-who-investigation-in-china-look-into-the-possibility-of-a-lab-leak-starting-the-pandemic/369666 |url-status=live }} neuroscience, and data science.
__TOC__
== Influence and impact ==
Over the course of its investigations, DRASTIC gained influence by highlighting potential conflicts of interest within the scientific community and by uncovering troubling documents, such as the controversial DEFUSE proposal, which suggested inserting human-specific furin cleavage sites into bat coronaviruses. In 2021, DRASTIC’s work led to heightened public and governmental scrutiny of the lab-leak hypothesis, with the U.S. government and the WHO acknowledging the theory’s plausibility.{{cite web | url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2025/02/18/covid-19-how-a-group-of-amateur-investigators-pushed-the-lab-leak-theory_6738298_8.html | title=Covid-19: How a group of amateur investigators pushed the lab-leak theory | website=Le Monde | date=18 February 2025 }}
Mojiang mine
In May 2020, a DRASTIC member discovered a master's thesis and a PhD thesis, according to which three bat guano miners from Mojiang county in Yunnan Province who fell ill with a pneumonia-like illness in 2012 had actually died from a SARS-like coronavirus.{{cite web
|url=https://www.theweek.in/theweek/cover/2021/07/01/what-exactly-happened-in-wuhan.html
|title=Summary of DRASTIC findings by anonymous member seeker
|website=The Week
|access-date=2021-07-02
|archive-date=2021-07-02
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210702111536/https://www.theweek.in/theweek/cover/2021/07/01/what-exactly-happened-in-wuhan.html
|url-status=live
}} After the miners fell ill, and before the causative agent was determined, Wuhan Institute of Virology scientists visited to collect virus samples to investigate whether the cause was a novel coronavirus. According to scientists at the WIV, clinical assays showed the causative agent of the illness was likely not any of the several discovered coronaviruses, but instead fungal in origin.{{cite news |last1=Qiu |first1=Jane |author-link=Jane Qiu|title=How China's 'Bat Woman' Hunted Down Viruses from SARS to the New Coronavirus |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-chinas-bat-woman-hunted-down-viruses-from-sars-to-the-new-coronavirus1/ |access-date=6 October 2021 |work=Scientific American |language=en |quote="Although the fungus turned out to be the pathogen that had sickened the miners..."}}{{cite news |last1=Stanway |first1=David |title=Explainer: China's Mojiang mine and its role in the origins of COVID-19 |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/chinas-mojiang-mine-its-role-origins-covid-19-2021-06-09/ |access-date=6 October 2021 |work=Reuters |date=9 June 2021 |language=en|quote="Scientists returning to the mine at the end of 2012 found samples of a pathogen that came to be known as the "Mojiang virus", found in rats and unrelated to SARS-CoV-2. Subsequent research was unable to confirm whether it caused the miners' illness. According to the Wuhan Institute of Virology's Shi Zhengli, China's top bat coronavirus researcher, the workers' pneumonia-like symptoms were caused by a fungal infection. Shi and her team also said in research published last November that they had retested 13 serum samples from four of the patients and found no sign they had been infected with SARS-CoV-2."}} One of the samples collected, RaBtCoV/4991, later renamed to RaTG13,{{cite news |last1=Hinshaw |first1=Jeremy Page, Betsy McKay and Drew |title=The Wuhan Lab Leak Question: A Disused Chinese Mine Takes Center Stage |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/wuhan-lab-leak-question-chinese-mine-covid-pandemic-11621871125 |access-date=4 October 2021 |work=Wall Street Journal |date=24 May 2021}} was the closest known relative to SARS-CoV-2 before more closely related wild coronaviruses were discovered,{{cite journal |last1=Mallapaty |first1=Smriti |title=Closest known relatives of virus behind COVID-19 found in Laos |journal=Nature News |date=24 September 2021 |volume=597 |issue=7878 |pages=603 |doi=10.1038/d41586-021-02596-2 |pmid=34561634 |bibcode=2021Natur.597..603M |s2cid=237626322 |language=en|doi-access=free }}{{cite news |title=Amid Wuhan lab's denials, why a copper mine is back in focus in COVID origin hunt |url=https://www.theweek.in/news/health/2021/05/25/amid-wuhan-lab-denials-why-a-copper-mine-is-back-in-focus-in-covid-origin-hunt.html |access-date=4 October 2021 |work=The Week |language=en}} which led to speculation that it might be related to the origin of the pandemic.{{cite news |last1=Stanway |first1=David |title=Explainer: China's Mojiang mine and its role in the origins of COVID-19 |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/chinas-mojiang-mine-its-role-origins-covid-19-2021-06-09/ |access-date=4 October 2021 |work=Reuters |date=9 June 2021 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=China clamps down in hidden hunt for coronavirus origins |url=https://apnews.com/article/united-nations-coronavirus-pandemic-china-only-on-ap-bats-24fbadc58cee3a40bca2ddf7a14d2955 |access-date=4 October 2021 |work=AP NEWS |date=20 April 2021 |language=en}} However, while RaTG-13 and SARS-CoV-2 are related, they are not closely enough related to be the product of genetic engineering or passaging in a laboratory.{{cite news |last1=Kasprak |first1=Alex |title=The 'Occam's Razor Argument' Has Not Shifted in Favor of a COVID Lab Leak |url=https://www.snopes.com/news/2021/07/16/lab-leak-evidence/ |access-date=6 October 2021 |work=Snopes.com}} Analysis of clinical reports from the patients furthermore indicates that they were not infected with SARS-CoV-2.{{cite journal |last1=Frutos |first1=Roger |last2=Javelle |first2=Emilie |last3=Barberot |first3=Celine |last4=Gavotte |first4=Laurent |last5=Tissot-Dupont |first5=Herve |last6=Devaux |first6=Christian A. |title=Origin of COVID-19: Dismissing the Mojiang mine theory and the laboratory accident narrative |journal=Environmental Research |date=March 2022 |volume=204 |issue=Pt B |pages=112141 |doi=10.1016/j.envres.2021.112141|pmid=34597664 |pmc=8490156 |bibcode= }} The role of the Mojiang miners incident has been reported to be a key part of efforts to investigate the origins of the virus, and Anthony Fauci has urged China to release further information about the miners.
Project DEFUSE grant proposal
In September 2021, DRASTIC leaked a rejected grant proposal by EcoHealth Alliance and co-investigators, submitted to DARPA in 2018. The proposed project cost $14.2 million and was aimed at "defusing the threat of bat-borne coronaviruses". The leaked documents included a plan to insert "human-specific" furin cleavage sites into SARS-like bat coronaviruses. The furin cleavage site of SARS-CoV-2 generated some controversy early in the pandemic, as the closest related known coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-1, MERS-CoV, RaTG-13) do not contain such a site.
This anomaly is most likely the result of recombination,{{cite journal |last1=Wu |first1=Yiran |last2=Zhao |first2=Suwen |title=Furin cleavage sites naturally occur in coronaviruses |journal=Stem Cell Research |date=January 2021 |volume=50 |pages=102115 |doi=10.1016/j.scr.2020.102115|pmid=33340798 |pmc=7836551 }}{{cite journal |last1=Whittaker |first1=Gary R |title=SARS-CoV-2 spike and its adaptable furin cleavage site |journal=The Lancet Microbe |date=October 2021 |volume=2 |issue=10 |pages=e488–e489 |doi=10.1016/S2666-5247(21)00174-9|pmid=34396356 |pmc=8346238 }} and has not been seen in similar viruses because of inadequate sampling and sequencing of this group of viruses.{{cite journal |last1=Ruiz-Aravena |first1=Manuel |last2=McKee |first2=Clifton |last3=Gamble |first3=Amandine |last4=Lunn |first4=Tamika |last5=Morris |first5=Aaron |last6=Snedden |first6=Celine E. |last7=Yinda |first7=Claude Kwe |last8=Port |first8=Julia R. |last9=Buchholz |first9=David W. |last10=Yeo |first10=Yao Yu |last11=Faust |first11=Christina |last12=Jax |first12=Elinor |last13=Dee |first13=Lauren |last14=Jones |first14=Devin N. |last15=Kessler |first15=Maureen K. |last16=Falvo |first16=Caylee |last17=Crowley |first17=Daniel |last18=Bharti |first18=Nita |last19=Brook |first19=Cara E. |last20=Aguilar |first20=Hector C. |last21=Peel |first21=Alison J. |last22=Restif |first22=Olivier |last23=Schountz |first23=Tony |last24=Parrish |first24=Colin R. |last25=Gurley |first25=Emily S. |last26=Lloyd-Smith |first26=James O. |last27=Hudson |first27=Peter J. |last28=Munster |first28=Vincent J. |last29=Plowright |first29=Raina K. |title=Ecology, evolution and spillover of coronaviruses from bats |journal=Nature Reviews Microbiology |date=May 2022 |volume=20 |issue=5 |pages=299–314 |doi=10.1038/s41579-021-00652-2 |pmid=34799704 |pmc=8603903 |language=en |issn=1740-1534}}{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Wen |last2=Tian |first2=Jun-Hua |last3=Chen |first3=Xiao |last4=Hu |first4=Rui-Xue |last5=Lin |first5=Xian-Dan |last6=Pei |first6=Yuan-Yuan |last7=Lv |first7=Jia-Xin |last8=Zheng |first8=Jiao-Jiao |last9=Dai |first9=Fa-Hui |last10=Song |first10=Zhi-Gang |last11=Chen |first11=Yan-Mei |last12=Zhang |first12=Yong-Zhen |title=Coronaviruses in wild animals sampled in and around Wuhan at the beginning of COVID-19 emergence |journal=Virus Evolution |date=29 June 2022 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=veac046 |doi=10.1093/ve/veac046|pmid=35769892 |pmc=9214087 }} Many other animal coronaviruses do contain such sites.{{cite journal |title=Close cousins of SARS-CoV-2 found in a cave in Laos yield new clues about pandemic's origins |website=www.science.org |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/close-cousins-sars-cov-2-found-cave-laos-yield-new-clues-about-pandemic-s-origins |access-date=13 October 2021 |language=en}} Under close genetic examination, SARS-CoV-2 shows no signs of genetic modification and no precursor virus has been identified.{{cite journal |vauthors=Holmes EC, Goldstein SA, Rasmussen AL, Robertson DL, Crits-Christoph A, Wertheim JO, Anthony SJ, Barclay WS, Boni MF, Doherty PC, Farrar J, Geoghegan JL, Jiang X, Leibowitz JL, Neil SJ, Skern T, Weiss SR, Worobey M, Andersen KG, Garry RF, Rambaut A |title=The origins of SARS-CoV-2: A critical review |journal=Cell |volume=184 |issue=19 |pages=4848–4856 |date=September 2021 |pmid=34480864 |pmc=8373617 |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2021.08.017 |type=Review |display-authors=5 |quote=Under any laboratory escape scenario, SARS-CoV-2 would have to have been present in a laboratory prior to the pandemic, yet no evidence exists to support such a notion and no sequence has been identified that could have served as a precursor...The SARS-CoV-2 furin cleavage site (containing the amino acid motif RRAR) does not match its canonical form (R-X-R/KR), is suboptimal compared to those of HCoV-HKU1 and HCoV-OC43, lacks either a P1 or P2 arginine (depending on the alignment), and was caused by an out-of-frame insertion...There is no logical reason why an engineered virus would utilize such a suboptimal furin cleavage site, which would entail such an unusual and needlessly complex feat of genetic engineering...Further, there is no evidence of prior research at the WIV involving the artificial insertion of complete furin cleavage sites into coronaviruses."}} While the mere presence of the furin cleavage site is not suspicious, some scientists argue the fact that these experiments were proposed raises concerns.{{cite web |last1=Engber |first1=Daniel |last2=Federman |first2=Adam |title=The Lab-Leak Debate Just Got Even Messier |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/09/lab-leak-pandemic-origins-even-messier/620209/ |website=The Atlantic |access-date=October 13, 2021 |language=en |date=September 25, 2021}}{{cite magazine |last1=Kormann |first1=Carolyn |title=The Mysterious Case of the COVID-19 Lab-Leak Theory |url=https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-mysterious-case-of-the-covid-19-lab-leak-theory |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=October 13, 2021 |date=October 12, 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Lerner |first1=Sharon |last2=Hibbett |first2=Maia |title=Leaked Grant Proposal Details High-Risk Coronavirus Research |url=https://theintercept.com/2021/09/23/coronavirus-research-grant-darpa/ |website=The Intercept |access-date=October 13, 2021 |date=September 23, 2021}}
Other activities
In 2021 CNET reported that members of DRASTIC have engaged in personal attacks against virologists and epidemiologists on Twitter, falsely accusing some of working for the Chinese Communist Party.
References
{{reflist|refs=
| url = https://www.cnet.com/features/how-the-coronavirus-origin-story-is-being-rewritten-by-a-guerrilla-twitter-group/
| title = How the coronavirus origin story is being rewritten by a guerrilla Twitter group
| website = CNET
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| url-status = live
}}
|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/05/coronavirus-origins-mystery-china/
|title = We're still missing the origin story of this pandemic. China is sitting on the answers
|date = February 5, 2021
|newspaper = The Washington Post
|author = Washington Post Editorial Board
|access-date = June 2, 2021
|archive-date = March 29, 2021
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210329142442/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/05/coronavirus-origins-mystery-china/
|url-status = live
}}
| url = https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6232101866001
| title = World 'not impressed' by the WHO's COVID-19 origins report
| website = Sky News Australia
| date = February 14, 2021
| access-date = June 1, 2021
| archive-date = June 4, 2021
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210604000605/https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6232101866001
| url-status = live
}}
|last = Aublanc
|first = Manon
|title = Qu'est-ce que DRASTIC, le collectif qui enquête sur l'origine du virus ?
|url = https://www.20minutes.fr/monde/3009523-20210329-coronavirus-drastic-collectif-independant-enquete-origine-epidemie
|website = 20 minutes
|date = March 29, 2021
|language = fr
|access-date = June 2, 2021
|archive-date = June 2, 2021
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210602215141/https://www.20minutes.fr/monde/3009523-20210329-coronavirus-drastic-collectif-independant-enquete-origine-epidemie
|url-status = live
}}
|last = Eban
|first = Katherine
|author-link = Katherine Eban
|title = The Lab-Leak Theory: Inside the Fight to Uncover COVID-19's Origins
|date = June 3, 2021
|url = https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/the-lab-leak-theory-inside-the-fight-to-uncover-covid-19s-origins
|access-date = June 7, 2021
|magazine = Vanity Fair
|language = en-US
|archive-date = June 6, 2021
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210606201656/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/the-lab-leak-theory-inside-the-fight-to-uncover-covid-19s-origins
|url-status = live
}}
|last1 = Colomé
|first1 = Jordi Pérez
|date = June 18, 2021
|title = The online detectives sowing doubts about the origins of the pandemic
|language = en
|work = El País
|url = https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2021-06-18/the-online-detectives-sowing-doubts-about-the-origins-of-the-pandemic.html
|access-date = 24 June 2021
|archive-date = 2021-06-24
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210624204509/https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2021-06-18/the-online-detectives-sowing-doubts-about-the-origins-of-the-pandemic.html
|url-status = live
}}
| url = https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/online-group-digs-deeper-into-coronavirus-leak-theory/article34746341.ece
| title = Online group digs deeper into coronavirus leak theory
| first = Ramya
| last = Kannan
| date = June 6, 2021
| website = The Hindu
| access-date = June 8, 2021
| archive-date = June 8, 2021
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210608103616/https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/online-group-digs-deeper-into-coronavirus-leak-theory/article34746341.ece
| url-status = live
}}
|last1 = Maxmen
|first1 = Amy
|last2 = Mallapaty
|first2 = Smriti
|date = 2021-06-08
|title = The COVID lab-leak hypothesis: what scientists do and don't know
|url = https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01529-3
|journal = Nature
|language = en
|volume = 594
|issue = 7863
|pages = 313–315
|doi = 10.1038/d41586-021-01529-3
|pmid = 34108722
|bibcode = 2021Natur.594..313M
|s2cid = 235395594
|access-date = 2021-06-25
|archive-date = 2021-06-15
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210615125313/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01529-3
|url-status = live
}}
| last = Lawton
| first = Graham
| date = 2021-06-05
| title = Did covid-19 come from a lab?
| journal = New Scientist
| volume = 250
| issue = 3337
| pages = 10–11
| doi = 10.1016/S0262-4079(21)00938-6
| issn = 0262-4079
| pmc = 8177866
| pmid = 34108789
}}
}}
External links
- Original Official website https://drasticresearch.org/
- Competing website after split https://drasticscience.com/
{{COVID-19 pandemic}}
Category:Organizations established in 2020
Category:Organizations established for the COVID-19 pandemic