Talk:DRASTIC/Archive 2

Darpa proposal leak
The group released a document that has been covered in enough reliable sources to be included in this page.


 * https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/us-rejected-funding-for-bat-coronavirus-project-at-wuhan-lab-hzlql76wd
 * https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/21/wuhan-scientists-planned-releaseskin-penetrating-nanoparticles/
 * https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4298023
 * https://theintercept.com/2021/09/23/coronavirus-research-grant-darpa/
 * https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/09/lab-leak-pandemic-origins-even-messier/620209/

217.35.76.147 (talk) 18:44, 4 October 2021 (UTC)
 * IN what way, as these seem to say it was not approved?Slatersteven (talk) 18:50, 4 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Sources describe the proposal as rejected, which is an important part of the story they report. 217.35.76.147 (talk) 18:57, 4 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Then propose a text here.Slatersteven (talk) 10:13, 5 October 2021 (UTC)

Quoting from Atlantic:

"...an unfunded research grant...that was allegedly submitted to DARPA in early 2018 (and subsequently rejected), for a $14.2 million project aimed at “defusing the threat of bat-borne coronaviruses.” (was) Released ... by DRASTIC. The Atlantic...confirmed that a grant proposal with the same identifying number and co-investigators was submitted to DARPA in 2018. The proposal that circulated online includes an ambitious scheme to inoculate wild bats against coronaviruses, carried out in concert with the National Wildlife Health Center, a research lab in Wisconsin... scientists have since pointed out, the mere presence of the furin cleavage site is not dispositive of a Frankenstein experiment gone wrong...Still, these scientists agree that the very fact that these experiments were even on the radar raises significant concerns" J mareeswaran (talk) 16:22, 7 October 2021 (UTC)

New piece from New Yorker

"On September 21st, DRASTIC published a startling new revelation. In 2018, Daszak, at EcoHealth Alliance, in partnership with Shi, Baric, and Wang, had submitted a $14.2-million grant proposal to the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The proposal—which was obtained from an anonymous whistle-blower—detailed an ambitious plan to identify, model, and test the spillover risk of novel SARS-related bat coronaviruses, then develop vaccines for the horseshoe bats themselves, to preëmpt viruses from jumping into other animals or people. What stood out was their plan to insert “human-specific” furin cleavage sites into SARS-like bat coronaviruses. The furin cleavage site is the single most distinguishing feature of SARS-CoV-2. It’s “the magic sauce of this virus,” Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona, said recently. “Whether it’s natural or genetically modified, this is why this virus is circulating in humans.”"

time to edit  the  claims  section  !? J mareeswaran (talk) 15:37, 12 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Probably usable to report about Michael Worobey's opinion (where due) since that independent source does that, or to mention that DRASTIC publicized an anonymous source with those claims. If I remember the project itself never happened, so a better source could put it in context, — Paleo  Neonate  – 21:18, 12 October 2021 (UTC)