Concerns About Early Research Proposals for Virus Experiments

Earlier this year, Dr. Ralph Barrick, a leading virologist, noted that a Department of the Army program had been looking for proposals on “gain-of-function” studies aimed at increasing virus transmissibility nearly two years before the COVID-19 outbreak. This information came to light during a private Senate Homeland Security Committee interview on April 10.

Barrick mentioned that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) had issued a call for proposals back in January 2018 to investigate the “factors that cause cross-species jumps” of viruses. “To get to the nitty-gritty of what causes species jumps, you’re talking about gain-of-function experiments,” he explained to the committee, based on a transcript obtained by the media.

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has since made Barrick’s complete testimony available, aiming to ensure transparency regarding the research that could lead to global pandemics.

Public health officials, like Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), argue that such research—which might involve enhancing certain pathogens—can be conducted safely. They claim it could facilitate the development of vaccines and treatments for emerging viruses.

Conversely, critics have raised alarms about the safety and purpose of this kind of virus research. They contend it often lacks commercial value. Notably, there are concerns about a DARPA proposal known as Project DEFUSE, which some scientists believe offers “conclusive evidence” that COVID-19 might have been engineered in a Wuhan lab, given the similarities in viral characteristics.

This project was submitted by Barrick alongside Shi Zhengli, a leading figure in bat coronavirus studies at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), and Dr. Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, which had received federal funding for pandemic prevention efforts.

Barrick admitted during the Senate inquiry that “we have never inserted a furin cleavage site into a coronavirus like that,” and expressed uncertainty regarding the grant from 2018, despite intense discussions among scientists about the origins of COVID-19 in early 2020.

The draft of the proposal, published by The Intercept, revealed that Daszak had planned to “downplay” the involvement of Chinese researchers in securing U.S. government funding.

Barrick indicated that DARPA was collecting research proposals through its Preventing Emerging Pathogenic Threats (PREEMPT) program to study at least 15 pathogens that could potentially threaten U.S. troops abroad. He clarified that these experiments would occur in a “controlled” lab setting.

When asked who would conduct the actual gain-of-function experiments, Barrick responded, “I’ll be doing that part.” Salazar then inquired if he believed the WIV and Dr. Shi had the technical ability to handle the work proposed in DEFUSE, to which Barrick affirmed, “That’s right.”

Ultimately, Project DEFUSE did not receive funding. However, Dr. Robert Redfield, a former CDC director, pointed out that projects like this could still be researched under different grants, even if not funded initially.

Paul later stated that Dr. Fauci and his colleagues, while publicly denying the possibility of a lab leak causing the pandemic, might have privately considered it a plausible scenario. “They conspired to blame and disparage those who claim the pandemic may have leaked from a Wuhan lab,” he claimed.

Barrick noted that research grants are typically more dynamic than contracts, suggesting that due to less stringent lab conditions, it remains impossible to rule out a lab leak as the pandemic’s origin, yet he still considered a natural origin to be the “most likely” theory.

“I never ruled out the possibility of a lab leak,” Barrick stated, highlighting concerns about laboratory safety and the frequency of infections at different biosafety levels.

During a series of private meetings early in 2020, discussions involving Fauci and other scientists revolved around whether gain-of-function research might have contributed to the pandemic, despite Fauci’s later denials in Congress.

Barrick shared that Fauci had shown interest in a specific paper that stemmed from NIH-funded research involving gain-of-function experiments. He recalled that Fauci participated in one of those meetings but had to leave early.

Most of the research associated with that paper was completed before the Obama administration’s suspension of gain-of-function studies, with some work at WIV not approved until five years later.

The now-dissolved EcoHealth Alliance has faced a ban from U.S. funding until 2030 for failing to prove compliance with past governmental regulations.

Paul plans to question Fauci regarding Barrick’s testimony in an upcoming public hearing, as well as the findings from an investigation suggesting that Fauci may have destroyed government records related to the pandemic’s origins.

Lastly, it’s noteworthy that Dr. David Morens, a former senior advisor to Fauci, recently faced legal charges for allegedly hiding and destroying records crucial to clarifying the COVID-19 origins.