Self-inflicted wounds: Responding to the bias in Science, by its young editor

In November 2021, Science published an editorial called Self-inflicted wounds. This was written by its fairly recently appointed (2019) editor, H. Holden Thorp. Thorp, in this editorial, described science as a "messy, human process, subject to all features of human frailty." He defends both the EcoHealth Alliance (EHA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

I submitted a formal response (as a letter) to Science on November 13, 2021. It was rejected; a slimmed down version is below. A shorter e-letter was also rejected. Since publication of the editorial a compelling article by Katherine Eban, about the EcoHealth Alliance (EHA) and the NIH; called “This Shouldn’t Happen”: Inside the Virus-Hunting Nonprofit at the Center of the Lab-Leak Controversy" has appeared. It draws on more than 100,000 leaked documents, and includes observations of several former EHA staff.

There is other evidence of bias by Science, for example as documented by Paul Thacker

Here is my rejected letter:

 

Your editorial (1) notes science is a "messy, human process, subject to all features of human frailty." However, it is not only statements by the EcoHealth Alliance (EHA) and the US National Institutes of Health that demonstrate such frailty. Multiple pronouncements and even published statements by Dr Shi Zhengli, who heads a group that studies coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), have also been factually wrong (2).

You argue that such "mis-steps" and "miscues" are not only forgivable, but irrelevant, and that they say nothing “substantive about the science”. However, as recognised by WHO, a transparent environment is essential for safe research on potentially pandemic pathogens (3). Such an environment is clearly impossible in China, a country now infamous for imprisoning, and even torturing citizen journalists (4).

Would you also describe as a “mis-step” the refusal, by both Dr Peter Daszak (of EHA) and Dr Marion Koopmans, to respond seriously to the issue of the missing database, removed from the internet by the WIV before the pandemic commenced, allegedly due to hacking? (5)  In a discussion, broadcast by Chatham House, Dr Daszak declared that the EHA also have access to those data. If that is true, then its release by the EHA would go some way to rebuilding trust.

Your editorial states the virus is almost certainly of zoonotic origin. But no reason is given. Such certainty is appropriately questioned by WHO, which continues to insist that all hypotheses must continue to be examined and that a lab accident cannot yet be ruled out (3). SARS-CoV-2, perhaps uniquely among recently discovered infectious diseases not only is easily transmitted by air, but also has significant asymptomatic (“stealth”) transmission (6,7). This combination of characteristics, together with its vast array of pathological effects, should give us pause for thought (8). 

References (links to journal articles added April 2, 2022)

1. H. H. Thorp, Self-inflicted wounds. Science 374, 793 (2021).

2. C. D. Butler, Plagues,pandemics, health security, and the war on nature. J Human Security 16, 53-57 (2020).

3. M. D. V. Kerkhove, M. J. Ryan, T. A. Ghebreyesus, Preparing for “disease X”. Science 374, 377 (2021).

4. H. Davidson, Wuhan Covid citizen journalist jailed for four years in China crackdown. Guardian (2021). https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/28/wuhan-citizen-journalist-jailed-for-four-years-in-chinas-christmas-crackdown accessed November 13, 2021

5. Chatham House Webinar: Inside the WHO-China Mission.  (2021). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMllEF58944 accessed November 13, 2021

6. A. L. Rasmussen, S. V. Popescu, SARS-CoV-2 transmission without symptoms. Science 371, 1206-1207 (2021).

7. C. D. Butler, Infectious disease emergence and global change: thinking systemically in a shrinking world. Inf Dis Pov 1, 5 (2012).

8. J. van Helden, C. D. Butler, G. Achaz, D. Casane, J.-M. Claverie, F. Colombo, V. Courtier, B. Canard, R. H. Ebright, F. Graner, M. Leitenberg, S. Morand, R. Segreto, N. Petrovski, E. Decroly, J. Halloy, An appeal for an objective, open and transparentscientific debate about the origin of SARS-CoV-2. Lancet 398, 1402–1404 (2021)