Reflections on my open letter about ethics to the editorial board of the journal EcoHealth

 

** A modified form of this letter was recently submitted to the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, but rejected. I will try another journal in due course - or, perhaps a longer article (perhaps for J Medical Ethics). Sentences enclosed by asterisks not in original. **

The underlying viral cause (SARS-Co-V-2) of COVID-19, though sometimes claimed as a “natural” zoonosis, transmitted by contact with an unknown animal sold in a Chinese market (Worobey et al. 2022) remains uncertain (Harrison and Sachs 2022). The leading alternative is that this virus emerged via a research-related accident, either during field collection, or laboratory escape, possibly following its genetic manipulation in Wuhan, China (Sachs et al. 2022).

Two key figures in this “origins debate” are journal editors, respectively of The Lancet (henceforth “Lancet”) (Richard Horton) and EcoHealth (Peter Daszak). Here, I discuss an open letter I sent (November 2022) to almost all of the extended EcoHealth editorial board (Butler 2022a).

My letter appealed for EcoHealth to consider appointing one or more ethical advisors, and for existing editorial advisers to recommend that the journal publish an editorial (or guest editorial) about the “gain of function research of concern” debate. Were EcoHealth to do this, it would revisit issues raised in a previous editorial to which I contributed, as one of the journal’s four co-editors at that time (Jeggo et al. 2012). ** None of the co-authors of this editorial declated any conflict of interest (COI). **

Background

In early 2020 I was commissioned to write a report, since published **(70 pages, 34 reviewers)**, into the causes and implications of COVID-19 (United Nations Environment Programme 2022). To do this, I immersed myself in the rapidly evolving COVID-19 literature. Almost immediately, I was struck by the unusual language of a then recent letter in Lancet (Calisher et al. 2020). It stated: “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.” I recognised many of the letter’s 27 co-authors, five of whom are still associated with EcoHealth. Another author was (and is) director of the Wellcome Trust, thus one of the most powerful figures in global health.

I was dismayed by this letter’s assertion that scientists evaluating alternative hypotheses for the origin of SARS-CoV-2 were “conspiracists”. Was the letter intended to be intimidating, or was it simply clumsily phrased? Either way, it seemed to exert a chilling effect. Throughout 2020, no leading journal published anything to challenge this “unipolar” hypothesis, even though evidence for it remained slender. The media seemed to uncritically accept this position.

Partly inspired by the tenacity of the online group DRASTIC (Ryan, 2021) I eventually was able to express my opinion that a laboratory origin for SARS-CoV-2 was plausible in an editorial in the Journal of Human Security (Butler, 2020). Consequently, I became aware of a network of scientists, some senior, mostly based in Europe, who thought similarly. Almost immediately we submitted a letter to Lancet, responding to Calisher et al., hoping our logic would be rewarded by rapid publication. We were disappointed, despite appeal.

Changing track, we then wrote collaborative open letters (authors listed alphabetically) to newspapers (Butler et al. 2021a, Butler et al. 2021b). Though widely publicised, these lacked the scientific authority of Lancet. However, their publication seemed to help stimulate a letter in Science, written by a different group, which made similar key points: that considerable circumstantial evidence existed for a laboratory origin, and that it was unscientific to call the debate “closed” (Bloom et al. 2021). A globally recognised coronavirus researcher (Ralph Baric) was a co-signatory.

Editorial disputes over ethics

From soon after Calisher et al’s publication, though then publicly unknown, Dr Horton was concerned about Dr Daszak’s reluctance to acknowledge his COI in co-signing that letter, which he also organised (Suryanarayanan, 2020). Dr Horton’s dismay was revealed in his testimony to British parliamentarians (Science and Technology Committee 2021). Shortly after Dr Daszak’s COI was declared (Editors of the Lancet, 2021), our letter was accepted by Lancet (van Helden et al. 2021).

In October 2021, a serious rift among a group commissioned by Lancet to report into the pandemic was publicised (Cohen, 2021). The two key figures involved were Jeffrey Sachs (Commission chair) and (again) Dr Daszak, a member.  The key issue of concern, alleged by Dr Sachs, was Dr Daszak’s lack of transparency (Gray and Sachs, 2022). **Dr Daszak is not named, but the implication is clear to those who follow this closely.**

 

Conclusion

Irrespective of the pandemic’s true cause, and whether Dr Daszak has or had a genuine COI, many considered that he did, including Dr Horton. In my opinion, it would be wise for EcoHealth to publish a non-partisan editorial concerning the origin of SARS-Co-V-2 and which clearly acknowledges uncertainty and human imperfection. An alternative is to host a debate.

Few, if any, scientists allege any putative laboratory-associated deliberate release of SARS-CoV-2. However, Dr Baric and others acknowledge that work was done with viruses, in Chinese laboratories, with weak safety standards. If done in the US, much stricter conditions would be necessary (Jacobsen 2021).

Safety concerns at Chinese laboratories were expressed in 2019 by the head of the Wuhan laboratory biosafety committee (Zhiming 2019). Recent work shows that, in some Chinese laboratory settings, restrictively-dressed workers endure six hour shifts, when “they cannot eat, drink or relieve themselves” (Eban and Kao 2022). In such conditions, it is hard to imagine the absence of errors.

The risk of biohazards from recombinant DNA technology was recognized at the dawn of this scientific field (Report of Committee on Recombinant DNA Molecules et al. 1974). A recent World Health Organisation report (2022) acknowledges that some gain-of-function research may involve “potential pandemic pathogens”, raising “significant biosafety and biosecurity risks”. Could SARS-Co-V-2 have arisen this way? The risk of genetically altered potentially pandemic pathogens has been explicitly recognised for years (Cambridge Working Group 2014), and implicitly for decades.

In the Anthropocene (Butler, 2016) understanding the risk that synthetic organisms may pose to global health should be no more surprising than the idea that greenhouse gases or biodiversity loss could influence human health was to pioneers of ecological health (Sargent, 1972, McMichael, 1993). ** Somehow - many people are resistant; I truly am reminded of the stubborn inability to recognise that climate change could be a health issue in the early 1990s; yet some of the people who seemed so forward thinking then are  not, on this issue.**

Laboratory-altered organisms should be recognized as central to planetary health and related fields, including One Health and EcoHealth (Butler, 2022b). The impacts of conflicts of interest need to be better acknowledged and recognized in this debate. Recognition of these issues by the EcoHealth board members will enhance the journal’s prestige, influence and longevity, and reward the field of researchers it serves.

References

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Butler, C.D. 2016. Sounding the alarm: health in the Anthropocene. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 13: 665. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13070665

 

Butler, C.D. 2020. Plagues, pandemics, health security, and the war on nature. The Journal of Human Security 16(1): 53-57. https://doi.org/10.12924/johs2020.16010053

 
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Gray, B.J. and J.D. Sachs. 2022. Lab leak theory: new evidence? Bad Faith. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZa5k87ByOkAccessed November 8, 2022. 

 

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