Drastic Team

Drastic (Decentralized Radical Autonomous Search Team Investigating COVID-19)<ref name="cnet" /> is an international team of scientists and analysts organized for the purpose of investigating the origins of COVID-19.<ref name"wapo" /><ref name"sky" /> It is a decentralized group composed of approximately 30<ref name"cnet" /><ref name"herd" /> core members, formed near the beginning of 2020 (at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic),<ref name"minutes"/> whose activity is primarily organized through the social media website Twitter.<ref name"cnet" /> Many of Drastic's members prefer to remain pseudonymous<ref name"minutes"/> due to "safety concerns, fear of losing their jobs and a constant stream of hacking attempts".<ref name"cnet" />
A March 2021 article in the Daily Telegraph described them as a part of a "group of diligent online sleuths" who had, near the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, sought to "fill the gaps" and locate literature on coronaviruses with potentially similar genetic sequences to SARS-CoV-2.<ref name"telegraph" /> The Washington Post cited their work on databases (including genetic sequences) belonging to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, including studying database usage records.<ref name"wapo" /> CNET said that Drastic's research "challenged the prevailing theories of the virus' beginnings in the highly polarized theater of Twitter".<ref name"cnet" /> In February 2021, Drastic member Gilles Demaneuf was interviewed by Sky News Australia.<ref name"sky" />
Their pseudonymity, and their style of engagement with other scientists on Twitter, has drawn criticism.<ref name"cnet" /> Members have engaged in "ugly incidents" on Twitter with virologists and epidemiologists, and falsely accused some of working for the Communist Party of China; in April 2021, CNET said that "the abrasive attacks have, at times, overshadowed the team's work".<ref name"cnet" /> UnHerd said that, while their efforts have been "crucial to ensure the lab leak theory is properly investigated", they sometimes "hurtle down blind alleys".<ref name"herd" /> Drastic members have called for a "full and unrestricted investigation" into the origins of COVID-19, conducted independently of the World Health Organization.<ref name"cnet" />

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