1. What's up with @WHO SAGO?

"WHO wants SAGO to also examine the possibility of a laboratory accident being responsible for the emergence of SARS-CoV-2"

(December, 2021)

thelancet.com/journals/lanin…
2. The Problem via @Ayjchan
"The question now is how do we make sure the next phase of @WHO #OriginOfCovid isn't subject to more of these pressures coming from parties with reasonably perceived conflicts of interest
Was its SAGO membership also determined under these influences?
3. Example via @DavidLRobrtson of @robertson_lab

"the focus should be on the most realistic scenario for the emergence of the virus: infected animals in markets in Wuhan"

“WHO has to stop wasting time pandering to unsubstantiated lab leak notions”

thelancet.com/journals/lanin…
4. First meeting of Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) on 24 Nov 2021

"As per established WHO procedures for advisory expert groups, SAGO meetings will not be public. WHO will provide updates on work as appropriate."

who.int/news/item/24-1…
Tedros opening remarks at the press conference

- 29 Dec 2021

"It is vitally important that SAGO can develop a pathway for the scientific research of pathogens, including for the origins of SARS-CoV-2 & we hope to see progress quickly in the New Year"

who.int/director-gener…
6. Tedros opening remarks at 1st meeting of WHO SAGO on 23 November 2021

"This is critical work at a critical time.

"One of those gaps is the lack of a rigorous and standardised process for studying the origins of novel and re-emerging pathogens"

who.int/director-gener…
7. Resolution WHA73.1 (in May 2020)

"In May 2020, the World Health Assembly, through resolution WHA73.1, requested the DG of the WHO to identify the source of SARS-CoV-2 and the route of introduction to the human population"

SAGO TOR (20 August 2021)

cdn.who.int/media/docs/def…
8. Current Members

(includes just one biosafety expert)

Dr Normand Labbe

who said "send any documents to SAGO"

But SAGO doesn't reply...

who.int/groups/scienti…
9. SAGO ignores Monkeys

Anyone else want to try their luck?

Email: SAGO@who.int

Email: normand.labbe@phac-aspc.gc.ca

Two reports to forward:

researchgate.net/publication/35…

and

researchgate.net/publication/35…
10. SAGO must be held to its Mandate!

"To advise the WHO on developing, monitoring & supporting studies into the origins of SARS-CoV-2, including rapid advice on WHO's plans to implement the next series of global studies into the origins of SARS-CoV-2"

who.int/publications/m…
11. Silence from SAGO punctuated by one article

horizon.uplb.edu.ph/uplb-features/…
12. All Hypotheses remain on the Table (March 2021)

“As far as WHO is concerned, all hypotheses remain on the table. We have not yet found the source of the virus, and we must continue to follow the science and leave no stone unturned as we do”

who.int/news/item/30-0…
13. #DRASTIC demands @WHO SAGO does its job!
unroll SAGO delay @threadreaderapp

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More from @BillyBostickson

May 12
🧵THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY!

1. GOOD NEWS

Thanks to @BumblebeeJoe I have 250 new followers!



Welcome aboard!

To summarize the state of affairs in my world

As you may know, I am one very hard-working🙊

12-15 hours a day investigating "lab leak"✅
🧵2. My Recent Work

I demolished Pekar et al., (2025)

x.com/BillyBostickso…

This paper is so bad it is not even wrong!

Das ist nicht einmal falsch!

(Wolfgang Pauli)

azquotes.com/author/21450-W…
🧵3. I completed my 40,000-word final report

(Possibly final..😉)

The Pangolin (Coronavirus) Papers

x.com/BillyBostickso…

I provided summaries and explainers here:

x.com/BillyBostickso…
Read 35 tweets
May 9
“We are not a Cult”

DRASTIC and the investigative network that broke the Corona laboratory taboo

Must Read Interview!

The hard working "Two Ronnies" of DRASTIC

@gdemaneuf & @BillyBostickson

Interviewed by @franzbecchi for @berlinerzeitung

berliner-zeitung.de/politik-gesell…
1. Who are the “pandemic detectives”?

We speak with 2 of DRASTIC's prominent members:

@gdemaneuf (a data scientist & engineer)

and @BillyBostickson, longtime activist who was formerly part of opposition networks in China & HK & who operates anonymously for security reasons.
@gdemaneuf 2. My Responses

How did DRASTIC come about?

I started in January 2020, triggered by an article by Dan Sirotkin on the origins of the virus.

I connected with people like @R_H_Ebright & others on Twitter.

In May 2020, I chose the name "DRASTIC" for this decentralized group.
Read 18 tweets
May 8
22. Biased Sampling distorts Geography!

They use a dataset skewed toward Yunnan & Laos (p. 16), leading to phylogeographic models that place SARS-CoV ancestors far from Wuhan & Guangdong (p. 12).

This sampling bias undermines the reliability of their geographic inferences.
23. Neglecting Alternative Hypotheses

No SARS-CoV-like viruses near emergence sites?

They completely overlook non-bat reservoirs, like civets or pangolins, which could explain local circulation (p. 15).

This omission weakens their claim of distant ancestor origins (p. 12).
24. Inconsistent Molecular Clock Rates

The paper misuses variable NRR-specific clock rates, which give inconsistent SARS-CoV ancestor dates (e.g., 1944–2014 for SARS-CoV-2, p. 9).

Without any validation of bat-specific rates, this approach has no rational grounding (p. 14).
Read 33 tweets
May 8
5. Why did they resort to using the POW model?

To show that :

"our inferences of the time of the ancestors of human SARS-CoVs and their closest bat sarbecoviruses are UNBIASED"
6. Captain Obvious Strikes Again (1)

"we show that the ancestors of SARS-CoV-1 & SARS-CoV-2 likely circulated in horseshoe bat populations 100s to 1000s km away from the sites of the emergence of these viruses in humans & as recently as one to six years prior to this emergence"
7. Captain Obvious Strikes Again (2)

"Our findings indicate that there would not have been sufficient time for the direct bat virus ancestor to reach the locations of emergence of the human SARS-CoVs via normal dispersal through bat populations alone"
Read 12 tweets
May 8
1. Last sick joke of the Zoonati?

Fragments of human SARS-CoVs share recent common ancestors with bat viruses

SARS-CoV-like viruses have circulated in Asia for millennia

Ancestors of human SARS-CoVs likely circulated in China & Laos

Ancestors traveled unexpectedly fast
2. No Pangolins allowed!

There is insufficient temporal signal when calibrating a molecular clock using tip dating with sarbecoviruses sampled from bats & pangolins, likely as a consequence of limited sampling across space & time.

Therefore, we used SARS-CoV-1 genomes!
3. Definitely no pangolins!

As sampling locations of SARS-CoV-1, 2 & pangolin sarbecoviruses likely do not represent where their direct bat virus ancestors circulated, we EXCLUDED their locations from phylogeographic analyses to avoid the IMPACT of dispersal of non-bat hosts!
Read 24 tweets
May 4
1⃣ Virological 🦠 Whistleblower 😮‍💨?

"I worked with researchers in this space - virology + combatting future pandemics - in the decade before the pandemic".
2⃣ One Fact

"The one fact that the last 5 years never readily disclosed is that the core ideology of this community of researchers was fundamentally divided"
3⃣ Lab based creation of super-viruses

"About half of the researchers, including many leading virologists whose names appeared in the news, believed and argued passionately for the lab-based creation of super-viruses and super-bacteria"
Read 12 tweets

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