The Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) has obtained new documents through a Department of Defense (DoD) request for proposal revealing the U.S. military’s funding of a controversial self-spreading vaccine program known as DARPA INTERCEPT.
The documents reveal, say ICAN, that the animal trials were a success and that the next step of development is to inject terminally-ill humans next.
ICAN reports that Autonomous Therapeutics, a biotech company, has already published results showing successful tests of its self-spreading vaccines in monkeys. Their stated goal is to build “synthetic immune systems.”
FOIA Revelations on “Tiny Trojan Horses”
Last year, ICAN drew public attention to U.S. government studies on self-spreading vaccines. Now, ICAN attorneys have uncovered fresh details showing that DARPA’s INTERCEPT program funded the development of ‘therapeutic interfering particles’ (TIPs). These are engineered viruses designed to act as “tiny Trojan horses” that carry genetic material from person to person.
The FOIA records show that the INTERCEPT program planned not only to create these spreading particles, but also to build computer models to predict how TIPs could move from a single cell to an entire population.
The military’s role in this work has been reported for several years, such as in this 2020 Washington Post profile.
Contract Awarded to Autonomous Therapeutics
Documents reveal a 2016 DoD request for proposal calling for a “biological system for replicating ‘human-like conditions’” to study the evolutionary dynamics of mutating pathogens and diseases. This contract was awarded to Autonomous Therapeutics, co-founded by Ariel and Leor Weinberger.
Leor Weinberger has published research testing TIPs engineered for HIV on rhesus monkeys. He is now pursuing plans to inject TIPs into terminally ill HIV patients. ICAN warns that such genetic payloads could integrate permanently into patients’ DNA and could possibly spread beyond the intended clinical trial population.
Scientists have typically justified this research on the basis that it could be utilized to stop quick outbreaks of major viruses such as Ebola and quickly stop potential pandemics.
ICAN Pushes Back
ICAN says it is taking legal action to ensure these technologies are never deployed without consent. The organization has sued the federal government over grants and contracts to Autonomous Therapeutics and has filed a FOIA request for all INTERCEPT program reports.
ICAN is urging public awareness and continued scrutiny of what it calls “deeply concerning” research. The group warns that the line between medical treatment and uncontrolled biological release is being dangerously blurred.
Self-spreading vaccines have been discussed for many years. The first published scientific proposals for self-disseminating vaccines appeared in veterinary medicine journals in the 1980s. The original idea was to control wildlife diseases by releasing a transmissible virus that had been engineered to carry immunity to a specific pathogen.
Around the mid-2010s, U.S. and European defense research agencies began funding modeling studies on self-spreading vaccines for human pathogens. DARPA’s INTERCEPT program, launched circa 2016, represents one of the more well-known U.S. military efforts in this area.
The controversy around ‘self spreading’ vaccines comes from the fact that once released into a population, they cannot be controlled as to where the vaccine goes, who it reaches, or how it behaves. This goes against long-established public health principles that medical interventions require informed consent and dose control.
As well, an added layer of concern is the continued development of mRNA vaccines, which have the potential affect to change the DNA of those who are repeatedly exposed to the vaccine. If exposure is repeated over many transmissions, this could lead to permanent genetic changes in human cells. Mutations could also, easily, create a different effect than originally intended and cause permanent genetic damage to a population.
Previously, ICAN revealed in 2023 that a U.S. military investigation in early 2021 found COVID-19 vaccines were losing effectiveness quickly, especially among older adults. FOIA records showed the CDC and FDA did not act on or publicize these findings, despite top officials being informed. Instead, they continued promoting the vaccines as highly effective, contradicting the data.
ICAN also previously successfully won a lawsuit in 2022 compelling the CDC to release its V-safe COVID‑19 vaccine monitoring data, revealing that 7.7% of users sought medical care after vaccination and about 25% experienced serious side effects such as missed work, school, or impaired daily activities.
The Informed Consent Action Network is a nonprofit organization based in Austin, Texas that positions itself as a legal watchdog and transparency advocate in the realm of biomedical research. ICAN’s mission is using legal action and FOIA requests to uncover and challenge controversial government programs.
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