Lawmakers are expressing their concern over American tax dollars being funneled to companies affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party. Investigators are looking into whether these funds have been used to support research in China that could enhance pathogens capable of causing global pandemics, like the COVID-19 outbreak. The investigation, mandated by the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, aims to determine the extent of funding awarded by the Department of Defense to Chinese research labs or for research on enhancing pandemic potential pathogens. Lawmakers have been pushing for transparency from federal agencies regarding their ties to Chinese biomedical research activities. The investigation also seeks to track down every cent of taxpayer money sent overseas to prevent future man-made pandemics. Nonprofit organizations like Open The Books and the White Coat Waste Project are working with lawmakers to expose the flow of U.S. funds to China for risky research. Senator Ernst is demanding answers about whether the Pentagon sent taxpayers’ money to an adversary’s unaccountable animal labs for dangerous virus experiments that pose a threat to public health and national security,” quoted WCWP’s senior vice president, Julian Goodman, in the senator’s statement.
“Four years ago, we uncovered secretive taxpayer funding for EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan lab’s risky gain-of-function animal experiments that violated U.S. policies and are believed by experts to have led to the creation of COVID. There is compelling evidence that Dr. Anthony Fauci, EcoHealth, and the Chinese government attempted to conceal this, and that EcoHealth planned to covertly funnel Pentagon funds to the CCP-run Wuhan animal lab for coronavirus engineering experiments,” Mr. Goodman continued.
Dr. Fauci, the former head of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), played a prominent role in the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
“Despite these revelations, WCWP and Senator Ernst have shown how, since the start of the pandemic, the Pentagon has allocated $26 million in new taxpayer funding from WMD programs to EcoHealth, with tax dollars continuing to flow to CCP-run animal labs with minimal oversight. It is time to stop the funding and put an end to this madness!” he stated.
In response, EcoHealth Alliance vehemently denied using any U.S. funds received from the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), or other federal agencies to support research in China on pathogens known to cause deadly pandemics among humans.
“EcoHealth Alliance did not conduct ‘gain-of-function’ research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), nor did it violate any policies. Any claims suggesting otherwise are either based on misinterpretation or deliberate misrepresentation of the actual research conducted,” the spokesman stated.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) defines ‘gain-of-function’ research as creating new viral strains with enhanced transmissibility or virulence for viruses that are already likely highly transmissible and capable of wide spread in human populations. Because the bat coronaviruses studied by EcoHealth Alliance and the WIV had never been shown to infect humans or cause significant harm, it did not meet the criteria for gain-of-function research.
“This was confirmed by the NIH in a letter to EcoHealth Alliance in 2016, stating that the work proposed is not subject to the GoF research funding pause. This was reiterated by NIH spokesperson Elizabeth Deatrick in comments to the press,” the statement concluded. Please rewrite the following text for me.
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