A video unveiled by the White Coat Waste Project, a taxpayer watchdog group, shows that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) dismissed calls to stop the funding of dangerous gain-of-function projects abroad, deeming them “conspiracy theories.”
The organization, which blew the lid off the NIH funding the gain-of-function experiments in the Wuhan lab, recently discovered a June 9 video from the 124th Advisory Committee to the Director Meeting in which officials discussed a series of “amendments to watch” as they related to Republicans desiring to get a grip on funding for dangerous gain-of-function experiments across the globe.
Adrienne Hallett, NIH associate director for Legislative Policy and Analysis, asserted during the meeting that lawmakers were ” reacting to many of the controversies,” even accusing them of falling for “many of the conspiracy theories that swirled during the pandemic.”
“There’s a lot of conversation about enhanced pathogens. … There’s a lot of conversation about international research, possible restrictions on different kinds of research,” she continued, urging others to remain aware of these efforts.
“There are a lot of permutations of this language that are out there and moving. We’re watching all of it, but I want you to be aware of it,” she said. “If we get out of this calendar year without some kind of policy being made, next year I think this will come back”:
WATCH:
Dr. Anthony Fauci initially testified before Congress that the NIH did not fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan lab — an assertion the NIH ultimately contradicted via a letter, revealing that an NIH grant was awarded to EcoHealth Alliance, which was then sub-awarded to the Wuhan lab. The project tested “if spike proteins from naturally occurring bat coronaviruses circulating in China were capable of binding to the human ACE2 receptor in a mouse model”:
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is one of the main politicians who has challenged Fauci for being dishonest about gain-of-function research, accusing him of changing the definition of that type of research to, he asserted, “cover your ass.”
“You’re simply saying it doesn’t exist because you changed the definition on the NIH website. This is terrible and you’re completely trying to escape the idea that we should do something about trying to prevent a pandemic from leaking from a lab,” Paul said during a November 2021 hearing.
He continued:
And what you’ve done is change the definition on your website to try to cover your ass, basically. That’s what you’ve done; you’ve changed the website to change the definition that doesn’t include the risky research that’s going on. Until you admit that it’s risky, we’re not going to get anywhere. You have to admit that this research was risky. The NIH has now rebuked them; your own agency has rebuked them. You’re still unwilling to admit that they gained in function when they say they became sicker. They gained in lethality. It’s a new virus. That’s not gain-of-function?
“The NIH’s top white coats are spreading misinformation and circling the wagons because their worst nightmare is coming true: Democrats and Republicans in Congress and taxpayers across the country have united to cut the purse strings on the agency’s wasteful and dangerous spending on animal experiments,” Justin Goodman, senior vice president of Advocacy & Public Policy, White Coat Waste Project, said in a statement:
We recently worked with lawmakers to pass first-ever bipartisan legislation defunding all animal labs in adversarial nations, the Senate voted unanimously to defund gain-of-function experiments in China, and bipartisan legislation has been introduced to defund all gain-of-function experiments.
“The NIH is addicted to spending, so the solution is simple: Stop the money. Stop the madness!” Goodman added.
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