GOP wants research group barred from federal funding over COVID work with Wuhan

A key House committee investigating the origins of COVID-19 has barred the scientific research group from receiving federal funding, and the group’s president has banned research conducted at a lab in Wuhan, China. They are calling for a criminal investigation into the research.

A Republican staff report released Wednesday by the majority of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic says EcoHealth Alliance is promoting high-risk research on the coronavirus at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), a Chinese research institute. It turned out that they were using US tax money to do this. of laboratory leakage theory.

The organization’s president, Peter Daszak, failed to report the research to the federal government, in violation of the terms of a grant from the National Institutes of Health, according to the report.

“Given Dr. Daszak’s clear disrespect for the American people and disregard for his legal reporting obligations, the Select Subcommittee recommends formal disbarment and criminal investigation against EcoHealth and its Chairman,” the report states.

The committee released the report ahead of the hearing, accusing Daszak of being uncooperative with the investigation and of trying to hide evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from a Chinese lab. I protected myself from

Daszak has repeatedly insisted that he does not conduct “gain-of-function” research, which increases a virus’s ability to cause infection, to predict pandemics and develop treatments. Although gain-of-function research is not illegal, Republicans are seeking to ban it in an attempt to directly link the Wuhan gain-of-function research to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Dr. Daszak is unable or unwilling to distinguish between the common understanding of gain-of-function research and the more technical definitions provided under various narrowly defined regulatory frameworks,” the Subcommittee Chairman said. said Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio).

Wenstrup added that Daszak “ignored the risks associated with gain-of-function research, obstructed the Congressional oversight process, and intentionally violated the federal grant process.”

Republicans said experiments EcoHealth Alliance was conducting in 2019 made the SARS-CoV-2 virus more potent and pathogenic.

Members of both parties lambasted Mr. Daszak and appeared skeptical of his answers on the feature acquisition issue.

Democrats focused on research safety and organizations’ compliance with federal funding rules.

In a separate report, also released Wednesday, Democrats said internal documents “raise reasonable doubts” about EcoHealth receiving future taxpayer funding.

EcoHealth “may have misled the federal government on a number of occasions, both in its transparency obligations and its reporting obligations as a recipient of federal grants, and the government’s overall commitment to responsible stewardship for taxpayers.” ,” said Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.). .) Top Democrat on the committee.

Still, Democrats have made it clear that they do not believe Daszak and EcoHealth caused the pandemic.

In a heated round of questioning, Daszak said that lawmakers and their respective lawyers from both parties had misunderstood his research. Daszak defended his own work, saying he frequently discusses the members he questions and is the target of misinformation.

Daszak said her family, as well as EcoHealth staff, have been harassed and received death threats.

In March 2020, Daszak signed a letter “strongly condemning conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 is not of natural origin.”

In response to questions from Lewis and others, Daszak said he didn’t think it was a conspiracy theory to suggest a lab leak, but that he still believed the virus had a natural origin.

“I categorically condemn the intimidation you and other scientists and public health officials have received from the kind of extreme accusations I have heard from some of my colleagues,” Lewis said, but why Daszak? We pressed Mr. Daszak on whether he cooperated in writing the statement when Mr. Daszak was having problems. The economic benefit of weakening oversight of Wuhan’s labs.

Both Mr. Lewis and Mr. Wenstrup said they felt Mr. Daszak was dodging difficult questions.

“Your response here is not satisfactory,” Lewis told Daszak at the end of the hearing. “You’re explaining things in your own way to avoid the consequences.”