The Department of Health and Human Services on Friday barred EcoHealth Alliance and its former president Peter Daszak from receiving federal funding for five years for failing to report potentially dangerous gain-of-function research experiments to the government. did.
HHS established a five-year period of ineligibility. Manhattan-based nonprofit organization and Daszak “It was necessary to protect the business interests of the federal government,” according to a letter the agency sent to both parties.
The House Oversight Committee's Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic was investigating research into novel bat viruses conducted by EcoHealth Alliance and Daszak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China leading up to the coronavirus outbreak. .
The commission last year found that EcoHealth Alliance and Daszak “actively” and “repeatedly” violated multiple requirements of a multimillion-dollar National Institutes of Health grant for the controversial project. revealed the evidence.
“Today, justice was served for the American people,” said House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.). stated in a statement After lifting the HHS notice of disqualification.
“The villainous EcoHealth Alliance and its corrupt former president, Dr. Peter Daszak, have been formally disbarred by HHS for using taxpayer funds to promote dangerous gain-of-function research in China.” Comer continued. “Today's decision is not only a victory for American taxpayers, but also for the national security of the United States and the safety of citizens around the world.”
Last May, the Special Subcommittee on Pandemics found that EcoHealth Alliance “routinely ignored requests for government oversight, failed to report dangerous gain-of-function experiments conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and failed to submit required research reports.” It found that there was a two-year delay in the creation of the document, and recommended that it be disqualified. ”
That same month, HHS suspended all federal funding for EcoHealth Alliance and notified Daszak that there was “sufficient evidence” to recommend a ban.
The agency cited the special subcommittee's findings in issuing its final disposition Friday.
“Given that laboratory-related incidents involving gain-of-function research are the most likely source of COVID-19, EcoHealth and its former president should never again receive a penny from U.S. taxpayers. No,” Comer declared.
In 2019, EcoHealth Alliance and Daszak were awarded an NIH grant. Over $4 million We will carry out a project entitled “Understanding the risks of bat coronavirus emergence.”
The grant was initially suspended in April 2020, and then-NIH Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak announced in October 2021 that the EcoHealth Alliance would conduct gain-of-function research (creating a virus by modifying a new bat coronavirus). It was revealed that the company had violated the terms of the grant by conducting Studies on laboratory mice show that they are 10,000 times more infectious, but they have not reported their actions to the NIH.
EcoHealth Alliance's research is not directly related to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The group did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment.
