The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, funded deadly gain-of-function research into the coronavirus that appears to be the epicenter of the pandemic. Despite millions of Americans dying from COVID-19, the NIAID apparently hasn’t learned its lesson.
According to congressional investigators, NIAID has received approval to carry out radical gain-of-function experiments on MPXV, the virus that causes monkeypox.
Monkeypox is endemic in various parts of Africa, but became a global pandemic in April 2022. New England Journal of Medicine Shown Diagnosis in 16 countries showed that 98% of people infected with the virus were gay.
People infected with monkeypox Symptoms often include a painful rash that looks like acne or blisters, respiratory problems, fatigue, fever, swollen lymph nodes, and chills. Like COVID-19, monkeypox Via respiratory dropletsThe virus is transmitted through direct contact with the rash or sores of an infected person and through contact with clothing, bedding, or other items used by an infected person.
It’s unclear what nightmarish symptoms a lab-created monkeypox might cause, but some of Fauci’s subordinates were clearly eager to find out.
For the past two years, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over public health agencies, has been investigating certain research projects “planned and/or conducted” at NIAID before Fauci’s retirement.
The committee members will meet on September 15, 2022. interview Writing in Science, Dr. Bernard Moss, a chickenpox virologist at the NIAID, revealed that his team was working to insert genes from “lineage 1,” a much more deadly variant of monkeypox, into “lineage 2,” a West African variant that was causing a global epidemic at the time.
Mortality rates for lineage 2 are approximately 1%, while mortality rates for lineage 2 have been reported to range from 10% to 15%.
Congressional investigators said Moss’s revelations troubled some of his colleagues.
Epidemiologist Thomas InglesbyThe following month, director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health told the Journal that if a more virulent version of the current outbreak strain escaped from an NIAID lab, it could cause a “highly lethal epidemic.”
The Committee, Interim Staff Report “If genes from the lineage IIb MPXV that caused the 2022-2023 MPX epidemic were transferred into a lineage I virus in this experiment, the resulting chimeric virus would have a reproduction number (R₀) of 1.10 to 2.40 and could have a case fatality rate of 10 to 15% in unvaccinated individuals,” the report said Tuesday.
The interim report said the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health and the NIAID “repeatedly obstructed and misled” the committee about the experiments Moss mentioned in Science.
“I cannot trust that NIAID can responsibly oversee its own pathogen research.”
Although HHS and NIH denied that the experiment was proposed, planned, approved, or conducted, the committee noted that internal NIH documents “indicate that the experiment was formally proposed to, and approved by, the NIH Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) on June 30, 2015.”
Melanie Egolin, assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, confirmed in a March 19 letter to the committee that the test had been approved.
The committee could not confirm whether dangerous experiments actually took place, but suggested that researchers could have carried out experiments between June 2015 and May 2023.
For the first three years, no requirements were reportedly placed on the experiments; in 2018, scientists were only required to notify the NIH IBC when preparing to increase the potency of Lineage 2.
Science Shown At least part of the experiment was carried out: the researchers moved a gene from lineage two to lineage one.
“This deliberate and prolonged attempt to mislead the Committee is unacceptable and may amount to criminal conduct,” the interim report states. “HHS, NIH, and NIAID continue to maintain that GOFROC experiments to transfer materials from Path I to Path II were never conducted, despite being approved for over eight years. However, HHS has repeatedly refused to provide any documentation to support this assertion.”
The report suggested that the refusal to provide evidence could suggest that “the information not presented was prejudicial” and that HHS was in fact lying.
Despite portraying HHS as an obstructionist, the report emphasized that “NIAID is the agency most responsible for misleading the Committee.”
The primary conclusion drawn at this point in the investigation is that NIAID cannot be trusted to responsibly oversee its own pathogen research. It cannot be trusted to determine whether experiments with potential pandemic pathogens or enhanced potential pandemic pathogens pose unacceptable biosafety risks or serious public health threats. Finally, NIAID cannot be trusted to communicate honestly with Congress and the public about the controversial GOFROC experiments.
“To rebuild trust in government health guidance, agencies like NIH must be honest and transparent with Congress and the American people,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the committee’s chair, said of the report.
“This report demonstrates a severe lack of judgment and accountability on the part of HHS, NIH, and especially NIAID. This is unacceptable and demonstrates the clear need for reform,” Rogers added.
Justin Goodman, senior vice president of the EcoHealth Alliance and the White Coat Waste Project, a watchdog group that helped expose Dr. Fauci’s ties to gain-of-function experiments at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, told Blaze News that “these dangerous monkeypox gain-of-function experiments are the latest example of Dr. Fauci’s rampant waste, fraud, abuse and disregard for taxpayers and lawmakers.”
“Though Fauci has left the government, his legacy of cruel animal testing lives on, and we are working with Republicans and Democrats to cut reckless spending at the NIH,” Goodman continued. “The solution is simple: stop the funding and stop the insanity.”
HHS spokesperson Said “The committee is looking for problems where there are none. HHS and its departments, including NIH, follow rigorous biosafety measures as scientists work to better understand infectious diseases like MPOX and protect the public,” the statement said.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censorship and sign up for our newsletter to get stories like this directly to your inbox. Register here!
