In a significant development for public health, President Donald Trump has enacted an executive order that prohibits any federal funding—present or future—for gain-of-function research conducted outside the United States.
This directive also prompts the National Institutes of Health and other relevant agencies to pinpoint biological research and national security threats detrimental to public health.
At the signing of the order, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made several remarks.
“This marks a historic moment,” Kennedy stated alongside the president. “This ends the federal government’s funding of gain-of-function research and also governs how private firms handle this type of research.” He noted that such studies had been pursued by U.S. military and intelligence since 1947.
He further elaborated, reflecting on a 1969 CIA report which claimed they had reached a level of threat comparable to nuclear capability. “They suggested they could potentially wipe out the entire U.S. population for just 29 cents per individual,” he remarked. That same year, President Nixon visited Fort Detrick and announced a unilateral cessation of this kind of research.
Kennedy explained that this dual-use research had been intended for both vaccination and military strategies.
In 1973, Nixon successfully convinced over 180 nations to endorse a Biological Weapons Convention.
Kennedy pointed out that the Patriot Act maintains that the Biological Weapons Charter and the Geneva Convention remain applicable, yet allows U.S. officials who violate them to evade prosecution.
“You might have heard that they weren’t meant to engage in gain-of-function research, yet they were,” noted Sarah Gonzalez. “The decision was obviously flawed.”
“And it wasn’t only being done with what we consider allies. It’s quite clear that a basic level of understanding suggests this was not wise,” she continued, underscoring the gravity of the situation.
She expressed concern over the involvement of a U.S. health agency in creating an artificial virus, questioning, “How many people might still be affected, or could still be unknown?”
