Covid lab leak fears: Federal report says NIH failed to control Wuhan lab
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Covid lab leak fears deepen: Bombshell government report says NIH failed to control Wuhan lab where US taxpayer-funded grants were used for coronavirus research years earlier of the pandemic
The NIH was criticized today by an official watchdog for not being aware of US-sponsored virus experiments in China, which are feared to have caused the Covid crisis.
A report from the US Office of the Inspector General found that the country The medical research agency did not adequately review whether the tests in Wuhan involved dangerous pathogens with pandemic potential.
The federal audit looked at three taxpayer-funded research grants awarded to the now notorious EcoHealth Alliance, led by British scientist Peter Daszak, between 2014 and 2021.
It found that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and EcoHealth failed to “understand the nature of the research conducted, identify potential problem areas, and take corrective action.”
“With improved oversight, the NIH could have taken more timely corrective actions to mitigate the inherent risks associated with this type of research,” the report added.
Virologist Shi Zheng-li, nicknamed the ‘Bat Lady’, appears in the lab. She searched for dozens of deadly Covid-like viruses in bat caves and studied them at the WIV.
Pictured: The Wuhan Institute of Virology, where Chinese scientists erased crucial data
The question of whether the global outbreak began with a spill from wildlife sold on the market or leaked out of the Wuhan lab just eight miles across the Yangtze River has given rise to fierce debate over how to prevent the next pandemic. . New studies point to a natural spillover effect on the Huanan wildlife market. Positive swab samples from floors, cages, and counters also trace the virus to stalls in the southwest corner of the market (lower left), where animals with the potential to harbor Covid were being sold for meat or skin at the time ( Bottom right)
While the laboratory leak theory was initially dismissed as conspiracy and xenophobic, a growing number of scientists have come to the idea that the virus may have escaped during an accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).
The research center is located less than 10 miles from an animal slaughter market where the first series of human cases clustered and were known to be experimenting with coronaviruses closely related to Covid.
The WIV was one of eight research facilities to which EcoHealth awarded subcontracts between 2014 and 2021.
Today’s US Department of Health and Human Services audit indicated that the NIH and EcoHealth failed to oversee the Chinese laboratory and other research facilities that benefited from government grants.
The report stated: “Despite identifying potential risks associated with research being conducted under EcoHealth awards, we found that NIH did not effectively monitor or take timely action to address EcoHealth’s compliance with some requirements.”
“Although NIH and EcoHealth had established monitoring procedures, we found deficiencies in compliance with those procedures that limited the ability of NIH and EcoHealth to effectively monitor federal grants and subawards to understand the nature of the research conducted, identify potential problem areas and take corrective action.
‘Using its discretion, NIH did not refer the research to HHS for enhanced potential pandemic pathogens (ePPP) external review because it determined that the research did not involve and did not reasonably anticipate the creation, use, or transfer of an ePPP.
“Based on these findings, we conclude that the NIH missed opportunities to monitor research more effectively.”
Justin Goodman, of the White Coat Waste Project group, said: “This audit confirms what we have been documenting since early 2020 when we first exposed NIH funding of the Wuhan lab: EcoHealth Alliance sent tax dollars to Wuhan for experiments. with dangerous animals that likely caused the pandemic, violated federal laws and policies, and wasted tax dollars.
The role of British researcher Dr. Peter Daszak (left) in facilitating risky coronavirus research in China with funding from Dr. Fauci (right) and the NIH has been detailed in a report.
“However, the Wuhan lab remains eligible to receive even more taxpayer money for animal testing, and since the pandemic began, EcoHealth has raised at least $46 million in new federal funding from DOD, USAID, NIH, and NSF.
“As the group that first exposed and ended EcoHealth’s calamitous collaboration with the Wuhan animal lab, we call on Congress to defund these rogue organizations once and for all.
“Taxpayers should not be forced to fund reckless white coats that waste money, break the law, and endanger public health. Stop the money, stop the madness.
More to follow.