The nonprofit group behind taxpayer-funded bat coronavirus research in Wuhan, China, continues to receive millions of dollars from the U.S. government.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded $4.1 million to EcoHealth Alliance earlier this month, ahead of EcoHealth president Peter Daszak’s congressional testimony, according to the White Coat Waste Project, a public-health watchdog organization. The latest round of funding brings EcoHealth’s total government funding since the coronavirus pandemic began to $60 million, WCW calculated.
“Doling out more taxpayer money to EcoHealth after the global disaster it likely started at the Wuhan animal lab is a slap in the face of all Americans and people everywhere, especially days before Peter Daszak is finally hauled before Congress,” WCW Project president Anthony Bellotti said in a statement.
EcoHealth defended the USAID funding to National Review by noting the grant in question is focused on environmental conservation in Liberia. The grant was launched in July 2022 to fund the Liberia Conservation Works project.
“This grant supports the Liberia Conservation Works (CW) project, a five year program funded by the United States Agency for International Development designed to protect threatened and endangered species by strengthening protected and conserved areas while promoting economic growth in Liberia. CW supports communities in becoming less reliant on forest resources by providing livelihood alternatives, including sustainable agriculture and ecotourism. CW works closely with the Government of Liberia, private sector partners, and local conservation stakeholders and communities,” a spokesman for EcoHealth told NR. The spokesperson also said EcoHealth is no longer partnering with any Chinese research entities.
A spokesman for USAID echoed the EcoHealth statement, saying in a statement to National Review, “USAID’s Mission in Liberia is funding Ecohealth Alliance as a grantee on a conservation program. This is not a health program. The Conservation Works project in Liberia supports local partners to establish new protected areas (parks, reserves, etc.) and improve existing protected area management through training and capacity building of the Forest Development Authority and community organizations. This project does not conduct coronavirus research. USAID does not fund gain of function research.”
EcoHealth previously conducted searches for the deadly Ebola virus in Liberian bats and reportedly plans on establishing a bat colony in the U.S. to experiment with Ebola and other viruses.
“The dangerous experiments on bat coronaviruses that may have caused the COVID-19 pandemic were paid for with tax dollars from USAID and funneled into China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology by EcoHealth Alliance. Even though the shady group refuses to come clean about what really happened in Wuhan, USAID keeps writing the checks to continue their risky research. What are taxpayers getting in return for the millions being paid to EcoHealth, other than the possibility of another pandemic? Americans deserve answers,” Senator Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) said in a statement provided to NR.
Daszak is set to testify later this week before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic over EcoHealth’s partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology on bat coronavirus research and his close relationships with top government officials. Former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci and top Fauci adviser Dr. David Morens are both close friends with Daszak.
Newly released emails indicate Daszak and Morens planned on communicating privately when it appeared the Trump administration was holding up a research grant to EcoHealth at the onset of the pandemic. The private discussions could be in violation of federal records laws meant to allow public access to government communications.
The lab-leak theory of coronavirus origins is built upon the coronavirus research conducted at the Wuhan lab. Preliminary assessments by the FBI and Department of Energy have concluded the coronavirus most likely came from the Wuhan lab.