The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has renewed its grant to the controversial EcoHealth Alliance (EHA), the organization that funded risky coronavirus research at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, believed to be the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This decision has been met with criticism from experts, watchdogs, lawmakers, and a damning report from the HHS Office of Inspector General.
British zoologist Peter Daszak continues to head EHA, which recently announced that it will again work with bat coronaviruses, funded by American taxpayers.
The objectives of the new NIH- and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease-funded project include:
The NIH grant renewal represents a reversal of the previous termination and suspension of an R01 awarded in 2019, which was halted in April 2020 due to concerns about the organization’s collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
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Former President Donald Trump had suspended the grant after the link to gain-of-function research in Wuhan was exposed.
According to USA Spending, the NIH and other government agencies have funded EHA since 2008.
It has been widely reported that EcoHealth used American grant money to fund dangerous gain-of-function research on coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The HHS Office of Inspector General revealed in a report earlier this year that the NIH was aware of potential risks associated with the research conducted in China using federal grant money funneled through EHA, but failed to effectively monitor or address the organization’s compliance with some requirements.
Republican lawmakers have expressed contempt for EHA and called for the suspension of federal funding.
Over 30 House and Senate Republicans sent letters to the directors of the NIH and the National Science Foundation, highlighting EcoHealth’s “lengthy history of reporting failures and collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) laboratory and the likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) introduced a bill during the 117th Congress to prohibit federal funding to the organization, though it did not pass. Ernst likened giving taxpayer money to EcoHealth for pandemic prevention studies to “paying a suspected arsonist to conduct fire safety inspections.”
The White Coat Waste Project, a government watchdog group that revealed U.S. taxpayer money was used to fund dangerous research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, criticized the NIH’s grant renewal for EHA.
“The batty taxpayer-funded grant that bankrolled EcoHealth Alliance’s dangerous animal experiments in Wuhan that probably prompted the pandemic should be de-funded, not re-funded,” said Justin Goodman, senior vice president of the watchdog group.
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Dr. Richard Ebright, a biologist at Rutgers University, appeared to be of the same mind, having accused EHA of “possibly having caused the pandemic and definitely having repeatedly and gravely violated terms of a US-government grant.”
Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) and Sen. Ernst both denounced the decision to renew the grant and called for funding to remain suspended and no new contracts to be awarded until EcoHealth demonstrates a willingness to work with Congress and fulfills the terms of its federal contracts.
“It’s absolutely reckless that the NIH has renewed a grant for EcoHealth Alliance given their negligence and the breach of their contract with the NIH on the coronavirus research done at the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” said Griffith.
Griffith added, “Until they can demonstrate a willingness to work with Congress to resolve outstanding questions and fulfill all of the terms of their federal contracts, paid for with American taxpayer dollars, all funding should remain suspended, and no new contracts should be awarded.”
Sen. Earnst said, “EcoHealth has already betrayed the trust of American taxpayers by funneling funds to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology for risky experiments on bat coronaviruses that may have unleashed the COVID-19 pandemic on the world. Americans deserve accountability, which is why it’s past time to defund EcoHealth.”
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House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) also called for a full investigation into the Wuhan lab before EcoHealth receives any additional U.S. government funding.
“EcoHealth Alliance funneled taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan lab to conduct mad scientist research on bat coronaviruses that may have started the pandemic,” Comer told the Daily Mail. “EcoHealth shouldn’t receive another dime from the U.S. government until we fully investigate what happened at the Wuhan lab.”