In 2013 NIH awarded Dr. Baric a $10 million grant to study “the pathogenic activity of viruses including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), Ebola, highly pathogenic influenza and herpesvirus HHV8.” Dr. Baric put that money to work and in 2015, it was announced that his research had led to the development of “SARS 2.0.”
Since Dr. Baric is affiliated with UNC-Chapel Hill, yes, his research is done in North Carolina. However, as Sen. Paul asserted, Baric has partnered with Dr. Shi Zhengli of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (yes, that’s in China) to conduct NIH-funded gain-of-function research on SARS and MERS viruses.
In June 2015 Baric and Shi published results of NIH-funded research into the mutations necessary for the bat-to-human transmission of MERS coronavirus. They found that when viral protein spikes mutated, humans could become infected with MERS-CoV. In other words, this is the exact research that would be necessary for a lab to synthesize a virus that would infect humans.
A few months later, in November 2015, the duo published the results of separate NIH-funded research which led to the discovery of a new SARS coronavirus, a chimera, they used gain-of-function techniques to create. That research was allowed to go forward even though the US government had issued a moratorium on gain-of-function research on the viruses that cause influenza, SARS, and MERS in October 2014. According to a VICE article on the research (emphasis added):
“The strain grew equally well to SARS in human cells,” Dr. Ralph Baric, a professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the lead author of the study, told Motherboard. “It resisted all vaccines and immunotherapy, too.” //
The US Department of Health and Human Services has a board that must review the authorization of funding for “research that could make dangerous pathogens more contagious.” According to the Daily Caller, the NIH and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (the agency headed by Dr. Fauci) “systematically thwarted” the funding review process for the grant awarded to EcoHealth Alliance. Even more specifically, and much more damning for Fauci, is that according to gain-of-function research regulations, Fauci himself should have flagged the grant for review by the HHS Board, and he did not. Fauci also missed or ignored the part of HHS’s guidelines which state:
“[T]he research will be supported through funding mechanisms that allow for appropriate management of risks and ongoing Federal and institutional oversight of all aspects of the research throughout the course of the research.”
Call me crazy, but it might be a bit hard to accomplish that in a secretive lab in China.
Furthermore, Politico reported that US diplomats in China had been sending warnings to State Department bureaucrats in Washington DC regarding the WIV as far back as December 2017, specifically stating that the lab had “a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory.” There was no action taken, and the NIH continued to fund the research conducted there. //
As an aside, NIH announced in December 2017 that it was lifting the moratorium on gain-of-function research. It has been reported that Fauci ordered the resumption of funding without consulting the White House or, by extension, the HHS, which is required under the gain-of-function research guidelines. //
clconnett
20 minutes ago
This is a prime example of the "two realities" we now live in. Those on the Right, Conservatives, Libertarians, even Centrists, all read this and think, "Yes, this is public information. We're aware that Fauci intentionally couched his words so as to obfuscate in his answers to Rand Paul. He avoided perjury, perhaps, but created a misleading view by what he said."
The Left, however, read this and say, "Fauci had to correct Rand Paul because Paul is an ignorant man who wants to push conspiracies instead of face science. Paul is being needlessly antagonistic and should be thankful we have a man like Fauci, committed to science and saving lives, in his position."
The media, being primarily leftists, puts out the view of the Left. Social Media mocks the view of the Right, and the ability to engage in reasonable discussion at the popular level is destroyed. Perhaps you can reason on a one-to-one basis with your friends, but, if they are on the Left, as soon as they are around others with their views, the group insulation tends to bring them back into the groupthink of those around turn. Effectively, culture has become merely cult. //
clconnett VL
14 minutes ago
Hi, my name is Post, Post-modern in full. I like to go by nicknames like, "open minded" and "affirming" when I'm around my friends.
"Oh, you want to know what I look like under this face mask? That changes. It just depends on what you need me to look like. After all, appearances are merely the construct we place upon the locations we choose to focus. Because I have no present meaning, the past is also fluid. After all, meaning comes from you."
