Trump Clamps Down on Risky Germ Research with Executive Order
Trump limits contentious studies on illness-inducing pathogens through executive order - Trump issues executive decree limiting contentious studies on pathogens
"Leaks can prove fatal," Health Minister Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned on online platform X, justifying the new executive order. The move aims to bar potential future leaks that could pose a danger to humanity. " Nations conducting this research are jeopardizing their own populace and the world, as we've witnessed during the Covid pandemic," added Jay Bhattacharya, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Gain-of-function research involves tweaking pathogens to enhance their transmissibility, deadliness, or resistance to drugs and vaccines. Scientists perform such experiments to understand how these pathogens might evolve in natural settings with specific mutations.
The source of the virus remains a subject of debate among nations, most suspecting its animal origins in China. However, a 2023 U.S. intelligence report hinted at a genetic modification and a potential lab leak in Wuhan, the initial epicenter of the human infections.
Amid these controversies, the NIH faced scrutiny for its ties to the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some Republican politicians accused the agency of bankrolling gain-of-function research on coronaviruses in Wuhan, a claim the NIH denied.
Following a prolonged debate over the benefits and hazards of this research strategy, two research teams in 2011 made bird flu viruses transmissible among mammals. This led to a pause in such research in the U.S. in 2014. The restrictions were lifted in 2017, but the projects required individual review by a panel of experts beforehand.
- Controversy
- Executive Order
- Donald Trump
- USA
- Gain-of-function Research
- Coronavirus
- Virus
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- Wuhan
The executive order from the U.S. President primarily restricts U.S. federal funding for risky research conducted outside the country, particularly in nations like China and Iran, without proper surveillance. The order aims to bolster biosecurity by suspending funding for existing and proposed gain-of-function projects and empowering agencies like the NIH to ensure increased oversight and transparency.
Despite the order not explicitly targeting research in Wuhan, it forms part of broader concerns about lab safety and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it's crucial to note that the order focuses on using U.S. taxpayer money for potentially dangerous research abroad, linking it to discussions about the origins of SARS-CoV-2. Yet, it does not single out Wuhan, USA, as a location for such research, as Wuhan is a city in China, not the U.S.
- The executive order, issued by Donald Trump, the US President, introduces restrictions on U.S. federal funding for risky research conducted outside the country, specifically in nations such as China and Iran, without appropriate surveillance.
- The executive order aims to enhance biosecurity by suspending funding for existing and proposed gain-of-function projects and empowering agencies like the NIH to ensure increased oversight and transparency in research that receives U.S. taxpayer money.
- Though the order does not explicitly target research in Wuhan, it is a part of broader concerns about lab safety and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, given the initial epicenter of human infections was in Wuhan, China.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Health Minister, has been one of the advocates for such measures, citing the potential for research-related leaks that might pose a danger to humanity.
- The controversies surrounding gain-of-function research, particularly the connection between such research and the origins of the coronavirus, continue to shape discussions in the realm of science, medicine, politics, and general news.
