Heh. In the cartoon, over to the left, on the screen. Right above Dr. Diazepam (who is now dead, no joke).
Posted on 03/30/2021 9:43:13 PM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK
Abstract A U.S. NIH-funded $3.7 million project was approved by Trump's Covid-19 advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci in 2015, after the Obama White House imposed a ban on 'monster-germ' research. In October 2014, the federal government declared a moratorium on gain-of-function research to weaponize viruses related to influenza, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). As a result, the research was outsourced to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is currently at the center of scrutiny for the Covid-19 pandemic. About ISPSW The Institute for Strategic, Political, Security and Economic Consultancy (ISPSW) is a private institute for research and consultancy.
The ISPSW is an objective, task-oriented and politically non-partisan institute. In the ever more complex international environment of globalized economic processes and worldwide political, ecological, social and cultural change, which occasions both major opportunities and risks, decision-makers in the economic and political arena depend more than ever before on the advice of highly qualified experts. ISPSW offers a range of services, including strategic analyses, security consultancy, executive coaching and intercultural competency. ISPSW publications examine a wide range of topics connected with politics, the economy, international relations, and security/ defense. ISPSW network experts have worked – in some cases for decades – in executive positions and have at their disposal a wide range of experience in their respective fields of expertise. About the Author of this Issue
Dr. Christina Lin is a California-based foreign policy analyst. She has extensive US government experience working on national security policy planning, including at DoD, State, and NSC, and was a research consultant at Jane’s Information Group’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological & Nuclear Assessments Intelligence Centre.
Analysis
After a temporary détente between the US and China to put aside the blame game and cooperate to fight Covid19, it seems conspiracy theories are once again flaring up and sabotaging joint efforts to control the pandemic.
The US National Institute of Health (NIH) funded bat coronavirus research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology to the tune of $3.7 million, a recent article in the British newspaper Daily Mail revealed.1 Back in October 2014, the US government had placed a federal moratorium on gain-of-function (GOF) research—altering natural pathogens to make them more deadly and infectious–as a result of rising fears about a possible pandemic caused by accidental or deliberate release of these genetically engineered monster germs.2
This was in part due to lab accidents at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in July 2014 that raised questions about biosafety at US high-containment labs.3 At that time, the CDC had closed two labs and halted some biological shipments in the wake of several incidents in which highly pathogenic microbes were mishandled by federal laboratories: an accidental shipment of live anthrax, the discovery of forgotten, live smallpox samples, and a newly revealed incident in which a dangerous influenza strain was accidentally shipped from CDC to another lab.
A CDC internal report described how scientists failed to follow proper procedures to ensure samples were inactivated before they left the lab, and also found “multiple other problems” with operating procedures in the anthrax lab.4 As such in October 2014, due to public health concerns the US government banned all federal funding on efforts to weaponize three viruses—influenza, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).5
In the face of a moratorium in the US, Dr. Anthony Fauci–director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) and currently the leading doctor in the US Coronavirus Task Force–outsourced in 2015 the GOF research to China’s Wuhan lab and licensed the lab to continue receiving federal funding.6 The Wuhan lab is now at the center of scrutiny for possibly releasing the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and causing the global Covid-19 pandemic.
Understandably, China’s lab would likely struggle with safety issues given the fact US labs also share similar problems, and indeed in January 2018 the US embassy in Beijing sent cables warning about safety of the Wuhan lab and asked for help.7 Additionally, the cable warned the researchers “showed that various SARS-like coronaviruses can interact with ACE2, the human receptor identified for SARS-coronavirus,” meaning bat coronaviruses can be transmitted to humans to cause SARS-like diseases.
Now, the US is up in arms to hold China accountable for the global coronavirus pandemic, filing class action lawsuits domestically, as well as building a coalition with allies internationally.8 Lawsuits have been filed within the US and the International Criminal Court that China used the virus as a bioweapon, and other suits are underway at the International Court of Justice. GOP lawmakers such as Sen. Tom Cotton and Rep. Dan Crenshaw have also introduced legislation that would allow Americans to sue China in federal court over the death and economic damage wrought by the virus.9 US spy agencies are also investigating whether the virus originated in the Wuhan lab, and seeking evidence that is needed to support the bio WMD theory promoted by GOP lawmakers.
If evidence is found that Covid-19 is a biological weapon, some pundits such as Fox News host Lou Dobbs have called for the US to declare war on China.10 Nonetheless, it is unclear what the legal ramifications would be if the virus is indeed leaked from a Chinese lab, but from a research project that was outsourced and funded by the US government. Also, if there is a government ban in 2014 on federal funding being used for GOF research, what are the federal compliance and ethical issues surrounding the fact that NIH still gave federal funding instead of private funding to the Wuhan lab to continue the experiments? Moreover, could some strains of the coronavirus originate in US labs, given the fact the US government lifted the ban in December 2017 on GOF research without resolving lab safety issues?
For now, the Trump administration is investigating the $3.7 million taxpayer money that went to the Wuhan lab, while Republican lawmaker Matt Gaetz called for an immediate end to NIH funding of Chinese research.12 Since the federal ban on GOF research has been lifted, US labs can continue creating these monster germs domestically and would no longer need to outsource to China.
Nonetheless, there still needs to be better oversight on the dangerous experiments and regulations over biosecurity of labs. Currently, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB)—a US government interagency panel that advises the NIH’s parent, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), conducts risk assessment of GOF experiments that pose a significant threat to public health.13 NSABB has given HHS a framework to assess proposed research that would create pathogens with pandemic potential, such as research on genetically altering a virus to infect more species, or recreating a pathogen that has been eradicated in the wild, such as smallpox.
However, vaccine development and epidemiological surveillance do not automatically trigger the HHS review. In the post-mortem of the Covid-19 pandemic, this is likely a dangerous loophole that could be exploited with no oversight, and should probably be brought under HHS review in order to better protect public health in the future.
“...A U.S. NIH-funded $3.7 million project was approved by Trump’s Covid-19 advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci in 2015, after the Obama White House imposed a ban on ‘monster-germ’ research....’
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Fauci DID IT IN 2015? Then HE WAS NOT TRUMP’S ADVISOR... he was “OBAMA’S ADVISOR” in 2015!
“NIH-funded $3.7 million project was approved by Trump’s Covid-19 advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci in 2015”
Soooo...they were planning a pandemic release in 2015?
And if Herr Hillary was installed as dictator, what might have been their plans?
Because they were doing illegal things and needed to work in a country that allowed illegal things for the right price?
Episodes nos 835 and 836.... could be some more on 837
Fauci was a Reagan appontee.
Bush the elder called Fauci his hero when he was running for
President.
Fauci has been there 37 years now with yearly multi-billion dollar budgets.
This is deep state personified.
D’oh!
The short version ...
U.S. labs were found to be too incompetent to handle dangerous weaponized viruses so, naturally, Dr. Fauci thought ChiCom labs would a good end-run alternative ... especially since he could take U.S. taxpayers money there to keep on making monster viruses.
I recall news of this funding early on that was tamped down and discredited. Bet Fauci knows a lot more than sharing. Probably guilty of effort.
T,Well, first of all, Trump did not have a covid-19 advisor in 2015. There was no such thing as covid-19 in 2015. I’d say this article is getting off to a rough start....
Yet somehow, Trump never called him out for it.
And I’ve never heard an acceptable explanation, at least not to me, why.
One reason is because the people that make these deals with China know that the Chinese do not have any regulatory or moral limits to what they can do. They can experiment on animals, fetuses, children, adults...
“One reason is because the people that make these deals with China know that the Chinese do not have any regulatory or moral limits to what they can do. They can experiment on animals, fetuses, children, adults...”
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... Uyghurs, Tibetans...
I thought it was Canada that had outsourced it. (or was that where they were researching it, and a lab rat escaped back to China?)
ISPSW ? Never heard of it. German?
Institut für Strategie- Politik- Sicherheits- und Wirtschaftsberatung ISPSW
Giesebrechtstr. 9 Tel +49 (0)30 88 91 89 05
My local radio station carries the Texas State News network, which just yesterday repeated the wet market lie.
Canada was involved in the research, money was there to be made of course, and they had bioresearch colleges involved that -quelle shock and surprise!- had chinese spies!
It is a much bigger mess than they are letting on.
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