NIH: We Can’t Release Our Papers about the Wuhan Institute of Virology Because of a Pending Investigation

National Review ^ | 06/02/2020 | By JIM GERAGHTY

[SeekAndFind]

Back on April 15, White Coat Waste, an organization that opposes government funding for medical research that involves animal experimentation, filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the U.S. National Institutes of Health requesting all correspondence with State Department officials regarding the Wuhan Institute of Virology, as well as all emails, text messages, memos, and reports related to WIV.

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Starting in 2014, NIH provided grants to EcoHealth Alliance; part of that group’s research included studies of viruses in bats in partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology. On April 19, Michael Lauer, NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research, wrote to EcoHealth, “There are now allegations that the current crisis was precipitated by the release from Wuhan Institute of Virology of the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19. Given these concerns, we are pursuing suspension of Wuhan Institute of Virology from participation in federal programs.”

Five days later, Lauer declared in a follow-up, “the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), an Institute with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has elected to terminate the project . . . NIH does not believe that the current project outcomes align with the program goals and agency priorities.”

Gorka Garcia-Malene, the FOIA officer at NIH, responded to White Coat Waste’s request on May 22:

The records you requested involve pending investigations. I have determined to withhold those records pursuant to Exemption 7(A), 5 U.S.C. § 552 and (b)(7)(a), and section 5.31 (g)(l) of the HHS FOIA Regulations, 45 CFR Part 5. Exemption 7(A) permits the withholding of investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes when disclosure could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.

In his original message, Lauer wrote, “it is in the public interest that NIH ensure that a sub-recipient has taken all appropriate precautions to prevent the release of pathogens that it is studying.”

It is unclear if the NIH review is the “pending investigation” and “law enforcement proceedings” referred to in the FOIA response, or whether there is a separate U.S. criminal investigation of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The National Institutes of Health has its own police force to secure its facilities, but the Department of Health and Human Services refers violations of civil or criminal law to the Department of Justice.

[SeekAndFind]

In April, Australia's Daily Telegraph reported that "the Five Eyes intelligence agencies of Australia, Canada, NZ, UK and US, are understood to be looking closely at the work of a senior scientist at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Peng Zhou, as they examine whether COVID-19 originated from a wet market or whether the naturally-­occurring virus may have been released from the level four laboratory in Wuhan that was studying deadly coronavirus pathogens from bats."

And, at least for now, the general public won't find out what the US State Department and the NIH discussed regarding the entire matter.

[Sequoyah101]

Paging President Trump. This deserves your personal attention. Not all things do but this does.

[Paladin2]

Lock Fauxcy up.

[Starboard]

Ever notice that in DC there is always an excuse to conceal information from the public? It doesn’t matter what the information is — they don’t want us to see it.