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Richard H. Ebright Profile picture
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16 Sep, 6 tweets, 2 min read
"This Week in Asia obtained 26 pages of documents related to EcoHealth Alliance’s research project..following a FOIA request with..NIH. While heavily redacted, the documents..include scientific..review assessments of EcoHealth Alliance’s grant proposal"

scmp.com/week-asia/heal…
"Ebright..said the documents indicated reviewers had not made 'substantive comments on biosafety, biosecurity, or biorisk assessment' as a relevant section on 'biohazards' only contained a single line of feedback."
The newly obtained documents are Initial Review Group (IRG) summary statements for the 2014 and 2019 grants to EcoHealth Alliance with subcontracts to WIV (1R01-AI110964 and 2R01-AI0110964).
Despite the nearly complete redaction of text, it is evident *from the sizes of form boxes* that none of the 3 assigned reviewers of 2014 proposal and none of the 3 assigned reviewers of 2019 proposal made substantive comments on biosafety, biosecurity, or biorisk assessment.
None of the reviewers entered more than one line in the form box labelled "Biohazards," as none of the reviews has the form box for "Biohazards" expanded beyond the minimum length of one line.
The documents are available at: s3.amazonaws.com/media.muckrack… ImageImageImage

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More from @R_H_Ebright

Richard H. Ebright Profile picture
30 Sep
@Ayjchan @aaas @ScienceMagazine @sciencecohen Wang was desperately spinning and brazenly lying.
@Ayjchan @aaas @ScienceMagazine @sciencecohen Especially in the part where he insisted, preposterously, that an accident with a natural virus during field collection or lab characterization should be deemed natural spillover and not research-related spillover.
@Ayjchan @aaas @ScienceMagazine @sciencecohen And the part where he insisted, demonstrably falsely, that definition of research-related spillover changed over the year, initially covering only accident with engineered virus and now--"latest"--covering accident with natural virus in field collection or lab characterization.
Read 4 tweets
Richard H. Ebright Profile picture
30 Sep
"The US and China need to put aside differences and work together to set new safety standards for laboratories doing virus research, said Jeffrey Sachs, chair of the Lancet Covid-19 Commission"

scmp.com/news/china/dip…
"His comments come as both Beijing and Washington this month released statements on the need for stricter oversight of laboratories that handle dangerous pathogens."
Sachs: "The US was funding joint US-China research on Sars-like viruses, and so should not point fingers at China but should approach the investigation in a cooperative mode, and with a sense of shared responsibility for a careful review of the evidence"
Read 6 tweets
Richard H. Ebright Profile picture
30 Sep
"China must increase its oversight of laboratories handling dangerous pathogens, China must increase its oversight of laboratories handling dangerous pathogens, President Xi Jinping has told the Communist Party leadership"

scmp.com/news/china/sci…
"Biosecurity is an important part of national security and a force that “affects and can even reshape the world”, Xi told the Politburo, the party’s top policymaking body on Wednesday, according to state news agency"
"It was the Politburo’s first ever group study session specifically focused on biosecurity, highlighting the importance the Chinese leadership has attached to the issue since the onset of the pandemic."
Read 6 tweets
Richard H. Ebright Profile picture
27 Sep
"[T]wo members of US Congress from opposing parties joined forces to introduce a bill that would halt public funding of...tweaking of viruses..to make them more dangerous.

Controversial virus research sparks political debate in US
ft.com/content/b32863…
"'[G]ain of function' research has been a..debate..for..years. But it has only recently become an issue for..politicians. It refers to..science in which researchers take known pathogens..and manipulate them to make them more transmissible, or more likely to cause severe illness."
Peter Hale: "Pausing taxpayer funding for..gain-of-function experiments with highly transmissible, highly pathogenic..viruses..is more than warranted..The last thing we need in the middle of a global pandemic that already has killed 4.5m..is..making..viruses even more dangerous.”
Read 4 tweets
Richard H. Ebright Profile picture
25 Sep
"Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs said he has disbanded a task force of scientists probing..origins of Covid-19 in favor of wider biosafety research."

Lancet task force probing origins of Covid-19 disbanded in favor of wider biosafety research wsj.com/articles/covid…
"EcoHealth Alliance’s president, Peter Daszak, led the task force until recusing himself from that role in June. Some other members of the task force have collaborated with Dr. Daszak or EcoHealth Alliance on projects."
"Dr. Sachs said the Lancet Covid-19 Commission would continue studying the origins for a report to be published in mid-2022 but broaden its scope to include input from other experts on biosafety concerns including government oversight and transparency regarding risky..research."
Read 4 tweets
Richard H. Ebright Profile picture
24 Sep
"Some scientists and officials in the Biden administration are pushing for more oversight..of risky bioresearch. One focus is laboratory work that enhances a pathogen or endows it with new properties—sometimes called 'gain-of-function' research"

wsj.com/articles/since…
"The administration, looking for ways to better weigh the potential benefits of such research against the risks, is considering ideas that include forming a new entity to address global biosecurity."
"Another is to expand oversight of U.S.-funded research on pathogens beyond the current practice in which most projects are vetted by the same [conflict-of-interest-burdened ]agencies that fund or oversee them"
Read 4 tweets

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