"Two subordinates of..Fauci raised concerns in May 2016 that a taxpayer-funded grant may include gain-of-function experiments on bat coronaviruses at a Wuhan lab, but dropped the issue after nonprofit group EcoHealth Alliance downplayed the concerns"

dailycaller.com/2021/11/03/fau…
"National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Disease staffers Jenny Greer and Erik Stemmy told EcoHealth in a May 28, 2016, letter that a proposed grant 'may include' gain of function research, according to documents obtained through..information request."
"The National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Diseases staffers reversed course after requesting EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak submitted a 'determination' to the agency that downplayed the risks of his proposed experiments, the records show"
"NIH, incredibly, accepted EcoHealth’s belief..this work would not be considered gain of function,..accepted EcoHealth’s rationale..for this belief, and accepted EcoHealth’s policy-noncompliant proposal for..10x..allowance for increased viral growth before stopping.and reporting"
"NIH, in effect, delegated to EcoHealth Alliance the authority to determine whether..research was..gain of function..subject to..funding pause, the authority to set criteria for..determination, and the authority to over-ride federal policies implemented by..White House..and..HHS"

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More from @R_H_Ebright

3 Nov
"NIH allowed a US nonprofit it funds to police its own..research on bat coronaviruses in China, raising new concerns about insufficient oversight at the agency."

NIH officials worked with EcoHealth Alliance to evade restrictions on coronavirus experiments interc.pt/3wdPCcz
"Detailed notes on NIH communications obtained by The Intercept show that beginning..May 2016, agency staff had an unusual exchange with Peter Daszak, the head of EcoHealth Alliance, about experiments.. his group was planning to conduct on coronaviruses under an NIH grant"
"The plans triggered concerns at NIH. Two staff members—grants management specialist, and..program officer handling coronavirus research—wrote to EcoHealth..to say..experiments..appear to involve research covered under the pause'" referring to a..moratorium on..gain-of-function"
Read 19 tweets
3 Nov
"During the U.S. gain-of-function (GOF) pause, undisclosed correspondence between NIH and EcoHealth Alliance now reveal that NIH was concerned it was funding such risky research"

republicans-energycommerce.house.gov/news/ec-republ… via @HouseCommerce
"In May 2016 – in response to EcoHealth Alliance’s Year Two progress report – NIH raised concerns that EcoHealth Alliance may have been conducting GOF research in the Wuhan lab."
In June 2016 – in response to NIH’s concerns – EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak dismissed NIH’s concerns, [falsely] asserting their experiments on chimeric viruses did not amount to GOF.
Read 7 tweets
3 Nov
"'As noted by Stanford University microbiologist David Relman, “[The WIV] were essentially playing Russian roulette with the virus that the world’s expert had labelled poised for human emergence.'"

republicans-energycommerce.house.gov/wp-content/upl…
"Further, the one condition imposed by the NIH was the requirement that EcoHealth stop the humanized mice experiment and notify..NIH if the result was a virus with enhanced growth by more than ten times (or one log) compared to the parental backbone or strains found in nature."
"EcoHealth grant documents indicated such a reportable result from the experiment, but there is no evidence of EcoHealth taking the required actions, or the NIH raising any questions after getting the results of the experiment from EcoHealth."
Read 5 tweets
3 Nov
"HHS allowed bipartisan Committee staff to see..letters from NIH to EcoHealth (May 18, 2016, July 7, 2016, and July 5, 2018) and..from EcoHealth to NIH (June 8, 2016) in an in camera review..To our knowledge, NIH has not publicly disclosed these letters"

republicans-energycommerce.house.gov/wp-content/upl…
"In response to the experiment descriptions in EcoHealth’s research progress report, NIH wrote to
EcoHealth on May 28, 2016..to advise that NIAID determined the R01AI110964 grant research
project may include GOF experiments subject to the 2014 GOF research pause."
"Under the signature of..Peter Daszak.., its president.., EcoHealth replied to NIH on June 8, 2016, asserting[, risibly,] their research was not GOF..'We believe that this work would not be considered GOF'"
Read 6 tweets
3 Nov
"NIH..failed to report EcoHealth’s noncompliance and grant suspension..to..database that alerts..US..agencies to risky grant recipients..NIH,..USAID..and Department of Defense..paid EcoHealth..$23.4 million in new and renewed..awards since April 2020"

republicans-energycommerce.house.gov/wp-content/upl…
"Despite NIH’s notification to EcoHealth on July 8, 2020, that no funds would be provided, NIH issued..payment..to EcoHealth on July 13, 2020..In its revised award notice..NIH designated..allocations of $76,301 for..WIV, and $75,600 for..Institute of Pathogen Biology in Beijing"
"After paying an illegible grant recipient in July 2020, the NIH in August 2020 announced its award of two [new] multimillion-dollar grants to EcoHealth for NIAID’s $3.05 million project number U01AI151797, and NIAID’s $1.2 million project number U01AI153420."
Read 4 tweets
29 Oct
"NIH..said EcoHealth had failed to immediately report findings that suggested a 2018 experiment..improved how well a bat virus could grow..violating a condition for a secondary review of research that could potentially make viruses more dangerous."

scmp.com/news/china/sci…
":The agency said it gave EcoHealth five days to hand over “any and all” unpublished data from funded experiments."
"EcoHealth hit back on Tuesday, saying it 'did in fact comply with all reporting requirements'"
Read 4 tweets

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