{"id":1165295,"date":"2021-12-28T13:19:54","date_gmt":"2021-12-28T18:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1165295"},"modified":"2021-12-28T13:19:56","modified_gmt":"2021-12-28T18:19:56","slug":"senate-republicans-target-nih-for-more-oversight-of-potential-pandemic-pathogens-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-republicans-target-nih-for-more-oversight-of-potential-pandemic-pathogens-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Republicans Target NIH For More Oversight Of \u2018Potential Pandemic Pathogens\u2019 Research"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsenate-republicans-target-nih-for-more-oversight-of-potential-pandemic-pathogens-research%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1165295&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Five Republican senators have introduced a bill to increase oversight of the National Institutes of Health\u2019s (NIH) policies and procedures regarding federally funded research of \u201cpotential pandemic pathogens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/BILLS-117s3414is\/pdf\/BILLS-117s3414is.pdf\">National Biosecurity Improvement Act<\/a>,\u201d introduced on December 16, would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to look into any NIH research that involves dangerous pathogens.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The bill\u2019s introduction to the Senate comes after months of Republican-led efforts to look into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf COVID-19 has taught us anything, it\u2019s that we need more transparency surrounding federal agencies\u2019 funding of various research, particularly regarding potentially dangerous pathogens,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ernst.senate.gov\/\/public\/index.cfm\/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=5D9F77F1-347D-46EE-A58B-DF3C3AA6C02B\">said<\/a> Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), one of the sponsors of the bill. \u201cThis bill will increase oversight and help ensure research is conducted safely and securely, both in the United States and overseas, to protect the safety of Iowans and all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If the bill were to pass, the GAO would be required to look into how federal agencies ensure that any research involving dangerous pathogens is done safely without compromising national security. It would also make efforts to \u201cestablish a common domestic and international approach to ensuring the safety and security of research involving the enhancement of potential pandemic pathogens and related risky research with potentially dangerous pathogens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In October, the NIH <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/new-nih-letter-about-ecohealth-reporting-failure-raises-new-questions-about-gain-of-function-funding\">released documents<\/a> that appeared to contradict previous statements regarding the experiments taking place on bat coronaviruses at the lab in Wuhan, China. The Daily Wire reported:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe limited experiment described in the final progress report provided by EcoHealth Alliance was testing if spike proteins from naturally occurring bat coronaviruses circulating in China were capable of binding to the human ACE2 receptor in a mouse model,\u201d the letter, signed by NIH Principal Deputy Director <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nih.gov\/about-nih\/what-we-do\/nih-almanac\/lawrence-tabak-dds-phd\">Lawrence A. Tabak<\/a>, states. \u201cIn this limited experiment, laboratory mice infected with the SHC014 WIV1 bat coronavirus became sicker than those infected with the WIV1 bat coronavirus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The NIH added that \u201cthis was an unexpected result of the research,\u201d as \u201csometimes occurs in science.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The letter resulted in more questioning from legislators concerned with the research at the Wuhan lab. \u201cI told you so\u2019 doesn\u2019t even begin to cover it here,\u201d Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RandPaul\/status\/1450996489862459394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1450996489862459394%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fsamj-3930%2F2021%2F10%2F21%2Ffatality-sen-rand-paul-drops-thread-with-all-the-receipts-of-nih-contradicting-fauci-admitting-gain-of-function-research-at-wuhan-lab%2F\">tweeted<\/a> in response to a tweet about the letter that claimed: \u201cNIH states that EcoHealth Alliance violated Terms and Conditions of NIH grant AI110964.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cNational Biosecurity Improvement Act\u201d would seek to improve the government\u2019s awareness of research being conducted similar to the research happening at the Wuhan lab.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe more we learn about the potential origins of the coronavirus pandemic, the more questions we have about the role of state actors and even our own government in researching dangerous pathogens,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ernst.senate.gov\/\/public\/index.cfm\/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=5D9F77F1-347D-46EE-A58B-DF3C3AA6C02B\">said<\/a> Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), another sponsor of the bill. \u201cAs we continue to investigate, Americans deserve answers on the extent to which the U.S. government engages in or funds risky research and what policies are in place to ensure it is done safely and in a way that doesn\u2019t jeopardize our national security. This bill brings about much-needed transparency into the government\u2019s policies and past actions regarding such risky research.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The bill was also sponsored by Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">member<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five Republican senators have introduced a bill to increase oversight of the National Institutes of Health\u2019s (NIH) policies and procedures regarding federally funded research of \u201cpotential pandemic pathogens.\u201d The \u201cNational Biosecurity Improvement Act,\u201d introduced on December 16, would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to look into any NIH research that involves dangerous pathogens.\u00a0 The &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":324,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1165295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/324"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1165295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1165295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1165295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1165295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}