{"id":1414353,"date":"2022-04-01T07:59:44","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T11:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1414353"},"modified":"2022-04-01T07:59:45","modified_gmt":"2022-04-01T11:59:45","slug":"foia-finds-nih-deleted-info-from-wuhan-lab-on-ccp-virus-genetic-sequencing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/foia-finds-nih-deleted-info-from-wuhan-lab-on-ccp-virus-genetic-sequencing\/","title":{"rendered":"FOIA Finds NIH Deleted Info From Wuhan Lab on CCP Virus Genetic Sequencing"},"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\">26<\/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%2Ffoia-finds-nih-deleted-info-from-wuhan-lab-on-ccp-virus-genetic-sequencing%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=1414353&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>National Institutes of Health (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-nih\">NIH<\/a>) documents obtained by a nonprofit watchdog in a federal court suit reveal that the agency deleted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-ccp\">CCP<\/a> virus genetic sequencing information from the Wuhan Institute of Virology at the Chinese lab\u2019s request.<\/p>\n<p>The Arlington, Virginia-based <a href=\"https:\/\/empowr.us\/just-the-news-national-institutes-of-health-deleted-covid-info-at-wuhan-researchers-request-emails-show\/\">Empower Oversight Whistleblowers and Researchers<\/a> (EO) obtained, as a result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) <a href=\"https:\/\/empowr.us\/nih-covid-database-foia\/\">request<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/empowr.us\/empower-oversight-sues-nih-for-documents-on-its-deletion-of-genetic-data-related-to-covid-19\/\">lawsuit,<\/a> more than 230 pages of documents dating from 2020 that include emails, memoranda, and other correspondence among and between the lab and multiple NIH officials.<\/p>\n<p>The CCP virus, also known as the novel coronavirus, was first detected in China in late 2019, before it spread worldwide. Since the first death from the virus in the United States was reported in January 2020, an estimated 1 million Americans and 6 million globally have reportedly succumbed to the virus.<\/p>\n<p>Controversy has raged in the United States over whether the virus originated in an animal-to-human transfer in a Wuhan-area wet market, as Chinese officials have insisted, or if it escaped from the Wuhan lab where research was being done on such viruses, some of which was being supported with NIH funds through the New York-based nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance.<\/p>\n<p>Among the NIH officials prominently mentioned in the documents are then-NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins and National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, who actively participated in the discussions and decision-making described in the materials obtained by EO.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn June 5, 2020, a Wuhan University researcher requested that NIH retract the researcher\u2019s submission of BioProject ID PRJNA637497 because of error. The Wuhan researcher explained \u2018I\u2019m sorry for my wrong submitting,&#8217;\u201d EO said in a<a href=\"https:\/\/empowr.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Coronavirus-Sequences-Removed-from-NIH-Database-at-the-Request-of-Chinese-Researchers-1-compressed.pdf\"> statement<\/a>\u00a0on March 29.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBioProject ID PRJNA637497 is also referred to as Submission ID SUB7554642. Three days later, on June 8th, the NIH declined the researcher\u2019s request, advising that it prefers to edit or replace, as opposed to delete, sequences submitted to the SRA,\u201d EO reported.<\/p>\n<p>But then, on June 16, 2020, NIH officials reversed themselves and deleted the genetic sequencing data, as requested by the Wuhan researcher.<\/p>\n<p>That researcher was quoted by EO as explaining to NIH: \u201cRecently, I found that it\u2019s hard to visit my submitted SRA data, and it would also be very difficult for me to update the data. I have submitted an updated version of this SRA data to another website, so I want to withdraw the old one at NCBI in order to avoid the data version issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After some discussion about what would be deleted, the NIH concluded the discussion by reassuring the Wuhan researcher that it \u201chad withdrawn everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The documents also indicate, according to EO, that after researcher Jesse Bloom, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, \u201calerted NIH about the deleted sequences, [Collins] and [Fauci] hosted a Sunday afternoon Zoom meeting. The invitation Collins sent out for the meeting asks invitees to read Bloom\u2019s [June 22, 2021] preprint paper closely and provide their \u2018advice on the interpretation and significance of\u2019 it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to EO, the documents show that \u201cProfessor Trevor Bedford of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center later sent the group an email stating that the deleted data seemed to support the idea that the pandemic began outside the Huanan market in Wuhan and that the matter must be analyzed properly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If the virus\u2019s spread began outside of the market, it would undermine the official Chinese government claim, and thus reinforce claims of experts in the United States and elsewhere that the pandemic likely escaped from the Wuhan lab.<\/p>\n<p>The EO report also claims that NIH communications staff members were using off-the-record emails to advise \u201creporters toward more favorable coverage concerning termination of public access to the sequences by The Washington Post, and away from coverage by The New York Times, whose \u2018tone\u2019 had been criticized in communications among NIH officials.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition, EO said NIH claims to have retained copies of the deleted data \u201cfor preservation purposes,\u201d although the federal agency has refused to conduct a transparent examination of it.<\/p>\n<p>An NIH spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that the sequences in question were submitted in March 2020 by a researcher at a China-based institution for posting in SRA, which it said it managed by NIH\u2019s National Center for Biotechnology (NCBI).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn June 2020, in response to a request by the same researcher, NCBI gave the sequence data the status of \u2018withdrawn,\u2019 which removes sequencing data from all public means of access but does not delete them. NCBI subsequently reassigned the status of the sequence data to \u2018suppressed,\u2019 which means that sequence data are removed from the search process but can be directly found by accession number. This action to reassign the data was identified as part of NLM\u2019s ongoing review into the matter. We are working to make more information available,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p>Collins, Fauci, and the NIAID did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>The EO document release is likely to strengthen congressional efforts to get all the facts concerning the NIH\u2019s role in funding the Wuhan lab research that may be at the center of the CCP virus\u2019s creation and spread around the world.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), a physician who is a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions (HELP), told The Epoch Times that\u00a0\u201cthe NIH deleting key data at the onset of the pandemic has only caused more questions regarding its involvement on the emergence of\u201d the virus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe American people deserve to know the truth behind the origins of COVID-19, as well as how we can best prepare for, prevent, and recover from future global pandemics,\u201d Marshall said. \u201cAs a physician, I think we always need to know the what, where, how, and why when giving a diagnosis. For this reason, it couldn\u2019t be more important that we get to the bottom of this deleted data and ensure that NIH operates at the interest of our national security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The HELP panel on March 15 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.natlawreview.com\/article\/update-what-to-know-about-prevent-pandemics-act-following-march-15-committee-markup\">approved<\/a> legislation\u2014the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/117th-congress\/senate-bill\/3799?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22S.+3799%22%2C%22S.%22%2C%223799%22%5D%7D&#038;s=8&#038;r=9\">PREVENT Pandemics Act<\/a>\u2014that requires the establishment of a government task force to investigate the origins of the CCP virus. That legislation includes eight provisions authored by Marshall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis legislation is in response to the congressional inquiries and various media investigations\u2013including The Epoch Times\u2013revealing national security issues with federal agencies authorizing dangerous research with certain foreign entities that may have contributed to the COVID-19 pandemic,\u201d Marshall\u2019s office told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDr. Marshall secured his bipartisan 9\/11-style COVID Task Force to investigate the origins of COVID-19, as well as find out how we can prepare for, prevent, and recover from future global pandemics,\u201d his office said, adding that he seeks \u201cto\u00a0ensure that American organizations would never be allowed to conduct dangerous research capable of pandemic proportions with organizations in countries that threaten our national security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) told The Epoch Times via email that \u201cthe radical left has systematically worked to cover the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s tracks and hide the truth of COVID origins.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDr. Fauci, the NIH, and liberal media giants weaponized the COVID-19 pandemic to shut down schools, businesses, and life for hardworking Americans. The report from Empower Oversight exposes what we\u2019ve always known about COVID-19\u2014it\u2019s all about big government control,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Another Republican senator, Joni Ernst of Iowa, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/ernst-proposes-cutting-off-federal-funding-of-ecohealth-alliance-gain-of-function-research_4080092.html\">proposed<\/a> last November to ban all federal funding of EcoHealth Alliance and the \u201cgain-of-function\u201d virus research it supported with federal funds at the Wuhan lab.\u00a0Other congressional Republicans have also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/top-republicans-call-for-doj-to-investigate-if-ecohealth-alliance-broke-law_4073855.html\">called<\/a> for a federal investigation of the nonprofit.<\/p>\n<p><em>Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-mark-tapscott\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"names\">\n<p>Congressional Correspondent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Congressional Correspondent for The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National Institutes of Health (NIH) documents obtained by a nonprofit watchdog in a federal court suit reveal that the agency deleted CCP virus genetic sequencing information from the Wuhan Institute<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":498,"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-1414353","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\/1414353","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\/498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1414353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1414353\/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=1414353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1414353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1414353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}