{"id":1416015,"date":"2022-04-02T09:44:34","date_gmt":"2022-04-02T13:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1416015"},"modified":"2022-04-02T09:44:35","modified_gmt":"2022-04-02T13:44:35","slug":"nih-admits-it-suppressed-wuhan-lab-genetic-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nih-admits-it-suppressed-wuhan-lab-genetic-data\/","title":{"rendered":"NIH Admits it \u201cSuppressed\u201d Wuhan Lab Genetic Data"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/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%2Fnih-admits-it-suppressed-wuhan-lab-genetic-data%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=1416015&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>A National Institutes for Health (NIH) spokesman is disputing a non-profit watchdog group\u2019s claim that the agency \u201cdeleted\u201d genetic sequencing data on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/giving-the-right-name-to-the-virus-causing-a-worldwide-pandemic-2_3277200.html\">CCP virus<\/a> from a Chinese lab, but the same official acknowledged the data was \u201csuppressed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe headline says the sequences were deleted which is inaccurate. They were not deleted. This is a really important point, and I\u2019ve highlighted what did happen from what we provided to you earlier this week,\u201d NIH Media Branch Chief Amanda Fine told The Epoch Times in a March 31 email.<\/p>\n<p>Fine was referring to a March 29 Epoch Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/watchdogs-foia-finds-nih-deleted-info-from-wuhan-lab-on-ccp-virus-genetic-sequencing_4369674.html\">story<\/a> headlined \u201cNIH Deleted Info Received From Wuhan Lab on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-ccp\">CCP<\/a> Virus Genetic Sequencing, Watchdog\u2019s FOIA Finds.\u201d The information Fine referenced as having been provided to The Epoch Times by NIH earlier in the week was included in the published story:<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2019In June 2020, in response to a request by the same [Wuhan] researcher, National Center for Biotechnology [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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018NCBI 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,\u2019 the spokesperson said.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The biotechnology center, which is part of the institute\u2019s National Library of Medicine (NLM), is the U.S. component of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration.<\/p>\n<p>The Epoch Times story was prompted by a <a href=\"https:\/\/empowr.us\/just-the-news-national-institutes-of-health-deleted-covid-info-at-wuhan-researchers-request-emails-show\/\">report<\/a> published on March 29 by <a href=\"https:\/\/empowr.us\/\">Empower Oversight Whistleblowers and Research (EO)<\/a> that was based on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) responses the group received from the institute.<\/p>\n<p>The non-profit reported, The Epoch Times story said, that \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,\u2019 Empower Oversight said in a\u00a0statement (<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\">pdf<\/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. SRA refers to the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) data resource made available by NCBI, and it \u201cstores\u00a0\u00a0raw sequencing data.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut then, on June 16, 2020, NIH officials reversed themselves and deleted the genetic sequencing data, as requested by the Wuhan researcher.\u00a0That researcher was quoted by EO as explaining to NIH: \u2018Recently, 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.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter some discussion about what would be deleted, the NIH concluded the discussion by reassuring the Wuhan researcher that it \u2018had withdrawn everything.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked for a response to Fine\u2019s claim the information was not deleted, EO Founder and President Jason Foster told The Epoch Times that NIH\u2019s actions ensure the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus genetic sequencing info is only available to the few individuals possessing its \u201caccession number,\u201d which effectively deletes the data from open access and research.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNIH documents released with Empower Oversight\u2019s report demonstrate that the sequencing data was deleted from public view by the NIH at the request of the Wuhan researcher,\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur report also details emails between Professor Jesse Bloom and the NIH\u2019s Steve Sherry from October 2021 that clearly indicate NIH retained copies \u2018for archival purposes.\u2019 Yet, the emails demonstrate that NIH refused to share that data in an open, transparent scientific process sought by Professor Bloom,\u201d Foster continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe NIH should make more information available about each and every time it reassigned the status of sequence data and any information potentially relevant to the origins of COVID-19 should be made available for scientific inquiry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Fine did not respond when The Epoch Times asked who \u201chas access to all of the genetic sequencing information provided by the Wuhan researcher and which was requested by that researcher to be removed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Epoch Times also asked that because \u201cNIH must know who in fact has accessed the data \u2026 who did so and when since the Wuhan researcher requested the information\u2019s removal?\u201d<\/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>A National Institutes for Health (NIH) spokesman is disputing a non-profit watchdog group\u2019s claim that the agency \u201cdeleted\u201d genetic sequencing data on the CCP virus from a Chinese lab, but<\/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-1416015","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\/1416015","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=1416015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416015\/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=1416015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1416015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1416015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}