{"id":1674563,"date":"2022-10-05T16:23:10","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T20:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1674563"},"modified":"2022-10-05T16:23:27","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T20:23:27","slug":"fauci-defends-continued-ecohealth-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fauci-defends-continued-ecohealth-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Fauci Defends Continued EcoHealth Funding"},"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\">10<\/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%2Ffauci-defends-continued-ecohealth-funding%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=1674563&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>Anthony Fauci, the head of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), defended his agency\u2019s decision of awarding millions of dollars to an organization that has funded risky virus research in Wuhan.<\/p>\n<p>The New York-based nonprofit, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-ecohealth\">EcoHealth<\/a> Alliance, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/nih-continues-pouring-millions-into-organization-that-funded-wuhan-lab_4771828.html\">received roughly $3 million<\/a> in grants from the NIAID in late September, the largest annual amount the agency has awarded the group, despite scrutiny over EcoHealth\u2019s partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the facility that many believe may have started the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf something is peer-reviewed, gets a high recommendation for funding, you can\u2019t arbitrarily decide, \u2018I just don\u2019t want to fund it\u2019 because people don\u2019t like them,\u201d Fauci said in an Oct. 4 virtual webinar hosted by the University of South California\u2019s Center for Health Journalism. \u201cIf they ever brought that to court, they could sue us and win that in a microsecond. So you\u2019ve got to be careful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The new grants came just weeks after the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to which NIAID belongs, terminated an Ecohealth sub-award to the Wuhan lab. The NIH told the House Oversight Committee that the Chinese facility had twice declined their requests to hand over laboratory records so that they could review the research.<\/p>\n<h2>Fending Off Criticism<\/h2>\n<p>The Wuhan facility, during the 2018 to 2019 grant period, conducted experiments that made bat coronaviruses more lethal, which some experts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/newly-released-documents-show-nih-funded-gain-of-function-research-in-china-experts_4061437.html\">said<\/a> met the definition of gain-of-function research\u2014experiments that make a virus more deadly or infectious.<\/p>\n<p>Asked why he was confident that \u201cEcoHealth is a good funding partner\u201d despite criticism about its lack of transparency over virus research, Fauci insisted that the two were separate matters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like saying that there is a grant from an institution in the United States, that something really bad about that grant, and therefore, you shouldn\u2019t give any funding to any other element of that institution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be fair, and you\u2019ve got to go by process, not arbitrarily deciding whether you want to fund something or not,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The new grants, though, have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/nih-continues-pouring-millions-into-organization-that-funded-wuhan-lab_4771828.html\">drawn heavy backlash<\/a> from Republican lawmakers who indicated a COVID-19 origin probe would be a key priority if they win control of the House or Senate after this midterm election.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3733963\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/03\/15\/Wuhan-Institute-of-Virology-1200x798.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3733963\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/03\/15\/Wuhan-Institute-of-Virology-1200x798.jpg\" alt=\"guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Security personnel stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in Wuhan, China, on Feb. 3, 2021. (Hector Retamal \/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>In light of the new NIH grant, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) on Sept. 29 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/117th-congress\/senate-bill\/5056\/text?r=1&amp;s=1\">introduced<\/a> a bill that seeks to stop federal funding to EcoHealth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiving taxpayer money to EcoHealth to study pandemic prevention is like paying a suspected arsonist to conduct fire safety inspections,\u201d she earlier <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/nih-continues-pouring-millions-into-organization-that-funded-wuhan-lab_4771828.html\">told<\/a> The Epoch Times. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), ranking member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, meanwhile, called it \u201cmadness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEcoHealth Alliance and Peter Daszak should not be getting a dime of taxpayer funds until they are completely transparent. Period,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Fauci, who is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/fauci-announces-hes-stepping-down-as-niaid-director-medical-adviser-to-biden_4680373.html\">retiring<\/a> in December, said he would have \u201cno problem\u201d giving more testimony to a Republican-controlled Congress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am a big believer in oversight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h2>Lab Leak Theory<\/h2>\n<p>Emails show that Fauci had sought to play down the lab leak theory in the early period of the pandemic. In April 2020, he told then-NIH director Francis Collins that the hypothesis is \u201ca shiny object\u201d that would go away in time.<\/p>\n<p>Fauci, at the event, stood by his comments in the email, saying that he didn\u2019t think he misjudged the public\u2019s ongoing interest in the lab leak theory.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s always the concern, and I have kept a completely open mind about the possibility that there may have been a lab leak,\u201d but the \u201clab leak is a theory with no evidence whatsoever,\u201d Fauci said.<\/p>\n<p>He cited an article titled \u201cthe proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2\u201d published in March 2020 that argued in favor of a natural origin of COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was part of the group that called together a bunch of experienced evolutionary virologists to seriously look at that,\u201d he said. \u201cThey went over the epidemiological, the virological data, and they published in the peer review high ranked journals, their conclusion that it is most likely a natural occurrence.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3847691\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/and92010310230-1200x799-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-large wp-image-3847691\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/and92010310230-1200x799-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3847691\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/and92010310230-1200x799-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Kristian Andersen briefs reporters in San Diego, Dec. 30, 2020. (The Associated Press)<\/figure>\n<p>Prior to the release of the paper, email communications between Fauci and Kristian Anderson, the lead author of the paper, showed that Anderson had observed some unusual features making up the virus that causes COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[O]ne has to look really closely at all the sequences to see that some of the features (potentially) look engineered,\u201d Anderson told Fauci in an email on Jan. 31, 2020, a day before he and Fauci joined a conference call about the paper.<\/p>\n<p>The March 2020 Nature article showed a number of edits compared to a February version that appeared online, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/new-emails-reveal-faucis-role-in-shaping-highly-influential-paper-that-established-covid-natural-origin-narrative_4225917.html\">changes in language<\/a> that strengthened the natural origins narrative.<\/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-eva-fu\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/15f130a8712a9ef5_ttl7dayQgw_WEB_EvaFu.jpg\" alt=\"Eva Fu\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bio\">Eva Fu is a New York-based writer for The Epoch Times focusing on U.S. politics, U.S.-China relations, religious freedom, and human rights. Contact Eva at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:eva.fu@epochtimes.com\">eva.fu@epochtimes.com<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anthony Fauci, the head of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), defended his agency\u2019s decision of awarding millions of dollars to an organization that has funded risky virus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"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-1674563","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\/1674563","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1674563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674563\/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=1674563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1674563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1674563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}