{"id":1702628,"date":"2022-10-19T15:48:11","date_gmt":"2022-10-19T19:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1702628"},"modified":"2022-10-19T15:48:17","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T19:48:17","slug":"not-great-expert-virologist-claims-government-approval-process-for-deadly-experiments-is-too-confusing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/not-great-expert-virologist-claims-government-approval-process-for-deadly-experiments-is-too-confusing\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Great: Expert Virologist Claims Government Approval Process For Deadly Experiments Is Too Confusing"},"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\">28<\/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%2Fnot-great-expert-virologist-claims-government-approval-process-for-deadly-experiments-is-too-confusing%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=1702628&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>Boston University (BU) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/ho-hum-boston-university-creates-potentially-unauthorized-deadly-covid-strain-hybrids-no-big-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">has been running<\/a> allegedly improper, deadly experiments as part of an effort to create a new COVID hybrid strain. The story sounds straight out of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/scientists-believed-coronavirus-leaked-from-wuhan-lab-but-top-u-s-official-warned-against-debate-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wuhan<\/a>, but it is not. It happened in Boston.<\/p>\n<p>How could this have ever occurred? Well, according to one of the nation\u2019s top virologists, <a href=\"https:\/\/ghss.georgetown.edu\/people\/angela-rasmussen\/#:~:text=Dr.,target%20drug%20development%20or%20repurposing.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Angela Rasmussen<\/a>, it might be because the government\u2019s process for getting this kind of research approved by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is too confusing.<\/p>\n<p>Essentially, Rasmussen wants you to believe that getting extremely risky projects approved by the NIAID is about as much of a headache as dealing with the Department of Motor Vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>This week, it was revealed that BU\u2019s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2022\/10\/17\/boston-university-researchers-testing-of-lab-made-version-of-covid-virus-draws-government-scrutiny\/\">released<\/a> a non-peer-reviewed \u201cpreprint\u201d claiming that it had created a COVID hybrid out of the original COVID-19 strain and the Omicron variant, resulting in a new strain that supposedly killed 80% the mice tested, according to STAT News.<\/p>\n<p>BU defended its research by saying that it was necessary to prevent future pandemics and noted that the original variant killed 100% of mice in previous studies. BU also claimed it did not use gain-of-function methods and the experiments were not dangerous.<\/p>\n<p>Ronald Corley, the director of the lab, also claimed that the researchers didn\u2019t need to gain approval because this specific study wasn\u2019t funded directly by the NIAID and the National Institutes of Health.<\/p>\n<p>Corley admitted that earlier funding from the NIH laid the groundwork for the project, but thought that because this paper didn\u2019t receive direct support, then the approval process was not needed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a murky world, but in our view because the funding was not supporting the work that was supported in this paper, that it wasn\u2019t necessary to report it to NIH,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2022\/10\/18\/bu-lab-wasnt-required-to-clear-potentially-controversial-study-with-nih-director-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> STAT.<\/p>\n<p>That defense may not be sufficient.<\/p>\n<p>Critics, such as Richard Ebright, the Board of Governors professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University and laboratory director at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology, said the idea this wasn\u2019t gain-of-function or risky is \u201cdemonstrably false and should be deeply embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, Emily Erbelding, director of NIAID\u2019s division of microbiology and infectious diseases, told STAT that the government was completely unaware this sort of research was being done.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, STAT reported that NIAID only found out about the study through media reports.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019re going to have conversations over upcoming days,\u201d Erbelding remarked to the press.<\/p>\n<p>Erbelding explained that had BU come forward for approval via the proper channels, then the research would have undergone a different process.<\/p>\n<p>She also added that if BU had sought prior approval, and it met government guidelines to be defined \u201cas enhanced pathogen of pandemic potential, ePPP, we could have put a package forward for review by the committee that\u2019s convened by HHS, the office of the assistant secretary for preparedness and response.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what the framework lays out and that\u2019s what we would have done,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n<p>Yet BU didn\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n<p>Rasmussen, the aforementioned virologist not associated with the study, chalked up the discretion to unclear rules.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause so much of the definition of ePPP pertains to \u2018reasonable anticipation\u2019 of results in humans (and animal models are not always good proxies of this), it\u2019s very difficult for researchers to say \u2018Oh yes, this is ePPP,\u2019\u201d Rasmussen told STAT.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d personally reach out for clarification from NIAID when in doubt, but it\u2019s often not obvious when additional guidance is warranted,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd because it\u2019s not very transparent, it\u2019s hard to look at other decisions NIAID has made for examples.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rasmussen added that she was \u201cvery tired of people suggesting that virologists and NIAID are reckless or don\u2019t care about biosafety.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe problem isn\u2019t that,\u201d she added. \u201cThe problem is that the guidelines and expectations aren\u2019t clear for many experiments and the process isn\u2019t transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That language adds up with what Corley, the lab\u2019s director, had to say about opaque guidelines.<\/p>\n<p>So in other words, some of our nation\u2019s best and brightest scientists cannot figure out the bureaucratic nightmare for approval.<\/p>\n<p>So very possibly \u2014 rather than err on the side of caution \u2014 BU simply went ahead and conducted the experiment without proper oversight based on a judgment call.<\/p>\n<p>None of this is very encouraging. The entire story raises more questions than answers.<\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Boston University (BU) has been running allegedly improper, deadly experiments as part of an effort to create a new COVID hybrid strain. The story sounds straight out of Wuhan, but it is not. It happened in Boston. How could this have ever occurred? Well, according to one of the nation\u2019s top virologists, Angela Rasmussen, it &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1890512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1702628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1702628","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=1702628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1702628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1890512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1702628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1702628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1702628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}