{"id":2020256,"date":"2023-09-02T12:54:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T16:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/university-of-wisconsin-investigated-by-house-republicans-over-dangerous-gain-of-function-research\/"},"modified":"2023-09-02T12:56:29","modified_gmt":"2023-09-02T16:56:29","slug":"university-of-wisconsin-investigated-by-house-republicans-over-dangerous-gain-of-function-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/university-of-wisconsin-investigated-by-house-republicans-over-dangerous-gain-of-function-research\/","title":{"rendered":"House Republicans are investigating the University of Wisconsin for its alleged involvement in &#8220;dangerous gain-of-function&#8221; research."},"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\">32<\/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%2Funiversity-of-wisconsin-investigated-by-house-republicans-over-dangerous-gain-of-function-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=2020256&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--><h2>House Republicans Launch Investigation into Gain-of-Function Research at University \u2064of Wisconsin-Madison<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">House Republicans have announced a new investigation into gain-of-function research at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/university-of-wisconsin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">University of Wisconsin-Madison<\/a> that \u2062they deem &#8220;dangerous.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Request for Information<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The investigation was initiated by Select Subcommittee on the \u200dCoronavirus Pandemic \u2062Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), who sent \u2062a <a href=\"https:\/\/oversight.house.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023.09.01-BRW-Letter-to-UW.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">letter<\/a> to UW Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin. The letter requests information regarding the university&#8217;s gain-of-function research and any potential collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology\u200b or involvement in coronavirus \u200bprojects.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Controversial Research<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The letter highlights previous concerns raised about gain-of-function research at the\u2063 university. However, the university maintains that this research is both necessary and highly regulated.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Disagreement on Regulation<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wenstrup disagrees with the university&#8217;s assertion that there is sufficient regulation \u200don gain-of-function research. He points to\u2063 a previous incident where Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka modified the avian H5N1\u200c influenza virus, making it more transmissible among mammals. Wenstrup argues that this experiment demonstrated the potential dangers of gain-of-function research.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;UW has already shown it has the capabilities to modify pathogens and make them \u2063more dangerous. In 2011, Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka revealed to the world that he had modified the deadly avian H5N1 influenza virus so it could \u2062spread between \u200cferrets. This experiment enabled the bird virus to \u2063spread more easily among \u200cmammals, particularly ferrets which most closely mimic human response to the flu. The H5N1 virus is considered a \u200b&#8217;potential pandemic pathogen,&#8217; which through modification or handling could cause another global pandemic,&#8221; \u200cWenstrup \u200bwrote.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Instances of Quarantine<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The letter also references cases where scientists conducting gain-of-function research \u2062at the university ended up in quarantine. \u200bOne researcher \u200daccidentally pricked their finger with a needle containing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/university-of-wisconsin-investigated-by-house-republicans-over-dangerous-gain-of-function-research\/\" title=\"House Republicans are investigating the University of Wisconsin for its alleged involvement in \"dangerous gain-of-function\" research.\">engineered high pathogenic avian \u2063influenza<\/a>, resulting in their family having to stay \u200bat a hotel while they quarantined at home.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Proposed Ban on Gain-of-Function Research<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In response\u2063 to these \u200creports, some Republican lawmakers in the state are working on a\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/wisconsinhealthnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/23-2947_1.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">bill<\/span><\/a>  that would ban gain-of-function\u200d research on potentially pandemic\u2064 pathogens in institutions \u200cof higher education.\u2064 The bill also calls for reporting of research \u2063intentions\u2064 and imposes \u2063penalties for non-compliance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>University&#8217;s Response<\/h3>\n<p>The university defends the\u2062 importance of this research for public safety.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;The ability to safely study harmful viruses, bacteria,\u200b and other pathogens is\u2063 critically\u200d important for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/heres-what-each-of-bidens-42-executive-orders-will-actually-do\/\" title=\"Here\u2019s What Each Of Biden\u2019s 42 Executive Orders Will Actually Do\">protecting public health<\/a> and the food supply,&#8221; UW spokeswoman Kelly Tyrrell <a href=\"https:\/\/wisconsinhealthnews.com\/2023\/08\/08\/gop-lawmakers-seek-to-ban-gain-of-function-research-in-wisconsin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stated<\/a>. &#8220;UW-Madison is committed \u2062to ensuring \u2062that its researchers who work with high-risk pathogens have\u2063 safe and secure laboratories \u200cand receive training \u200dand \u2063certification to ensure their investigations are conducted safely.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There is growing belief among several <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-instructs-fed-agencies-to-say-biden-harris-administration-report-says\/\" title=\"White House Instructs Fed Agencies To Say \u2018Biden-Harris\u2019 Administration, Report Says\">federal government agencies<\/a> that COVID-19 may have originated from a lab in China during \u200dgain-of-function research on the coronavirus.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>House Republicans have launched an inquiry into potentially hazardous gain-of-function research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) sent a letter to UW Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin, seeking details on the university&#8217;s research and whether they had engaged in such activities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":2020257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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-2020256","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\/2020256","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\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2020256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2020257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2020256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2020256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2020256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}