The NIH just renewed its funding to EcoHealth Alliance. Yes, really

I can think of few things more dystopian than being forced to pay for research that likely killed millions of people. But alas, that is the situation we continue to find ourselves in. In an unbelievable move, the NIH just renewed a grant to the infamous EcoHealth Alliance (EHA), an organization that funds animal torture in foreign labs. EHA is of course the nonprofit that Fauci and crew used as a pass-through organization to illegally fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan lab. My colleague Jack Hunter recently summarized the outcome of that funding like this: While the supposed ‘conspiracy theory’ summarily known as the ‘lab leak theory’ has not been proven to be the origin of COVID-19, it’s now believed to be the likeliest cause of the pandemic by many, including the Department of Energy. No sane person would think this entity should get any more taxpayer dollars whatsoever. But sane people are not running our government and EHA has received over $50 million in taxpayer dollars since evidence of their involvement in Wuhan came to light in 2020. That evidence was only made public thanks to the work of the White Coat Waste Project (WCW), a free market animal welfare organization, where I am a Fellow. And yet, the NIH officially renewed EHA’s grant for “natural origins research” just this week.  Insanity. The terms of the agreement are that EHA will receive $568,370 for each of the next four years to continue its work, I kid you not, on “bat-origin coronaviruses.” But don’t worry. The org pinky promised it definitely will not engage in gain-of-function research with the money—because they, Fauci, and the NIH were sooo honest about that last time. https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1417507737378820096 They’re also not allowed to subcontract work to China or collect new virus samples from the wild. And you can definitely rest in peace knowing our government will find out and stop them before things get out of hand before it’s too late if they do…RIGHT? Justin Goodman, the Senior Vice President of WCW, had this to say about the renewal: “The batty taxpayer-funded grant that bankrolled EcoHealth Alliance’s dangerous animal experiments in Wuhan that probably prompted the pandemic should be de-funded, not re-funded. We first exposed and ended EHA's calamitous collaboration with the Wuhan animal lab back in April 2020, and since uncovered how EHA violated a federal ban on gain-of-function research, repeatedly broke transparency law, and obstructed investigations into COVID’s origins.” Goodman continued:  “A recent federal audit confirmed how EHA failed to oversee the Wuhan animal lab and misspent tax dollars. Yet, EHA has raked in nearly $50 million in new taxpayer funds from the NIH, Pentagon, NSF, and other federal agencies just since the pandemic began for more reckless virus hunting and risky pathogen experiments on humanized mice and hamsters in unaccountable foreign labs. Taxpayers should not be forced to fund this reckless, rogue lab contractor that wastes money, breaks the law, abuses animals, and places public health in peril, and we’re working with Congress now to permanently cut the purse strings. Stop the money. Stop the madness.” Gain-of-function research should be unequivocally banned and those who continue to dabble in it should be fired and prosecuted. EcoHealth Alliance should be completely cut off from its gravy train of corporate welfare. And we shouldn’t be funding animal torture in any labs at all, but especially not overseas where we have little to no oversight abilities.  You’d be hard-pressed to find any taxpayer that didn’t agree with those statements. But the taxpayers aren’t running the government, the special interests are. It’s literally a zoo. Disclaimer: Hannah is a Fellow at White Coat Waste Project.

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