Trump order cuts funds for "gain-of-function" research
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Trump during an executive order signing on Monday. Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
President Trump on Monday moved to cut off federal funding for so-called gain-of-function research and implied such work could have been responsible for triggering the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why it matters: A new executive order furthers the administration's theory that the virus originated from a lab leak in Wuhan, China. It specifically references "foreign research likely to cause another pandemic."
Driving the news: The pause will be in place "until a safer, more enforceable, and transparent policy governing such research can be developed and implemented," the White House said.
- The Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Security Advisor were directed to implement the policy with funding agencies within 120 days.
- Researchers found to be violating the policy could face a five-year cutoff from federal life-sciences grants, the order said.
- "Unlike previous policies, this order ... will strengthen oversight and discourage subjective interpretation of policies that researchers have used in the past to evade biosafety and biosecurity oversight," it stated.
Gain-of-function research involves enhancing pathogens in a lab to better understand them and their potential for starting pandemics.
- The administration and Republicans in Congress have cited NIH's involvement with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the issues around the research as justification for overhauling the agency.
- The NIH gave grants to EcoHealth Alliance which then sent funds for research into bat coronaviruses to the Wuhan Institute.
Between the lines: Monday's order also calls on the development of a strategy to limit and track privately funded gain-of-function research, as well as other work "that could cause significant societal consequences."
- The order also ends all current and future funding of gain-of-function research in "countries of concern like China and Iran," and foreign nations deemed to have insufficient research oversight, the order says.
Catch up quick: The CIA in January issued an assessment that favors the COVID lab leak but with low confidence. Both German and French intelligence has also suggested the pandemic may have resulted from a lab leak.
- While some in the scientific community say a lab leak in possible, many researchers say there is too little evidence to support it, or believe the virus originated naturally from a market in China.
Of note: On Monday, Trump also signed an executive order to boost domestic drug manufacturing.
- He told reporters a decision on pharmaceutical tariffs will be announced over the next two weeks.
