Congressman Introduces Bill to Defund EcoHealth Alliance over Wuhan Lab Funding

Strategic Insights -

Congressman Guy Reschenthaler (PA-14) has introduced the Defund EcoHealth Alliance Act (H.R. 591), which prohibits the organization from receiving federal funding after it was revealed to have sent American taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a suspected epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. The legislation also requires the U.S. Government Accountability Office to study and report on the amount of federal grant funding provided to the WIV, the Chinese Communist Party, and the People's Republic of China through EcoHealth Alliance. This move comes after it was discovered that EcoHealth Alliance has received tens of millions of dollars in federal research funding, including a $3.7 million award to study the risk of bat coronavirus emergence.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Defund EcoHealth Alliance Act (H.R. 591) aims to prevent the organization from receiving federal funding after it was revealed to have sent American taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
  • The WIV received approximately $598,500 from EcoHealth Alliance for 2015-2019 and was reauthorized for $3.7 million over five years in 2019 for studying bat coronavirus emergence.
  • EcoHealth Alliance has received tens of millions in federal research dollars, with a 2014 award of over $3 million for studying bat coronavirus emergence.
  • The research funded by U.S. grants to EcoHealth Alliance and the WIV includes gain-of-function (GOF) research to create a hybrid, man-made virus by inserting a spiked protein from a wild coronavirus into a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV backbone.
  • In October 2014, the Obama Administration paused GOF research activities and funding, and the research team received a letter requesting a voluntary pause of its research.
  • EcoHealth Alliance's President, Dr. Peter Daszak, has been involved in the Wuhan virus research and has denied the possibility of COVID-19 originating in a lab.
  • The Chinese Communist Party directly runs the WIV and manages the Biosafety Level IV (BSL-4) laboratory.
  • In 2018, two State Department cables raised concerns regarding safety and management weaknesses at the WIV, and scientists noted a serious shortage of trained technicians and investigators.
  • Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that researchers inside the WIV became sick with COVID-19 like symptoms in the fall of 2019.

Statistics:

  • EcoHealth Alliance has received tens of millions of dollars in federal research funding, including a $3.7 million award in 2019.
  • The WIV received approximately $598,500 from EcoHealth Alliance for 2015-2019.
  • The U.S. Government Accountability Office is required to study and report on the amount of federal grant funding provided to the WIV, the Chinese Communist Party, and the People's Republic of China through EcoHealth Alliance.
  • In 2018, two State Department cables raised concerns regarding safety and management weaknesses at the WIV.
  • Since at least 2017, the WIV engaged in classified research, including laboratory animal experiments with the Chinese military.

Sources:

  • Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pennsylvania)
  • "The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton" (Fox News)
  • House Foreign Affairs Committee Minority Report on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Nicholas Baker, "How a Team of Scientists Unleashed a Global Pandemic", New York Magazine (2020)
  • State Department cable, 2018
  • State Department Press Release, January 15, 2021
  • Wall Street Journal, "NIH paused grants to EcoHealth Alliance after virus lab's safety concerns" (2020)