Donald Trump bans 'dangerous' virus research funding to China that his supporters claim led to Covid-19 leak from Wuhan lab
The former President's executive order will immediately halt "any present and all future" US funding for gain-of-function research in countries like China and Iran that lack proper safety oversight
Donald Trump has made a bold move by issuing an executive order to terminate all federal funding for risky virus research in countries deemed hostile or lacking proper regulation, five years post-COVID-19, which US intelligence now believes likely originated from a lab mishap.
The former President's comprehensive directive, enacted on Monday, puts an immediate stop to "any present and all future" US financial support for gain-of-function research in nations such as China and Iran, where safety oversight is insufficient. This controversial research involves genetically modifying diseases and other pathogens for study, potentially increasing their virulence and posing a danger if accidentally released from a laboratory.
Additionally, the order grants authority to the National Institutes of Health and other bodies to identify and withdraw funding from biological research considered detrimental to public health or national security, as announced in a message on X, previously known as Twitter, by the White House's Rapid Response 47 X account.
What is Trump's new executive order?
The announcement read: "@POTUS just signed an executive order protecting Americans from dangerous gain-of-function research.
"The order: - Ends any present and all future Federal funding of dangerous gain-of-function research in countries of concern like China and Iran and in foreign nations deemed to have insufficient research oversight.", reports the Express.
"Empowers American research agencies to identify and end Federal funding of other biological research that could pose a threat to American public health, public safety, or national security.
"Prohibits Federal funding from contributing to foreign research likely to cause another pandemic. These measures will drastically reduce the potential for lab-related incidents involving gain-of-function research, like that conducted on bat coronaviruses in China by the EcoHealth Alliance and Wuhan Institute of Virology.
"Protects Americans from lab accidents and other biosecurity incidents, such as those that likely caused COVID-19 and the 1977 Russian flu."
Did Covid-19 come from China?
This action comes amid a growing consensus among leading US intelligence agencies that COVID-19 probably stemmed from a laboratory mishap in Wuhan, China. With the FBI, Energy Department, and CIA aligning on the lab leak as the most probable source of the virus—a view shared by former health figures like Dr. Robert Redfield, ex-CDC Director, as reported by the New York Post.
However, there are experts like the Biden administration's chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and former NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, who continue to support the natural zoonotic transfer hypothesis, suggesting the virus leapt from animals to humans without human intervention.
Trump's recent directive also puts an immediate freeze on all infectious pathogen and toxin research until the establishment of more rigorous policies by the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the national security advisor. The upcoming policies are expected to include comprehensive enforcement and reporting requirements.
What action did Biden take to prevent dangerous lab leaks?
While President Biden enacted a similar restriction in December 2022, it had loopholes: Health and Human Services secretaries could bypass the ban after notifying Congress - and federal officials have struggled to fully trace where grant funds end up.
The new order heightens focus on contentious US-funded research in Wuhan. From 2014 to 2021, over $1.4 million in grants and subawards were channelled through EcoHealth Alliance to the Wuhan Institute of Virology via the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, then overseen by Fauci, and the US Agency for International Development.
The project, named "Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence," resulted in gain-of-function work, according to Dr. Lawrence Tabak, former NIH principal deputy director. However, Tabak and others have refuted a direct connection to COVID.
Another grant proposal from EcoHealth - Project DEFUSE - has attracted even more attention. Although never funded, it has been dubbed a "smoking gun" by critics who argue it proves COVID was manufactured in a lab.
Strangely, DEFUSE was omitted from a 2021 US intelligence report on COVID's origins, despite being unclassified.
Did Biden cover up a leak from the Wuhan lab?
Shocking documents and drafts, snagged by US Right to Know, unveil behind-the-scenes efforts by EcoHealth President Dr. Peter Daszak to minimize the role Wuhan researchers played in a controversial proposal.
"I simply wanted to stress the US side of the proposal," Daszak laid out during his Congressional testimony in 2023, before conceding that China's biosafety protocols paled in comparison to those in the States.
Despite never securing funding for the DEFUSE proposal submitted to DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) back in 2018, Dr. Redfield has flagged the peril: unfunded projects can still roll out under alternative grants.
Under the scrutiny of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Daszak had to own up to being in the dark about the full genomic data from the Wuhan lab, recognizing the possibility of unearthed coronavirus samples lurking there.
A whistleblower from the Defense Department has blown the lid off: DEFUSE was snubbed in the US Intelligence Community's 2021 report on COVID's roots—despite FBI and DoD boffins stumbling upon extra clues of a potential lab escape—which were, scandalously, omitted from a briefing to President Biden by then-National Intelligence Director Avril Haines.
Both Daszak and Dr. Fauci have consistently scoffed at the lab-leak hypothesis. Fauci, the erstwhile COVID point man for the Biden government, dubbed the lab-leak backers as little more than "conspiracy theorists."
In the meantime, a report from the Department of Defense Inspector General revealed that US officials are still unable to fully monitor the extent of gain-of-function research happening in China and other countries.