Dr. Anthony Fauci, who oversees the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is being asked to explain a new grant of tax money awarded to EcoHealth Alliance to study bat coronaviruses in Asia.
EcoHealth Alliance is a controversial nonprofit that’s been linked to risky gain-of-function studies with Chinese scientists involving bat coronavirus prior to what’s widely believed to be the devastating release or leak of Covid-19 from China’s Wuhan research lab.
Top Republicans questioning Fauci on the grant of money include Reps. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), James Comer (R-Kentucky), and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
Recently, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found EcoHealth to be out of compliance with the terms of previous grand money, and severed EcoHealth’s contract with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) where gain of function research on bat coronaviruses was conducted.
“Gain of Function” research is controversial because it involves taking an animal virus that’s harmless to people, and making it contagious in people in order to– in the case of bat coronavirus– try to invent vaccines or other treatments for it.
In a letter sent to Fauci, lawmakers are requesting that he provide a briefing and produce all documents, communications, and information related to NIAID’s decision to continue funding EcoHealth.
We have grave concerns that one of your last acts at NIAID is to send even more taxpayer dollars to an organization whose prior involvement in the very same subject may have contributed to a global pandemic. We write seeking information about your decision, including whether anyone at NIH has a financial or other non-official interest in EcoHealth continuing to receive taxpayer funds.
Your decision to fund EcoHealth is especially galling because the company continues to stonewall information gathering about the grant-funded work it previously financed at the WIV. NIH has requested all U.S. taxpayer-funded laboratory notebooks and experiment results from EcoHealth’s research conducted at the WIV. As of today, however, EcoHealth has yet to supply the records sought by NIH.
Reps. James Comer, Steve Scalise, and Jim Jordan
On September 21, NIAID awarded EcoHealth Alliance a new grant to study bat coronaviruses in Asia. EcoHealth failed to comply with the terms of previous coronavirus grants and the NIH canceled a subaward to the WIV for potentially dangerous research that may have contributed to the Covid-19 pandemic.
EcoHealth has been hiding these WIV-conducted experiments and records from scrutiny by violating transparency requirements of its grant from NIH.
It is outrageous that the results of U.S. taxpayer-funded experiments are unavailable to the U.S. government, particularly when those experiments could shed light on the origins of a virus that has killed more than one million Americans. It is unconscionable that you would choose to continue to fund a company that has violated its NIH grant terms in a manner that helps to keep this valuable information from the U.S. government and American taxpayers.
On April 19, 2022, Members of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis wrote Secretary Becerra requesting a review of EcoHealth’s conduct to determine whether EcoHealth should continue to be eligible for federal government grants and contracts. Based on the totality of circumstances surrounding EcoHealth and the WIV that have transpired over the past two and a half years, your decision to continue funding this entity is downright shocking.
Reps. James Comer, Steve Scalise, and Jim Jordan
The letter to Dr. Fauci can be found here and below:
October 13, 2022
Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
Director
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 5601 Fishers Lane, MSC 9806
Bethesda, MD 20892
Dear Dr. Fauci:
On September 21, 2022, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which you currently lead, awarded EcoHealth Alliance, Inc. (EcoHealth) a new grant to study bat coronaviruses in Asia.1 You awarded this new grant to EcoHealth despite NIAID’s parent agency, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), finding that EcoHealth had failed to comply with the terms of previous coronavirus grants and even canceling a subaward to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) for potentially dangerous research that may have contributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.2 We have grave concerns that one of your last acts at NIAID is to send even more taxpayer dollars to an organization whose prior involvement in the very same subject may have contributed to a global pandemic. We write seeking information about your decision, including whether anyone at NIH has a financial or other non-official interest in EcoHealth continuing to receive taxpayer funds.
Your decision to fund EcoHealth is especially galling because the company continues to stonewall information gathering about the grant-funded work it previously financed at the WIV. NIH has requested all U.S. taxpayer-funded laboratory notebooks and experiment results from EcoHealth’s research conducted at the WIV.3 As of today, however, EcoHealth has yet to supply the records sought by NIH.4
EcoHealth has been hiding these WIV-conducted experiments and records from scrutiny by violating transparency requirements of its grant from NIH.5 Specifically, the company failed to include “all requirements imposed by the pass-through entity on the subrecipient so that the Federal award is used in accordance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award.”6 EcoHealth did not include in its subaward to the WIV the requirement that:
1 Analyzing the potential for future bat coronavirus emergence in Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam, 1RO1AI63118- 01A1, NIH RePORTER (September 21, 2022).
2 Letter from Lawrence Tabak, Acting Director, Nat’l Insts. Of Health, to Hon. James Comer, Ranking Member, H. Comm. on Oversight and Reform (Aug. 19, 2022).
3 Id.
4 Letter from Lawrence Tabak, Acting Director, Nat’l Insts. Of Health, to Aleksei Chmura, Chief of Staff, EcoHealth Alliance Inc., & Peter Daszak, Pres., EcoHealth Alliance Inc. (August 19, 2022).
5 Id.
6 Id.
Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. October 13, 2022
Page 2
[t]he [Department of Health and Human Services] awarding agency, Inspectors General, the Comptroller General of the United States, and the pass-through entity, or any of their authorized representatives, must have the right of access to any documents, papers, or other records of the non-Federal entity which are pertinent to the Federal award, in order to make audits, examinations, excerpts, or transcripts.7
By excluding this condition, EcoHealth effectively shielded itself and the WIV from supplying taxpayer-funded research results to the U.S. government. This omission, whether intentional or not, allows EcoHealth to avoid scrutiny of any research that the company or the WIV may have a compelling interest in concealing, such as gain-of-function research on novel coronaviruses. In light of these facts, your decision to continue the flow of grant funding to EcoHealth is, at best, a gross mismanagement of taxpayer dollars.
It is outrageous that the results of U.S. taxpayer-funded experiments are unavailable to the U.S. government, particularly when those experiments could shed light on the origins of a virus that has killed more than one million Americans. It is unconscionable that you would choose to continue to fund a company that has violated its NIH grant terms in a manner that helps to keep this valuable information from the U.S. government and American taxpayers. On April 19, 2022, Members of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis wrote Secretary Becerra requesting a review of EcoHealth’s conduct to determine whether EcoHealth should continue to be eligible for federal government grants and contracts.8 Based on the totality of circumstances surrounding EcoHealth and the WIV that have transpired over the past two and a half years, your decision to continue funding this entity is downright shocking.
To assist us in overseeing federal grant funds and NIAID’s decision to continue funding EcoHealth, we request the following documents and information as soon as possible but no later than October 27, 2022:
- All documents and communications regarding Scientific Review Group, including but not limited to the Clinical Research and Field Studies of Infectious Diseases Study Section, review of 1R01AI163118-01A1, including any and all meeting minutes and a final report, memorandum, decision, or summary statement.
- All documents and communications regarding NIAID National Advisory Allergy and Infectious Disease Council review of 1R01AI163118-01A1, including but not limited to meeting minutes and a final report, memorandum, decision, or summary statement.
- All documents and communications between and among NIH, NIAID, and the Department of Health and Human Services regarding grant 1R01AI163118-01A1.
7 Id (emphasis added).
8 Letter from Hon. Steve Scalise, Ranking Member, H. Comm. on Oversight & Reform, Select Subcomm. on the Coronavirus Crisis, to Hon. Xavier Becerra, Sec’y, U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs. (Apr. 19, 2022).
Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. October 13, 2022
Page 3
4. Documents and information sufficient to establish whether you or anyone else employed at or contracted with the NIH has a pecuniary or other non-official interest in EcoHealth Alliance, Inc.
In addition, the above documents and information, we further request a staff briefing to occur as soon as possible but no later than October 20, 2022. To schedule the briefing or ask any follow-up or related questions, please contact Committee on Oversight and Reform staff at (202) 225-5074.
The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the principal oversight committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X. Further, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis is empowered to “prepare for future pandemics” and investigate “any . . . issues related to the coronavirus crisis.”9 Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this inquiry.
Sincerely,
Steve J. Scalise
Ranking Member
Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis
Jim Jordan
Ranking Member
Committee on the Judiciary
James Comer
Ranking Member
Committee on Oversight and Reform
cc: The Honorable James E. Clyburn, Chairman Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis
The Honorable Carolyn B. Maloney, Chairwoman Committee on Oversight & Reform
The Honorable Jerrold L. Nadler, Chairman Committee on the Judiciary
9 H. Res. 935 § 3(a)(3), (10) (2020).
‘killed more than one million Americans’ – this is based on…..? where can we find this data?