The US government has earmarked $1 million from American taxpayers to fund research on potentially dangerous bird flu viruses, collaborating with scientists from China. The research involves infecting ducks and geese with different strains to make them more transmissible and infectious and study the viruses' potential to 'jump into mammalian hosts,' according to the research documents.
Funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the collaborative studies will take place across multiple sites, including locations in Georgia, Beijing, and Edinburgh, Scotland.
Despite earlier restrictions on similar research and concerns over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, funding for the avian virus research began in April 2021 and is set to continue until March 2026 as revealed in documents obtained by The White Coat Waste Project, a campaign group, acquired the documents and provided them to DailyMail.com.
Specific viruses targeted in the research include H5NX, H7N9, and H9N2 strains. These viruses, as described in a 2023 study, are deemed "highly pathogenic" and have the potential to cause severe complications, including neurological issues, in humans.
The collaboration involves several institutions, including the USDA Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the University of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute, known for its partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Wenju Liu, a researcher affiliated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, is among the collaborators on the project, raising concerns given the lab's association with the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following revelations about the funding, Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa expressed concerns about the USDA's support for the research, highlighting the potential risks to both animals and humans.
Justin Goodman, senior vice president of the WCW, said in a statement to DailyMail.com: 'It's reckless and indefensible for... bureaucrats to bankroll dangerous avian flu gain-of-function studies involving virus experimenters from the notorious Wuhan animal lab that likely caused COVID and its CCP-run parent organization, the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In response, a USDA spokesperson clarified that the allocated funding is specifically for components carried out by their team in Georgia and is not contributing to research in the UK or China. The spokesperson emphasized that the research does not qualify as gain-of-function.
Despite these assurances, concerns persist among lawmakers and advocacy groups regarding the implications of such research collaborations, especially given past controversies surrounding similar studies and their potential implications for public health and safety.
