Giroir: Gain of Function Research Probably Still Happening in China with U.S. Funding

On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Evening Edit,” former HHS Assistant Secretary Adm. Brett Giroir said it’s “very possible” that the United States funded gain of function research on coronavirus and that this sort of research “is probably still ongoing there and in a number of other labs in China and probably around the world, many of whom we probably fund.”

Giroir stated, “I think, very clearly, back in the 2014, 2015 era, the NIH was funding research that was published and we know about it, about gain of function mutations on this type of virus. And I think there’s a lot of investigation that needs to be done. If you look at the series of grants that were funded, they all talked about bats. They all talked about coronavirus. But I would bet dimes to doughnuts, as they say, that the NIH does not have record[s] or controls to understand exactly what was done. So, it’s very possible we did fund this research.”

He added, “It’s not just about funding good science, there are implications to what gets funded. There’s danger, a worldwide pandemic that could have arisen because of it. There’s a potential for funding biological weapons that could be used against our allies. So, it’s not just about getting a good grant in and everybody saying, this is great, let’s fund it. … I think we need a congressional investigation, I think we need specific oversight. We have to get to the bottom of this. Because that research is probably still ongoing there and in a number of other labs in China and probably around the world, many of whom we probably fund.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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