Press Releases

The Wall Street Journal broke exclusive news of U.S. President Donald J. Trump considering an Executive Order to halt U.S. federal funding, at least temporarily, of gain-of-function research. In response to this news, U.S. Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) issued the following statement:

“Since the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic, my interest in gain-of-function research has been more pronounced.

“I have been part of investigations into how far the National Institutes of Health, EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology were involved in gain-of-function-type research.

“I encourage the President to ensure that the agencies of the federal government are more fully responsive to lawmakers’ issues with gain-of-function research of concern and risky experiments that involve virus transmission in humans. I plan to introduce legislation this Congress to address these concerns and hold government agencies more accountable.”

BACKGROUND

In the 118^th Congress, Rep. Griffith chaired the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations.

Rep. Griffith chaired hearings on various issues, including but not limited to topics of biosafety and risky research.

Rep. Griffith was the lead Energy and Commerce Member in numerous forums with public health officials that were in various leadership positions during the outbreak of COVID-19, including working closely with the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

During this time, Chairman Griffith participated in closed-door transcribed interviews questioning former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, and questioning former National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Frances Collins.

Rep. Griffith was also a key figure in examining EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak.

EcoHealth is the company that received grants from NIAID which in turn gave subgrants to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to conduct research on Coronavirus evolution and transmission.

Because of questions asked by Rep. Griffith related to significant inconsistencies and delays in required reports, among others, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced that Dr. Daszak and EcoHealth Alliance would be debarred for five years, cutting them off from U.S. federal funding.

Some of Rep. Griffith’s e-newsletters on these topics can be found here and here.

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