Trump cuts U.S. research on bat-human virus transmission over China ties

[RandySF]

The Trump administration abruptly cut off funding for a project studying how coronaviruses spread from bats to people after reports linked the work to a lab in Wuhan, China, at the center of conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 pandemic’s origins.

The National Institutes of Health on Friday told EcoHealth Alliance, the study’s sponsor for the past five years, that all future funding was cut. The agency also demanded that the New York-based research nonprofit stop spending the $369,819 remaining from its 2020 grant, according to emails obtained by POLITICO.

“At this time, NIH does not believe that the current project outcomes align with the program goals and agency priorities,” Michael Lauer, the agency’s deputy director for extramural research, wrote in a letter to EcoHealth Alliance officials.

The group caught national attention a week ago after reports swirled that millions from its NIH grants had been sent to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a research facility in the city where the coronavirus pandemic originated. In an email last week to NIH officials, EcoHealth Alliance President Pete Daszak denied giving any money this year to the Wuhan lab, although researchers from the facility have collaborated with EcoHealth Alliance scientists on research supported by an earlier grant.




https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/27/trump-cuts-research-bat-human-virus-china-213076

[Kablooie]

1. So the NIH goals and priorities now are to placate Trump over every other consideration.

[crickets]

2. So studies directly related to the outbreak of the current pandemic are canned. Great. nt

[SoonerPride]

3. If you bury your head in the sand

And can’t see the virus coming it can’t see you either.

Ignorance is bliss, right?

[notinkansas]

4. And absolutely NOTHING has been learned

by this bull-in-a-china-shop approach to policy? AARRGGHHHHHH