Why The U.S. Government Stopped Funding A Research Project On Bats And Coronaviruses
The U.S. government has suddenly terminated funding for a years-long research project in China that many experts say is vital to preventing the next major coronavirus outbreak.
The project was run by a U.S. nonprofit called EcoHealth Alliance. For more than a decade, the group has been sending teams to China to trap bats, collect samples of their blood, saliva and feces, and then check those samples for new coronaviruses that could spark the next global pandemic. The idea is to identify locations that need to be monitored, come up with strategies to prevent spillover of the virus into human populations and get a jump on creating vaccines and treatments. Already the project has identified hundreds of coronaviruses, including one very similar to the virus behind the current outbreak.
But since early this month, U.S. officials have been working to raise suspicions about a key collaborator on the project: the Wuhan Institute of Virology, located in the city where the outbreak began. U.S. intelligence officials are investigating whether the coronavirus escaped from the Wuhan Institute through some sort of contamination accident. As noted in an NPR story published last week, many scientists have discounted that theory as nearly impossible.
Who approved funding for this project?
At the April 17 White House news conference, a reporter mischaracterized key details about the project, stating that "the NIH, under the Obama administration, in 2015 gave that lab $3.7 million in a grant" and asking Trump, "Why would the U.S. give a grant like that to China?"
Who approved funding for this project?
At the April 17 White House news conference, a reporter mischaracterized key details about the project, stating that "the NIH, under the Obama administration, in 2015 gave that lab $3.7 million in a grant" and asking Trump, "Why would the U.S. give a grant like that to China?"
Who approved funding for this project?
At the April 17 White House news conference, a reporter mischaracterized key details about the project, stating that "the NIH, under the Obama administration, in 2015 gave that lab $3.7 million in a grant" and asking Trump, "Why would the U.S. give a grant like that to China?"
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/04/29/847948272/why-the-u-s-government-stopped-funding-a-research-project-on-bats-and-coronaviru