On Monday (May 5th), President Trump signed an executive order prohibiting federal funding for “gain-of-function research” in other countries, including China. This comes just weeks after the Trump administration suggested that COVID-19 may have originated from a Chinese lab that had received U.S. funding.
President Trump, while signing the order in the Oval Office of the White House, stated, “This is a big deal. If we had done this earlier, maybe we wouldn’t have had that problem.”
According to the order, federal funds cannot be used to support high-risk research conducted in other countries without appropriate oversight, especially research aimed at enhancing the virulence of viruses or other functions.
Will Scharf, a White House aide, stated when submitting the documents for the President’s signature, “Many believe that gain-of-function research is a major cause of the COVID pandemic.”
The new regulations under the order aim to protect the American people from the potential dangers of manipulating viruses, toxic substances, and other biological materials in experiments.
White House officials emphasized that these regulations are designed to strengthen enforcement, oversight mechanisms, and transparency without hampering national security and response capabilities to threats.
Scharf mentioned, “This executive order provides powerful new tools for enforcing the ban on federal funding for overseas gain-of-function research. It also enhances other oversight mechanisms and establishes an overall strategy to ensure the safe conduct of biomedical research and ultimately better protect human health.”
The order authorizes agencies to identify which biological research projects could pose risks to public health, safety, or national security and to withdraw federal funding.
In a fact sheet on the White House website, it was highlighted that these measures would significantly reduce the risk of laboratory accidents associated with gain-of-function research, such as the studies on bat coronaviruses conducted by the EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had funded over a million dollars through the EcoHealth Alliance for experiments on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the Chinese city where COVID-19 cases were first reported.
The White House updated its website in April, stating, “From nearly all scientific indicators, if there were evidence of natural origin of the (COVID-19 virus), it should have emerged long ago. But the fact is, it hasn’t.”
Officials pointed out that local researchers in Wuhan had exhibited COVID-like symptoms months before the virus was discovered at the Huanan Seafood Market.
Trump stated, “The virus came from a lab. I have been saying this from day one, and I have never wavered from that view.”
The EcoHealth Alliance had previously stated that the research conducted in Wuhan did not lead to COVID-19.
Trump administration officials stated that this ban would prevent future virus leaks.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. noted during the signing ceremony, “This is a historic day – the end of gain-of-function research.”
He outlined the history of dual-use research for vaccines and military purposes conducted by U.S. intelligence agencies since 1947.
Kennedy mentioned that such high-risk research was banned under the 1973 Bioweapons Charter but saw a resurgence after the passage of the Patriot Act in 2001 following the anthrax attacks and 9/11, relieving officials of legal liability and leading to a rise in funding for gain-of-function research.
“This weaponry always backfires, always brings bad news,” said Kennedy, referencing three lab leak incidents in 2014.
He added, “For decades of bioweapons research, we have not found any beneficial outcomes.”
He also warned that countries, including China, were developing various types of weapons using artificial intelligence and genetic technology, describing these weapons as “destructive.”
NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, speaking at the signing ceremony, emphasized the inherent risks in conducting such research, where even an accident could lead to a global pandemic.
“Any country engaging in this research not only endangers its own people but also jeopardizes the world, as we have seen during the COVID pandemic,” said Bhattacharya.
The original article titled “Trump Bans Biomedical Research in Other Countries” was published in English by Epoch Times.