During a hearing this week for the Senate Homeland Security Committee, legislators debating a professor who was involved in efforts to undermine the Covid- 19 lab leak theory because he received millions in grants from the National Institutes of Health ( NIH).
In order to silence and judge opponents of the so-called “lab hole idea,” Robert Garry, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Associate Dean for Biomedical Sciences at Tulane Medical School, co-authored an essay in 2020 that was quoted thousands of times in research papers and media outlets.  ,
In the content published in Nature Medicine, Garry stated that there is no test hole scenario that can provide all the available scientific evidence. In an email from February 2020, co-author Kristian Andersen, a professor in Scripps Research’s Department of Immunology and Microbiology, stated that the research’s goal was” to refute any kind of test theory.”
Sen. Ron Johnson, R- Wis., pressed Garry, asking,” How much have you received from federal offers in your job”? Garry claimed that he was unaware. ” I have info that between you and Dr. Kristian Andersen between 2020 and 2022 you received$ 25.2 million in grants from the NIH”, Johnson continued. Garry admitted” that’s probable”.
Garry, a witness at the receiving and Rutgers University’s Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, charged Richard H. Ebright with medical wrongdoing.
The authors swore that the” conduct of highest value” was stating conclusions that the authors knew at the time were untrue, according to Ebright. ” This is the most severe form of academic misconduct”.
Garry claimed at the time that he had no intention of misleading people and that he had just relied on the available medical data to arrive at his opinions. Because of the paper, but, Sen. Josh Hawley, R- Mo., said stupid people were ridiculed for raising questions, usually at great expert detriment.
Hawley asked,” Do you dread being piece of this advertising work”?
Garry said,” I was just writing a report about our scientific opinions about where this influenza came from.”
Johnson said,” People like you are the reason why the American public does n’t trust scientists and the federal health agencies.” ” You violated the public’s respect”.
Throughout his career, Garry has received around$ 60 million in federal research financing and owns a vaccine firm, which Sen. Roger Marshall, R- Kan., argued represents a” conflict of interest”.
The lab leak theory has been a hot topic in Washington ever since the pandemic started, mainly due to government agencies and educational groups working together to disprove proof that the disease was a solution of Taiwanese research, which may have been funded by US tax dollars, and not a healthy trend.
Since then, the FBI and the Energy Department have stated that there is compelling evidence to back up the lab leak theory.
Arianna Villarreal is a summer intern at The Federalist.
