The Biosecure Act, which prohibits officially funded health professionals from using a number of foreign biotech firms connected to China, including WuXi AppTec, a company that is affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army, was one of the bills that the House of Representatives passed on Monday. Legislators are concerned that such businesses may use American genomic data for bioweapons research.
According to Just The News, issues over Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s witness at a March budget receiving are one of the catalysts for activity. Virginia GOP Representative Ben Cline grilled Vilsack over the USDA’s continued involvement with the Chinese Academy of Sciences ( CAS ) despite the U.S. debarring the Wuhan Institute of Virology ( WIV ) for high-risk viral research. Cline specifically inquired about a$ 1 million project on bird flu evolution research being criticized by some as risky and potentially dangerous. The project involves the United States, the United Kingdom, and China.
Vilsack, however, pushed up, stating it was not a” engagement per se”, and emphasized that the U. S. information was “walled off” from its Chinese partners. He claimed that the study involved” individual analysis” by each state. But when pressed by Cline to cancel the engagement, Vilsack responded vehemently, saying,” there is nothing to terminate”, and accused the representative of undermining USDA experts and specialists.
The project, formally known as” US-UK China Collab: Predictive Phylogenetics For Evolutionary and Transmission Dynamics of Newly Emerging Avian Influenza Viruses,” aims to investigate the evolution and potential mammalian transmission of genetically modified bird flu viruses. According to documents obtained by the White Coat Waste Project (WCW), an animal-research regulator organization, USDA researchers conducted controversy- based gain-of-function experiments. These experiments sought to improve virus lethality or transmission.
The partnership used maximum-pain animal tests in both China and the United States to test whether genetically modified avian influenza was spread from animals to mammals, according to WCW. The task involved research on birds, ducks, quail, and another species, raising concerns about the potential for creating bacteria capable of infecting people.
The information, totaling almost 200 pages, contradict Vilsack’s claim that there was no cooperation. The papers clearly refer to the USDA-CCP partnership as a” collaboration”, and details how U. S. scientists would conduct site visits to the U. K. and China to monitor the study. Yet the USDA’s website confirms that the task involved “viral progression and transmission dynamics” in the development of bird flu.
In a letter to lawmakers, WCW Senior Vice President Justin Goodman urged them to end funding for unaccountable Chinese animal labs, stating that “taxpayers should n’t be forced to pay the price for animal experiments with foreign adversaries that supercharge viruses and can cause pandemics or create bioweapons.” He urged Congress to act, especially as costs are being considered to lower the country’s dependence on Chinese funds and control.
In addition to the investigation surrounding this engagement, a 2023 statement from Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology flagged the challenges of” serial engraftment” research—like that involved in the bird flu project—which can lead to gain-of-function genome modifications and increase the likelihood of a virus leaping from animals to humans. This is just one more piece of the growing chorus of analysts and lawmakers warning against colliding with Taiwanese research institutions.