Political Quotes

“Madam President, this letter asked Dr. Collins about news reports that Chinese researchers were allowed to delete data from a genetic database managed by the NIH. The data they removed included information about the novel coronavirus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Collins has not responded to the letter, but this isn't the sort of allegation the NIH will be able to ignore into nonexistence. We need a response. We need to know what happened. We need transparency from the NIH, just as the NIH is asking for transparency from China. Dr. Collins must reveal what definition of ``gain of function research'' NIH used when it approved funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology back in 2016. We now know that the research we paid for helped Chinese researchers engineer different versions of coronaviruses. We also need to know why the Wuhan Institute of Virology was allowed to do dangerous research with American taxpayer dollars in a ``biosafety level 2'' lab. In case you are not familiar with this designation, one scientist compared the safety and security levels of a biosafety lab 2 to that of a dentist's office. In 2017, NIH reversed the ban on gain of function research. Why was NIH allowed to make such an important decision unilaterally? I was relieved to hear Dr. Collins express support for transparency from China, but getting answers out of Beijing won't end the investigation.…”