RIGHT SPEAK: Sen. Roger Marshall Introduces Bill to Ban Federal Grants for ‘dangerous’ Gain-of-Function Research; U.S. Reverses Plan to Shut Down Free Covid Test Program, and other C-Virus related stories

Sen. Roger Marshall introduces bill to ban federal grants for ‘dangerous’ gain-of-function research:

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) moved Wednesday to prohibit federal grants going toward all “dangerous” gain-of-function research on viruses, according to a copy of the legislation exclusively obtained by The Post.

The Dangerous Viral Gain-of-Function Research Moratorium Act would bar taxpayer money from contributing to any experiments involving the “genetic alteration” of viruses, bacteria or other toxins that enhances their transmissibility or infectiousness.

President Trump is also reportedly mulling an executive order banning the risky viral research, which has become a flashpoint in public health debates following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CIA, FBI, Energy Department, former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Robert Redfield and other government scientists have all determined that an accidental lab leak is the most likely explanation for the origin of SARS-CoV-2, which has killed more than 1.1 million Americans.

Many current and former federal officials as well as virologists have also pointed to more than $1.4 million in government grants doled out for gain-of-function experiments starting in 2014 at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a lab located in the Chinese city where the pandemic began.

The since-debarred nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance distributed the grants to the now-infamous institute, which conducted experiments that made SARS-like viruses 10,000 times more infectious in lungs, 1 million times more infectious in brains and three times more lethal in humanized lab mice — in violation of its grant terms, NIH officials later admitted.

While those viral experiments yielded sequences genetically distinct from SARS-CoV-2, another EcoHealth proposal, which was not funded, was flagged for having the same features — while Redfield and others have suggested that even unfunded projects can be tested under other research grants. ---READ MORE HERE

Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post

U.S. reverses plan to shut down free covid test program

The Trump administration reversed a plan late Tuesday to shut down the government website that ships free coronavirus tests to households, after The Washington Post reported that the administration was preparing to end the program and was evaluating the costs of destroying or disposing of tens of millions of tests.

The Post reported Tuesday afternoon that the administration was looking into the costs of destroying tests that would otherwise be provided free to Americans, citing two officials at a federal public health preparedness agency and internal documents reviewed by The Post. A half-hour before the planned shutdown, Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon sent a statement to The Post confirming that COVIDtests.gov would shut down at 8 p.m. Tuesday. But he said the tests would not be destroyed and “will remain in inventory until they meet their expiration date.”

“With COVID-19 infections decreasing after a winter peak, we are transitioning away from government-distributed at-home tests to the commercial market just as we have in the past,” that first statement said. “Tests ordered through COVIDtests.gov before 8 p.m. EST, February 18, 2025, will be shipped.”

Then, 12 minutes before the site’s planned shutdown, Nixon sent a new statement saying COVIDtests.gov would not be pulled offline at this time.

“With COVID-19 infections decreasing after a winter peak, we are in the process of regular discussions on closing this round of the COVID-19 test ordering program. At this point, the program is still open, and we will share additional updates as needed,” the second statement said.

Internal documents show that officials at HHS had been considering two options: either disposing of or continuing to ship more than 160 million tests, valued at more than half a billion dollars. Only a small fraction of the tests are expired, according to the two officials. --->READ MORE HERE