WASHINGTON —According to Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suspended their relationship with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and cut off all U.S. taxpayer funding, citing biosecurity concerns at this lab.
The institute in the city where the COVID-19 outbreak began in China received funding from the National Institutes of Health to conduct gain-of-function research on novel coronaviruses.
In a statement from HHS reported by Senator Marshall, the government agency said, "Due to the Wuhan Institute's disregard of the National Institute of Health's (NIH) requests that the institute provide the required materials to support its research in the grant RPPRs and and IRPPRs, the NIH's conclusion that the institute research likely violated protocols of the NIH regarding biosafety is undisputed."
"As such there is a risk that the Wuhan Institute of Virology not only previously violated but is currently violating and will continue to violate protocols of the NIH on biosafety. Therefore I have determined that the immediate suspension of the institute is necessary to mitigate any potential public health risk,"
Marshall wrote, "About time! Next, Ecohealth Alliance? We cannot stop here - many more bad actors are still in play."
In June, U.S. officials released an intelligence report that rejected some points raised by those who argue COVID-19 leaked from the Chinese lab, instead reiterating that American spy agencies remain divided over how the pandemic began.
The report was issued at the behest of Congress, which in March passed a bill giving U.S. intelligence 90 days to declassify intelligence related to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Intelligence officials under President Joe Biden have been pushed by lawmakers to release more material about the origins of COVID-19. But they have repeatedly argued China's official obstruction of independent reviews has made it perhaps impossible to determine how the pandemic began.
Earlier this year, the Department of Energy's intelligence arm had issued a report arguing a lab-related incident caused the pandemic.
Four agencies still believe the virus was transferred from animals to humans, and two agencies — the Energy Department and the FBI — believe the virus leaked from a lab. The CIA and another agency have not made an assessment.
Located in the city where the pandemic is believed to have began, the Wuhan Institute of Virology has faced intense scrutiny for its previous research into bat coronaviruses and its reported security lapses.
The lab genetically engineered viruses as part of its research including efforts to combine different viruses.
-The Associated Press contributed to this report