Entitled "United States Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential," a new White House document explains how "certain types of federally funded life sciences research on biological agents and toxins" is now legal, including the kind of biological agents and toxins that "when enhanced, have the potential to pose risks to public health, agriculture, food security, economic security, or national security."
The new rules are to replace those established in 2012 and 2014, which at that time did not allow for gain-of-function research to take place on United States soil – back then, gain-of-function was only supposed to take place in China, Ukraine, or elsewhere.
Part of the new plan is to have the appropriate federal agencies complete "an interagency review" of the situation in order to "strengthen responsible conduct for biological research" moving forward.
"This Policy has also been issued pursuant to Section 2315 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (42 U.S.C. § 6627) to achieve consistent review and oversight of life sciences research proposed for federal funding that may be reasonably anticipated to involve the creation, transfer, or use of pathogens with enhanced pandemic potential (PEPPs)," reads the "Purpose" section of the new rules.
(Related: Earlier this year, it came out that both Google and YouTube helped fund the development of the Wuhan coronavirus [COVID-19] bioweapon.)
Will there be more COVID-like bioweapons in 2025?
Starting in early 2025, the federal government will need to make any necessary updates to its guidance concerning this area of research so it reflects the changes. Research involving biological agents and toxins "is essential to the scientific advances that underpin improvements in the health and safety of the public, agricultural crops and other plants, animals, and the environment," the document states.
"The intent of research oversight is to increase the awareness of researchers, research institutions, and federal funding agencies about the biosafety and biosecurity concerns associated with certain types of research to ensure that appropriate risk mitigation measures are in place to prevent biosafety incidents (e.g., unintended personal exposure or release of an agent outside of containment) or biosecurity incidents (e.g., theft or intentional misuse of information, knowledge, products, or technology)."
Everything laid out in the White House document makes gain-of-function research sound important and essential to both the well-being and perpetuity of humanity itself. We know, however, from what happened with COVID that tampering with disease is a recipe for disaster.
The University of Nebraska Medical Center published a notice about the changes that make it sound as if the White House is "tightening" the research rules for gain-of-function rather than expanding them.
"The White House is tightening federal oversight of so-called gain-of-function (GOF) studies that could enhance risky viruses in ways that increase their ability to cause a pandemic," the Center says. "It is also overhauling rules for a broader category of federally funded research on dangerous pathogens that is considered 'dual use,' because the results could be used as bioweapons."
According to the Center, the new rules, released by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), "are narrower" than the ones floated last year. Scientists feared that the initial rules would "complicate studies on low-risk pathogens such as cold viruses and herpesviruses," so they were replaced with new rules that "will expand the number of studies that must undergo special review" as part of the gain-of-function bioweapons development process.
More related news can be found at Plague.info.
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