A new rule issued last year by the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) takes effect today that allows the Secretary of “any federal department” to indefinitely waive oversight requirements for high-risk experiments involving the most deadly pathogens known to man.
That means no safety checks and no independent review for government-led gain-of-function (GOF) experiments, despite the risky practice causing the COVID-19 pandemic that killed millions of Americans.
I sounded the alarm over the new waiver rule in October 2024, again the following month, and in various subsequent articles.
The document for the OSTP’s new rule avoids using “gain-of-function” terminology despite describing activities that match the practice, likely due to the controversy linking GOF research to the origins of the COVID pandemic.
The government wants to continue engineering dangerous pathogens to be even more lethal, but without anyone knowing.
The document, titled “United States Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential,” was quietly issued without congressional approval on May 6, 2024.
It takes effect today, exactly one year after the issuance.
The policy “addresses oversight of research on 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 document reads.
Hellbound and Down 