The National Institute of Health (NIH) announced the end of gain-of-function research in a June 18 statement. The institute’s update said the move is in compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order on the topic.
The president’s order was issued on May 5 of this year to improve the “safety and security of biological research.”
The agency is also suspending or terminating the awards that have supported this research, as the order requires. The awardees are required to review their research portfolios by June 30 to ensure the projects are terminated.
“NIH is requiring all NIH awardees to review their research portfolios to identify NIH funding and other support for projects meeting the definition of dangerous gain-of-function research,” the June 18 statement said
Trump’s Order
Trump’s May executive order concludes: “Dangerous gain-of-function research on biological agents and pathogens has the potential to significantly endanger the lives of American citizens.” Additionally, the order allowed for research agencies to find and end federal funding for other biological research that “could pose a threat to American public health, public safety, or national security.”
It also ended federal funding for gain-of-function research in countries of concern, such as China and Iran, and prohibited funding from moving to foreign research that would likely cause another pandemic.
According to the White House fact sheet, the order was given because “these measures will drastically reduce the potential for lab-related incidents involving gain-of-function research, like that conducted on bat coronaviruses in China by the EcoHealth Alliance and Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
The president’s order paused U.S. research that used infectious pathogens and toxins, citing possible danger to American citizens, until a time when a safer and more transparent plan can be implemented.
Both COVID-19 and the 1977 Russian flu were used as illustrations of the possible outcome of underregulated research with dangerous pathogens.
Hellbound and Down 