U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), ranking member on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, spearheaded a letter expressing concerns about potentially risky research being conducted at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases that involves enhancement of a monkeypox virus.
Specifically, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) project involves transferring genes from “clade 1” or Congo Basin clade monkeypox virus — a rare version of monkeypox virus that is 1,000 times more lethal in mice than the version currently circulating in humans — into “clade 2” or West African clade monkeypox virus, which is the version currently circulating in humans, according to an Oct. 31 letter the members sent to NIH Acting Director Lawrence Tabak.
“Based on available information, this experiment would seem to involve risks reasonably anticipated to create, transfer, or use potential pandemic pathogens resulting from the enhancement of a pathogen’s transmissibility or virulence in humans,” wrote the lawmakers. “Under the circumstances, we are interested in learning whether this experiment was reviewed under the [federal] framework used to review risky research proposals.”
Joining Rep. McMorris Rodgers in signing the letter were U.S. Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA), who also serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
According to their letter, human disease associated with clade 2 monkeypox virus infection is less severe and is associated with less than 1 percent mortality, whereas clade 1 monkeypox infection has a 10 percent case fatality rate in unvaccinated persons.
“Because of its significantly greater lethality, clade 1 or Congo Basin clade monkeypox viruses are regulated as select agents by the Federal Select Agents Program,” they wrote. “Thus, under these regulations, it would appear the clade 1 monkeypox virus experiment is a restricted experiment that must be reviewed by the Federal Select Agent Program, and may be further reviewed by the CDC’s Intragovernmental Select Agents and Toxins Technical Advisory Committee.”
Rep. McMorris Rodgers and her colleagues requested information to more than a dozen questions, including all proposals and progress reports discussing the clade 1 monkeypox virus experiment; what review the research underwent at NIH; and what the potential benefit to human health is from this research and whether the aim is to find a treatment or vaccine.