Federal funding would be banned for specific research activities conducted by America’s foreign adversaries under legislation introduced on June 13 by U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH).
“There is no legitimate medical or scientific reason the U.S. should fund dangerous gain-of-function [GOF] research in countries like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea,” Rep. Wenstrup said. “We do not need our adversaries learning how to make animal viruses more transmissible, uncontrollable, and virulent in humans, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer.”
The congressman sponsored the Foreign Adversary Gain-of-Function Research Prevention Act of 2023, H.R. 4087, with lead original cosponsor U.S. Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) to ban direct and indirect federal funding for GOF research activities conducted by such countries, according to a bill summary provided by Rep. Wenstrup’s office.
Any entity that violates the ban would face a prohibition on any award or subaward from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for three years, the summary says.
“This bill carefully defines ‘potential pandemic pathogens’ so that important biosafety and medical work would be permissible, while prohibiting the types of dangerous research that occurred in Wuhan and unleashed a global pandemic,” said Rep. Wenstrup.
If enacted, H.R. 4087 would name China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea as foreign adversaries prohibited from receiving federal funding for GOF research activities, though other countries would be added to the prohibition list by the U.S. Secretary of State, in consultation with the U.S. Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence, according to the summary.
“I am pleased to be introducing this legislation alongside House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Chair Brad Wenstrup to ensure that taxpayer dollars never directly or indirectly fund this type of risky research conducted in hostile foreign nations and to prevent a similar situation from ever happening again,” said Rep. Lesko.