U.S., U.K., China Researching ‘Emerging Avian Influenza Viruses’

White Coat Waste Project (WCW) recently revealed how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has collaborated with China in conducting “bird flu gain-of-function experiments.”

At least $1 million dollars is funding a five-year project between the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an organization affiliated with the Wuhan lab. The collaboration runs from 2021-2026, according to the report.

“The aim of this work is to create a predictive phylodynamic model to identify which strains of avian influenza virus (AIV) pose the greatest risk to avian or human populations in the partner countries (USA, UK, and China), to test the predictions experimentally, and to enable communication of risk to stakeholders,” a record of the project reads.

The research involves infecting ducks, geese, and quail with bird viruses that can mutate into lab-created strains. Scientists will then measure the “potential to jump into mammalian hosts.”

Some of the viruses being studied are known to be dangerous to humans, WCW noted.

In February, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) sent a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack expressing concerns over the questionable collaboration.

“I am writing to obtain information about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s ongoing funding of a collaboration with a Chinese Communist Party-linked researcher involving dangerous bird flu experiments and recent support for other animal labs in adversarial nations,” Ernst wrote in the letter. “I was troubled to learn from the non-profit group White Coat Waste Project that USDA is supporting experiments involving ‘a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus’ that poses a ‘risk to both animals and humans’ in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, and a researcher affiliated with the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

“The Biden USDA began financing the collaboration for ‘wet-lab virology’ to study ‘newly emerging avian influenza viruses’ in April 2021. The project has already received at least $1 million of U.S. taxpayers’ money to date and is slated to be funded through 2026.”

She concluded her letter by calling for increased “scrutiny and oversight” on taxpayer-funded research, “especially involving pathogens of pandemic concern or with adversarial nations.”