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White Coat Waste Project (WCW) recently revealed<\/a> how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has collaborated with China in conducting \u201cbird flu gain-of-function experiments.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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,\u201d a record of the project reads.<\/p>\n The research involves infecting ducks, geese, and quail with bird viruses that can mutate into lab-created strains. Scientists will then measure the \u201cpotential to jump into mammalian hosts.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the viruses being studied are known to be dangerous to humans, WCW noted.<\/p>\n In February, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) sent a letter<\/a> to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack expressing concerns over the questionable collaboration.<\/p>\n \u201cI am writing to obtain information about the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s 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,\u201d Ernst wrote in the letter. \u201cI was troubled to learn from the non-profit group White Coat Waste Project that USDA is supporting experiments involving \u2018a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus\u2019 that poses a \u2018risk to both animals and humans\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Biden USDA began financing the collaboration for \u2018wet-lab virology\u2019 to study \u2018newly emerging avian influenza viruses\u2019 in April 2021. The project has already received at least $1 million of U.S. taxpayers\u2019 money to date and is slated to be funded through 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n