by Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. at the Defender
An executive order signed Monday ends U.S. funding of gain-of-function research in some countries and halts research in the U.S. for 120 days while a new oversight framework is established. Some gain-of-function critics celebrated the news, others urged caution.
President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order ending U.S. federal funding of “dangerous gain-of-function research” in China, Iran and other nations, which he said lack sufficient oversight.
The order ends “any present and all future,” federal funding for such research in those countries.
The order also temporarily pauses federally funded research using infectious pathogens and toxins in the U.S. for 120 days.
“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,” according to a White House fact sheet released the same day.
During the 120-day pause in the U.S., the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the national security adviser will work with funding agencies — namely the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — to develop a new policy for that research that is “safer, more enforceable, and transparent.”
The order also directs relevant public health officials and agencies to…
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