On Wednesday, Republican Sen. Rand Paul headed up a hearing on gain-of-function research:
After more than a year of waiting, we’re finally investigating gain-of-function research and the role it might have played in COVID-19. https://t.co/UDAhfqtbU9
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 3, 2022
Today I am hosting a hearing as Ranking Member of the HSGAC Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight to discuss, as our name implies, the emerging threat posed by gain of function research.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 3, 2022
Gain of function research has the potential to unleash a global pandemic that threatens the lives of millions, yet this is only the first time the issue has been discussed in a Congressional committee.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 3, 2022
Amazingly enough, it was the first Senate hearing on the topic of gain-of-function research:
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is leading the first-ever congressional hearing dedicated specifically to gain-of-function research.
The Wednesday hearing comes a week after the Kentucky senator sought to pass an amendment to a legislative package funding domestic semiconductor manufacturing that would have permanently banned all U.S. funding of gain-of-function research in China.
Despite the amendment being agreed to in earlier versions of the package, Senate Democrats objected this time around and blocked the provision.
“Gain-of-function research has historically been supported by tax dollars both domestically and internationally; as such, this hearing lies at the intersection of the subcommittee’s two primary jurisdictional responsibilities — monitoring emerging threats and conducting oversight of federal spending,” a press release from Sen. Paul’s office reads.
During the hearing, Sen. Josh Hawley had this exchange with Dr. Steven Quay, who described just how lethal the viruses that gain-of-function researchers are experimenting with can be:
Sen. Josh Hawley: "Are you concerned with the continuation and expansion of Chinese gain-of-function research?"
Dr. Quay: "They were doing synthetic biology on a cloning vector of the Nipah virus, which is 60% lethal. We just experienced a 1% lethal virus…" pic.twitter.com/ydeY1Gj8OE
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 3, 2022
Yikes!
— Jonathan Thiebaud (@Jtbaud249) August 3, 2022
That about says it all.
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