Letter to Hon. Patty Murray, Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions, and Hon. Richard Burr, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions - Sen. Marshall Doubles Down on Requests for Committee Hearings After NIH Admits to Funding Risky Virus Enhancing Research

Letter

Dear Chair Murray and Ranking Member Burr:

On June 3, we wrote to request that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hold a hearing or
series of hearings on the public health and security risks posed by gain-of-function research. We write today to
renew that request in light of the recent admission by the National Institute of Health that it had indeed funded
gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, despite Administration testimony to our committee
to the contrary.

Gain-of-function research aims to predict future naturally-occurring pandemics by enhancing the severity or
transmissibility of viruses that may infect humans. In an October 6 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Kevin
Esvelt of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology bluntly stated, "[t]o discover many dangerous viruses, or
learn to enhance weaker ones, is to share the blueprints for an arsenal of plagues." He went on to say that "such
research looks like a gamble that civilization can't afford to risk." We could not agree more.

The dangers posed by this kind of research are so acute that under President Obama, the National Institutes of
Health suspended funding for all gain-of-function projects for three years. The Senate recognized these risks in
May when it passed Paul amendment #2003 to S. 1260, the United States Innovation and Competition Act, by a
voice vote. Your assistance was crucial in crafting that amendment, which sought to restrict the use of U.S.
federal funds for gain-of-function research.

We renew our request that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions promptly schedule a hearing
or series of hearings on gain-of-function research. We look forward to your timely response to this request.

Sincerely,

Rand Paul, M.D. Roger Marshall, M.D.
United States Senator United States Senator

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