Ernst Demands Answers for “Fowl” Play

Letter

“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. 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.

USDA serves a vital role detecting and preventing avian influenza. Not just in Iowa, but around the world since diseases do not know or respect international boundaries. While this may require partnering with global competitors and even adversarial nations, we must never compromise public health standards in these efforts.

It's reckless and indefensible for bird-brained USDA bureaucrats to bankroll dangerous avian flu gain-of-function studies involving virus experimenters from the notorious Wuhan animal lab that likely caused COVID and its CCP-run parent organization, the Chinese Academy of Sciences,” said Justin Goodman, Senior Vice President, White Coat Waste Project. “After the disaster that WCW exposed in Wuhan, taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to foot the bill for animal experiments with foreign adversaries that soup up viruses and can cause pandemics or create bioweapons. We’re grateful for Sen. Ernst’s ongoing leadership in efforts to fight USDA’s reckless spending, and we’re urging Congress to use the forthcoming Farm Bill to ensure the USDA does not ship another red cent of taxpayers’ money to unaccountable animal labs in China, Russia and other hostile nations. The solution is simple: Stop the money. Stop the madness!”

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