In a stunning revelation, congressional investigators have uncovered that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the direction of Dr. Anthony Fauci for nearly four decades, concealed plans to engineer a potentially pandemic-capable mpox virus. This development, detailed in a new interim report released on Tuesday, raises serious questions about the oversight and transparency of gain-of-function research within the U.S. government’s health institutions.
The report reveals that in June 2015, a scientist at NIAID received formal approval from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Institutional Review Board to conduct experiments that would potentially create an mpox virus with both high transmissibility and a case fatality rate of up to 15 percent. Such a virus, if engineered, could have posed a significant global health risk.
For nearly nine years, NIAID reportedly concealed the approval and existence of these experiments from congressional investigators. Throughout a 17-month investigation by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the institute obstructed efforts to obtain information about the mpox project. The report describes this secrecy as emblematic of how NIAID oversees and monitors potentially dangerous gain-of-function research — research that involves enhancing the virulence or transmissibility of pathogens.
These revelations come at a time of heightened global concern about the potential role of gain-of-function research in the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce, in conjunction with the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, is currently investigating whether NIAID-funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology could have contributed to the outbreak. Investigators have faced similar obstruction in this inquiry, further intensifying scrutiny of the institute’s practices.
The new report significantly undermines Dr. Fauci’s recent congressional testimony, where he insisted that any biosecurity breach at the Wuhan lab would have no connection to NIAID. The lack of transparency surrounding the mpox experiments casts doubt on these assurances, raising concerns about the true extent of NIAID’s involvement in high-risk research.
Adding to the controversy is EcoHealth Alliance, an NIAID contractor whose funding was recently suspended for failing to properly oversee coronavirus experiments in Wuhan. Congressional investigators are actively pursuing documentation from EcoHealth Alliance to further understand the scope and impact of NIAID’s research activities.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, gained widespread attention in the United States between August 2022 and February 2023, when it caused a public health emergency. The virus is endemic in Africa, with two distinct clades: clade I, which is more lethal and circulates in Central Africa, and clade II, which is more transmissible and circulates in West Africa.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where clade I predominates, has seen over 20,000 infections and more than 1,000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, experts believe these numbers may be significantly underreported. In contrast, the recent American outbreak was driven by a strain of the clade II virus, which, while less deadly, still posed significant public health challenges.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), sounding the alarm over its potential for further international transmission.
The report’s findings are likely to fuel ongoing debates about the ethics and safety of gain-of-function research, particularly when such research is conducted with minimal transparency and oversight. As the investigation continues, the public and policymakers alike will be watching closely to see how these revelations impact future scientific research and public health policy.
This latest disclosure underscores the urgent need for greater accountability in how potentially dangerous research is conducted and monitored, especially when the stakes involve global health and safety.
MPox
