The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is calling for a criminal probe into the origins of the COVID-19 virus, specifically targeting EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak. The demands for an investigation come after an interim staff report accused Dr. Daszak of funding “dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, without sufficient oversight.”
The Committee on Oversight and Accountability released a statement on Wednesday citing “overwhelming primary source documents and credible firsthand testimony” gathered during their investigation as evidence of Dr. Daszak’s violations of the NIH grant awarded to EcoHealth Alliance. The committee recommends the formal debarment of EcoHealth and a criminal investigation into the organization and its president.
EcoHealth Alliance, a non-governmental organization based in the United States focused on pandemic prevention, allegedly used taxpayer dollars to fund research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. Dr. Daszak testified publicly before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, defending his organization against what he called “misinformation about the origins of COVID.”
The controversy surrounding EcoHealth Alliance’s funding and research has sparked a heated debate, with allegations of false information, death threats, and media harassment directed at the organization and its staff. The organization has denied these allegations and stated that they have addressed them head-on by checking their records and stating the facts publicly.
Fox News Digital previously reported that EcoHealth Alliance received millions of dollars in grants from the National Institutes of Health, with U.S. taxpayer funds flowing to Chinese entities conducting coronavirus research through the organization. The call for a criminal probe into the origins of COVID-19 continues to raise questions about the transparency and oversight of research funding in the midst of a global pandemic.
