Trump signs executive order to limit funding for controversial gain-of-function research
President Donald Trump has signed an executive orders that aims to limit federal funding of gain-of function research. This is used to study the way pathogens become more dangerous by causing mutations. They falsely claimed that the so-called lab leak theory was the consensus view among scientists. They falsely claimed the so-called lab leak theory was the consensus view among scientists.
Titled “Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research,” the executive order directs the White House’s Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to work with federal agencies to issue guidance that will end federal funding of all gain-of-function research in the U.S. and abroad. The order also directs agencies to track gain-of-function research in the U.S. that isn’t federally funded and figure out how to stop it.
Gain-of-function research has trade-offs and has long been debated in the scientific community. In 2012, the journal Nature published an article that was heavily criticized. It described how to make a mutant bird flu virus. This is especially true for those of us who are living through the H5N1 virus outbreak, which has spread to cows but not yet to humans. Gizmodo in 2014 explained that the research was conducted as a “pre-emptive attack” against dangerous viruses, to understand how they function. While they do have some risks, there are also benefits. Being able to figure out how viruses could mutate allows for an early understanding of how to fight them with vaccines.
“Just about every mutation scientists can make, nature has already made,” Patrick Moore, virologist at the University of Pittsburgh, told Gizmodo in 2017. It’s important to be aware of this, as it’s the reason why new viruses are constantly appearing. The NIH lifted a ban on gain-of-function research late in 2017 during President Trump’s first term. The NIH lifted a ban on gain-of-function research in late 2017 during President Trump’s first term.
While there’s real reasonable debate about the role of gain-of-function research and its safety, the press event at the White House on Monday included a lot of highly contested claims that are more the realm of conspiracy theorists than serious-minded health officials.
FDA commissioner Marty Makary, who was standing near Trump and Secretary Kennedy to talk with reporters as the president signed the EO, pushed a definitive narrative about the origins of covid-19 that is still very controversial.
“It’s unbelievable to think the entire nightmare of covid was likely preventable, and you had good instincts early on, Mr. President, in suggesting it came from the Wuhan lab,” Makary told Trump. “That is now the leading theory among scientists.”
The most recent studies on the lab leak theory, looking at genomic data, still suggest natural origins. In February, a study revealed that the majority of virologists with relevant expertise and those who are familiar with the theory still do not believe it is the best way to explain how covid-19 entered the world. This doesn’t match the narrative that Trump and others want to promote. It’s possible that the lab leak caused covid-19. We don’t really have any solid evidence to back up that claim. Anyone who uses that argument to ban gain-of function research is likely trying to convince you of a worldview based less on science than on ideology.
