When it comes to how you think about politics, who has or has had the most political influence on you?
9/7/23
The British Medical Journal made the following announcement which has been confirmed by the US Gov't.
"I'm Kamran Abbasi, Editor-in-Chief of The BMJ. Today, The BMJ can report that the US quietly terminated a flagship, one-hundred and twenty-five million dollar wildlife virus hunting project. This is major news reported for us by the Pulitzer Prize-winning veteran journalist David Willman, because for over a decade, hundreds of millions of dollars in unabated government funding have symbolized a commitment to such efforts. The shuttering of this massive program known as "DEEP VZN"[which stands for Discovery & Exploration of Emerging Pathogens - Viral Zoonoses, and is pronounced "deep vision"] marks the first acknowledgment by the US government that such projects carry risks. Risks that critics have characterized, as potentially catastrophic, wherein virus hunting could actually inadvertently ignite a pandemic.
The world can't afford another pandemic, and questions remain about the origins of SARS-COV-2. But it's become fairly clear that collecting, transporting and performing research on exotic wildlife viruses carries unacceptable risks to all of humanity."
This is extremely important news. It is these "exotic wildlife viruses" that are used in Gain of Function Research of Concern (GOFROC), or research that involves the enhancement of potential pandemic pathogens (ePPP). Though such research has created many viruses that are pathogenic to humans (one of which *could* be SC2), it has not led to production of any vaccines or cures to date, as biologists, Richard Ebright and Justin Kinney point out in their article posted here yesterday. According to David Willman's reporting for BMJ, the gov't kept the news quietly buried in a congressional budget document hundreds of pages long. Willman conducted interviews with federal lawmakers and researchers and found that the closing of DEEP VZN is the result of a review of costs and benefits which included bi-partisan input as well as that of science and technology advisors close to Joe Biden. Willman, in his BMJ report, writes:
"In December 2021 two senior White House officials specialising in biosecurity and biosafety—Jason Matheny, deputy assistant to Biden for technology and national security, and Daniel Gastfriend, the National Security Council’s director for biodefence and pandemic preparedness—first privately shared their views with USAID’s administrator, Samantha Power, and advised her to shut down DEEP VZN. Those familiar with the matter said that another White House official, T Gregory McKelvey Jr, a physician and the assistant director for biosecurity with the Office of Science and Technology Policy, also privately raised concerns with USAID staff."
The USAID and NIH funded much of the virus hunting conducted by Shi Zenghli, who carried who played a key role in the US-China research of concern that may have caused Sars-CoV-2 (SC2). According to Wikipedia, she reported receiving $1.2 Mil. for the research which was ongoing from 2014-2019.* That research is precisely the kind that came under review in assessing and closing Deep VZN. Officials told Willman that the new policy recommendations only support such research a) if there is no safer method to produce the same benefit/s and b) only after "all unnecessary risks have eliminated." Although such phrasing is not entirely unambiguous, the fact is that a major program behind much of the Gain of Function Research of Concern is being closed by the Biden Administration.
That is great news for those of us who are worried about this research. It is also-- for me at least-- one of Biden's most important contribution to the well being of Americans and people all over the world today. Below are some sources for those interested.
>>BMJ article by https://www.bmj.com/content/382/bmj.p2002
>>Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: https://thebulletin.org/2023/09/the-us-government-cancels-deep-vzn-a-controversial-virus-hunting-program/
>> Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12491751/USAID-125million-project-pandemic.html
>> Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/09/07/deep-vzn-virus-wild-usaid-program/
>> New York Times???? (Waiting for you to find space for "all the news that's fit to print")
FN *Wikipedia's source is award-winning investigative medical journalist Katherine Eban from this 2021 deep dive published by Vanity Fair. This June she also reported on the communication between the Chinese CDC and US scientists on the origins of Covid. She was able to interview China's former CDC director Geroge Gao who said he had told American scientists-- including one of the Proximal Origins authors, Eddie Holmes and Wuhan Meat Market theoy proponent Michael Worobey-- that the origins could well have been lab-related OR zoonotic. Worobey, who was lead author in the most widely cited article on Wuhan Market theory of SC2 origins, said that Gao is misrepresenting the phone calls in question.)
The IRS announced on Friday it is launching an effort to aggressively pursue 1,600 millionaires and 75 large business partnerships that owe hundreds of millions of dollars in past due taxes..... a massive hiring effort and AI research tools developed by IRS employees and contractors are playing a big role in identifying wealthy tax dodgers. The agency is making an effort to showcase positive results from its burst of new funding under President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration as Republicans in Congress look to claw back some of that money.
House Republicans built a $1.4 billion reduction to the IRS into the debt ceiling and budget cuts package passed by Congress this summer. The White House said the debt deal also has a separate agreement to take $20 billion from the IRS over the next two years and divert that money to other non-defense programs.
With the threat of a government shutdown looming in a dispute over spending levels, there is the potential for additional cuts to the agency.