An outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza is devastating the U. S. food supply. It is a major cause of bird control in the U. S. , infecting birds in all 50 states and spreading to mammals, including humans. Disturbing new reports show that it is now also being discovered in Americans’ diets. Experts say that “there is a possibility that the virus evolves to spread more easily between humans. ” Scary stuff.
The bird flu outbreak has cost U. S. taxpayers billions of dollars in emerging food prices, new government oversight of the food supply, and bailout money.
So why is the U. S. Department of Agriculture collaborating with experimenters affiliated with Wuhan, China, to create more bird flu viruses in the lab?
People will be surprised to learn that the USDA, the same company tasked with stopping the current bird flu outbreak, has wasted at least $1 million of taxpayer money in recent years to develop bird flu viruses in harmful laboratory experiments conducted in collaboration with Chinese companies. Experimenters. .
In February, the White Coat Waste Project revealed how the USDA actively engages with the state-controlled, military-linked Chinese Academy of Sciences, the parent organization of the famed Wuhan Animal Lab, and an experimenter affiliated with the Wuhan lab that most likely caused COVID-19 and hid it to create more contagious and harmful mutations of bird flu viruses.
“Possible to jump on mammalian hosts. The express avian influenza viruses tested come with H5NX, the type causing the existing outbreak.
Concerned by the White Coat Waste findings, Senate Agriculture Committee member Joni Ernst (R-IA) promptly questioned Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack about why the government engages with PCC-controlled labs in harmful animal experiments involving a virus that poses a “proven threat to humans. ” and animals. “
“The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the very genuine risks that can result from reckless studies of fatal pathogens in harmful laboratories,” Ernst warned in his letter. “American taxpayers’ money will never be spent on investments to create new superviruses.
Then, at a USDA budget hearing in March, House Appropriations Committee member Ben Cline (R-VA) criticized the White Coat Waste allocation and pressed Vilsack to respond.
“Why do we continue to collaborate with the Chinese government on dangerous virus studies when it has violated U. S. subsidies and gain-of-function policies?”The U. S. government has obstructed investigations into the origin of COVID and has refused to share critical knowledge about U. S. COVID studies. What is the U. S. presence in the Wuhan lab? Cline. He concluded, “It’s doing our national security some favors. “»
During the exchange with Cline, Vilsack falsely told Congress that the USDA-CCP allocation “is not a collaboration consistent with itself. “However, the assignment is literally described as a “collaboration” in its title, and reference is made to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. as “collaborators” through the USDA.
In light of Vilsack’s lack of openness and transparency, earlier this month, 18 bipartisan lawmakers, including Reps. Nick Langworthy (R-N-Y. ) and Josh Gottheimer (D-New Jersey), demanded more details and answers from Vilsack about the USDA-CCP collaboration. . .
“This research, funded through U. S. taxpayers, could generate new harmful lab-created virus strains that threaten our national security and public health,” the congressmen wrote in a recent letter.
As Congress investigates and works to hold USDA accountable, White Coat Waste leads a diverse coalition of organizations, adding FreedomWorks, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Advancing Law for Animals, Free The People, and Republican Liberty Caucus, urging the House and Senate. The agriculture committees will cut USDA funding for these dangerous bird flu experiments and for all animal labs in China and the U. S. and other hostile countries, as “a vital avenue for national security, animal and human health, and taxpayer money. “
In our letter, we wrote, “Especially after China’s reckless gain-of-function studies in animals that experts say caused COVID and its refusal to share key knowledge and cooperate with investigations, Congress is making sure that no more taxpayer money is funneled to China or others. “Animal laboratories of foreign adversaries for risky studies.
Polls show that 71% of taxpayers across the political spectrum of Congress will cancel investments for animal labs from ruthless foreign adversaries.
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This isn’t the first outbreak of bird flu, and unfortunately, it won’t be the last. But we deserve not to blatantly cause even more damage with taxpayer money to create new and harmful bird flu viruses. Wasn’t a single fatal pandemic caused? Is the reckless animal testing done by the Wuhan government enough?
Taxpayers will not be forced to fund viral experiments on high-risk animals in collaboration with foreign adversaries. The solution is simple: avoid money.
Anthony Bellotti is the founder and president of the White Coat Waste Project, the government’s watchdog.