The Biden administration is taking steps to impose a 10-year ban on funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Chinese research laboratory at the center of a heated debate over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a memo made public by a House subcommittee on Tuesday evening and an official familiar with the issue.
The memo, written by an official in the Department of Health and Human Services, said the institute had failed to comply with repeated requests from the National Institutes of Health for laboratory notebooks and other documents necessary to establish its safety practices.
The N.I.H.’s conclusion that the Wuhan institute “likely violated protocols of the N.I.H.
regarding biosafety is undisputed,” wrote the official, whose name was redacted.
The memo said that suspension of funding was necessary to “mitigate any potential public health risk,” and that there was “adequate evidence” to initiate “debarment proceedings.”The institute, which has not received any federal money since 2020, now has 30 days to respond to the notice.
Persons:
Biden, ”, “
Organizations:
Wuhan Institute of Virology, Department of Health, Human Services, National Institutes of Health
Locations:
Wuhan, “